NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The seventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions will travel to Massachusetts this weekend to battle Merrimack and No. 15 UMass-Lowell as part of the inaugural Turkey Leg Classic.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, November 29 | Saturday, November 30
Place: Lawler Rink | Tsongas Center
Time: Friday at 7 p.m. | Saturday at 6 p.m.
Streaming Video ($): Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Friday | Saturday
Game Notes: Penn State | Merrimack | UMass-Lowell
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State travels to Massachusetts for just the second time in program history and its first trip to The Bay State in five years as they will participate in the inaugural edition of the Turkey Leg Classic hosted jointly by Merrimack College and UMass-Lowell.
- The Nittany Lions will battle Merrimack for the first time in program history on Friday night before concluding the weekend the following night at UMass-Lowell. This marks just the fifth meeting against the River Hawks with UML holding the 3-1-0 all-time record.
- The last meeting between Penn State and UMass-Lowell was significant as Guy Gadowsky earned his 200th career victory and with the River Hawks ranked No. 4 at the time it marked the highest ranked opponent Penn State had defeated up to that point in history. It was also PSU's only victory over a top-5 ranked opponent for two more years.
- RPI is the fourth team making the trip to Massachusetts this weekend as the Engineers will play UML on Friday before finishing against the Warriors on Saturday.
- The tournament format is three 20-minute periods with a mandated NCAA five-minute, 5-on-5 overtime period to follow. If the game remains tied a sudden death shootout will take place where the same shooter can be used as much as warranted.
- The winner of the tournament will be determined by number of wins. In the event that the number of wins is not enough to determine a Tournament Champion the tiebreaker system will be as follows.Head-to-head, fewest goals against, Points (3 for a regulation win, 2 for an overtime win, 1 for a shootout win) and highest goal differential over the entire tournament.
SCOUTING MERRIMACK
- Merrimack enters the weekend winless over its last two weekends with a pair of ties and a pair of losses against Northeastern and UMass. Overall, the Warriors are just 2-8-2 this season .
- Merrimack is without the services of four of its top-10 scorers from last season as only one player registered 20-plus points and double-digit goals from that 2018-19 squad. Chase Gresock led the Warriors last season with 11 goals and 24 points, but in six games this season he has managed just two goals.
- Merrimack doesn't have a single player with double-digit points through the first 12 games of the season led by Tyler Irvine and Declan Carlile with eight points each. Irvine leads the team with five goals as the only player with more than two goals on the year.
- Between the pipes a trio of freshmen have already seen game action with Jere Huhtamaa and Troy Kobryn splitting most of the time. Kobryn has the better numbers with a .905 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average on the season.
- The Warriors have struggled putting the puck in the net this season as well as keeping it out of their own net ranking near the bottom of the NCAA on both sides of the puck scoring just 2.17 goals per game to rank tied for 46th while allowing 3.58 per game to tie for 53rd. Merrimack has scored more than two goals just four times this season and only once in its last eight games.
- Special teams have also been lackluster ranking near the middle of the pack with a 16 percent (8-for-50) power-play and an 81.1 percent (43-for-53) PK, good for 38th and 34th, respectively.
SCOUTING UMASS-LOWELL
- UMass Lowell is 7-3-4 / 4-1-3 after earning just one of four points in a weekend series against UConn, November 15-16.The River Hawks are tied for second place in Hockey East.The team is ranked 15th in the USCHO Poll and receiving votes in the USA Today Poll.
- Freshman Matt Brown leads the team with 16-points on five goals and 11 assists asfour of the River Hawks top seven scorers are all freshmen including leading goal scorer Carl Berglund who has six tallies while adding seven assists for 13 points.
- Goalie Tyler Wall has started 13 of the team's 14 games posting a 1.72 goals against average and a .944 save percentage good for fifth and sixth in the nation, respectively, leading Hockey East in both.He appeared in 22 of the team's 37-games a year ago and posted a 2.09 goals against average and a .921 save percentage. He is also second in the country in saves in the third period and overtime.Wall has stopped 146 of 155 shots (.944) in the final 25 minutes of hockey.
- Forward Colin O'Neill has skated in 100 consecutive games. That is the longest active consecutive games streak on the River Hawk roster.
- UMass Lowell has played eleven games decided by one-goal or less with six of its first 14 games going into overtime.Seven of those eleven came consecutively and is the most one-goal games in a row the River Hawks have ever played in their 53 years of hockey.The team was 3-2-2 in that stretch and is 4-3-4 in one-goal games this season.
- The UMass Lowell rookie class is the second highest scoring freshmen class in the country.Only Wisconsin has received more scoring from their freshman class.River Hawk freshmen has scored 18-goals and 22-assists for 40-points.Wisconsin has 48-points on 21-goals and 27-assists.
