No. 18 Penn State will host the No. 7 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers this Friday for the teams' annual Teddy Bear Toss.
The Gophers are 7-4-3 on the season and 3-3-2-1 in the Big Ten heading into the weekend following a tight series against Michigan State with a tie and an overtime win. Minnesota is 2-1-2 in away games this season but have won the last four games in Pegula Ice Arena after a 7-0-1 stretch for the Nittany Lions on their home ice.
The Nittany Lions are 8-4-3 on the season and 1-2-3 in the conference. Penn State is coming off of a sweep against Lindenwood, winning 9-3 and 7-1 in University Park. The weekend prior, the Nittany Lions faced Michigan in Ann Arbor, splitting the series with a 4-6 loss and 5-3 win, recording their first win in Ann Arbor since December of 2019.
Last season, the Gophers and Nittany Lions faced off four times, with the first series in Minneapolis being split, as Penn State won the first game 4-2, and the Gophers won the second 3-1. The Gophers won both games in University Park, the first 7-2, but the second game was taken to overtime for a 3-2 win.
Minnesota is without three of their top-five scorers who led them to the Frozen Four last season. Logan Cooley, a Hobey Baker Finalist, led the team in every offensive category with 22 goals and 38 assists for 60 points, but he is now playing with the Arizona Coyotes. They are also without former Big Ten Player of the Year Mathew Knies, who had 21 goals last season. The Gophers also lost their top-three defencemen, Jackson LaCombe, Brock Faber, and Ryan Johnson.
This season, Minnesota is paced by graduate student Bryce Brodzinski, who has eight goals and eight assists for sixteen points. Jimmy Snuggerud also has eight goals and three assists for 11 points. Jaxon Nelsons' 13 points between five goals and eight assists are good for second on the team. Junior Rhett Pickett and sophomore Brody Lamb each have six goals on the season, RHets 12 points are good for third on the team while Lambs 11 are tied with Snuggerud for fourth.
Sophomore Connor Kurth was a point per game in November, with eight points in eight games. He had multiple assists against both Michigan and Notre Dame and tallied back-back goals against the Spartans for the second time in his collegiate career. Kurth is two points shy of his freshman year totals and riding a career-long three-game point streak.
Minnesota is the least penalized team in the conference, with 46 penalties. The Nittany Lions sit right behind them at 53 penalties.
Minnesota’s power play is fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 14th in the nation with a goal in five of its last seven games, scoring ten goals on 42 attempts for a 23.8 percent success rate.
Though the Gophers are without a good chunk of their scoring from last season, they do return goaltender Justin Close, who recorded a 26-10-1 record last season with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Close has started all 14 games for the Gophers this season with a 7-4-3 record with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.
Aiden Fink currently sits in third in the conference for goals and tied for third in assists with nine and 12, respectively. The freshman’s 21 points are good for second in the conference, only behind Michigan’s Seamus Casey. Fink has scored in six of his last seven games and is riding a career-best five-game point streak, recording multiple points in four straight games.
The “Kid Line” with Fink, Reese Laubach, and Matt DiMarsico has been playing together for eight games due to other injuries. The line has 33 points with 14 goals and 19 assists, in the past four games alone, they’ve had 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points. Their 11 goals make up 44 percent of the teams’ goals in the past four games.
Graduate transfer Jacques Bouquot is on a career-long seven-game point streak after his four-goal weekend against Lindenwood, including a hat-trick. Three of his goals against Lindenwood were on the powerplay for four powerplay goals on the season to tie him for the Big Ten lead and tenth in the nation. Bouquot's seven power-play points lead the team and are one ahead of Fink, who has three goals and three assists on the man advantage.
“(Andrew) Sturtz has done a really good job in giving the right people the right chance in the right position to be successful.” Head Coach Guy Gadowsky said when asked about the assistant coach’s work on special teams.
Penn State is second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation in powerplay percentage, scoring 15 goals on 56 attempts for a 26.8 percent conversion rate. The Nittany Lions have scored at least once the man advantage in 11 of their 15 games.
Defensive partners Simon Mack and Dylan Gratton had seven points against Lindenwood, with one goal and six assists. Mack and Gratton are both riding their career-long point streaks of four and three games, respectively.
Adding an assist in both games against Lindenwood, senior defenseman Jimmy Dowd jr. now has 55 points, 46 of which have been assists, tying him for sixth all-time points by a defenseman in program history, his 46 assists passed Luke Juha ‘16 for fourth.
Freshman defenseman Casey Aman has spent more time playing forward than he has on the blueline due to injuries. This past Friday against Lindenwood, he played a shift at each of the five skating positions with a purposeful rotation by Guy Gadowsky, putting him at right wing, center, left-wing, right defense, and left defense.
“It’s awesome to have a guy who can play anywhere. Obviously, he can fill in any situation, wherever it is powerplay, penalty kill, five-on-five, or wherever, it is super helpful.” Laubach said.
The only position Aman has yet to play is in goal, which sophomore Noah Grannan and senior Liam Souliere have been recently rotating between each series. Grannans’ 2.65 goals-against average is good for third in the Big Ten, and his .913 save percentage is good for fifth in the conference. Soulieres’ 3.04 goals-against average is good for sixth in the conference and his .869 save percentage is good for eighth in the conference.
The Nittany Lions and Gophers will battle it out in Pegula Ice Arena Friday evening at 7 P.M. for Penn State’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game.
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