Women’s Hockey Welcomes Penn State for Pair of Games to Open 2021-22 Season

Saturday, October 23

Providence, R.I.

2:00 PM

Brown University

Penn State

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Women’s Hockey Welcomes Penn State for Pair of Games to Open 2021-22 Season

10/22/2021 3:28:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After a hiatus of 610 days, Brown women's hockey is primed to get the 2021-22 season underway this weekend when they host Penn State for a pair of games at Meehan Auditorium. A new era of women's hockey under first year head coach Melanie Ruzzi will begin on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., followed by another game on Sunday, also at 2 p.m.

The games will serve as the first ever meeting between the two programs. Live broadcasts of both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

SCOUTING BROWN:

The Bears return eight players to this year's squad who saw action when the team last took the ice during the 2019-20 season. They will be joined by 16 underclassmen who will be seeing their first collegiate action.
Senior captain Shay Maloney is back to help lead the offense after leading the Bears in points and tying for the team lead in goals two seasons ago. As a rookie in 2018-19, Maloney scored seven goals, had a team-high 11 assists and was second on the squad with 18 points.
Tina Paolillo tied for the team lead with six goals in 2019-20 while fifth year grad student Megan Forrest and senior Lizzy Gross tied for third on the squad in points.
Senior assistant captain Hayley Kliczko is the Bears lone returning goaltender with collegiate experience, having made 11 appearances, including eight starts between the pipes in 2019-20.

SCOUTING PENN STATE:

The Nittany Lions have six games under their belt already, and are off to a 2-3-1 start this season.
PSU was ranked ninth nationally in the USCHO.com preseason poll after capturing the CHA regular season title last season.
This weekend will be the first road games for PSU this season after playing six games at home, which included a pair of wins over Holy Cross, a loss and tie to St. Lawrence, and a pair of 2-1 defeats to No. 7/8 Boston College.
Penn State is scoring 2.5 goals per game on average, led by senior Natalie Heising who has four goals and one assist. She is tied with fellow senior forward Kiara Zanon (two goals, three assists) for the team lead with six points.

After this weekend, the Bears will open up ECAC play in their next game on Friday, Oct. 29 at home against Quinnipiac.