UNIVERSITY PARK – The sixth-ranked Penn State men’s hockey team welcomes No. 11 Wisconsin to Hockey Valley this week to conclude the regular season with a Thursday-Friday series at Pegula Ice Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

Dates: Thursday, March 5 | Friday, March 6

Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.

Time: 7 p.m.

Tickets: Thursday | Friday

Streaming Video: Thursday | Friday

Listen: LionVision

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

This week marks the 60th and 61st meetings in the all-time series as Wisconsin is Penn State’s most common opponent.

The Nittany Lions hold the 31-25-3 edge in the series including a series sweep in Madison back in January. The Nittany Lions have won four-straight in the series dating back to last year after a seven-game Badger winning-streak which was preceded by a six-game Penn State winning streak in a very streaky all-time series. Penn State holds the 15-11-1 advantage at Pegula Ice Arena, however, Wisconsin has won five-straight games in Hockey Valley dating back to 2023.

Penn State enters the weekend after a 2-2-2 record in the month of February following an impressive 7-3-0 mark in January.

Following a sweep over Ohio State two weeks ago, Penn State has eight series sweeps this year with five coming in Big Ten play, the most conference sweeps in a season all-time. The eight series sweeps also tie the most in a single-season for the Nittany Lions dating back to the 2016-17 season.

Penn State ranks second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation averaging 3.81 goals per game while Wisconsin isn’t far behind ranking fourth in the conference and ninth nationally averaging 3.66 goals per game.

Junior Aiden Fink leads all Nittany Lions with 10 points in 10 career games against the Badgers on four goals and six assists while junior Reese Laubach has also seen success against the Badgers with nine points in 10 games on four goals and five assists. Senior Ben Schoen has added four goals and three assists for seven points in 10 games against the Badgers and freshman Gavin McKenna scored four goals with one assist for five points including his lone hat trick of the season in the series sweep back in Wisconsin.

Six of the seven programs in the Big Ten are ranked among the 20 youngest teams in the nation.

Penn State is the fourth youngest team in the Big Ten and 13th youngest in the nation this season with an average age of 21 years and eight months while Wisconsin is the fifth youngest team in the Big Ten and 19th youngest nationally with an average age of 21 years and nine months.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN

The Badgers enter the weekend at 19-11-2 and are coming off a bye last week. Wisconsin is currently No. 12 in the NPI rankings flirting with the bubble for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Badgers need at least one point this weekend to clinch the fourth-seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday. Penn State has already locked up the No. 3 seed.

The Badgers stumbled a bit last year following a successful 2023-24 season, but rebounded with a solid start to the 2025-26 season and despite a six-game skid through January, they have won four of their last six games and put themselves in strong position for the postseason.

Wisconsin returned seven of their top eight scorers from last season led by Gavin Morrissey, Christian Fitzgerald and Quinn Finley.

Morrissey leads the team in points with 29 on six goals and a team best 23 assists while Fitzgerald paces the squad with 15 goals, including nine on the powerplay, while adding 12 assists for 27 points and Finley is third on the team with 25 points on 13 goals and 12 assists.

Simon Tassy has added 10 goals on the year while defenseman Ben Dexheimer is second in the Big Ten behind Penn State’s Jackson Smith in defensemen scoring with 22 points on six goals and 16 assists.

Between the pipes Daniel Hauser has impressed in his first season in Madison posting a 16-6-2 record with a .903 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average, however, he was injured a few weeks ago at Ohio State and his status for the weekend is unknown. Eli Pulver has started each of the last three games going 1-2 in Hauser’s absence. Overall, Pulver is 3-5-0 on the year with an .874 save percentage and a 3.65 goals-against average.

The Badger powerplay has also excelled this season converting at 28.4 percent (33-for-116) of the time to rank third in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation. Six of the top nine powerplays in the nation reside in the Big Ten while all seven are in the top-16 nationally.

Starting with their last meeting, the Badgers have struggled in the third period being outscored 17-5 over the final 20 minutes in their last 10 games including 7-0 by the Nittany Lions in the series back in Madison.

Wisconsin has been strong on the dot this season leading the Big Ten and ranking seventh nationally winning 53.6 percent of its draws led by Morrissey at 57.6 percent.

NEXT UP

Penn State remains home to host a single Big Ten quarterfinal contest on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pegula Ice Arena.

This marks the first postseason game the Nittany Lions have hosted since a best-of-three quarterfinal series against Wisconsin in 2019. Penn State is 4-1 in five Big Ten Tournament games at Pegula Ice Arena.