UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- After extending their winning streak to 11 and unbeaten streak to 13 with a sweep of No. 20 Michigan this past weekend, the Penn State men’s ice hockey team has cracked the top-5 in both national polls.
Penn State jumps four spots to No. 3 in the latest uscho.com poll while climbing two spots to No. 4 in this week’s USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
This marks the first-time ever that the Nittany Lions have cracked the top-5 in both national polls as they have steadily climbed the rankings since beginning the season unranked.
Penn State currently controls the nation’s best record at 13-1-1 and received 830 points in this week’s poll, 141 more than the previous week. Penn State remains the highest ranked Big Ten school as only Ohio State (No. 10) and Minnesota (No. 11) stay in the top-20.
Penn State is also in possession of the nation’s best offense as they have scored 73 goals in 15 games or 4.87 per contest, both rank first in all of NCAA Division I. The Lions are also first in shots (724) and shots per game (48.27) while their +45 goal differential is the largest by 19 goals. Nine of their 13 wins have been by 3 goals or more, including both against the Wolverines this past weekend.
Not to be overlooked is the Lions’ defense ranking first in penalty kill (92.5 percent) while their 28 goals allowed and 1.87 goals allowed per game place them third in the nation for each category.