The 2024–25 Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey season was the 19th season of play for the program and 12th in the Big Ten Conference. The Nittany Lions represented Penn State University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Pegula Ice Arena and were coached by Guy Gadowsky in his 13th season.
Season Unknown quantity After a forgettable season in '24, Penn State entered this year without much fanfare. While the Nittany Lions did lose several pieces in the offseason, there was hope that the team's biggest weakness, goaltending, had been resolved. Arsenii Sergeev transferred in from Connecticut with the expectation of not only being the starting netminder, but the solution to PSU's problem in goal.
Early on, the returns were good. Sergeev looked like the quality netminder her was billed as throughout October. Penn State went 4–1 with their only loss being a 1-goal defeat at the hands of perennial power Quinnipiac. Once the team began its conference schedule, the Lions first ran into one of the championship favorites in Minnesota. Sergeev performed well in the series, allowing 3 goals on 45 shots. Unfortunately, Penn State's offense failed to provide him any support and the team lost both games. Sergeev's first blemish came the following week when he was lit up by Wisconsin in an overtime loss but that was hardly enough to cause him to lose his starting job.
Injury In the rematch with the Badgers, Sergeev allowed two early goals and was removed just 4:14 into the match. He was later revealed to have suffered a lower body injury and would be out until the beginning of January. Noah Grannan assumed control of the crease but he proved ill-suited to the role. Grannan surrendered a further 4 goals to the Badgers in the club's fourth consecutive loss. After a week to prepare for being a starter, Grannan continued to stumble in goal, allowing 6 to Michigan in the first game. The rematch was even worse with the Wolverines collecting 7 goals before the backup was pulled in favor of John Seifarth, who only recently been promoted from the school's club team. Seifarth allowed the final three goals of the match but was finally able to arrest PSU's slide by winning both games the following weekend.
Seifarth retained control of the goal for the rest of the first half and proved to be a stabilizing force in goal. However, the offense once more failed to appear and the Lions were swept by Ohio State at the beginning of December. Though the team managed to go into the break with a win in the inaugural Capital Hockey Classic, the Nittany Lions' season was already on life support. Penn State lost all eight of their conference games in the first half and that left them wallowing at the bottom of the standings. The only saving grace for the team was that they had compiled a stellar non-conference record (7–1) which kept them hovering near the middle of the PairWise rankings. However, with the team facing down a heavy dose of Big Ten teams in the second half, Penn State was going nowhere unless they figured out how to overcome their conference rivals.
Sergeev returns Penn State was back on the ice at the beginning of January at Wrigley Field as part of the Frozen Confines series. Fortunately for the Nittany Lions, Sergeev had recovered from his injury on time and he was ready to go for the second half of the year. From that point on, PSU's season was largely in the hands of the Russian netminder and he did everything he could to keep their faint postseason hopes alive. After backstopping the team to their first conference win on the 5th, Sergeev was able to resist one of the strongest team's in the country and earn a partial split against Michigan State.
Around this time, Penn State started seeing improvements on the offensive side as well. Aiden Fink had been a consistent contributor throughout the year, posting 23 points in the first half, but he was beginning to get additional aid in after the new year. Two freshmen, Charlie Cerrato and J. J. Wiebusch, had recorded respectable numbers over the first half of the year as the two grew accustomed to the college game (23 combined points). After getting a semester under their belts, the two exploded in the second half of the year and together added an additional 52 points to finish 2nd and 3rd in team scoring behind Fink. The increased scoring paired well with the stable goaltending the team was receiving and Penn State was soon one of the hottest teams in the nation.
Resurrection The Nittany Lions completely turned their season around in the second half, piling up win after win against several ranked teams. Over the final seven weeks of the year, PSU went 10–2–2, which included a 6–2–2 record against ranked opponents. The stretch allowed Penn State to jump in the PairWise from the mid-30 up into the top-16 by the end of the regular season. When their schedule was complete, Penn State had a golden opportunity to earn an at-large bid but they still had some work to do. Due to their horrid start, the Lions finished 5th in the Big Ten standings and would have to start their postseason chase on the road. While being matched against Michigan was hardly advantageous, it did give the Lions their best chance to assure themselves of a postseason berth. At the time, Penn State was 14th in the rankings, putting them in the final open spot for the tournament, barring tournament upsets. Michigan was three placed ahead, meaning that not only would Penn State receive a sizable boost to their ranking if they won the series, but they could also leap frog the Wolverines with a win in the quarterfinals.
Big Ten Playoffs With both teams knowing that their seasons could be on the line, the Lions got off to a quick start and scored three goals in the opening period. Knowing how potent Michigan's offense was, Penn State tried to outskate their opponents and limit the Wolverines opportunities. Unfortunately, even Penn State got into penalty trouble and Michigan was able to tie the match by the early part of the third. Wiebusch tried to be the hero by scoring two goals in the middle of the period but Michigan managed to tie the game in less than 7 minutes and forced the match into overtime. PSU got back onto the power play in the extra session and Wiebusch was able to finish off his hat-trick with Cerrato and Fink assisting on the winning goal.
