Penn State Hockey Rides Hot Streak Into Huge Big Ten Series Vs. Minnesota

The Penn State men’s hockey team enters its final series of the 2024-25 regular season with momentum on its side. Winners of nine of their last 12 games, the No. 15 Nittany Lions will get a shot at an elite Big Ten squad for the second consecutive weekend by hosting No. 2 Minnesota.

Coach Guy Gadowsky’s squad is locked into a first-round matchup against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament but still is playing for an opportunity to host that series. And thanks to its surge through the standings in recent weeks, Penn State is also playing for a potential NCAA Tournament bid, likely close to home at Allentown’s PPL Center, which will host a regional. With a White Out on Friday and Senior Day on Saturday, Penn State wraps the regular season with an anticipated series vs. the Golden Gophers.

Two significant showdowns in Pegula

Penn State enters its series vs. Minnesota on a roll. The Nittany Lions are 10-2-4 in 2025 and 9-1-2 in their last 12 games. They bring a six-game points streak into the series. After an 0-8 start to the Big Ten season, Penn State has catapulted to 15th in the PairWise ratings.

The Nittany Lions currently are on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, but this two-game series vs. Minnesota will decide their fate. Fortunately for Penn State, two home sellouts are likely at Pegula Ice Arena.

“The atmosphere at Pegula is always awesome,” Gadowksy said Tuesday during his weekly media session. “I can tell you that everybody that comes into this program knows what it looks like, says it’s sick, and they look forward to playing in it. It is an amazing site.”

A week after taking five points from then-No. 1 Michigan State, Penn State shifts its attention to another highly ranked team. Minnesota is second in the USCHO.com rankings and third according to PairWise. Minnesota leads the Big Ten in points (46), goals per game (3.97) and shooting percentage (11.5 percent).

Further, the weekend also brings a homecoming. Former Penn State goalkeeper Liam Souliere, who entered the transfer portal last spring, is now in net for the Golden Gophers. He has the Big Ten’s best goals-against average (2.05) and is tied for the top save percentage (92.5 percent).

“[Souliere is] a really good person. He did nothing wrong in the circumstances, how he left, at all. I’ve said that before, and I’ll say it again,” Gadowsky said. “At this point in the year, he’s just the goalie on the other team right now.”

Penn State last faced Minnesota in early November, dropping both legs of a road series. But considering how the Nittany Lions have turned the corner in 2025, hosting the Minnesota at Pegula will be a measuring stick of how far they’ve come.

“I thought we did have a pretty good weekend [vs. Minnesota in November] overall, but to win in this league, there’s two aspects of our game that we just knew had to improve,” Gadowsky said. “That was an important weekend for us to learn. And as a coaching staff, I can tell you, we’re looking forward to being tested with the same team again, to see if we really did improve.”

Fink, Sergeev lift Penn State during streak

Entering the regular season’s final weekend, Penn State second-year forward Aiden Fink leads the Big Ten in goals (23) and is tied for the conference lead in points (45). He already has set the Nittany Lions’ single-season goals record and tied his own program record for power-play goals.

After leading the team in points as a freshman in 2023-24, Fink has developed into even more of an offensive power for Penn State. Last season, he was a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate men’s ice hockey player. His head coach believes Fink should take it home.

“He is an excellent all-around hockey player. He’s not just a scorer,” Gadowsky said. “He works so hard. He gives so much of himself. He’s a team player. He’s an inspiration to the team. He’s not just a perimeter goal scorer. … if you look at Aiden Fink, he’s really separated himself. He’s really held a large piece of the pie of our offense.”

Fink isn’t the only player who has carried a significant workload during Penn State’s recent hot streak. Goalkeeper Arsenii Sergeev leads the Big Ten in total saves (702) and shutouts (4). After last week’s win over Michigan State, Sergeev improved to 14-6-4 overall and earned the Big Ten First Star of the Week.

“Unbelievable guy, most fun competitor you’ll ever be around,” Gadowsky said of Sergeev. “What he does on the ice, is he gives us a little extra confidence that if we do make that mistake, he’s going to be there. … He means a lot to us.”

With Fink and Sergeev leading the charge, Penn State enters the Minnesota series with implications that will bleed into both the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament. Gadowsky, however, is giving no special treatment to the end-of-season matchups.

“Our mentality is just not listening to noise, to focus on the game we have. We always are extremely grateful to be home, specifically because of the awesome atmosphere,” Gadowsky said. “We certainly aren’t going to look past the first period Friday night. That’s really what we’re focused on right now.”

How to watch Penn State vs. Minnesota hockey

Penn State hosts Minnesota for a pair of games Friday and Saturday at Pegula Ice Arena. Faceoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday. Big Ten Network will broadcast both games, which also will stream on the Fox Sports App.