Following its sweep of then-No. 11 Michigan in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament, Penn State men’s hockey has jumped four spots in Monday’s USCHO poll to No. 11.

It has been a meteoric rise for the Nittany Lions, who made their way back into the rankings on February 10 and are on the cusp of a top-10 rank for the first time since the end of the 2022-23 season. They enter their Big Ten Semifinal clash against Ohio State with a 14-3-4 record in the last four months.

On Friday, Penn State traveled to Ann Arbor to square off with Michigan in a best-of-three series that likely decided its NCAA Tournament fate. Entering the series at No. 14 in the PairWise rankings, the margin of error was slim. Despite taking a 3-1 and 5-3 lead, Michigan forced overtime, and despite all the momentum on their side, an early power play led to JJ Wiebusch finishing off a hat trick with an SC Top 10-worthy moment to win game one.

In game two on Saturday, Arsenii Sergeev surrendered a goal just 83 seconds in, only for Nick DeGraves to answer back only 14 seconds later. Sergeev made 31 saves as Penn State put five past Michigan’s Logan Stein to win 5-2 and secure the sweep.

The Nittany Lions are back in action at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 15, at Value City Arena in Columbus, squaring off in a one-game semifinal against Ohio State for a spot in the Big Ten Championship game.

About the Author

Michael Zeno

Michael is a junior from Eastampton, NJ, majoring in international politics. He's a diehard Knicks, Yankees, Rangers, and Giants fan. When he's not watching old OBJ highlights, he likes to bowl and play pickup basketball. He'll forever believe that Michael Penix Jr. was short. You can contact him at @MichaelZeno24 on Twitter or zenomanknows@gmail.com

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