UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 9/8 Penn State men's ice hockey team welcomes the University of Alaska-Fairbanks to Pegula Ice Arena for the first time this weekend for a pair of 7 p.m. contests on Thursday and Friday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, October 17 | Friday, October 18
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Thursday at 7 p.m. | Friday at 7 p.m.
Tickets: Thursday | Friday
BTN+ Video ($): Thursday | Friday
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both Games)
Game Notes: Penn State | Alaska
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- The University of Alaska-Fairbanks makes its first-ever trip to Hockey Valley this weekend marking just the second and third meetings all-time between the two schools and the first in five years.
- Penn State traveled to The Last Frontier for the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament earning a 3-3 tie vs. Anchorage before falling to Fairbanks, 4-3, the following night.
- Penn State is 6-1-3 all-time vs. the WCHA with the lone loss being to the Nanooks five years ago. This marks the first series vs. a WCHA opponent since November 11-12, 2016, a weekend sweep of Alaska-Anchorage.
SCOUTING ALASKA
- The Nanooks enter the weekend coming off a sweep at Michigan Tech, the first wins over the Huskies since 2014 snapping a 16-game losing streak against Tech.
- Alaska returns its top eight scorers from a season ago, however, no player reached double-digit goals. The Nanooks were paced by Steven Jandric with nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points. Alaska scored just 72 goals during the 2018-19 season averaging 2.00 per game.
- Junior defenseman Chris Jandric earned WCHA Defenseman of the Week honors after scoring both game-winning goals last weekend at Tech. Jandric is the only Nanook with multiple goals through the opening four games this season. Seven different players have registered goals through the opening two weekends. Jandric is also one of three players tied for the team lead with three points joining Max Newton and Kyle Marino.
- Sophomore Gustavs Grigals has started each of the last three games for the Nanooks after senior Anton Martinsson got the opening night nod. The sophomore has compiled a 2-1-0 record with a .931 save percentage and a 1.69 goals against average, both rank top-20 in the nation among goalies with multiple starts this season.
- Alaska's penalty kill unit has also shined early this season allowing just a single goal in 22 chances for a 95.5 percent success rate ranking 13th in the nation, but second among teams with at least 10 power-play chances against. The Nanook power-play, however, is on the other end of the spectrum ranking 44th converting just one of 21 chances for a 4.8 percent success rate.
MOVIN' ON UP
- Penn State moved up four spots to No. 9 in the latest USCHO.com poll marking the first time since last December they have cracked the top-10. The Nittany Lions also received one first-place vote marking the eighth week in program history the Nittany Lions have secured at least one first-place vote.
HELLO, OLD FRIEND
- Last Saturday, head coach Guy Gadowsky earned his 300th career victory almost 20 years to the date of his first NCAA victory on October 9, 1999 a 5-1 victory over Ohio State when he was the Bench Boss for the Alaska Nanooks. Gadowsky spent the first five years of his head coaching career in Alaska compiling a 68-89-22 record with the Nanooks. He was inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame in September 2014.
- Gadowsky is now the 13th active coach to hit the 300-win mark and he is just 18 wins shy of cracking the top-50 all-time winningest Division I coaches list.
- Gadowsky also ranks second among active Big Ten coaches only behind Notre Dame's Jeff Jackson (503).
OPENING NIGHT ICE TUDDY
- The eight goals scored last Friday night were the most by a Nittany Lion team in a season opener in program history and marked the 20th time that Penn State has scored at least seven goals in a single contest all-time. PSU accomplished this feat seven times during the 2018-19 season.
- Penn State added five goals on Saturday night improving to 69-1-1 in program history when scoring at least five goals in a game.
MILESTONE WATCH
- Senior classmates Denis Smirnov and Brandon Biro are inching closer and closer to the 100-point milestone for their careers currently sitting at 98 and 97 points, respectively.
- Both players rank fifth and sixth on the Penn State all-time points list while Smirnov is tied for fourth in the nation among active players and Biro ranks sixth.
BLUE-LINE BEAUTY
- Junior defenseman Cole Hults opened the 2019-20 season in a big way last Friday registering the eighth hat-trick in program history, but just the first by a Nittany Lion defenseman. Hults also became the first Big Ten defenseman in over three years to accomplish that feat.
- All eight "Hockey Valley Hat-Trick's" have taken place on home ice with the last seven happening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
- Hults added a shorthanded goal and one assist on Saturday for a five-point weekend and was named the Big Ten's Third Star of the Week on Tuesday.
- Hults currently leads the nation for defenseman with his four goals and five points while ranking tied for second and 11th among all players in the nation.
- The junior made some moves up the Penn State all-time scoring list for defensemen with his big weekend and now ranks fifth in points and fourth in goals with 53 and 13, respectively. Hults is now just seven points shy of Luke Juha's '16 program record of 60.
NATE THE GREAT
- Senior Nate Sucese also had himself a productive weekend collecting a pair of goals while adding five assists for seven points. His seven points are tops in the nation while his five assists tie for the most in the country with a trio of other individuals.
- Sucese currently ranks third among active players in the country with 109 points trailing only Minnesota State's Marc Michaelis (121) and Ohio State's Tanner Laczynski (110).His 52 goals are also just two shy of Michaelis for the national lead among active players.
- Sucese also crept up the Penn State all-time scoring list moving into third all-time with his 109 points just nine behind Chase Berger '19 (118) and 19 behind David Goodwin '17 (128). The senior also moved into second all-time on the Penn State goals list with 52 and is currently just two shy of Andrew Sturtz's program record.
SUCESE -> BIRO -> BACK OF THE NET
- Biro and Sucese exploded for 13 points last weekend on four goals and nine assists with each player having the primary assist for the other on all four goals.
- Last weekend marked the first time since last November that the duo played on the same line, but with 48 career games as linemates over the past three seasons the duo has now assisted one another on 26 goals including 21 primary helpers.
NEXT UP
- Penn State has a single contest next Friday when the Robert Morris Colonials come to town for a 7 p.m. puck drop. That series will conclude in Pittsburgh with a single contest on Saturday, January 11 at PPG Paints Arena.
For more information on the 2019-20 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.