After escaping with a win, Penn State looked far better in the rematch and they were able to overpower Michigan in the first two periods. The Nittany Lions double up the Wolverines in goals and had a sizable advantage in shots (31–19). The team pulled back in the third, playing a defensive game that forced Michigan into having to settle for low-percentage shots, all of which Sergeev was able to stop. The final goal of the match came from Cerrato on a penalty shot and the Lions skated away with a huge result for their playoff aspirations.
In the semifinals, Penn State faced Ohio State and got off to a sluggish start. After falling behind in the first, PSU was able to get into the lead thanks to Wiebusch and their power play in the second. However, the Buckeyes refused to knuckle-under and just past the midpoint of the third, OSU was back in front. Matt DiMarsico's 14th of the year knotted the score for the fourth time that night and the two continued to battle for the winning tally but overtime was ultimately required. Ohio State's defense was smothering in the extra session, holding Penn State to just a single shot in over 14 minutes of game time. With the team completely unable to get its offense going, there was little chance the Lions had to win the match and, sure enough, the Buckeyes were able to collect the winning goal on their 42nd shot of the match.
NCAA tournament While the loss didn't help Penn State, the team's sweep of Michigan earned them the #12 spot in the final PairWise rankings. More, the Big Ten and Hockey East championship games both were full of teams ahead of Penn State in the rankings. This meant that the Penn State was assured a spot in the tournament regardless of the conference tournament results. After such an arduous stretch of games, Penn State was able to relax for a week and prepare themselves for a run at the national title.
With Penn State serving as the host for the Allentown Regional, they were automatically placed in that bracket and set against #3 overall-Maine. The team looked a little rusty at the start, allowing the Black Bears to open the scoring thanks to a crazy bounce. After that, Penn State took control of the match an remained in charge for the rest of the match. The Lions scored three goals before the end of the first, two on the power play, and prevented the Bears from getting anything going on offense. The Lions were able to sit back and wait for their chances thanks to their lead and scored twice more over the final two periods to win the game with relative ease.
Their second match saw the team pitted against Connecticut, giving Sergeev a chance to face off against his former club. Penn State shot out of the gate and fired a barrage on the UConn cage in the first but they were only able to get out of the period with a 1–1 draw. The Huskies got into the lead midway through the second but Wiebusch was quick to respond, tying the match just 30 seconds later. After that, the Huskies slowly began to take over the game and forced Sergeev to make save after save just to keep the Lions in the match. Fortunately for PSU, their goaltender was up to the task and no further goals were scored in regulation. Connecticut continued to dictate the pace of play in overtime and doubled the Lions' shot total. Sergeev was kept busy, stopping several quality scoring chances in the extra frame. Nearing the end of the period, the Cerrato was able to turn the puck over at the UConn blueline ad skate into the zone. He found DiMarsico in the high slot with a behind-the-back pass and the sophomore ripped a shot into the cage for the game-winner.
Frozen Four The victory sent Penn State to the program's first Frozen Four and gave them a showdown with Boston University for the right to head to the championship game. The Terriers, however, had not only ben to the past two national semifinals but were a much more talented team, at least on paper. Penn State who had won so many of their recent games thanks to the speed and tenacity of their lineup, found themselves struggling with the even greater tempo used by BU. The Lions were only able to fire 15 shots on goal in the first two periods and entered the final period down 0–2. The Lions threw everything they had at Boston University in the third. Nicholas DeGraves cut the lead in half just over 2 minutes into the frame and proceeded to pump shot after shot towards the BU cage. The Terriers bent but never broke and, as time began to wind down, the Nittany Lions were forced to pull their goaltender for an extra attacker. DiMarsico nearly found the tying goal under the arm of the opposing netminder but it was not to be for the Nittany Lions. WIth about a minute to play, BU was able to collect an empty-net goal that put the match out of reach and the best season in the short history of the program was over.
Departures Christian Berger Defenseman Graduation (signed with Maine Mariners) Jacques Bouquot Forward Graduation (signed with Reading Royals) Doug Dorr Goaltender Graduation (retired) Dylan Gratton Defenseman Transferred to Omaha Ryan Kirwan Forward Transferred to Arizona State Xander Lamppa Forward Graduation (signed with Maine Mariners) Chase McLane Forward Graduate transfer to Colorado College Tanner Palocsik Defenseman Graduation (signed with Toledo Walleye) Christian Sarlo Forward Graduation (signed with Maine Mariners) Liam Soulière Goaltender Graduate transfer to Minnesota
Recruiting