THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

• This week marks the 38th and 39th meetings all-time between Penn State and Notre Dame with the Irish holding the 21-10-6 record including an 8-4-4 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. Both games in Hockey Valley last season went to the shootout with the Irish winning the first and Penn State winning the second.
• The Nittany Lions took 4-of-6 points back in January with a shootout loss at the Frozen Confines and a 3-0 shutout in South Bend. Freshman Charlie Cerrato scored a pair of goals in the latter.
• Senior Danny Dzhaniyev leads all Nittany Lions with three goals and three assists for six points in 13 career games against Notre Dame while classmate Dylan Lugris also has three goals in 11 career games against the Irish. Sophomore classmates Aiden Fink and Matt DiMarsico have chipped in with identical stat lines of 2-3-5 in six games against Notre Dame while Tyler Paquette has added two goals and four assists in 13 games against the Irish.
• Penn State has capitalized on strong second periods all season long, outscoring opponents by 11 goals over the second 20 minutes of action leading to a perfect 13-0-0 record when leading after two periods of play.
• Conversely, The Irish are being outscored by 21 goals over the final two periods of play this season after outscoring their opposition in the first period and scoring first in 18 of 28 games. In Big Ten only games, ND is being outscored by 25 goals over the course of the second and third periods including an 18-5 mark in the third period alone.
• Penn State is the 12th-youngest team in the nation with an average age of 21 years and nine months while Notre Dame’s average age of 22 years on the dot places them as the 19th youngest team in the country.

B1G BENCH BOSSES

• This weekend pits two of the winningest coaches of all-time against one another as Jeff Jackson, in his final season, leads all active coaches and ranks 9th all-time with 598 victories.
• Guy Gadowsky secured career wins No. 395 and 396 last weekend moving past former Wisconsin and CC head man Bob Johnson for 31st all-time while current Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore sits at 399 and counting.
• Among active coaches, Gadowsky ranks 12th and sits behind only Jackson and Bob Motzko in the Big Ten.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME

• The Irish enter the weekend with just three wins in their last games since the calendar flipped to 2025 and have just four wins over their last 21 games. Notre Dame is just 9-18-1 on the year and 3-7-0 on the road with only three conference wins overall including just one in regulation and just one on the road, a 4-3 overtime win at Minnesota last month.
• The Irish returned 19 student-athletes from the 2023-24 roster, including two 20+ point scorers from a season ago in Danny Nelson (9-14-23) and Cole Knuble (9-11-20). However, they lost four of their top-six scorers including 20-goal scorer Landon Slaggert who led the team with 31 points and Patrick Moynihan who ranked second with 24.
• Notre Dame is paced offensively by sophomore Cole Knuble who leads the Irish with 28 points, good for 12th in the Big Ten, on nine goals and a team-best 19 assists, tied for sixth in the conference. Knuble had a seven-game point streak snapped last Saturday against Ohio State, however, he still has 10 points (2G, 8A) over his last eight games after being held off the scoresheet in two games against these same Nittany Lions to open the New Year.
• Danny Nelson leads the Irish with 11 goals while both Justin Janicke and Blake Biondi have tacked on 10 each, Janicke ranks second on the team with 24 points.
• Mercyhurst transfer Owen Say has taken the reigns between the pipes for the Irish, following the departure of Ryan Bischel, starting 17 of the teams 28 games played, however, Say and freshman Nicholas Kempf have split time evenly in the second half of the season. Say has the slightly better numbers posting a 7-10-0 record with a .917 save percentage and a 2.87 goals-against average.
• Notre Dame’s 2.68 goals per game places them last in the Big Ten and 41st nationally while they are allowing 3.32 goals per game which is the second-most in the Big Ten and the seventh most in the nation.
• The Irish powerplay has struggled in the second half of the season converting on just 4-of-28 powerplay chances (14 percent). For the year they are 18-for-81 (22.2 percent) on the man-advantage to rank fifth in the Big Ten.