Penn State men’s hockey received their highest ranking in the United States College Hockey Online rankings since January of 2017 reaching No. 4 after a sweep of Arizona State on the road.
Penn State will open its home schedule against Clarkson Golden Knights from Potsdam, New York.
The team will recognize their Frozen Four run from last season tomorrow night with a banner ceremony prior to the opening face-off.
Here are some key notes ahead of the two-game set.
Dates: Thursday October 9 (6:30 PM), Friday October 10 (7 PM) – both times are Eastern
Series History: Penn State leads 4-1-0 and had a three-game winning streak against Clarkson.
No. 4 Penn State Notes
- Penn State’s series sweep of Arizona State marked the second time in program history that the Nittany Lions opened the season with a sweep against a ranked opponent. Ironically, Clarkson was the last ranked sweep completed by Penn State in 2018.
- Penn State is 9-2-1 all-time in home openers at Pegula Ice Arena.
- If the Nittany Lions are able to sweep Clarkson, head coach Guy Gadowsky will tie Dean Blais (Nebraska-Omaha) for 28th all time in NCAA victories with 408. Currently, Gadowsky sits at 406.
- The Nittany Lions started the 2025-26 season strong on special teams, converting on 37.5% on the power play (3 for 8), and 91.7% on the penalty kill (11 for 12) that includes successfully defending nine penalties.
- Last season, Penn State went winless in comeback attempts (0-10-2). This season eight of the 10 goals scored have come in the third period.
- Freshman phenom forward Gavin McKenna started his Penn State career with three points, a goal and two assists, against Arizona State. McKenna, the fourth youngest player in the nation this season, with a resume that consists of being the third-youngest CHL Player of the Year behind NHL greats Sidney Crosby and John Tavares while leading Medicine Hate Tigers to the WHL Championship and a Memorial Cup Finals appearance.
- Forward Charlie Cerrato was named the Big Ten First Star of the Week after his six-point weekend, which had him ranked second in the nation in scoring.
- Forward Matt DiMarsico became the second Nittany Lion to achieve a hat trick in the season opener. Cole Hults achieved this in the 2019-20 season against Sacred Heart.
- Penn State’s productive line of Cerrato-DiMarsico-Wiebusch (JJ) remains one of the nation’s top. Since the trio began skating together in January, in 26 games together they have registered 38 goals and 49 assists for 87 points, an average of 3.35 points per game.
Clarkson
- The Golden Knights completed their 2024-25 campaign with a record of 24-12-3. They missed the NCAA Tournament having lost to Cornell in the ECAC Championship game.
- Clarkson returns a nucleus of 11 players that has been complemented by 15 newcomers on the roster and are without each of their top-four scorers from last season.
- Defenseman Tristan Sarsland is the Golden Knight returning scored, who notched 23 points (8 goals; 15 assists). Sarsland assisted on Clarkson’s lone goal against Canisius last weekend.
- Clarkson has three brand new goaltenders on their roster this season. Shane Soderwall, transfer from Curry College, earned the start between the pipes in Clarkson’s lone game this season, a 3-1 loss to Canisius.
