UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State Nittany Lions are ready to roar into the NCAA Ice Hockey Championships for second time in three seasons.

After making back-to-back tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018, and a return trip just two seasons ago, Penn State will head back to the PPL Center in Allentown for the NCAA Regionals on Friday and Sunday.

Penn State, who is serving as the host institution for the Allentown Regional, earned an at-large bid for this season’s tournament and are a No. 4 seed for the first time after serving as the No. 3 seed during its first two NCAA Tournaments and the No. 2 seed in 2023.

The Nittany Lions will battle No. 3 overall seed, and the top-seed in Allentown, Maine at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. The earlier matchup in the regional is UConn vs. Quinnipiac at 5 p.m.

The championship game will pit the two winners against each other on Sunday at either 4:30 or 7:30 p.m. and air live on ESPN2.

The winner advances to the Frozen Four to face the winner of the Toledo Regional, which features No. 1 Michigan State against Cornell and Boston University and Ohio State.

The Manchester, N.H., Regional features Boston College-Bentley and Providence-Denver. The Pioneers are the defending NCAA champions.

The Fargo, N.D., Regional has Western Michigan-Minnesota State and Minnesota-UMass.

The Frozen Four will be held in St. Louis on April 10-12.