Penn State men’s hockey looking to keep up its high-scoring ways vs. Niagara

No college hockey team has taken more shots this season than Penn State, and that’s by design.

Well, design and a mindset. When it comes to quantity and quality, the Nittany Lions do not see it as an either-or option. Their 1,431 shots comfortably lead the nation (Minnesota State is second with 1,219) and they consistently work to get as many good shots as possible.

Sometimes that means attempting a good shot and getting and an even better scoring opportunity off a rebound. Gritty, pretty, power-play, shorthanded, whatever, Penn State values goal differential and shooting differential as consistent difference-making statistics.

So, quantity and quality both matter.

“We want a high quantity of quality shots. It’s not one or the other,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “Our goal is to get as many quality shots as we can.”

As the eight-ranked Nittany Lions return to action this weekend after the semester break, they plan to continue that approach.

They’ll also renew pursuit of a season-long goal to reduce goals-against numbers without sacrificing their nation’s best scoring output. Along with shots, Penn State also leads the nation in scoring — 4.05 goals per game. It allows 2.42.

Gadowsky appreciates the semester break as an opportunity to heal, focus and prepare, but he’s ready to get back to playing games. The team played its last game Dec. 14 at Notre Dame and was off after finals week until practices resumed Dec. 28.

Gadowsky credited Alex Dawes, the team’s director of operations, for enhancing the team’s efforts toward its season-long goal with a mixture of analytics and video the past week.

“It’s a great time to assess and realign goals and we’re absolutely going in the right direction,” Gadowsky said. “Dawesey did an unbelievable job of providing information we can use to improve. It’s really just a matter of refining what we do.”

Niagara might be the right kind of opponent to get things started well. The comparatively punchless Purple Eagles have scored 31 goals this season, led by forwards Jack Billings and Ludwig Stenlund with five apiece. They have converted on just 7 of 63 power-play attempts.

As always, Penn State will strive to score early and often. It is 10-1 when scoring first and 7-0 when leading after one period.

Although the break helped with the team’s overall health, Gadowsky said some players to continue to nurse injuries. Notably, forward Alex Limoges will miss the series with the same upper body injury that kept him out of the fall semester’s final series against Notre Dame.

No. 8 Penn State (13-6) vs. Niagara (4-9-3)

Game: 7 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday

Radio/TV: Game coverage on 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com

Notable: Penn State leads the series, 4-0-1. … Despite its record, Niagara has just two losses in its last eight games. …. Penn State senior forward Nate Sucese is tied for third nationally with 24 points (eight goals, 16 assists). … Freshman forward Ryan Naumovski leads Niagara with 11 points, all assists. … With Penn State students on break, tickets remain available for the weekend series at Pegula Ice Arena.

This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 8:30 AM.