WEST POINT, N.Y. – In the aftermath of the Penn State vs. Maine series cancellation, the Nittany Lions will now travel to Army West Point for a single contest on New Year's Day. Puck drop is slated for 5:05 p.m.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Saturday, January 1
Place: Tate Rink | West Point, N.Y.
Time: Sat: 5:00 p.m.
Streaming Video: Saturday
Listen: Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks just the third and fourth meetings of the Modern Era between Penn State and Army with the Nittany Lions having won both prior matchups in 2012 and 2013 outscoring the Black Knights 9-1.
- This is the first meeting between Penn State and Army since opening night at Pegula Ice Arena in October 2013 when the Nittany Lions secured the 4-1 victory over the Black Knights in front of a capacity crowd of 6,370, the second-largest crowd in building history.
- This marks the second meeting all-time between the two programs at Tate Rink with Penn State winning 5-0 back in 2012 in just its fourth game as a newly minted NCAA Division I program.
- Army does have a pair of victories against Penn State dating back to the first Varsity Era in 1944 and 1947 when Penn State played just two and three games, respectively, during those two seasons and lost all five.
- Penn State is just 5-4-0 all-time in its first game immediately following the holiday break, however, the Nittany Lions are 4-0-0 in such games over the past four seasons but have only secured the series sweep against Niagara during the 2019-20 season.
- This weekend also marks the first time in the ten-year history of the program that Penn State has played a game New Year's Day.
- Penn State is 66-26-9 all-time in regular season nonconference games since joining the Big Ten prior to the 2013-14 season including an 8-1-0 record so far this season. The Nittany Lions are an impressive 54-12-5 in nonconference games since the beginning of the 2015-16 season for an eye-popping .807 winning percentage. Penn State has won 10 or more nonconference games twice before during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons with records of 10-3-3 and 11-2-1, respectively.
- The Nittany Lions have an all-time .717 winning percentage in regular season nonconference games since the start of the 2013-14 season, the best winning percentage in the Big Ten. PSU's 54 nonconference wins dating back to the start of the 2015-16 season are 11 more than the 43 Michigan has registered over that same timespan.
SCOUTING ARMY
- Army won three-straight contests entering winter break outscoring its opponents 14-4 in those games, a 4-1 victory over Sacred Heart and a weekend sweep at RIT. The Black Knights went 7-7-2 in the first half of the season including a 4-1-1 record on home ice. After dropping its home opener 4-3 against RIT back in October, Army is unbeaten (4-0-1) in its last five home games.
- The Black Knights return seven of their top-10 scorers from the 2020-21 season including leading scorer Colin Bilek who had a career year last season as a junior leading the team with 18 goals and 25 points. His 18 goals were good for tops in Atlantic Hockey and third in the nation behind only Cole Caufield (30) and Sampo Ranta (19).
- Bilek once again leads the Black Knights so far this season with 14 points on six goals and a team-best eight assists. Anthony Firriolo paces Army with seven goals on the year and is second on the team with 12 points.
- The Black Knights also began the year without its top goalie from a season ago with the graduation of Trevin Kozlowski after he recorded a 14-4-1 record with a 1.91 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage in 20 games.
- After not seeing any game action as a freshman in 2020-21, Gavin Abric has burst onto the college hockey scene after not playing in the first two games of the season he has started 14-straight posting a 7-5-2 record with a 2.07 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. Both marks are second in Atlantic Hockey behind Bentley's Evan DeBrouwer and rank 12th and seventh in the nation, respectively.
- The Black Knight PK has been strong so far this season ranking atop Atlantic Hockey killing off 85.2 percent (46-for-54) of opponents' man-advantage opportunities, a mark good for 16th nationally.
TURN UP THE AUTIO
- With his 19th career victory in the series finale against Wisconsin, senior goaltender Oskar Autio moved past Eamon McAdam for third all-time at Penn State. The senior's .514 winning percentage also ranks third all time.
- Autio is just 16 saves shy of 1,000 for his career which would make him the fourth Nittany Lion netminder all-time to hit that milestone. Autio currently has a .901 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average while his eight victories this year are just one shy of his career-high nine achieved last season.
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO I CAN DO BETTER
- Junior Connor MacEachern had his career-long four-game point streak and three-game goal streak snapped in the series opener at Wisconsin, but came right back the next night tallying his 11th goal of the season to open the scoring in Saturday night's overtime victory. MacEachern has now scored a goal in five of his last seven games. The junior's 17 points are also a new career-best.
- MacEachern's 11 goals briefly gave him the team lead, but just over six minutes later classmate Kevin Wall potted his 11th of the season tying the duo for the team lead once again. The duo's 11 goals tie them with three others for the Big Ten lead and rank tied for 11th nationally while their 17 points are tied for tenth in the conference.
- MacEachern's four powerplay goals this season are tied for second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally and are already tied for the 10th most in a single-season in program history just two shy of the Penn State single-season record of six held by four different individuals.
- Penn State is 9-3-0 this season when MacEachern gets on the statsheet and a perfect 5-0-0 when he registers multiple points.
GOLDEN GOAL
- Senior Captain Paul DeNaples scored the overtime winner against Wisconsin last time out giving Penn State the 5-4 victory. The goal for DeNaples was his first since February 14, 2020 coincidentally enough that goal was also scored against Wisconsin at the Kohl Center. DeNaples went 635 days between goals.
- The goal gave DeNaples 31 points for his career, tying him with Connor Varley for eighth all-time among defensemen in Penn State history.
- DeNaples leads the team with a +9 rating so far this season while his +47 all-time mark is tied for third in Penn State history just +3 behind program leader Andrew Sturtz.
SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS...EVERYBODY
- Penn State is averaging 38.2 shots per game which leads the nation paced by freshman Ryan Kirwan's national best 81 shots for an average of 4.26 per game. The rookie is on pace for 150 shots this season which would be the third most in a single-season in Penn State history.
- Kevin Wall ranks tied for fifth in the nation with 74 shots for an average of 3.90 per game. Kirwan and Wall rank one and two in the Big Ten in shots per game.
YOU CAN'T SCORE IF YOU PASS
- Penn State is averaging 3.42 goals per game, a mark good for second in the Big Ten and 13th nationally. With 65 goals this season the Nittany Lions also rank second in the conference but are ninth in the nation.
- Each of Penn State's 11 wins this season have come when they have scored at least three goals including a perfect 10-0-0 record when scoring four or more goals.
- Penn State is also now 89-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals and have won 31-straight games when doing so, including all seven so far this season, with the last and only loss coming at Wisconsin on December 1, 2018, an 8-5 defeat.
NEXT UP
- Penn State returns home and resumes Big Ten play with a weekend series against Notre Dame on January 7-8.
For more information on the 2021-22 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.