No. 8 Penn State travels to No. 1 Minnesota for its second straight matchup against the number one ranked team in the country. Furthermore, this is the first time the Nittany Lions are facing the Gophers since last year's Big Ten tournament.
The Gophers are 7-3 in the season and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
Minnesota is coming off of a sweep against Notre Dame at home. Minnesota has had two Big Ten series, the other being against Ohio State, which resulted in a split between the two. Their series against Ohio State was in Columbus and they have not lost in the Big Ten at home yet. Furthermore, the Gophers have not lost in regulation at home this season.
The Nittany Lions are 9-1 in the season and 3-1 in conference play, with their only loss of the season so far being against Michigan.
The Minnesota ice sheet is going to be an adjustment for the Nittany Lions as it is an olympic size rink. The change in fan activity and presence is also something that may have a profound impact on Penn State as well.
Both of these are a concern for the team, but Guy Gadowsky’s squad is confident that they will still be able to deliver their usual first-class level of play in Minnesota this coming weekend.
“It's different but our guys have always played on olympic sheets growing up we're kind of just sticking our head," Tyler Paquette said. "If we don't get pucks deep, we might get stuck out there longer and it's really hard to defend on a bigger sheet, which goes the same way offense if we can get to change kind of lets us play more offense against them."
Minnesota’s freshman Jimmy Snuggernud leads the Gophers in points (12), while sophomore forward Matthew Knies and senior defenseman Jackson LaCombe are not far behind at 11.
Snuggerud, Knies and LaCombe also lead the team in points in conference play with six, five and four respectively.
The Nittany Lions have been led by its line of Christian Sarlo, Xander Lamppa and Tyler Paquette. That line combined for seven points against Michigan.
Penn State junior goaltender, Liam Souliere is currently leading the Big Ten in goals-against average (1.63) and is second with a .967 save percentage in the nation.
In Big Ten competition, he has a 1.25 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage in conference play. Souliere recorded a shutout against both Wisconsin and Michigan.
Minnesota goaltender Justen Close is second in the Big Ten with a 1.84 goals-against average and fourth in the Big Ten with a .919 save percentage. Close had a 16-save shutout against Lindenwood in the Gopher’s season opener. Close is coming off of a 21-save shutout performance this past weekend against Notre Dame.
With the Gophers coming off of a sweep they will be fired up going into the series so the Nittany Lions will need to bring the momentum that they ended game two against Michigan with. The crowd at Mariucci Arena is always a tough environment to play in.
“There's a few guys that, myself as one of them like being the bad guys and we like when the guys boo us it's kind of fun shooting the crowd up,“ Ashton Calder said.
