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Penn State Men's Hockey Returns to NCAA Hockey Tournament

The Nittany Lions make the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time and will start close to home.
Mark Wogenrich|
The Penn State Nittany Lions celebrate a goal against Michigan in the Big Ten men's hockey tournament.
The Penn State Nittany Lions celebrate a goal against Michigan in the Big Ten men's hockey tournament. | Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

The Penn State men's hockey team turned a second-half hot streak into a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions will make their fourth trip to the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament and second in three years. And they will do so close to home.

Penn State will play Maine, the tournament's No. 2 overall seed, in a first-round game of the Allentown regional. The Penn State-Maine game is scheduled for March 28 at PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, less than three hours from State College. The winner will face either Connecticut or Quinnipiac on March 30 in the regional final for a trip to the Frozen Four.

The 16-team, single-elimination tournament will begin at four regional sites: Allentown, Fargo, N.D., Manchester, N.H., and Toledo, Ohio. Boston College is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by Michigan State, Maine and Western Michigan. Penn State is among four Big Ten teams in the field, an accomplishment that appeared distant in January.

The Nittany Lions earned an at-large big to the NCAA Hockey Tournament after a rocky start to the sesaon. They began the Big Ten season at 0-8, losing four consecutive series through December. Penn State got back on track with a 3-0 win over Notre Dame in early January and then grew hot. The Nittany Lions went 12-2-2 over a 16-game stretch entering the Big Ten Tournament semifinals against Ohio State, earning shootout wins in the two ties.

Penn State has gone 13-4-4 since January, winning the most post-Christmas games in program history. The team accelerated the run in February, winning six of eight games to close the regular season. Penn State swept series against Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Michigan State and swept a road playoff series at Michigan to reach the Big Ten semifinals.

Penn State (20-13-4) is returning to Allentown for a regional appearance for the second time in three years. The Nittany Lions played at PPL Center in 2023, beating Michigan Tech 8-0 in the first round before falling to Michigan in the regional final.

Penn State has one of the nation's top players in forward Aiden Fink. The sophomore is a finalist for the Hobey Award as college hockey's top player. Fink became Penn State's first unanimous All-Big Ten selection after leading the conference in points (52) and assists (29) and ranking third in goals (23).

Penn State, 13th in the latest Pairwise college hockey rankings, will face No. 3 Maine for the first time in program history. Maine (24-7-6) won the Hockey East Tournament, defeating UConn 5-2. The Black Bears are playing in their 20th NCAA Tournament, winning titles in 1993 and 1999 and reaching 11 Frozen Fours.

How to watch Penn State hockey in the NCAA Tournament

The Penn State vs. Maine game is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. ET start Friday at PPL Center in Allentown. ESPN2 will televise. Tickets are available at the PPL Center website.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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