Penn State hockey will open the season at No. 13 in the first USCHO.com poll of the year. The ranking marks the Nittany Lions’ third-straight preseason ranking having opened the 2018-19 season ranked No. 16 and the 2017-18 season at the No. 10 spot.
Last season the Penn State went 22-15-2 last year narrowly missing its third-straight NCAA Tournament, finishing at No. 17. The Nittany Lions will once against host a regional site in Allentown this postseason and would be automatically placed in that regional if they were to make the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years.
Across the Big Ten it is Notre Dame (No. 9), Ohio State (No. 12) and Wisconsin (No. 16) joining the Nittany Lions. Minnesota and Michigan are also received votes in the first poll of the season.
As expected the reigning National Champion Minnesota-Duluth remains atop the rankings receiving 49 of the 50 first place votes while Minnesota State received the other. The NCHC leads the way with five teams in the top 20 while the Big Ten, Hockey East and ECAC each have four teams ranked and the WCHA has two and Arizona State rounds out the top-20 as an independent.
Penn State also managed to land two players on the CHN preseason teams with Alex Limgoes on the first team while the always timely Liam Folkes made the second team.
The Big Ten is expected to announce its preseason poll later on Monday.
All-CHN Preseason First Team
F – David Cotton, Sr., Boston
F – Alex Limoges, Jr., Penn State
F – Marc Michaelis, Sr., Minnesota State
D – Dylan Samberg, Jr., Minnesota-Duluth
D – Ian Mitchell, Jr., Denver
G – Hunter Shepard, Sr., Minnesota-Duluth
All-CHN Preseason Second Team
F – Odeen Tufto, Jr., Quinnipiac
F – Liam Folkes, Sr., Penn State
F – Johnny Walker, Jr., Arizona State
D – Alec Rauhauser, Sr., Bowling Green
D – Philip Beaulieu, Sr., Northern Michigan
G – Stefanos Lekkas, Sr., Vermont
All-CHN Freshman Team
F – Alex Turcotte, Wisconsin
F – Cole Caufield, Wisconsin
F – Alex Newhook, Boston College
D – Cam York, Michigan
D – Ryan Johnson, Minnesota
G – Spencer Knight, Boston College
