Penn State’s Men’s Varsity Hockey team released its 2022-23 non-conference schedule and it includes five home games with three against Atlantic conference opponents; Canisius, Mercyhurst, and RIT, one against St. Thomas of the CCHA conference, and Division I independent, Alaska Fairbanks.
Canisius is the most familiar of the non-conference competitors. In four of their last five meetings, Penn State emerged the victor, but last year they only managed a split in the two-game home stand, going 1-1.
St. Thomas is another school the Lions played twice in 2021-22, with the Lions coming out on top in both games, 5-1 and 4-1, respectively. St. Thomas has the weakest performance in their overall season of all the Penn State non-conference opponents managing just three wins in the 2021-22 season.
Penn State has beaten Mercyhurst two of the last three times they have played, but they have not faced each other since the 2017-2018 season. Mercyhurst finished the 2021-22 season with a below .550 record though returning Mercyhurst sophomore Garrett Dahm was included in the St. Louis Blues prospect camp this summer and may be a forward to watch.
RIT was above .500 last year but ironically did not fare well last year against Penn State’s other non-conference opponents. RIT played both Canisius and Mercyhurst twice last season and came away with an 0-4 record. Penn State has played RIT just two times in 2012 and 2013, winning once and tying the second time.
Judging from last year’s end-of-season rankings, Alaska Fairbanks is the Lion’s toughest non-conference game, finishing the 2021-22 season ranked 29th overall. Penn State has played Alaska Fairbanks twice, once in 2014, where they lost 4-3, and a second time in 2019, where they won 7-0.
The non-conference match-ups this year all finished the 2021-22 season outside the top 25 teams in the national rankings. The Lion’s conference rivals include four teams who finished the 2021-22 season in the top 25, making the non-conference games must-wins for the Lions this year if they hope to advance to the hockey playoffs.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
