Penn State hockey men’s hockey team doesn’t play another game for several months, but with the release of the 2015-16 schedule it’s worth sitting down to look at a few things watch for next season.
Here are five things you should know before the puck drops.
1. Favorable Start In Sight
Even in the initial years of Penn State’s hockey program, the Nittany Lions rarely lose at home. Playing at the Pegula Ice Arena last season in front of capacity crowds nearly every night made for a huge home advantage and resulted in a 13-2-3 record. Penn State wasn’t always the better team but that didn’t always matter when the offense and the crowd got going.
The good news for fans, 16 of Penn State’s first 23 games this year are at home. If the Nittany Lions can get hot early that could help ignite a big season. Those seven games on the road won’t be easy and could act as speed bumps, but even the away games are winnable. Penn State only won four games on the road last year, so nothing should be taken for granted. Even so, if the Nittany Lions somehow ended up with 16 wins with 10+ games to play it’s doubtful anyone in Pegula will be complaining.
2. The Final Month Is A Grind
As you might expect, lots of home games early in the season means lots of road games late. Eleven of the final 14 games are away from Pegula Ice Arena which makes for quite a grind to finish off the year. If Penn State is playing good hockey going into that stretch it’s not unreasonable to expect an improvement on last year’s four win total on the road, but seeing is believing with a young program. It will be an interesting dynamic to watch unfold, a team that starts off hot at home, going into the final stretch of the season up against a big challenge. How that goes is something nobody will be able to predict until this year’s team plays a few games. This much is certain though — it won’t be easy.
3. Michigan Only Once
Penn State’s uncanny ability to beat Michigan has made this a marquee game already for Nittany Lion fans. The bad news is that Penn State is sacrificing a home game against the Wolverines for a “home” game against them in Madison Square Garden as part of a hockey-hoops doubleheader. All things considered it should be a fun weekend with hockey on Jan. 28 at home against Michigan, a day off, and then hockey and hoops again at MSG on the 30th.
Penn State has effectively knocked the Wolverines out of the postseason for two seasons in a row, so any games you can see in this series are worth watching.
4. The Other Big Cat
Princeton makes its way to State College for a single game on Dec. 11 that will act as an odd reunion for head coach Guy Gadowksy who once guided the Tigers. Interestingly enough, assistant coach Keith Fisher applied for the Princeton job but didn’t get the nod. This will be a friendly affair all around, but there are storylines galore in a game Penn State ought to win with relative ease.
5. NHL, NHL, NHL, NHL
Four NHL arenas will come into play for the Nittany Lions. The Flyers, Penguins, Rangers and Wild will all host at least one Penn State game this year. The Nittany Lions will play twice in Pittsburgh during a two day event. They’ll take on Vermont at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. There’s the Michigan at MSG and then the Big Ten Tournament in Minnesota. Add in a trip to Alaska and Penn State players are getting plenty of travel out of this season.
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