No. 6/5 Men’s Hockey Welcomes No. 17 Ohio State for B1G Series

On Dec 1, 2022

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 6th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions resume Big Ten Conference action as they close out a six-game homestand with a weekend series against the No. 17 Ohio State Buckeyes.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, December 2 | Saturday, December 3
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 7 p.m. | SAT: 5:30 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

TEDDY BEAR TOSS SATURDAY

Fans don’t forget to bring your new or gently used stuffed animals with you on Saturday night to toss onto the ice during the first intermission as part of our annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by the Penn State Bookstore.
All stuffed animals will be donated to THON and other local children’s organizations.

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

This weekend marks the 41st and 42nd meetings all-time between the two programs with Ohio State holding the 21-15-4 edge including a 9-5-2 record all-time at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Buckeyes won the season series last year taking 10 of the 12 possible points with a 3-0-1 record in the four regular season battles, however, Penn State defeated Ohio State two games to one in the best-of-three Big Ten quarterfinals in Columbus last March becoming the first road team in Big Ten history to win a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
Penn State hasn’t beat Ohio State on home ice in regulation in over three years dating back to a 5-4 win on November 22, 2019. The Nittany Lions are 0-2-1 in their last three home games against Ohio State with a shootout win. The 2020-21 home series against the Buckeyes was canceled due to a Covid-19 outbreak within the Nittany Lion program.
Senior Kevin Wall leads all Nittany Lions with four career goals against Ohio State while adding two assists for six points in 13 games while Jimmy Dowd Jr. has also added six points on one goal and five assists in eight career games. Sophomores Ben Schoen and Ryan Kirwan each had success in seven games against the Buckeyes last season with five and four points respectively, while Schoen also collected the game-winning shootout score at Pegula last January. Both Connor McMenamin and Connor MacEachern have each added two goals and two assists for four points in their careers against OSU.
Junior Liam Souliere made five starts against the Buckeyes last season posting a 2-2-1 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage.
Both teams fare much better in the opening game of the series as Penn State is undefeated in the opening game of a series this year with a perfect 8-0-0 record while going 5-3-0 in series finales. Ohio State is 5-2-1 in series openers versus just 4-4-0 in the second game of a series. The Buckeyes snapped a string of three-straight series clinching losses with a 4-1 victory in game two against LIU on Saturday, however, after sweeping Wisconsin to open Big Ten play, OSU and PSU have each lost three-straight series finales in Big Ten play.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

The Buckeyes enter the weekend coming off a series split with LIU as the Sharks secured their first-ever win against a ranked team when they upset the Buckeyes 3-2 last Friday on Long Island. OSU rebounded for a 4-1 victory the following night. Ohio State has won just twice in its last seven games after starting the season 7-1-1.
Ohio State returns eight of its top-10 scorers from last season, however, 20-goal scorer Georgii Merkulov did not return to Columbus after his breakout freshman season with 34 points as he signed an entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins back in May. The next three scorers did return in Mason Lohrei (29 points), Jake Wise (28 points) and Cam Thiesing (25 points).
Through 16 games this season the Buckeyes are paced by Wise with six goals and 11 assists for 17 points while freshman Stephen Halliday has added 13 points on four goals and nine assists. Lohrei has yet to find the back of the net but he is tied with Wise for the team lead with 11 assists while pacing the blueline with 17 blocked shots.
The reigning Big Ten Goaltender of the Year, Jakub Dobes, returns between the pipes for Ohio State and has started all 16 games this season posting a 2.31 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage to rank fourth and fifth in the conference, respectively.
Ohio State is a heavily penalized team ranking third in the Big Ten and 11th nationally with 197 PIM’s through the first 16 games this season. Conversely Penn State ranks last in the Big Ten and 51st nationally with only 115 PIM’s in the same amount of contests.
The Buckeye penalty kill leads the Big Ten and ranks second nationally at 92.1 percent (58-for-63) while also scoring a national best six shorthanded goals with two from Davis Burnside.
The OSU powerplay has also been successful in the first half of the season ranking third in the Big Ten and tied for 22nd nationally converting at 21.7 percent (15-for-67).

MOVIN’ ON UP

Penn State is back up to its season-high No. 6 ranking in the latest USCHO.com poll while also moving into the top-5 with a No. 5 ranking in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Poll. The No. 5 ranking is the highest the Nittany Lions have been ranked in over three years dating back to November 18, 2019.

WINNERS WIN

Penn State’s 13 wins are tied for the most through the first 16 games in program history dating back to a 13-2-1 start during the 2016-17 season. The 16 games played by November 23 marks the earliest in a season Penn State has played 16 games. During the 2016-17 season the Nittany Lions didn’t reach their 16th game until January 6.

SIZZLING SARLO

Junior Christian Sarlo has found his groove of late registering nine of his 10 points this season over the past eight games with four goals and five assists including his first two multi-point games of the season the past two weeks.
Sarlo has at least one point in seven of his last eight games and is currently riding a career-best three-game assist streak and is just one game shy of his career-best point-streak achieved earlier this season.

SOULY SAVES

Junior Liam Souliere stopped 58-of-61 shots during a series sweep of Alaska including a 33-save effort in a 2-1 victory in the series finale. He posted a .951 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average for the week.
Souliere currently leads the nation with his 11 wins while his 2.06 goal-against average and .924 save percentage are good for first and second in the Big Ten and 14th and 15th nationally.
Souliere becomes just the fourth different Nittany Lion net-minder to record double-digit wins in a season as he moves past Oskar Autio ’22 for the sixth-most victories in a single-season all-time with 11. His 20 career victories also move him past Eamon McAdam for the fourth-most all-time.

BEST OFFENSE IS A GREAT DEFENSE

Penn State enters the weekend with the second lowest goals-against average in the Big Ten allowing just 2.38 goals per contest only behind Michigan State at 2.31. The Nittany Lions are tied for 13th in the nation with their goals-against average and have allowed more than three goals in a game just three times this season.
Penn State is also 5-1-0 this season in games decided by one goal or less after going just 3-7-1 in such games last season with two of those victories coming against Ohio State in the Big Ten Quarterfinals as each game was decided by one goal.
Offensively the Nittany Lions have scored 60 goals, the fourth most in the nation, while averaging 3.75 goals per contest to tie for fourth in the nation. Both marks are tied for third in the Big Ten behind both Michigan and Minnesota.

TURNING THE TIDES ON THE POWERPLAY

After scoring just a single man-advantage goal over a 10-game stretch going 1-for-27 in the process, the Nittany Lion powerplay has contributed to a pair of victories over the last four games as Penn State has scored at least one man-advantage tally in three of its last four games, going 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) over the past two weeks.
Two of those goals have come from Ryan Kirwan in each game last week against Alaska while a powerplay goal with under a minute to go by Tyler Gratton two weeks ago against Michigan State proved to be the game-winner. Both goals in a 2-1 victory over Alaska last Wednesday came on the powerplay with the second being a game-winner in the third period from Ben Schoen.

PARKING INFORMATION

Like last season, parking for Penn State men’s ice hockey games at Pegula Ice Arena will be available at the following locations beginning two hours prior to the start of the game: Stadium West, Jordan East and Porter North.
There is no charge for those patrons will a valid Penn State parking permit.
Prepaid parking is available through the ParkMobile App for $5.50…