ALBANY, N.Y. – The No. 10/9 and third-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions travel to the Albany Regional and begin their quest for a second-straight Frozen Four appearance in the regional semifinals against No. 6/6 and second-seeded Minnesota-Duluth on Friday evening at MVP Arena.

The winner will battle the winner of the opening game of the regional between top-seeded Michigan and Atlantic Hockey Champion Bentley.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

Dates: Friday, March 27

Place: MVP Arena | Albany, N.Y.

Tickets: Friday

Time: 9 p.m.

TV: ESPN2

Streaming Video: Friday

Listen: LionVision

Live Statistics: Live Stats

Game Notes: Penn State

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

Penn State is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, second-straight, in its 14-year history, each of which have come in the past 10 seasons, including three in the past four years. It would have been six had the 2020 tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minnesota Duluth is returning to the NCAAs after a three-year absence. Prior to that, UMD made seven in a row, made four Frozen Fours, and won back-to-back championships in 2018 and 2019. The Bulldogs also won the championship in 2011 in overtime against Michigan giving them three NCAA Championships all-time.

Friday’s game against Duluth marks the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and Bulldogs.

Penn State earned an at-large bid for this season’s tournament and are a No. 3 seed for the third time after serving as the No. 4 seed last season and the No. 2 seed in 2023.

The other semifinal in Albany will showcase the top-overall seed Michigan Wolverines against the AHA Champion Bentley Falcons in the early game.

Penn State is 4-4 all-time in eight NCAA Tournament games after advancing to its first-ever Frozen Four last season. The Nittany Lions have advanced to the regional final in three of their first four NCAA Tournament appearances including a 10-3 shellacking of Union in its first-ever NCAA Tournament game back in 2017 and an 8-0 shutout over Michigan Tech in 2023, the largest shutout in the history of the NCAA Tournament.

Following a 5-1 victory over top-seed Maine last year, Penn State is now outscoring opponents 24-9 and averaging 6.00 goals per game with a 3-1 record in regional semifinal contests.

This weekend marks the first time since its first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in Cincinnati in 2017 that Penn State has advanced to a regional outside of Allentown, Pa. where they have served as the host during its last three NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018, 2023 and 2025.

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 matching the average age of Duluth.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS

Minnesota-Duluth is making its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance, but its first since 2022, after bowing out to Denver in double-overtime of the NCHC Championship game. The Bulldogs improved their win total by 10 games from a season ago as they currently sit 23-14-1. UMD’s 23 wins are the most it’s posted in a season since the 2018-19 NCAA title winning season.

The Bulldogs are led by 26th-year head coach Scott Sandelin whose three national titles (2011, 2018, 2019) are the most among coaches in this year’s NCAA Tournament field. Sandelin is eight wins away from 500 for his career as he currently ranks 18th all-time and third among active coaches with his 492 wins. Penn State’s Guy Gadowsky, also in his 26th season as head coach (14th with Penn State), is currently 27th on the all-time wins list and eighth among active coaches. Between the two they have over 50 years of head coaching experience.

Duluth is paced offensively by the Plante brothers with NCHC Player of the Year and Hobey Baker Top-10 Finalist Max Plante leading the way with 49 points on a team-best 24 goals to go along with 25 assists while brother Zam has 47 points on 20 goals and 27 assists. Max Plante leads the NCHC and ranks fifth in the nation with his 49 points while Zam is tied for eighth nationally with his 47. Max’s 24 goals also top the NCHC and are tied for third in the nation while Zam’s 20 are tied for second in the conference and 11th nationally.

Between the pipes is sophomore Adam Gajan who after a strong performance with Guy Gadowsky and the US Collegiate Selects at the Spengler Cup in December was named to the 2026 Slovakian Olympic Team for the Winter Games in Italy back in February. Gajan has posted an 18-12-1 record this season with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

UMD has excelled this season on special teams ranking second behind Michigan on the powerplay at 29.9 percent while ranking third in the nation on the penalty kill at 89.3 percent. Both Plante brothers have been key reasons for the successful powerplay with Zam ranking tied for fourth in the nation with 10 PPG’s and Max tied for eighth with eight.

EXPERIENCE AND GROWTH

Penn State has been here before and that should prove valuable as the Nittany Lions enter the Albany Regional with 54 total games of NCAA Tournament experience on its roster.

The Nittany Lions are competing in their second-straight NCAA Tournament and their third in the past four seasons for this current group.

Penn State is one of just three teams in the nation, and the only team still playing to have multiple 100+ point scorers on its current roster with junior classmates Aiden Fink and Matt DiMarsico.

