After split with Ohio State, Penn State men’s hockey set to take on No. 19 Notre Dame

After splitting two games with Ohio State, Penn State men’s hockey has its best chance to sweep a conference series since October this weekend.

Traveling to South Bend, Indiana, the Nittany Lions will take on No. 19 Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

While at first glance it might seem daunting for head coach Guy Gadowsky’s squad to take on yet another ranked Big Ten opponent, the Fighting Irish is far from where it usually is nearly midway through the season.

Notre Dame is 7-7-2 on the year, including 3-4-1 in conference play so far, while the blue and white sits 14-4 with a 6-4 conference mark.

Despite dropping Game 2 with the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions moved up a spot in the USCHO poll, slotting in the top five for the first time since 2018.

Gadowsky and company are worried about the task at hand, though, not where they sit in the top 20.

“We just have to really — don’t listen to the noise, keep focused on what we know,” Gadowsky said, “and that’s how I try to approach the same attitude with the ranking.”

Boasting statistically the worst offense in the Big Ten, the blue and gold should continue against Penn State, which surrenders the fewest goals per game of all seven teams.

Leading that conference-best defensive unit is juniors defender Christian Berger and Liam Souliere — both of whom showed signs of big-time potential as sophomores and have broken out in a big way as third-year players.

Pacing the conference in blocked shots, Berger has contributed offensively from the blue line but his defense is what makes him undroppable from his squad’s lineup. Souliere has been one of the nation’s top puck-stoppers, narrowly trailing Minnesota’s Justen Close for the top goals-against average in the Big Ten.

Despite this obvious discrepancy between the blue and white’s offense and the Fighting Irish defense, the Nittany Lions aren’t taking their opponent lightly.

“Every time we go on the road in the Big Ten, it’s going to be tough,” Gadowsky said. “I don’t think we’re going to look at it any differently.”

Last time the two squads faced off was last season, with Notre Dame sweeping the season set 4-0, outscoring the blue and white 10-2 in the second pair of matchups in South Bend.

Souliere started in the first contest of that road series for Penn State, giving up seven goals en route to the unit’s worst loss of the entire season.

Despite that blowout defeat, his counterpart, senior goalie Oskar Autio, would only make two more starts for the squad in his career in Happy Valley. Autio transferred in the offseason and it’s been Souliere’s net ever since.

“He’s earned every single one of our trust,” senior forward Kevin Wall. “You can play with more confidence in the O-zone knowing that you have a goaltender that’s gonna save pucks.”

On the offensive side of things, Wall is on pace to lead his unit once again in the goal- and point-scoring column. Ranking first in tallies with eight and tied for first in points with 14, Wall has been a consistent bright spot for his team.

While Wall has been an important contributor offensively, fifth-year transfer Ture Linden has arguably been the unit’s best all-around player during the 2022-23 campaign.

“He’s extremely important,” Gadowsky said. “We’re very happy with his 200-foot game, not just the points.”

Linden is tied with Wall and sophomore Ben Schoen for the team lead in points, is the unit’s best faceoff man and plays on both the power play and penalty kill for the blue and white.

In goal for Notre Dame will more than likely be senior netminder Ryan Bischel, who has started in every game for the squad thus far. Bischel has a 2.59 goals-against average while boasting a conference-best 9.24 save percentage — which ranks 14th in the nation.

Penn State will need to play its normal shot-heavy style in order to get scores past the veteran goaltender, who has been one of the unit’s few bright spots in an otherwise mediocre year.

A sweep against the Fighting Irish feels needed for a Gadowsky-led unit that struggles to close out series in conference play. While the team’s head said he wasn’t sure why his team seems to fall apart in the second contest, the Nittany Lions are focused on the games ahead, not the past.

After its series against the blue and gold, Penn State won’t return to practice until Dec. 27 ahead of its home-and-home series with RIT on Dec. 30 and 31.

“Every weekend is really big in the Big Ten,” Gadowsky said. “Obviously, if we could end this semester off a good note, it would mean a lot. We’ve worked extremely hard and had some good results, but certainly would be nice to end off correctly.”

This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 9:00 AM.