Penn State hockey announced its 24-game conference schedule for the 2025-26 season on Friday:
The Nittany Lions will play their first four Big Ten games on the road. Penn State opens at Ohio State on October 30 and 31, a nice appetizer before the football game on November 1. The following weekend marks the first two games of the much-anticipated regular season series against Michigan State.
Penn State’s Big Ten home openers will be on November 14 and 15 against Michigan. A road trip to Minneapolis looms the weekend before Thanksgiving, and the Nittany Lions resume conference play against the Gophers at home on January 9 and 10.
The home matchups against Michigan State will be held on January 31 and February 1. After a trip to Ann Arbor the following weekend, the remainder of Penn State’s schedule sets up nicely with a home series against Ohio State and a road trip to rebuilding Notre Dame. The Nittany Lions close the regular season at home against Wisconsin on March 5 and 6.
The Big Ten tweaked its postseason format earlier this month. After using a best-of-3 series in the quarterfinals since Notre Dame joined the conference in 2017-18, the entire tournament will now be single-elimination. Quarterfinal games will be held on Wednesday, March 11, with the semifinals on March 14 and the championship on either March 20 or 21. The seeding structure will remain the same, with the regular season champion earning a bye and the No. 2, 3, and 4, seeds hosting the three quarterfinal games.
Home game themes, start times, and TV designations will be announced at a later date.
Only 42 more days until Penn State’s season opener against Arizona State!
