Penn State men's hockey earns 5th NCAA tournament berth
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The 10th-ranked Penn State men's hockey team found out its postseason fate by earning its fifth NCAA tournament berth in the past 10 seasons (sixth if you factor in 2020). The Nittany Lions are in the NCAA tournament for the second straight time and third in the past four years.
After winning the 2025 Allentown Regional in thrilling fashion with a 3-2 overtime victory against Connecticut and advancing to the program's first Frozen Four, the Nittany Lions will travel to the Albany Regional this season in hopes of advancing to Las Vegas for the 2026 Frozen Four. This marks the first time since their first NCAA tournament appearance in Cincinnati in 2017 that the Nittany Lions will compete outside of Allentown's PPL Center. Penn State is not one of the four host institutions this year.
Penn State has competed in the Allentown Regional in each of its past three tournament trips in 2018, 2023 and 2025. Penn State earned an at-large bid for this season's tournament and are a No. 3 seed for the third time after serving as the No.
4 seed in 2025 and the No. 2 seed in 2023. The Nittany Lions will battle No.
2 Minnesota-Duluth in a true nine versus eight matchup at 9 p. m. Friday on ESPN2.