Penn State Hockey: 2015-16 Penn State Men’s Hockey Schedule Released

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The Penn State Men’s Hockey team announced their 36-game schedule for the 2015-16 season on Tuesday morning. The Nittany Lions will look to improve upon their 18-15-4 record from the 2014-15 season, which included a Big Ten conference record of 10-9-1.

The Nittany Lions are slated to have their mandatory 18 regular season home games but have a road-trip packed schedule as well when they hit the road this season.

Penn State will play their only scheduled preaseason game on October 4th, when the University of Windsor from Windsor, Ontario will travel down to State College to play the Nittany Lions in “The International Game”. Penn State will then kick off their regular season on the road six days later when they travel to Buffalo, New York to take on the Canisius Golden Griffins.

The Nittany Lions will return home following their game at Canisius, to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in what will be the first season of what will be an annual matchup over the next four seasosn. Last season, the Fighting Irish went 18-19-5. Following their two game set with Notre Dame, the Nittany Lions stay at home for two more weeks with American International (AIC) and St. Lawrence both coming to town for two-game sets.

Following their six-game homestand, Penn State will travel all the way back to north-western New York to take on Niagara on November 6th before returning home for a two-game series against Sacred Heart.

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Penn State will then make one of the roadtrip in the history of Penn State athletics as the Nittany Lions will travel over 4,000 miles to Anchorage, Alaska for a two-game weekend set with the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves. For comparison, the Penn State football road trip to Dublin, Ireland for the Croke Park Classic was only 3,327 miles. Last season, Alaska-Anchorage posted a dismal record of 5-21-2. 

After returning home from Alaska, Penn State will head to Philadelphia, a much shorter road trip to take on the Vermont Cattamounts at the Wells Fargo Center. It will be the third consecutive season the two teams face-off in the city of Brotherly Love.

Penn State will get their first taste of Big Ten Hockey in the 2015-16 season during the first weekend of December when the Michigan State Spartans come to town. The following weekend Guy Gadowsky’s former program, the University of Princeton Tigers will come to State College for a single game on December 11th.

Following their brief, three-game homestand, the Nittany Lions will travel to Pittsburgh for the Three Rivers Classic. A tournament consisting of four teams, in 2015-16, those four teams will be Penn State, Robert Morris, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and Clarkson. Penn State will play Robert Morris on December 29th before playing the winner/loser of UML or Clarkson on the 30th.

From January 8th to March 12th, it will be all Big Ten conference games as the Nittany Lions will play six of eight games in January at home before being on the road for all but two games from February 5th to March 12th. The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled to take place from March 17th to March 19th while the NCAA Tournament and Frozen Four will take place from March 25th to April 9th.

Complete Schedule:

* denotes a note at the bottom. Italicized denotes preseason game.

  • Oct. 4th: vs Windsor*
  • Oct. 10th: at Canisius
  • Oct. 16th-17th: vs Notre Dame
  • Oct. 23rd-24th: vs AIC
  • Oct. 29th-30th: vs St.Lawrence
  • Nov.6th: at Niagara
  • Nov. 13th-14th: vs Sacred Heart
  • Nov. 20th-21st: at Alaska Anchorage
  • Nov. 29th: vs Vermont*
  • Dec. 4th-5th: vs Michigan State 
  • Dec. 11th: vs Princeton
  • Dec. 29th: vs Robert Morris*
  • Dec. 30th: vs UML or Clarkson*
  • Jan. 8th-9th: vs Minnesota
  • Jan. 15th-16th: vs Wisconsin
  • Jan. 22nd-23rd: at Ohio State
  • Jan. 28th: vs Michigan
  • Jan 30th: vs Michigan*
  • Feb. 5th-6th: at Minnesota
  • Feb. 12th-13th: at Michigan State
  • Feb. 19th-20th: vs Ohio State
  • Mar. 4th-5th: at Wisconsin
  • Mar. 11th-12th: at Michigan
  • Mar. 17th-19th: Big Ten Tournament*
  • Mar. 25th-Apr.9th: NCAA Tournament*

Notes regarding games:

  • vs Windsor: The Nittany Lion’s preseason will get underway with the University of Windsor (Windsor, Ontario) coming down to State College for “The International Game”.
  • vs Vermont: The Nittany Lions and the Vermont Catamounts will be playing at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for the third consecutive season.
  • vs Robert Morris: Penn State will face Robert Morris at the Console Energy Center in Pittsburgh in the Three Rivers Classic.
  • vs UML Or Clarkson: Penn State will take on UMass-Lowell or Clarkson in their second and final game of the Three Rivers Classic.
  • vs Michigan: The Nittany Lions and Wolverines will travel to the Big Apple for a January 30th tilt at Madison Square Garden.
  • Big Ten Tournament: This year’s Big Ten Tournament will take place at various venues.
  • NCAA Tournament: Following regional events, the Frozen Four will take place in Tampa Bay to close the 2015-16 season.