Fifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Battles No. 3 Ohio State in B1G SemifinalsFifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Battles No. 3 Ohio State in B1G Semifinals
Caleb Craig

Fifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Battles No. 3 Ohio State in B1G Semifinals

Penn State is making its ninth B1G semifinal appearance, the second-most all-time in the 12-year history of the league

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No. 11 Penn State at No. 10 Ohio State
Value City Arena | Columbus, Ohio

No. 11 Penn State at No. 10 Ohio State

No. 11 Penn State
No. 11 Penn State

20-12-4 | 9-11-4 B1G

at
No. 10 Ohio State
No. 10 Ohio State

23-12-2 | 14-9-1 B1G

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Fifth-seeded and No. 11 Penn State makes return trip to the Big Ten semifinals for the first time in three years, ninth overall, as the Nittany Lions travel to third-seeded and No. 10 Ohio State for Saturday night contest.

The winner will advance to the B1G Championship game next Saturday, March 22 and face either No. 1 Michigan State in East Lansing or host No. 7 Notre Dame.

Follow the Action

Follow the Action

Dates: Saturday, March 15
Place: Columbus, Ohio
Time: 8:30 p.m.
TV: B1G Network

Series Breakdown

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 56th meeting all-time between Penn State and Ohio State with the Buckeyes being the second most common opponent for the Nittany Lions behind Wisconsin.
  • Ohio State holds the 27-23-5 edge, including the slim 16-13-2 mark in Columbus after sweeping the series back in December. Penn State then secured a shootout win and overtime win in Hockey Valley back in January.
  • The Buckeyes are the most common playoff opponent for Penn State as this marks the ninth time the two have met in the postseason with each side having won four of the previous eight meetings. This is the third time in the past four seasons the two teams have met in the playoffs after matching up in the quarterfinals in both 2022 and 2023. Penn State won in three games in 2022 with the Buckeyes getting revenge in 2023 defeating the Nittany Lions in three games.
  • Penn State is 4-3 all-time in postseason play against Ohio State at Value City Arena with this contest marking the second time the two sides have met in the B1G Semifinals in this building. Penn State won in decisive fashion, 5-1, back in 2019 knocking off the top-seeded Buckeyes.
  • Penn State has won 10 of the last 17 games between the two schools dating back to the 2022 Big Ten Quarterfinals.
  • Excluding empty net goals, 16 of the last 19 meetings between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes have been one goal contests.
  • Penn State enters the weekend as the hottest team in college hockey having gone 12-2-2 over its last 16 games with the two ties resulting in shootout wins. Overall Penn State is 13-3-4 since the calendar flipped to 2025 with the 13 wins marking the most-ever for the Nittany Lions post-Christmas.
  • The .750 winning percentage in the second half is also the best showing all-time for the Nittany Lions.
  • Graduate student Jimmy Dowd Jr. leads all Nittany Lions with 14 points in his career against the Buckeyes scoring three goals while adding 11 assists in 21 career games.
  • Senior Danny Dzhaniyev has added nine points in 22 career games against the Buckeyes with six goals and three assists while Aiden Fink has five goals and three assists for eight points in six career games against the Buckeyes.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

  • The Buckeyes come into the weekend after a quarterfinal series victory over Wisconsin coming back from an opening game loss to win the next two and advance to the semifinal for the third-straight year and the 10th time overall.
  • Ohio State is 23-12-2 this season with only four losses on home ice all year, posting an impressive 15-4-1 mark in Columbus.
  • Ohio State is paced offensively by Northeastern transfer Gunnarwolfe Fontaine with 37 points on 14 goals and 23 assists. Fontaine has slowed on the goal front lately scoring just twice in his last 12 games. Alaska-Anchorage transfer Riley Thompson paces the Buckeyes with 17 goals on the year and has added 14 assists for 31 points.
  • Davis Burnisde and Max Montes have added 14 and 13 goals, respectively, for a team averaging 3.16 goals per game, a mark good for fourth in the Big Ten and 17th nationally.
  • Both Fontaine and Thompson have scored six powerplay goals each to pace a struggling man-advantage unit that has converted at just 18.1 percent (21-for-116) this season. Ohio State entered Hockey Valley near the end of January having scored at least one powerplay goal in nine-straight games, but since have converted just four times over the last 15 games going 4-for-37 (10.8 percent) during that stretch.
  • At 18.1 percent for the year with the man-advantage, Ohio State ranks last in the Big Ten and 42nd nationally while each of the other Big Ten schools rank in the top 23.
  • At the beginning of the season the Buckeyes had Kristoffer Eberly and Logan Terness splitting time between the pipes, however, dating back to the series against Penn State in Hockey Valley on January 24-25, Terness has started 11 of the last 15 games posting a 7-4-0 record in those 11. Overall, Terness is 11-8-1 this season and boasts the slightly better numbers with a .926 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average while Eberly is 12-4-1 this season with a .915 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-against average. Terness leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th nationally with his .926 save percentage while his goals-against average is good for second in the Big Ten and 22nd in the nation.
  • The Buckeye defense has been very stingy all year long allowing just 2.46 goals per game to rank second in the Big Ten and 16th in the nation.
MHKY-B1GAward-Finalists2

