Penn State men’s hockey team ready to get back to action with road series against Minnesota
If you give a hockey player a weekend off, he might rest a little, but he’ll still play hockey, and talk about it, think about it and watch it, too.
So, it’s no surprise members of the Penn State men’s hockey team are ready to get back to action.
Sure, they appreciated the opportunity to rest a bit during the dozen days since their last game, taking time to watch the NHL All-Star Game and volunteer at the annual Penn State Sled Hockey Classic along the way, but they want to play.
They return to action with a two-game road series against No. 8 Minnesota starting Friday. It’s not an easy assignment, but Penn State has been in good spirits since its last series, when it swept Ohio State at home.
“It’s been a great feeling around the rink since then,” team captain Christian Berger said. “It’s always more fun when you’re winning, and it’s been nice to get a little refreshed. It’ll be great to get back out there, though.”
Week to week during the season, Penn State typically adjusts, or readjusts, based largely on what happened the previous week — altering this or fixing that while seeking consistency in as many parts of its game as possible.
Penn State’s goaltending and special teams have improved a bit in recent weeks, but the most elusive part of its success might be underneath the players helmets. In the search for consistency, mental toughness often plays an important part.
Still, Penn State’s successful flashes have been enough — they have to be — to prompt optimism as the final portion of the season awaits.
“We’re confident we know what we need to accomplish to play our best hockey,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We’ve shown when we can get all cylinders firing, we can be really, really good.”
It’s not always clear whether Penn State will hit the ice as a roaring eight-cylinder muscle car or a three-cylinder electric model, though, and that can be a problem. If Penn State can avoid many self-imposed problems, that would be helpful, especially against Minnesota, which is backstopped by goalie Justen Close.
Close boasts the second-best goals-against average in the conference (2.41) and was a key factor as Minnesota came home from a road series at No. 4 Wisconsin last weekend with a victory and a tie.
Liam Souliere, who has the highest goals-against average in the conference (3.53), will start in goal for Penn State in the first game of the series. He started both games in the Ohio State series.
Penn State (12-11-3, 4-9-3 Big Ten) at No. 8 Minnesota (16-7-5, 9-5-4)
Series: 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday
Audio/Radio: GoPSUsports.com, 103.1 FMTV/Streaming: FS1 (Friday), BTN (Saturday)
Notable: Minnesota leads the series, 25-18-1, with a 14-7 advantage on its home ice. The teams split an early December series at Pegula Ice Arena. … Minnesota, which averages 6:40 of penalty time per game, and Penn State, which averages 9:11, are the two least-penalized teams in the conference. … Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud leads the conference with 18 goals and teammate Rhett Pitlick has netted 15, putting both among the Big Ten’s most-productive scorers. … Penn State’s Aiden Fink has scored 15 as well. … Penn State sits 24th in the week’s PairWise Rankings which largely determine the 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament.
