Penn State men’s hockey team won’t begin its next campaign for several months but there’s already some exciting news to talk about.
The athletics department just has announced the hockey schedule for the upcoming season.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the out-of-conference home schedule is an Oct. 16 and 17 meeting with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
In addition, Penn State will be making a return trip to Alaska to face Alaska Anchorage on November 20 and 21. The Nittany Lions will face Michigan once at home and again two days later as part of a hoops/hockey double header at Madison Square Garden.
The Nittany Lions will host Windsor to open their fall campaign in The International Game exhibition before traveling on the road to face Canisius. Penn State’s season opener will be the day following Penn State football’s home clash with Army.
The Nittany Lions went 18-15-4 last season with a home record of 13-2-3 and 10-9-1 in Big Ten conference play. Penn State will open the season with 16-of-23 games at home.
Conversely, the Nittany Lions will close out the season with three home games out of the season’s final 14 contests. The schedule on a whole will feature five opponents ranked in the Top 21 of the final RPI rankings for the 2014-15 season.
“First of all, thank you to our season-ticket holders once again for selling out Pegula Ice Arena. The atmosphere is tremendous, it’s so much fun.” Head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “We’re really excited for next season and playing some new teams. Aside from our Big Ten schedule, we’ll begin a four-year series with Notre Dame when they coming to Pegula Ice Arena this season. We’re also excited to play in four NHL venues again this season in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York and Minnesota.”
2015-16 PENN STATE MEN’S HOCKEY SCHEDULE
Oct. 4: WINDSOR (1)
Oct. 10: at Canisius
Oct. 16-17: NOTRE DAME
Oct. 23-24: AIC
Oct. 29-30: ST. LAWRENCE
Nov. 6: at Niagara
Nov. 13-14: SACRED HEART
Nov. 20-21: at Alaska Anchorage
Nov. 29: vs. Vermont (at Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia)
Dec. 4-5: MICHIGAN STATE *
Dec. 11: PRINCETON
Dec. 29: vs. Robert Morris (at CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh)
Dec. 30: vs. UMass Lowell or Clarkson (at CONSOL Energy Center, Pittsburgh)
Jan. 8-9: MINNESOTA *
Jan. 15-16: WISCONSIN *
Jan. 22-23: at Ohio State *
Jan. 28: MICHIGAN *
Jan. 30: vs. Michigan * (at Madison Square Garden, New York)
Feb. 5-6: at Minnesota *
Feb. 12-13: at Michigan State *
Feb. 19-20: OHIO STATE *
March 4-5: at Wisconsin *
March 11-12: at Michigan *
March 17-19: Big Ten Tournament (at Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul)
BOLD CAPS indicate home game played at Pegula Ice Arena;
* Big Ten Conference game;
(1) The International Game, exhibition contest;
Schedule is subject to change, games times and television information to be announced at a later date
