Penn State men’s hockey will not face Arizona State on Feb. 20 and 21 due to an ongoing pause in team activities related to COVID-19 results among Tier 1 personnel within the Nittany Lion program.
Thursday’s news comes following an announcement earlier this week that Penn State’s upcoming series this weekend against Ohio State had been postponed for the same reason.
The two game slate against the Buckeyes may be rescheduled while Arizona State series will not.
Arizona State found itself on Penn State’s schedule despite not being a Big Ten team as part of a scheduling agreement between the conference and the Sun Devils. Arizona State is an independent in the college hockey landscape but opted to briefly join the Big Ten as conferences across the country forgo out of conference competition amid the COVID-19 pandemic to standardize health and safety regulations.
The Big Ten and Penn State will face a challenge finding the time to reschedule the Nittany Lions’ series against the Buckeyes with Penn State set to resume play – in theory -against Minnesota at Pegula Ice Arena on Feb. 27 and 28 before closing out the regular season the following week at Notre Dame.
In turn, a 12 day gap would be in place between the end of the regular season and the start of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.
Any additional delays would only exacerbate the current issue. Penn State is 9-9 on the year and largely – although not statistically – out of the conference regular season title race. The Nittany Lions are defending their 2020 regular season crown.
