ECAC Champion Princeton Starts Season at Penn State

at Penn State l Friday, Oct. 26 l 7 PM
Watch l Live Stats l @PUHockey

EYE ON THE TIGERS
The ECAC Hockey champion Princeton comes into the season opener ranked No. 13. The Tigers bring back the nation's top two returning scores in All-Americas Ryan Kuffner and Max Veronneau. Each had 50+ point seasons a year ago. Kuffner was fifth in the nation in scoring with 1.55 ppg and was second in the country in goals per game. Veronneau was the nation's top assist man and was second in the nation in points, averaging 1.53 ppg. The pair was named pre-season All-ECAC Hockey, along with senior defenseman Josh Teves. Teves led the nation's defensemen in scoring a year ago with 33 points in 31 games. Behind Teves is sophomore Ryan Ferland in goal. A starter as a freshman, Ferland improved all season and captured the ECAC Hockey Tournament MVP honors. During Princeton's championship run he allowed just two goals and made 58 saves. He finished the season with a .912 save percentage and a 2.91 GAA.

SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS
Penn State is ranked No. 10 in the nation with a 4-0 record after sweeps of both Clarkson and Niagara. The team is tied for the best scoring offense, averaging 5.25 goals per game. Four players have six points including Chase Berger, Brandon Biro, Nate Sucese and Evan Barratt.Berger and Liam Folkes each have a team-best three goals while Sucese and Barrett have five assists each. Junior Peyton Jones and senior Chris Funkey have split time in goal. Jones has a 1.00 GAA and a .973 save percentage while Funkey owns a .911 save percentage and a 2.50 GAA. Penn State's penalty kill is fifth nationally at 92.9 percent (13/14), while the power play is 17th at 23.5 percent (4/17).

THE SERIES
The series between Princeton and Penn State is split at 1-1. Penn State took the first game of the series, a 6-3 game at Pegula in 2015 while Princeton took a 5-4 game at the Wells Fargo Center during the 2016-17 season. This is the first of two meetings between Princeton and Penn State this season. The teams will rematch at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday. Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m.

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