After an offseason full of golfing and finding out that freshman Reese Laubach and senior Chase McLane are the best golfers on the team and that Jarod Crespo might want to play a few more rounds next summer, the Nittany Lions are ready to be back on the ice.

No. 16 Penn State will travel to Long Island for the first time to play Long Island University to start their season. The Nittany Lions haven’t started their season on the road in three years. “There’s no need to change it up just because we are on the road. We take every game the same way,” senior Jimmy Dowd Jr. said.

The Sharks are in their fourth season as a program and are independent. Last season, they went 13-22-1 playing six games against Big Ten teams, going 1-5 and tying the National Champions 2-2 on the road and losing to them 5-2 at home.

The last time Penn State and LIU faced off was the opening series of the 2021-2022 season at University Park. The Nittany Lions won both games with final scores of 3-1 and 5-2.

Ryan Kirwan scored the first Nittany Lion goal of the season and his NCAA career. In the second game of the series, Danny Dzhaniyev also notched his first as a Nittany Lion.

Long Island made great use of the transfer portal with six transfers: Grayson Constable, Remy Parkers, and Adam Pitters, who are all fifth-year forwards; Peter Muzyka, who is a fifth-year defenseman; and junior goalie Rico DiMatteo and graduate goalie Brandon Perrone, in addition to their seven freshmen.

The Sharks hope their new players help them improve from their best season yet last year as their two top goal scorers from last season, Anthony Vincent and Adam Goodsir, who combined for 32 goals and 39 assists, are no longer on the team.

Long Island still has 7 of their top 10 goal scorers last season who accumulated fifty percent of the team's goals. The third leading goal scorer last season was Josh Zary, a freshman with 12 goals. Third on the team in points, however, was sophomore Cade Mason with 32, leading the team with 15 assists.

Long Islands starting goaltender from last season, Vinnie Purpura, who graduated, played in 26 games with a .893 save percentage and 3.40 goals against. This season, transfer Brandon Peronne is expected to be the starter. Peronne played 14 games with Alaska Anchorage with a .889 save percentage and 2.84 goals against.

The Sharks will be looking to capitalize on the power play, which was 17th in the nation last season, converting 38 of their 176 chances. The 38 goals on the man-advantage ranked sixth in the nation and were 31 percent of the team's goals. However, the Shark's penalty kill was the 12th worst in the nation, allowing 34 goals of their opponents' 150 chances.

Last season, Liam Souliere was the starting netminder with a .917 save percentage and 2.43 goals- -against average in 36 games. Souliere recorded the program's record of 55 saves against Ohio State in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Souliere’s total goals-against average of 2.72 ranks first all-time for Penn State, and his .908 save percentage puts him at second.

Penn State ended the 2022-2023 season one goal short of the Frozen Four with hopes for a better run this season. The four leading point scorers last season have all graduated, so the forward core has almost entirely changed, as six of the seven new players are forwards. Penn State has adopted a new mantra for the upcoming season “iron sharpens iron,” the team will only get better by pushing each other harder.

“This is the absolute best D-core we’ve ever had.” Head Coach Guy Gadowsky said. While the offense is changing, the D-core will remain the same aside from the addition of transfer Tanner Palocsik, who led Dartmouth in points with 22 last season.

With both transfers, Jaques Bouquot and Palocsik having both worn the “C” at Vermont and Dartmouth, respectively, Penn State added outstanding leadership to what they already have. This season, Christian Berger, who led the defensemen in points with 20 and was fifth on the team, will have the honor of following in his brother Chase’s footsteps of wearing the “C.” Seniors Xander Lamppa and Christian Sarlo will both don the “A.”

“It’s a big honor. I owe it to the people that have been around me. We have 26 guys and 10 guys in the senior class, we have leaders all up and down the lineup, and everyone leads in their own way and everyone’s pulling the rope. It’s definitely cool, but I know everyone in the dressing room is doing the same thing.” Berger said.

Penn State start the season on the right skate on Saturday, October 7th, in East Meadow, New York, against Long Island.