Hockey: Everything you need to know about Notre Dame's weekend series at Penn State
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Who: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-6-0 overall, 6-4-0 Big Ten) vs. Penn State Nittany Lions (12-8-0 overall, 3-7-0 Big Ten)
When: Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.
Where: Pegula Ice Arena (6,014), University Park, Pennsylvania.
TV/Streaming: Big Ten Network Plus. Radio: WZOC-FM (94.3) and UND.com
Recaps: Coach Jeff Jackson’s Fighting Irish coming off weekend split at home against Niagara of the Atlantic Hockey Association, losing 3-1 on Saturday and winning Sunday 5-0. … Coach Guy Gadowsky’s Nittany Lions coming off 5-3 victory at Army West Point of Atlantic Hockey Association.
Rankings: Notre Dame No. 13 in both USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine (coaches) and DCU/USCHO.com (media) polls. … Penn State receiving votes in media poll.
Rivalry: Notre Dame leads series 16-7-4, including 5-3-2 at Pegula. … Series began with 4-4 tie and 10-3 Irish victory at Penn State Ice Pavilion on Feb. 10-11, 1984. … Last season, teams met five times. … Irish and Nittany Lions each had overtime victory (Penn State 2-1, Irish 3-2) at Pegula on Jan. 28-29, 2021. ... Irish swept home series 5-2, 7-1 on March 5-6 to conclude regular season but lost 6-3 in Big Ten Hockey Tournament at Compton March 14.
Big Ten standings: 1. Michigan 23 points; 2. Minnesota 19; 3. Ohio State 18; 4. Notre Dame 17; 5. Michigan State 14; 6. Wisconsin 9; 7. Penn State 8.
Scouting Fighting Irish
This is first of two straight Big Ten series on road for Notre Dame, which travels to Ohio State Jan. 14-15, and its first league road series since Irish won two overtime games at then top-ranked Michigan Nov. 19-20. … Junior right wing Max Ellis leads team in scoring with 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points. … Sophomore Ryder Rolston (6-11-17) has three game-winning goals as does senior center Cal Burke (6-6-12). … Burke and junior right wing Trevor Janicke (7-4-11) each had two goals in 5-0 victory over Niagara. … Seniors Nick Leivermann (5-9-14) and Spencer Stastney (3-8-11) and grad Adam Karashik (0-9-9) anchor defense. … Grad student Matthew Galajda and junior Ryan Bischel rank eighth and ninth respectively in both goals-against average (1.74 and 1.83) and saves percentage (.930 and .928). … Notre Dame averages 33.11 shots on goal per game and is surrendering 25.42 shots on goal per game. … NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 3.37 (17th out of 59 teams ranked); scoring defense, 1.89 (5th); scoring margin, 1.47 (6th); faceoffs won percentage, 0.533 (574-502) (12th); power-play percentage, 0.185 (12 of 65) (30th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.932 (69 of 74) (1st); shorthanded goals, 4 (4th); penalty minutes per game, 10.89 (33rd).
Scouting Nittany Lions
Junior forwards Kevin Wall (12-6-18) and Connor MacEachern (11-7-18) lead Penn State in scoring. … Senior Clayton Phillips (4-5-9) and sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. (1-11-12) anchor defense in front of senior goalie Oskar Autio of Finland (2.75 goals-against average, .901 saves percentage, 9-6-1 record). … Penn State leads nation in shots on goal with 38.05 per game but surrenders 28.25 shots on goal per game. … NCAA statistics: Scoring offense, 3.50 goals per game (13th); scoring defense, 3.05 (37th); scoring margin, 0.45 (21st); faceoffs won percentage, 0.514 (664-628) (21st), power-play percentage, 0.209 (14 of 67) (24th); penalty-kill percentage, 0.753 (61 of 81) (49th); shorthanded goals, 2 (15th); penalty minutes per game, 13.70 (10th).
— John Fineran, Tribune Correspondent