Fink ranks third in the nation among active players with 125 points on 48 goals and 77 assists in 103 games.

Even after missing eight games with a thumb injury back in the fall, Fink is third on the team in scoring with 38 points (10G, 28A) on the year including 29 points on eight goals and 21 assists in 20 games this semester after returning to the lineup.

Fink is now tied with Alex Limoges ’21 for third on the Penn State all-time scoring list with his 125 points in his career while his 48 goals are tied with Liam Folkes ’20 for sixth all-time and his 77 assists are good for third all-time.

Fink became the fastest Nittany Lion to 100 career points earlier this season doing so in just his 87th career game and he is the only Nittany Lion to begin his career with three-straight 30-plus point seasons.

DiMarsico became just the 10th Nittany Lion all-time to reach 100 career points after becoming just the 11th Nittany Lion all-time to hit the 40-point mark in a season. He currently has career highs across the board with 42 points on 18 goals and 24 assists this season ranking sixth in the Big Ten and tied for 15th in the nation in scoring.

DiMarsico’s 42 points this season are tied for the sixth-most in a single-season in program history while his 18 goals are tied for seventh while ranking tied for sixth in the Big Ten and 25th nationally.

DiMarsico’s 42 career goals break a tie with Brandon Biro ’20 and rank 11th all-time just one shy of Kevin Wall ’23 for 10th.

Both Fink and DiMarsico were named All-Big Ten honorable mention.

HOBEY HOPEFUL

Freshman Gavin McKenna became just the second Nittany Lion all-time to be named a Hobey Baker Award Top-10 Finalist joining Fink from a season ago. McKenna was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, the first-ever Nittany Lion to earn that honor, and to the All-Big Ten Second Team after finishing the year as Penn State’s first-ever Big Ten Scoring Champion with 38 points on 11 goals and 27 assists in 24 conference games.

McKenna is also the first Penn State freshman to reach 50 points in a single-season as his 51 points are the second-most points in a single-season all-time just two shy of Fink’s program record from last season.

McKenna’s 51 points are tops in the B1G and second in the nation among rookies while ranking tied for second in the conference and third in the nation overall. His 36 assists are already a Penn State single-season record and rank second in the nation behind Michigan’s Michael Hage with 38.

McKenna’s 1.50 points per game pace the Big Ten and rank second nationally and are currently the highest single-season mark in Penn State history.

The freshman’s 15 goals are tied for the fifth-most by a Nittany Lion freshman all-time.

McKenna was named the HCA National Rookie of the Month for the second time this season for his play in February and he is currently riding a nine-game point streak (4-15–19) entering the NCAA Tournament.

WE’VE GOT THE POWER

Penn State went a perfect 5-for-5 on the man-advantage in an 11-4 victory against Ohio State last month. The five PPG’s tied the single-game program record from over 10 years ago.

Conversely, the Nittany Lions went 0-for-6 in their last time out against Michigan in the Big Ten Semifinals dropping their conversion rate to 26.2 percent (38-for-145) a mark still good for ninth in the nation, but ranks just sixth in the conference as each of the seven Big Ten teams are in the top-11 nationally on the man-advantage. The 38 powerplay goals are a new single-season program record and rank just shy of Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth who are tied for the national lead with 41 PPG’s and are the top-two units in the nation.

The Nittany Lion PK enters the NCAA Tournament against UMD’s second-best powerplay in the nation battle-tested after facing six of the top-11 powerplay units in the nation during Big Ten play and boasting an 83.6 percent PK this season, tops in the Big Ten and 13th in the nation.

BLUELINE BEAUTIES

Penn State’s defensemen have been more involved in the offense this season scoring 24 goals after accounting for just nine a season ago.

Paced by freshman Jackson Smith with 11 goals and 26 points, the rookie leads the Big Ten in goals and points from the blueline while ranking tied for fourth and 13th in the nation, respectively.

Smith’s 11 goals are a new Penn State single-season record for goals by a defenseman and rank tied for eighth all-time while his 26 points are currently tied with Trevor Hamilton for the sixth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion defenseman, just four off the record shared by three separate players.

Smith joined McKenna on the All-B1G Second Team and the All-Freshman Team.

Senior Jarod Crespo has impressed alongside Smith for the majority of the season as defensive partners registering career-highs across the board with five goals and 12 assists for 17 points.

Crespo has moved into a tie for fifth all-time for goals by a defenseman with his 12 while his 40 points place him just outside the top-10. The senior is also fourth on the all-time blocked shots list with 192 for his career.

Crespo joined Fink, DiMarsico and goaltender Josh Fleming as an All-B1G Honorable Mention selection.