No. 8/7 Men's Hockey Travels to No. 1/1 Minnesota for B1G SeriesNo. 8/7 Men's Hockey Travels to No. 1/1 Minnesota for B1G Series
Mark Selders

No. 8/7 Men's Hockey Travels to No. 1/1 Minnesota for B1G Series

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – No. 8/7 Penn State battles the top-ranked team in the nation for the second consecutive week with a trip to Minnesota for a Thursday-Friday Big Ten hockey series at 3M Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, November 10 | Friday, November 11
Place: 3M Arena | Minneapolis, Minnesota
Time: THU: 8:00 p.m. (ET) | FRI: 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Streaming Video: Thursday | Friday
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Minnesota

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 39th and 40th meetings all-time between the two programs with Minnesota holding the 21-16-1 edge, however, dating back to Penn State's 4-3 victory in double overtime of the 2017 Big Ten Tournament semifinals, the Nittany Lions are 13-8-1 in the last 22 meetings.
  • Penn State is just 6-13-0 all-time at Mariucci Arena including a 3-2 setback last March during the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The Gophers went 4-1-0 against the Nittany Lions last season including four-straight victories after Penn State took game one of the series 5-3 at Mariucci last November.
  • Minnesota enters the weekend ranked No. 1 in both national polls marking the second consecutive week the Nittany Lions will battle the top-ranked team in the nation after going more than five years since facing a No. 1 ranked team when they lost to Denver, 6-3, in the 2017 Midwest Regional Final in Cincinnati, Ohio. Following its 3-0 victory against Michigan last Friday, Penn State registered its first-ever win against a No. 1 team as the Nittany Lions are now 1-4-0 all-time when playing the top team in the country.
  • Last Friday's victory was the first for Penn State against a top-5 ranked team since a 9-1 win against No. 5 Notre Dame on December 8, 2018. The Nittany Lions are just 6-28-2 all-time against teams ranked in the top-5 including an 1-9-0 record against the Gophers when they are inside the top-5 with the lone victory coming in double-overtime during the 2017 Big Ten semifinals. Penn State is 0-2-0 against a No. 1 ranked Minnesota team with those losses coming at Pegula Ice Arena in January 2014.
  • This weekend not only marks a top-10 matchup in rankings between No. 1 Minnesota and No. 8 Penn State, but it is a top-10 scoring matchup as well with Penn State averaging 4.30 goals per game through 10 games this season to rank second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation while Minnesota ranks third in the Big Ten and tied for seventh in the nation averaging 3.80 goals per game.
  • This week marks just the third such series where Penn State and Minnesota have faced each other with both teams ranked inside the top-10. The other four contests came during the 2016-17 season with Minnesota winning all four games.
  • Senior Kevin Wall leads all Nittany Lions with 10 points on five goals and five assists in 11 career games against Minnesota. Classmate Connor MacEachern has five points on one goal and four assists in 11 games of his own against the Gophers.
  • Sophomore Ryan Kirwan registered three goals and one assist for four points in five games against the Gophers last year while classmate Ben Schoen added four assists in five games.
  • Junior Liam Souliere has only faced the Gophers three times in his career with an 0-3-0 record to go along with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

