Big Ten Hockey announces conference schedule for 2024-2025

The Big Ten Conference announced the conference schedule for the 2024-2025 men’s hockey season early Wednesday afternoon.

For the Penn State Nittany Lions, they start conference play on the road in Minnesota, where they will take on the Golden Gophers on Nov. 1 and 2.

The maroon and gold knocked the blue and white out of last season's first round in the Big Ten Tournament, sweeping the three-game series 2-0.

The Nittany Lions are 6-4-1 all-time in Big Ten openers, including two ties vs. Notre Dame to open up Big Ten play last year.

Penn State then has two consecutive weekends of conference play back at Pegula Ice Arena, battling Wisconsin on Nov. 15 and 16, and Michigan on Nov. 22 and 23.

The final Big Ten series before the new year will take place in Ohio, as the Nittany Lions take on the Buckeyes on Dec. 6 and 7.

Just two weeks after the Frozen Confines were officially announced, they are now officially conference games, as the blue and white’s first conference game in 2025 will be at Wrigley Field on Jan. 3.

It’ll be a quick turnaround back to South Bend on Jan. 5 when they finish the series back at Notre Dame.

Guy Gadowsky’s squad returns home for three consecutive home series to end the month of January, a conference matchup against Michigan State and Ohio State, with a non-conference battle against Canisius in the middle of those bouts.

The month of February and March will be the toughest stretch to date for the blue and white in the 2024-2025 season, with series against Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State on the road with two home series sprinkled in there as well against Notre Dame and Minnesota.

The final home conference game of the season will be Senior Night, where the blue and white will see a familiar face return home, as Liam Souliere suits up for the Golden Gophers on the road.

The Nittany Lions finished with a 7-14-3 record in conference play last season, good enough for the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament last year.

A team with an influx of youth talent will look to shock the “monster conference of college hockey” starting in November.

Joshua Bartosik is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jsb6137@psu.edu.