Penn State looks to keep the ball rolling against Minnesota

The home stretch starts now for Penn State.

With just eight games remaining in the regular season, and the Nittany Lions perched at No. 24 in the PairWise, every game matters that much more.

For Penn State, there’s hope its luck may have finally started to turn at just the right time.

A week after the second annual Penn State Sled Hockey Classic, which raised over $17,000, and two weeks after earning their first Big Ten sweep since October of 2022, the Nittany Lions will look to extend their winning ways against Minnesota.

“We are really confident in what we need to accomplish to play our best hockey,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “That doesn’t mean you just snap your fingers because you’ve got it, you go do it.”

The Golden Gophers are no small feat, however, having not lost consecutive games since Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 against Wisconsin.

The maroon and gold have been on a tear since the new year, with a 7-2-1 record and have been giving up only 2.54 goals against per game, ranking 12th in the nation.

That number is in large part due to goaltender Justen Close, who is coming off a Big Ten First Star of the Week accolade after the series against the Badgers.

Close has held his last three opponents to just one goal, and he managed that same scoresheet back on Dec. 1 in a 4-1 victory over Penn State.

Yet in the following contest, the Nittany Lions found a way past Close, with a 6-3 outburst to split the series.

The blue and white will look to find that same offensive spark at Mariucci Ice Arena this weekend, perhaps this time dipping their toes into the special teams play.

In the first series against the Golden Gophers, Penn State went 0-5 on the power play, yet in their last series against Ohio State, the Nittany Lions scored five times on 10 attempts.

Alongside the special teams' surge, the blue and white got maybe their best performances of the season from senior goaltender Liam Souliere, who made acrobatic save after acrobatic save.

“In the Big 10, you’re going to need great goaltending and you’re going to need really good special teams,” Gadowsky said. “This is a good test going into it. If we can shore up both those cylinders then we are in good shape.”

For Souliere, having the Penn State faithful supporting him all season, not just in his best series of the year, boosts his confidence even more for the remaining slate.

“The fact that they’re behind me after a tough season, they never really kind of left,” Souliere said. “It’s something really special and I hold it dear to my heart.”

Last season at Minnesota, Souliere was able to backstop the Nittany Lions to a win over then-ranked No. 1 Minnesota, with 24 saves on 26 shots.

With vibes at a recent high, and the momentum starting to roll in Penn State’s favor, this series will prove to be a testament to what this team can truly accomplish.

“Now it feels like a good opportunity to take [momentum] and run with it,” captain Christian Berger said. “So we just have to make sure we’re ready to go on Friday.”

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