  • The Gophers are ranked No. 1 in the nation in both polls for the second time in three weeks after sweeping No. 12 Notre Dame last weekend in Minneapolis. Minnesota is 7-3-0 on the season and 3-1-0 in the Big Ten with its lone loss coming at the hands of Ohio State two weeks ago in Columbus.
  • Like Michigan, Minnesota lost three of its top-5 scorers from a season ago including Big Ten Player of the Year Ben Meyers who paced the Gophers with 17 goals and 41 points. Blake McLaughlin and Sammy Walker also departed Minnesota after combining for 27 goals in 2021-22.
  • The Gophers have added a few young weapons to go with a strong returning cast and are paced on offense by freshman Jimmy Snuggerud with eight goals and 12 points. His eight goals are tied for second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally.
  • Minnesota also returns a pair of Olympians in Matthew Knies and Brock Faber. Knies is currently second on the team with seven goals and 11 points while Faber leads the blue line along with Jackson LaCombe with the latter pacing the team with eight assists while adding three goals for 11 points. Faber has six points through 10 games so far this season while wearing the 'C' for the Gophers.
  • Snuggerud's 12 points are good for third in the Big Ten while Knies and LaCombe rank tied for fourth with their 11 points.
  • The biggest surprise of the 2021-22 season, Justen Close, returns between the pipes for Minnesota and was just named the Big Ten's Second Star of the Week after stopping 45-of-46 shots and falling just 46.1 seconds shy of back-to-back shutouts in a weekend sweep over Notre Dame. Close has started eight of the 10 games this season including all four in Big Ten play and has a 6-3-0 record with a 1.84 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. Close's goals-against average is good for second in the Big Ten behind Souliere and 11th nationally while his save percentage places him fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 23rd in the nation.
  • Minnesota has the second deadliest powerplay in the Big Ten behind Michigan as the Gophers convert 22.5 percent (9-for-40) of their man-advantage opportunities.
  • Minnesota ranks seventh in the nation averaging 3.8 goals per game, however, the Gophers have only scored six goals (16 percent) in the first period this season. Minnesota tends to come on strong after the opening 20 minutes having scored 17 goals (45 percent) in the second period and 14 in the third.

LIGHT THE LAMPPA

  • Junior Xander Lamppa is currently riding a career-long four-game point streak and a three-game goal scoring streak and has registered six of his seven points this season over the past two weekends during Big Ten Play with three goals and three assists for six points.
  • Lamppa's six points in conference play this season are tied for the Big Ten lead with Minnesota's Jimmy Snuggerud while his three goals are tied for the second most during league play.
  • Lamppa has also been a force in the face-off dot this season ranking first in the Big Ten and eighth nationally out of centermen who average at least five draws a game as he is winning at a 62.5 percent (50-for-80) clip.
  • Since Lamppa made the move to center prior to the St. Thomas series, his line with Christian Sarlo and Tyler Paquette has registered 12 points on five goals and seven assists with a plus-6 rating in five games.

DEPTH FINDER

  • Through the first 10 games of the season Penn State has seen 17 different players score a goal and 23 different players register a point to lead the nation in both categories ahead of Michigan which has 16 unique goal scorers and 21 players who have registered a point through its first 10 games of the season.

I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE SUUL-EE-AIR TONIGHT

  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere registered his second-straight shutout last Friday against Michigan marking the first time in program history that Penn State has had back-to-back shutouts as a team. Over the opening two weeks of Big Ten play, Souliere compiled a scoreless streak of 184:55 from October 28 through November 5, the longest such streak in Penn State history.
  • Souliere currently leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth nationally with his 1.63 goals-against average while his .937 save percentage is good for second in the Big Ten and tied for seventh nationally. Souliere's seven victories tie his career-high from last season and also tie a pair of Big Ten foes in Jakub Dobes and Erik Portillo for the national lead.
  • In four Big Ten games Souliere's numbers improve to a 1.25 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage to rank first and third in the Big Ten, respectively.

COMPLIMENTARY DEFENSE

  • Not only does Penn State rank in the top-5 nationally on the offensive side of the ice, the Nittany Lions currently lead the Big Ten and rank tied for sixth in the nation allowing just 2.00 goals per contest through the opening 10 games of the season.
  • On top of that, Penn State is averaging just over three penalties per game for 7.1 minutes the fewest in the Big Ten as the Nittany Lions trail only Dartmouth's 6.0 penalty minutes a game for the fewest in the nation.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State returns home as Big Ten play rolls on with a visit from Michigan State next Friday and Saturday evening.

For more information on the 2022-23 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: 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.