#B1GHOCKEY AWARD SEASON

  • Finalists for the five Big Ten major awards were announced on Wednesday with Penn State landing a finalist in each category.
  • Aiden Fink (Player of the Year), Simon Mack (Defensive Player of the Year), Arsenii Sergeev (Goaltender of the Year), Charlie Cerrato (Freshman of the Year) and Guy Gadowsky (Coach of the Year) were each named finalists with the award winners being announced next Tuesday, March 18.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, B1G STAGE

  • After defeating Michigan, Penn State has the second-most Big Ten semifinal appearances all-time reaching the final four nine times in the 12-year history of the league, just one shy of Ohio State and Minnesota with 10 each.
  • The Nittany Lions snapped the Wolverines five-straight semifinal appearances and three-straight championship showings with their sweep in Ann Arbor last weekend. The sweep was the first-ever for a visiting team in a best-of-three quarterfinal series since the conference adopted that format for the 2017-18 season. Penn State was also the first-ever road team to win a quarterfinal series outright when they defeated the Buckeyes in three games back in 2022.
  • The Nittany Lions have played the second-most Big Ten Tournament games with 29, behind only Michigan (30) and Ohio State (31). Penn State is 16-13-0 all-time in B1G Tournament contests. The 16 wins are the third-most Big Ten Tournament wins all-time trailing only Ohio State (17) and Michigan (20).
  • Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky’s 16 Big Ten Tournament wins are the second-most all-time one shy of OSU’s Steve Rohlik with 17.
  • Following its overtime victory last Friday, Penn State is 6-1 all-time in overtime games during the Big Ten Tournament with the lone loss coming in the 2020-21 semifinal round against Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have also played in the three longest games in tournament history, including their first-ever B1G Tournament game against Michigan in 2014, a 2-1 double-overtime win.

WE’VE GOT THE POWER

  • Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in five straight games and eight of its last nine going 10-for-32 (31.3 percent) during that stretch pushing its season total to 22.9 percent (30-for-131).
  • Taking things a step further, Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in 14 of its last 17 games.
  • While the Nittany Lions rank just fifth in the Big Ten in powerplay percentage, they rank 19th nationally as six of the top-23 powerplays reside in the Big Ten.
  • Penn State’s 30 PPG’s this season are tied for the Big Ten lead and rank tied for seventh nationally while ranking as the fourth-most in a single-season in Penn State history matching the 2017-18 team. They are the most man-advantage tallies in a season for the Nittany Lions since scoring 33 in 2018-19.

BLOCK PARTY

  • Penn State leads the Big Ten in blocks (518) and blocks per game (14.4) ranking eighth and sixth in the nation, respectively.
  • Freshman Cade Christenson leads the Big Ten averaging 1.95 blocks per game while his 68 blocks on the season are tied for the Big Ten best and rank tied for 12th in the nation.
  • Christenson had eight blocks last Saturday against Michigan and a season-high nine blocked shots in a 3-2 overtime win against Ohio State back on January 25. Christenson’s 68 blocks this season are tied for the ninth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.
  • Senior Simon Mack is second on the team with 58 blocks. Mack moved into eighth on the Penn State all-time blocks list last weekend with 171 now for his career.

START FAST, FINISH STRONG

  • Penn State has scored first in 22 of 36 games this season including 13 of its 20 games in the second half, and seven of its last 10 games. The Nittany Lions are 15-5-2 when lighting the lamp first this season.
  • The Nittany Lions are also a perfect 18-0-1 when leading after two periods of play with the only blemish being a tie followed by a shootout win at Michigan State last month.
MHKY-HobeyBaker-Fink

