Niagara hockey heads to Happy Valley for pair of games with Penn State

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

• The men’s hockey team will take on No. 10 Penn State in a pair of games this weekend. The Nittany Lions are the first team in the USCHO.com poll Niagara will face off against this season.
• Last year, the Purple Eagles played one opponent from the Big Ten, the ninth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Niagara lost both games in that series, by 3-2 and 4-1 scores.
• This is the first meeting between the two schools since Nov. 3-4, 2016. Penn State bested Niagara in that series with identical 5-1 finals.
• In three all-time matchups, Penn State holds a 2-0-1 edge in the head-to-head standings.

• The Purple Eagles are coming off a split with the AIC Yellow Jackets. In the season opener, Niagara came from behind to win 4-3 in overtime. Ludwig Stenlund scored twice, including the game-winner. AIC prevailed in the finale, 3-1.
• After a four-point weekend (1 G, 3 A), Dylan Mills was named Atlantic Hockey’s Rookie of the Week. Mills supplied three assists in the season debut and added a goal in the second game of the weekend. The freshman is tied for the conference lead in points (4) and assists (3). His four points are tied for the most among all rookies in the country while his three assists is also tied for second-most. He leads all AHA rookies in assists and is tied for the league lead in points.
• On special teams, Niagara scored twice on just five shots (.400 shot pct.) while AIC only broke through once in 13 attempts (.077 shot pct.).

• Penn State enters the weekend ranked No. 10 in the USCHO.com poll. They climbed six spots from their initial preseason position after a sweep of then-No. 17 Clarkson, 4-3 on Oct. 11 and 5-1 on Oct. 12.
• Like Niagara, the Nittany Lions converted on two power play opportunities in their first week of action. Penn State went 2-4 with the man advantage, and added another special teams tally by recording a shorthanded goal in the opener against the Golden Knights.
• Junior Brandon Biro was named the Big Ten’s Second Star of the Week after scoring twice while adding two assists for four points last weekend against Clarkson. Including the team’s exhibition contest against Brock, Biro has scored four times, with at least one goal in each contest and two game-winners.

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