- UMass Lowell is the top defensive team in Hockey East.The River Hawks have a 1.93 goals against average, good for seventh nationally.UMass Lowell has allowed no more than two-goals in ten of its fourteen games.
HELLO AGAIN, HELLO
- Junior Evan Bell will be making his first trip back to Merrimack after transferring to Penn State prior to the start of the 2018-19 season. Bell appeared in five games with the Warriors during the 2017-18 season before returning to the USHL prior to enrolling at Penn State.
- Bell collected a pair of assists as a member of the Warriors, both on the road at New Hampshire. The junior dressed in just two home games at Lawler Rink. Since becoming eligible for the Nittany Lions in January, Bell has skated in 30-of-34 games scoring one goal with 11 assists for 12 points.
TOP 'NATE' DOGG
- Senior Nate Sucese continues to lead the Big Ten with 20 points this season, four points clear of Wisconsin's Cole Caufield, with six goals and a conference best 14 assists.
- Sucese is tied for the Big Ten lead among active players with 122 career points good for second nationally while his 56 career goals are just one shy of Minnesota State's Marc Michaelis for the national lead.
- Sucese enters the weekend just six points shy of the Penn State program record of 128 held by David Goodwin '17.
B1G LEADERS
- Penn State is three points clear of Notre Dame leading the Big Ten with 18 points and a 6-2-0-0 record. The Nittany Lions also have the top eight scorers in league games this season led by Evan Barratt's 11 points in eight games while Sam Strernschein's eight goals in eight games leads the conference.
- Penn State is averaging 4.75 goals per game over its eight conference games this season to lead the Big Ten a full 1.92 goals clear of second place Michigan State. The Nittany Lions have also made a vast improvement this season and are allowing just 2.75 goals per game in conference action compared to 4.00 last season.
- Nationally, Penn State ranks second in the nation in scoring averaging 4.62 goals per game while allowing just 2.54.
BFL STREAKING INTO THANKSGIVING
- After a slow start to the season, the BFL line has started clicking again in conference play having accounted for 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points in eight games while each member of the trio is currently riding a five-game point streak.
- Barratt has multiple points in four of the last five games while Limoges has three multi-point efforts over his last five games.
- Folkes is currently riding a career-long four-game goal streak to go along with his five-game point-streak and with 42 career goals he is just two goals behind David Goodwin '17 for sixth on the Penn State all-time goals list.
- Limoges recently jumped into the top-10 in each offensive category at Penn State ranking eighth in both points (85) and assists (49) while his 36 career goals are good for tenth all-time.
- Barratt's 0.99 points per game mark for his career places him atop the Penn State record books while Limoges 0.96 ranks him fourth.
IT'S STERNY TIME
- Junior Sam Sternschein has collected at least one goal in six of his last eight games with a pair of multi-goal games to lead Penn State with nine goals this season.
- His nine goals tie his career-high from last season along with Cole Caufield for the Big Ten lead while ranking tied for sixth in the nation. Sternschein's eight goals in conference play also lead the Big Ten by three.
- Sternschein earned his first career weekly honor this past week after collecting a career-high three points on two goals, including the game-winner, and one assist last Friday against Ohio State.
COLE IN YOUR STOCKING
- Last Friday, junior Cole Hults collected a pair of assists tying him with Luke Juha '16 for the Penn State all-time record for points by a defenseman with 60. His 47 career assists also rank him tenth all-time at Penn State and third among defensemen.
- Hults' 12 points this season are tied for the Big Ten lead and rank tied for fifth nationally among defensemen.
SECOND PERIOD SURGE
- Penn State's strongest period this season has been the second period as they are outscoring opponents 22-11 over the middle twenty minutes including an 11-4 mark over the past two weekends.
- The Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten with their 22 second period goals and a +11 differential as they look to keep that trend going this weekend with the second period being the worst of the season for Merrimack with the Warriors allowing 17 second period tallies in 12 games with a -5 differential. UMass-Lowell, however, also plays its best hockey during the second period with 19 goals and a +8 goal differential.
MAN-ADVANTAGE MADNESS
- Penn State has dominated on the power-play early this season with a national best 18 goals on 52 chances to lead the nation with a 34.6 percent success rate. The Nittany Lions have scored at least one power-play goal in five-straight games and 9-of-13 games this season with multiple man-advantage tallies in five games.
- In conference only action, the Nittany Lions are converting at an even higher clip going 12-for-27 (44.4 percent) having scored at least one power-play goal in 7-of-8 Big Ten games this season.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions return to conference action with a trip to Yost Ice Arena to battle the Michigan Wolverines next Friday and Saturday evening with the opening contest airing live nationally on FS1 at 8:30 p.m.
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.