No. 5 Men's Hockey Welcomes No. 2 Michigan State For B1G Top-5 Battle

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

• This week marks the 53rd and 54th meetings all-time between the two programs with the series even at 22-22-8 following the Spartan sweep at Munn back in November. The Nittany Lions won the season series last year taking 7-of-12 points.
• Penn State holds the 12-8-4 record at Pegula Ice Arena, however, MSU is 4-0-1 in the last five games played in Hockey Valley.
• Saturday marks the first-ever Division I outdoor hockey game at Beaver Stadium and the second ever outdoor game for the Nittany Lions following the Frozen Confines at Wrigley Field last January. Penn State tied Notre Dame, 3-3, in that contest before losing a nine-round shootout for the extra point.
• Penn State also played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia over 14 years ago on January 4, 2012, in its last year as a club program before making the leap to Division I the following year.
• Despite the series victory for the Nittany Lions last season, the Spartans hold an 8-2-4 record against Penn State since the start of the 2022-23 season following a sweep in East Lansing earlier this season.
• This weekend pits two of the top offenses in the country vs. two of the top defenses in the country.
• Penn State ranks third in the Big Ten and eighth in the nation averaging 3.58 goals per game while the Spartans are fourth in the Big Ten and 12th in the nation at 3.50 goals per game.
• Michigan State is the best defensive team in the nation allowing just 1.75 goals per game while the Nittany Lions rank third in the Big Ten and 17th in the nation allowing 2.46 goals per contest.
• Senior Ben Schoen leads all Nittany Lions with eight points (1G, 7A) in 12 career games against the Spartans while fellow senior Jarod Crespo has one goal and four assists for five points in 13 games.
• Junior Aiden Fink leads all skaters with five goals in eight career games against Sparty and will be facing Michigan State for the first time this season after missing the last series back in the fall with injury.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

• The Spartans enter the weekend winners of four-in-a-row following sweeps over Wisconsin and Minnesota the last two weekends. MSU is currently third in the Big Ten standings with 30 points just one shy of Penn State and Michigan State for the top spot.
• Michigan State is 2-2-2 all-time in outdoor games.
• The Spartans are 7-3-0 against ranked opponents this season. All ranked opponents on MSU’s schedule to date have been ranked in the Top 10.
• Michigan State has been very impressive on the road this season posting a 10-1-0 record with the lone loss coming at Ohio State back on January 10.
• Michigan State’s 15 draft picks rank
• second in NCAA hockey behind only Boston University (18) while its 11-player freshman class is tied for the third-most in the country.
• The Spartans have raced out to leads in pretty much every game this season thanks in large part to a 26-goal scoring margin over the opening 20 minutes as they are outscoring their opponents 32-6 in the first period.
• Michigan State’s top line forwards Daniel Russell - Charlie Stramel - Porter Martone have generated 82 points this season on 35 goals and 47 assists and are a combined +65 on the ice with Stramel leading with a +24 to Russell’s +22 and Martone’s +19.
• Stramel has set a new career-best in single season points with 30 this season, topping his 27 from his junior campaign.
• Martone ranks ninth nationally in goals per game (0.64) and is 12th in points per game (1.27), ranking second on the team in points with 28 (14-14-28).
• Junior goaltender Trey Augustine is among the best in the country ranking fourth in shutouts (3), first in goals-against average (1.73) and second in save percentage (.938). Augustine leads all active goaltenders in career wins (59).
• Michigan State’s powerplay ranks 20th in the nation but that is only good for last in the Big Ten as they are converting 22.4 percent (15-for-67) with the man-advantage. On the other side of the puck the Spartan PK ranks 21st nationally at 82.8 percent which is second in the Big Ten behind the 88 percent kill of Penn State.

THE GREAT DANE

• Junior captain Dane Dowiak, the reigning B1G Second Star of the Week, has points in five of the eight games since returning from break including three-straight.
• Dowiak registered his first collegiate hat-trick last Friday with his third goal coming shorthanded marking his national best fourth shorty of the season.
• Dowiak’s four shortys this year are a new single-season Penn State record and with six for his career he is now alone in second on the all-time list, just three shy of current assistant coach Andrew Sturtz’s program record of nine.
• Penn State’s five shorthanded goals on the season are second in the Big ten to Michigan’s seven and are tied for fourth in the nation.

WHITEHORSE WIZARD

• Freshman Gavin McKenna is finding his stride after returning to the team following the 2026 World Junior Championships as he is currently riding career-long five game point and three-game goal streaks and has six goals and five assists for 11 points during that span and he has registered at least one point in eight of his last nine games played.
• McKenna, the reigning B1G First Star of the Week, paced the Big Ten and tied for the national lead in both goals (4) and points (5) to lead Penn State to a weekend sweep on the road at No. 5 Wisconsin.
• McKenna collected the first hat-trick of his collegiate career while adding one assist for a career-best four points in a 7-2 victory on Friday night before adding his fourth goal of the weekend in a 3-1 win on Saturday.
• McKenna leads Penn State and ranks second in the Big Ten in conference scoring with 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists in 14 games this season.
• His 29 points this season lead all Big Ten rookies and are tied for second nationally among freshmen.

TOSS THE HATS

• Penn State has now registered a single-season program best seven hat-tricks this season by five different players following Dowiak and McKenna’s hattys last Friday.
• Penn State now has 22 hat-tricks all-time with Dowiak and McKenna’s becoming just the fifth and sixth recorded away from Hockey Valley.
• The Nittany Lions have also been strong holding leads late, posting an 10-1-0 record when leading after two periods of play with the lone loss coming in their home opener against Clarkson. Penn State is outscoring opponents 29-14 in the third period this season.

BLUELINE BEAUTY

• Freshman defenseman Jackson Smith has goals in four of the eight games this semester giving him seven on the year to lead all Big Ten defensemen and rank tied for third nationally among blueliners and first among rookies.
• Smith’s 15 points are tied for third in the Big Ten for defensemen and ranks tops among B1G rookies and tied for second nationally.

GOALTENDING GREATS

• Penn State possesses one of the strongest goaltending tandems in the nation with Josh Fleming and Kevin Reidleras the two combine for a .926 team save percentage ranking second in the Big Ten behind Michigan State (.937) and third in the nation.
• Fleming leads the nation with a .944 save percentage while his 1.83 goals-against average is good for second in the Big Ten behind MSU’s Trey Augustine (1.73) and sixth nationally.
• Reidler has won each of his last five starts improving his save percentage to .916 on the year to rank fourth in the Big Ten while he has lowered his goals-against average to 2.77 and is up to 10 wins on the season becoming just the sixth Nittany Lion net-minder to reach double-digit victories in a season.