Penn State men’s hockey heading back on the road to take on Notre Dame

Bouncing pucks, hot goalies and referees.

It sounds like the title of a hockey-themed country song, and perhaps the theme song for the Penn State men’s hockey team. It’s certainly the oft-stated mindset of Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky as he balances the ups and downs of a season, series or shift to keep himself and his team focused.

With two goalies sharing duties in recent weeks and some balanced scoring, the Nittany Lions have gone 2-1-1 after an 0-4 stretch in two series before that.

This weekend Penn State adds another variable — road games — as it travels to play No. 13 Notre Dame. It’s not an easy assignment for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State has a 3-8-1 record at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame sits fourth in the conference standings with 26 points. Penn State sits nine points back in fifth place. It’s just three points above last-place Michigan State, though, and the bottom three teams in the standings (Penn State, Wisconsin and MSU) each have five conference victories.

Notre Dame forward Max Ellis and Penn State forward Kevin Wall each have 25 points, putting them among the top 10 in the conference this season.

Ellis (4.32) is the only member of his team among conference leaders in shots per game, while Penn State has four players on that list — Ryan Kirwan (4.23), Kevin Wall (4.04), Connor MacEachern (3.46) and Danny Dzhaniyev (3.19).

Penn State (14-13-1, 5-12-1 Big Ten) at No. 13 Notre Dame (18-8-0, 11-5-0)

Series: 7:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday

Radio/TV: Peacock, 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com

Notable: Notre Dame leads the series, 15-7-3, and swept two games at Penn State in early January. … Last weekend Penn State split with Ohio State and Notre Dame did the same with Minnesota. … Penn State’s 6-0 loss to Ohio State in the second game of last week’s series was the first time it had been shut out since Jan. 17, 2020 (also a 6-0 score, against Michigan).