#FINKFORHOBEY

  • Fink’s 51 points this season lead the nation and are a new Penn State single-season record while his 23 goals and 28 assists are each tied for the Nittany Lion single-season record while ranking tops in the Big Ten and tied for second and sixth nationally.
  • Fink is the only Nittany Lion to begin his career with back-to-back 30+-point seasons and becomes just the seventh all-time to have multiple such seasons following his 34-point freshman campaign. He is also the only Nittany Lion to record multiple hat-tricks in a career following his three-goal outing against Canisius in January.
  • The sophomore is a +18 for the season while his eight powerplay tallies and two shorthanded scores both rank in the top-10 nationally with his man-advantage total tying his own PSU single-season record set last year. Fink leads the team with 15 multi-point efforts on the campaign and has only been kept off the scoresheet in eight of the 36 games this season.
  • Fink has 85 points in 70 career games for a 1.21 points per game average, currently the best mark all-time at Penn State as he sits just outside the top-10 for goals and points in Nittany Lion history.
  • Aiden Fink is just the third Nittany Lion all time to reach 40 points and 20 goals in the same season joining Casey Bailey (22-18-40) in 2014-15) and Alex Limoges (23-27-50 in 2018-19).

CHUCKY - GOOD GUY

  • Freshman Charlie Cerrato is having one of the best rookie campaigns in Penn State history as his 36 points are tied for the second-most by a freshman all-time and are tops in the Big Ten and third in the nation among first-year players.
  • Cerrato has 15 goals and 21 assists which rank first and second in the Big Ten for rookies and third and fifth nationally for freshmen. His assists are the second-most in a season by a Nittany Lion rookie all-time while his 15 goals tie Aiden Fink’s mark from a season ago for the fifth-most.
  • Cerrato tallied five points on one goal and four assists in the series sweep of Michigan last week running his point streak to a career-best five games along the way (3-8--11).
  • Cerrato’s penalty shot goal on Saturday night was the second penalty shot attempt for Penn State this season and the first make for the Nittany Lions since Kevin Wall ‘23 scored against Niagara on October 22, 2021.

DA-NA-NA, DA-NA-NA

  • Freshman JJ Wiebusch sent the hockey world into a frenzy last Friday with his behind-the-back, between-the-legs overtime game-winning goal to record a hat-trick in a 6-5 victory over Michigan.
  • The goal landed as the No. 1 play on SportsCenter’s Top-10 that night and was talked about and reposted throughout the hockey universe. Wiebusch becomes the third different Nittany Lion to grace SportsCenter this season joining Aiden Fink (January 17) and John Seifarth (November 27) who landed at No. 10 and No. 2, respectively.
  • The hat-trick was the first of Wiebusch’s career and the 15th in Penn State history, second this season (Fink). It was also the first-ever postseason hat-trick scored by a Nittany Lion and just the third-ever on the road. Wiebusch added an assist in the game as well for a career-best four-point night.
  • Wiebusch is currently riding a career-best five-game point streak (6-4--10) and has goals in four of those five games. Wiebusch’s 29 points on the year are good for fifth on the team and are the fifth-most ever by a Nittany Lion rookie while his 18 assists and 11 goals are the sixth and 10th most all-time by a Penn State freshman.
  • Cerrato and Wiebusch have combined for 65 points on 26 goals and 39 assists marking the most points between a rookie duo since Denis Smirnov ‘20 and Nate Sucese ‘20 combined for 83 points on 36 goals and 47 assists during the 2016-17 season.

WHAT’S UP, DOC?

  • Simon Mack is having one of the best seasons statistically for a Nittany Lion defenseman all-time with career-high totals for points (27) and assists (24). Those marks rank fifth and first all-time for Penn State blueliners in a single-season and are good for second and first in the Big Ten and seventh and fifth in the nation, respectively, for defensemen. The Brockville, Ontario native also leads the team with a plus-19 rating.

ARSI’S ON FIRE

  • Arsenii Sergeev is also having one of the best goaltending seasons in Penn State history posting a 17-7-4 record (.708 winning percentage) with a .915 save percentage and a 2.63 goals-against average. The Yaroslavl, Russia native is 13-3-4 since returning from injury in January with the 13 wins being the most in the Big Ten, six better than the next closest, and second-most nationally over that timeframe to go along with three shootout wins.
  • Sergeev’s 17 wins this season are tied for the fifth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion net-minder while his save percentage and goals-against average are currently the fourth and fifth best.

DIMINUTIVE DOMINANCE

  • While standing just 5’5” and with the distinction of the shortest player in college hockey, senior Danny Dzhaniyev has played much bigger than his stature during his four years in Hockey Valley.
  • Dzhaniyev ranks tenth on the all-time points list at Penn State with 92 for his career while his 58 assists are good for the ninth-most in Penn State history.
  • For the second-straight season, Dzhaniyev has set a new career-high with 30 points on a career-best 12 goals and 18 assists.
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