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State will try to play that kind of hockey. "It was unbelievable to get to see the best team in the country and know what level we need to be at in order to get there," alternate captain Chase Berger said. "Playing Big Ten teams is great, but it was an unbelievable experience to see the highest level." The Nittany Lions return much of the talent that brought them their first NCAA tournament appearance a season ago. Sophomore forward Denis Smirnov, who led all Division I freshmen in points last season, is poised to pace Penn State's offensive attack once again. The light- ning-quick native of Moscow, Russia, packs an abundance of offensive fire- power into a 5-foot-10 frame. After hearing his name called in the fifth round of the 2017 NHL Draft and spend- ing the summer at the development camp hosted by the Colorado Avalanche, Smirnov set out to become even more dangerous over the off-season. "He's improved his strength and condi- tioning greatly since we saw him in Sep- tember of last year," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "I think he's going to bring much of the same in terms of his vision and skill, but I think it's going to be a little easier on his body and he's going to be able to play in traffic a little better." Smirnov will be joined by the likes of Andrew Sturtz and Liam Folkes on the Nittany Lions' forward line. Sturtz was Penn State's leading goal-scorer a season ago, while Folkes tallied perhaps the biggest goal of all, scoring in double overtime against Wisconsin to earn the Lions their first Big Ten tournament championship in the program's brief his- tory. On the blue line, Gadowsky will have to find Vince Pedrie's replacement after he left to pursue a professional career. A natural candidate for the job is Cole Hults, the jewel of Penn State's freshman class. A left-handed shot with scoring upside at the defenseman position, Hults figures to slot in with star defenseman Erik Autio on Penn State's power play unit. Hults has been preparing for that possibility since his arrival. It's between the pipes, however, where the biggest uncertainty lies on the Nit- tany Lion defense. Peyton Jones was nothing short of phenomenal in Penn State's run throughout the postseason, earning the Most Outstanding Player award for his performance in the Big Ten tournament. He was unreliable at times during the season, though, saving only 90.4 percent of shots, a number that ranked 51st in a league that contains just 60 teams. For Jones, the disappointment that ac- companied the loss to Denver was enough to fuel him throughout the off- season. "Right when we lost, I wanted to play another game right away," he said. "So for me, it was kind of just working every day to get better. I felt like we had a good sea- son last year, but I feel like no matter what, you can always do better, me as an individual and as a team." Now, if Penn State is to earn a return trip to the NCAA tournament, Jones will have to spearhead the effort defensively. Sturtz, who will be charged with doing the same at the offensive end, is confi- dent that the Nittany Lions can put themselves in position to earn some re- demption. "To get back to there, we just have to re- member what got us there," he said. "We weren't trying to be pretty. We weren't running cute plays. We were playing Penn State hockey, and I think that with the skill we have this year, if we play Penn State hockey, we should be all right." ■ Behind a 20-save performance from sophomore goaltender Peyton Jones, the No. 11 Penn State men's ice hockey team defeated No. 7 Min- nesota, 3-1, in the teams' Big Ten opener Oct. 13 in Minneapolis. Jones was tremendous all night, stopping 20 of 21 shots. That total included a spectacular diving stick save near the end of the second pe- riod on a two-on-zero chance by the Gophers. Jones reached across an otherwise open net to swat away the point-blank shot by Minnesota's Mike Szmatula – a save so impressive that it made ESPN's nightly highlight roundup, coming in at No. 4. "I've obviously seen saves like that before on 'SportsCenter,' but I've never seen one live," coach Guy Gad- owsky said. "It was pretty incredi- ble." Penn State led 3-0 midway through the second period a:er goals by Andrew Sturtz, Denis Smirnov and Nikita Pavlychev. The Gophers got a third-period goal from Ryan Norman to cut the de9cit but weren't able to get any closer in the game's 9nal nine minutes. Penn State has now won four consecutive conference openers and is 4-1 over- all in Big Ten openers. The Gophers were able to turn the tables on Penn State in the rematch two days later. They got a pair of 9rst-period goals from Casey Mittel- stadt and Brent Gates to take a 2-0 lead and never trailed in the game, pulling away for a 6-3 victory. Penn State responded with a goal by Alec Marsh early in the second period to cut the Gophers' lead in half, but that was as close as the Nit- tany Lions would get. Penn State also got goals from Sturtz and Smirnov, but it wasn't enough to complete the sweep. Heading into their regular-season home opener Oct. 19 against Ameri- can International, the Nittany Lions were 2-2-0 and 1-1-0 in Big Ten play. They resume their Big Ten schedule Oct. 27-28 with a two-game series against Michigan at Pegula Ice Arena. ■ PSU splits with Gophers in first Big Ten series

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