Penn State men’s hockey will face No. 2 Minnesota to close regular season at Pegula Ice Arena
Another weekend, another top-ranked opponent.
After getting a victory and a tie against then-No. 1 and Big Ten Conference-leading Michigan State last weekend, Penn State gets No. 2 and Big Ten-leading Minnesota this weekend.
It’s not at all a routine occurrence.
Still, Penn State has embraced a here-comes-the-next-challenge mentality in recent weeks and emerged as the hottest team in Division I men’s hockey. The Nittany Lions are 9-1-2 in their last 12 games — and they’ve completed three consecutive weekends of conference play without a loss for the first time in program history.
They’ve all but erased their lousy start to conference play this season (0-8) and another couple victories might ensure some home conference playoff games and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
All that recent success and a top-notch opponent represent the main storyline entering this weekend’s regular-season-ending, two-game series at Pegula Ice Arena. There are a couple of compelling supporting stories, though.
First, Minnesota’s goaltender will be familiar with Hockey Valley. Liam Souliere went 38-35-3 through four seasons at Penn State before transferring in the offseason. He struggled at Penn State last season but was solid the season before that when the Nittany Lions were within a victory of reaching the Frozen Four.
The graduate student recently emerged as the Gophers’ No. 1 netminder.
Souliere had been starting only Saturday games, with sophomore teammate Nathan Airey getting the nod on Fridays. He has now started seven games in a row, though, and the Gophers are 4-1-2 during that span. For the season, Souliere is 12-5-2 with two shutouts and a conference best 2.05 goals-against average.
Souliere recently told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he felt reinvigorated.
“I love the game more than I’ve ever loved it, and I owe it to this place,” he said. “It’s really brought my love for the game back, and I’m super-grateful for that. … I’m just trying to soak it in, and I don’t think I did a good job of that my senior year when my expectations were to move on [to pro hockey], and it didn’t happen. So now I’m back, and I’m just making sure that in my second chance at a last chance, I take all those moments in.”
Souliere made his first Penn State start as a freshman at Minnesota. Now he’s back as a graduate student starting for Minnesota at Penn State.
Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky enters this series with 399 career victories. If he gets No. 400, he’ll be just the 30th Division I coach to reach that milestone.
Ironically, his team has been successful lately playing somewhat un-Gadowsky-like hockey. He has preached fast-paced, high-shot-total hockey with good things coming because you put more pucks on the net since his arrival at Penn State.
That’s a big part of the team’s identity. During its hot streak, though, Penn State has not necessarily been outshooting its opponents — just outplaying them, backstopped by goalie Arsenii Sergeev, who made 42 saves in the team’s most recent game, a 3-2 decision over Michigan State.
For the season Sergeev is 14-6-4 with a conference-leading four shutouts a 2.50 goals-against average.
No. 15 Penn State (17-11-4, 8-10-4) vs. No. 2 Minnesota (23-7-4, 14-5-3)
Series: 8:30 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday
Audio/Radio: GoPSUsports.com
Streaming/TV: Big Ten Network (both nights)
Notable: Minnesota leads the all-time series, 18-14-1 series, although Penn State has an 8-5-1 advantage on its home ice. … Minnesota has a 6-0 record in the last half dozen meetings with Penn State, outscoring the Nittany Lions 18-4 during that span with three shutouts. … Penn State is 16-0-1 when leading after two periods and 14-4-2 when scoring first this season. … Penn State forward Aiden Fink leads the Big Ten and ranks second nationally with 23 goals. He has eight power-play goals, trying the school record he set last season.