For Penn State hockey, the biggest question entering the season was how two new goaltenders would be able to replace Arsenii Sergeev’s production. Josh Fleming is a freshman, and Kevin Reidler only had five starts in his freshman season at Omaha last year before transferring to Penn State.
With only 10 games left in the regular season, Penn State as a team has a .926 save percentage, good for third in the NCAA behind Michigan State and Augustana. For all of last season, the Lions had a .905 save percentage, a more
modest 27th in the NCAA. Statistically speaking, goaltending has been a clear improvement over last season. But despite the lofty numbers, the goaltending situation is as murky as it has ever been for Guy Gadowsky’s squad.
In Penn State’s last 22 games, Josh Fleming and Kevin Reidler have split starts right down the middle, with each goalie getting exactly one start in each of the last 11 series. I’ve lined up the goaltenders’ stats in a table:
*- GSAx stands for Goals Saved Above Expected. This stat tracks how many goals the goaltender has saved above (+) or below (-) expected given the quality of shots faced. These numbers are courtesy of College Hockey News.
Looking at the table, it might seem obvious that Fleming is the better goaltender and should be named the permanent starter. Right?
Well, it’s not quite as simple anymore. The old-school hockey adage with goaltending is “if you have two goalies, you have none.” In other words, if you keep switching between goalies, it’s because you don’t have one that you can rely on. It makes sense to an extent, but I don’t think it applies to Penn State in 2025-26.
Kevin Reidler has not given up more than two goals in his last five starts away from Pegula Ice Arena. He allowed just two total goals in regulation in road games against Michigan State and Wisconsin, two of the more prolific offenses in the NCAA. He did have one bad game against Michigan on November 14, allowing seven goals on 37 shots faced, but he has been rock steady since then.
Now, I still think Fleming is the better goaltender. In a single-elimination scenario like the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, Fleming is likely to get the nod. But there are two reasons Guy Gadowsky continues to rotate the goalies- 1) it’s working and 2) it keeps them fresher toward the end of the season. And as long as it continues to work, it is likely going to stay that way for the rest of the regular season.
It’s a good problem to have.
