Penn State Hockey: Nittany Lions make second straight appearance in NCAA Tournament

Penn State hockey gets another shot at the NCAA Tournament

Despite being in just its seventh season as a Division I program, Penn State hockey is making its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions have enjoyed accelerated success and have quickly supplanted themselves among the top hockey programs in the nation. After losing in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Nittany Lions will look for better results this time around.

Up first is a chance at revenge against the team that knocked Penn State out last year. Denver, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, defeated the Nittany Lions as a No. 1 seed last season. The Pioneers and the Nittany Lions will rematch at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday evening.

Penn State is actually the host of the Midwest Regional, but all the game will be played roughly three hours away from State College at the PPL Center in Allentown.

The Nittany Lions, unlike last year when they won the Big Ten Championship, enter this year’s tournament having lost to No. 1 seeded Notre Dame in the semifinals. Penn State finished the regular season fourth out of eight teams in the conference.

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It was a bit of an up-and-down season for head coach Guy Gadowsky’s group, as they had to replace several key players from a year ago. The Nittany Lions suffered through a streak of seven losses in eight games. However, they rebounded at the end of the year and won five of their final six contests.

Penn State thrives by using a high-powered offense that isn’t afraid to put the puck on net. The Nittany Lions rank second in the nation with 3.70 points per game. They will need that offense to be clicking against a Pioneers squad that’s second in the nation with just 2.05 goals allowed per game.

Denver, the defending national champions, will present a tough matchup for the Nittany Lions. Henrik Borgstrom, one of the best players in the nation with 50 points, will look to lead the Pioneers onto the next round.

The winner of the Penn State Denver game will face the victor from the Ohio State against Princeton game.