Hockey Preview: Penn State vs. Wisconsin

Story posted March 3, 2016 in CommRadio, Sports by Daniel Correa

On Friday, March 4th and Saturday, March 5th the No.14 Penn State Nittany Lions (19-9-4) will hit the road to take on the Wisconsin Badgers (6-16-8) in Madison, Wisconsin at the Kohl Center for a two-game weekend series.  Both games are set to take place at 8:00 p.m. 

The Nittany Lions begin the first of two road trips to close out the regular season. Coming off a bye week, Penn State will be looking to capitalize on their two-game series split against the Big Ten rival Ohio State Buckeyes on February 19th and February 20th, when they won game one 6-1 and lost game two 7-4. 

Penn State holds a road record of 5-2-3 this season. The Nittany Lions have won two of their last three road games and have earned at least three points in each of its three Big Ten conference road series this season. 

Penn State is one of the highest scoring teams in the nation, scoring 126 goals this season. as opposed to Wisconsin’s 81 goals scored. Forwards Tommy Olczyk and Eric Scheid lead the way in scoring against the Badgers, as each has tallied four goals. Thirteen different Nittany Lion players have totaled goals against Wisconsin, as the scoring distribution has been dispersed throughout the roster. 

Junior forward Dylan Richard is the leading Nittany Lion point scorer this season with nine points, despite missing the previous six games. Junior forward David Goodwin (8 points), Scheid (7 points) and senior forward David Glen (6 points) follow suit in the points department.

Glen and Olczyk are the only two Penn State players who have played in all 13 head-to-head matchups between Penn State and Wisconsin. Penn State is 7-6-0 all-time versus the Badgers as the Nittany Lions are currently on a six-game winning streak against the Wisconsin Badgers as well. 

At the bottom of the Big Ten standings with a conference record of 1-11-4-1, Wisconsin is led by Grant Besse, who has garnered 29 points on eight goals and 21 assists.  Right behind Besse in points is freshman Luke Kunin, who is second with 26 points (15 goals, 11 assists). The Nittany Lions own a 9-6-1-1 Big Ten record and are still chasing Minnesota and Michigan for tops in the conference.

Eamon McAdam has been named the starter for both games this weekend for the first time this season as the junior has been splitting time with Matthew Skoff. McAdam owns an 11-4-1 record this season, the best goalie record in program history. The junior owns a 2.43 GAA and looks to try to continue the consistent play this weekend.

Daniel Correa is a junior who is currently majoring in broadcast journalism. You can contact him at dec5271@psu.edu and follow him on twitter @YESDAN_ME.