PREVIEW: Penn State hockey heads north for difficult roadtrip

Penn State hockey embarks on a tough road trip deep into the wilderness of Upstate New York to take on the Clarkson Golden Knights and St. Lawrence Saints this weekend. The trip, by bus, will take nearly seven hours. 

This isn’t an unprecedented trip for the Nittany Lions. They did this exact same trip in October of 2017. Then No. 10 Penn State fell to unranked Clarkson 2-1 in a season-opening upset loss in the Friday night game. Penn State then rebounded on Saturday against the Saints with a 4-1 win. What will we see from the Nittany Lions this time around?

Friday Night: Penn State vs. Clarkson

Series History: Penn State hockey leads 3-1-0

Last Played: October 12, 2018

This will be the first meeting between the Nittany Lions and Golden Knights since 2018. The Lions have only lost once in four meetings, that loss coming in the aforementioned 2017 matchup. 

Clarkson (1-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) was once a powerhouse. The Golden Knights appeared in every NCAA Tournament from 1990 to 1999 and have seven Frozen Four appearances to their name. Things, however, haven’t been so great in Potsdam recently. Since that run of success at the end of the century, Clarkson only has four NCAA appearances and has not appeared in the tournament in four years. 

However, the Golden Knights faithful and coaching staff think this could be the team that gets them back to the dance. They are looking to build off a 16-17-4 season last year and were pegged to finish fourth in the ECAC Preseason Poll. The team returns an experienced roster that is eager to break through and put Clarkson hockey back on the map. 

There is a lot of talent on this roster, and it starts with junior forward Ayrton Martino. The third-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2021 posted a 38-point year for the Knights last season. He is complemented by a talented freshman forward Damion Gardner, who is a fourth-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks. The coaching staff also brought in transfers from bigger-name programs, like Providence. 

Clarkson took its talented roster on the road to South Bend this past weekend to take on fellow Big Ten team Notre Dame. On Saturday, the Knights beat the Irish 3-1 without receiving any scoring from their top line. Then on Sunday afternoon, they fell by a score of 3-0 to split the series. 

This will be a tough matchup for Penn State hockey, especially on the road. It will serve as a much better litmus test of this team’s potential than the Long Island game did last week. Given Clarkson’s expectations, this would be a win the Nittany Lions would love to have on their resume come March. 

Saturday Night: Penn State vs. St. Lawrence

Series History: Series tied at 2-2-1

Last Matchup: October 7, 2017

Penn State hockey will take a much shorter bus trip, 12 minutes, Saturday to the neighboring town of Canton, home of St. Lawrence University. The Saints and Nittany Lions have met five times, all at Pegula Ice Arena. This is a pretty even series, with each team having two losses, two wins, and one tie. 

St. Lawrence (1-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) is not quite as successful as its neighbor. The Saints were a dominant club in the 1950s and 1960s, making seven Frozen Four appearances in those two decades. Since then, they haven’t had much success. Their last tournament appearance came in 2021, however, it comes with an asterisk. They qualified via auto bid after winning the ECAC tournament, however, only four out of the twelve teams in the conference played that year due to the pandemic. The Saints were forced to withdraw from the dance before they even got there due to a COVID outbreak within the program. The last time St. Lawrence actually played in an NCAA tournament game was back in 2007. 

This is a year with rare high expectations for the Saints. Their 17-19-0 record won’t bat any eyes, but their 12-10-0 ECAC record was good enough for fourth place in the conference. That was their best finish in six years. They returned nearly everyone from that team and added some depth via the transfer portal. No one really jumps out when you look at the roster, but this is a group that works as a cohesive unit very well and finds a way to find close games. 

Last weekend the Saints opened their season at home against RIT and squeezed by with a 4-3 victory. Out of the two games this weekend, this one will be the easier one for Penn State hockey. The Nittany Lions have less to gain and more to lose from a national ranking perspective. 

Predictions

The Nittany Lions split their last series against these two teams on the road, and I see the same thing happening here. The Lions’ shaky performance against Long Island does not instill confidence that they could beat a very talented Clarkson team. I see Penn State hockey dropping that game 4-2. But, the team is able to salvage the weekend against an undermanned St. Lawrence team in a game Penn State wins 5-3. 

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