The puck drops for the fifth ranked Penn State hockey team Friday at 10 PM (Eastern) for the 2025-26 season against No. 14 Arizona State at the Mullett Arena in Tempe.
The anticipation of forward Gavin McKenna’s debut has the game being televised on the NHL Network, with streaming available on NHL YouTube channel.
Here are some key notes ahead of the two-game set.
Dates: Friday October 3 (10 PM), Saturday October 4 (8 PM) – both times are Eastern
Series History: Penn State leads 7-1-0 with a 2-0 record in games played in Arizona.
No. 5 Penn State Notes
- Head Coach Guy Gadowsky is currently the longest tenured Big Ten hockey coach having served behind the bench for the Nittany Lions since 2011-12.
- Gadowsky has led the Nittany Lions to 20 or more wins in six of the last ten seasons, with four NCAA Tournament berths, including the program’s first Frozen Four appearance last season.
- Gadowsky’s son Mac led all defensemen in the nation with 16 goals for Army-West Point during the 2024-25 season.
- Gadowsky is ranked in the top three amongst returning defensemen in goals (20) and points (65).
- Forward Gavin McKenna finished his year in the WHL/CHL with 173 points in 76 games between the regular season, playoffs, and Memorial Cup. McKenna is the third youngest recipient of the CHL Player of the Year behind Sidney Crosby and John Tavares.
- Nittany Lions skaters return 83% of their goal scoring and 75% of their total offensive production from last season’s Frozen Four run. The Nittany Lions lead the nation in returning production both in goals (110) and points (282).
- Forward Aiden Fink broke Penn State’s single season record in goals (23), assists (30), and points (53). Fink led all Big Ten skaters in scoring and finished fourth nationally in scoring.
- Penn State’s No. 5 preseason ranking is the program’s highest after finishing last season as No. 5, the program’s highest final ranking.
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No. 14 Arizona State Notes
- The Sun Devils finished the 2024-25 campaign with a 21-14-2 record. In NCHC play, they finished second with a 16-10-1 conference record in their first season in the conference.
- After a successful first season in the NCHC, the Sun Devils reached the Frozen Faceoff of the conference tournament before falling to tournament runner up Denver Pioneers.
- Arizona State will be honoring one of their greatest players retiring the number of current Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord. Daccord was the first goalie to earn a shutout in the history of the NHL Winter Classic. He achieved this in the 2024 NHL Winter Classic in a 3-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
- The Sun Devils are without the services of four of their top five leading scorers, including the top three from last season’s roster.
- The lone top five scorer the Sun Devils have returning is forward Bennett Schimek. The Mendota Heights, Minnesota native had a career best 15 goals and 37 points last season.
- Forward Cullen Potter returns for his sophomore season at Arizona State after being selected as the 32nd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft by the Calgary Flames.
- Potter finished his freshman season with 13 goals – one of five Sun Devils to score 10 or more goals from last season.
- Arizona State’s power play unit led the nation converting on 29.6% of man-advantage situations.
- Both Penn State and Arizona State were amongst the nation’s leaders on the penalty kill and shorthanded tallies. Arizona State killed 83.5% of their penalties while tallying seven shorthanded goals.
