12/09/2021, 7:30pm EDTBy Matt Fusillo

‘Tis the season for Terps Hockey, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la… there is just one more stop the Terrapins need to make before decking the halls.

This weekend, the Terps will head north to State College, Pennsylvania for a two-game clash against the Penn State Ice Lions.

A 6:00 p.m. matchup on Friday, December 10 will be followed by a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Saturday, December 11.

Pegula Ice Arena, the 6,000 seat state-of-the-art arena located in the center of campus, will host both games.

Maryland, having won four of their last five, will enter the weekend after a great victory against the D1 Towson Tigers last Friday.

“We definitely matured as a group,” goaltender Henri Pelletier said about the team’s growth this season. “We’re able to unlock some kind of consistency. We used to be a one-period team and now we’re turning into more of a threat.”

Penn State, on the other hand, split a back-to-back series with the Delaware Blue Hens and also lost 7-3 to the Rowan Profs. All three of those games were away for the Ice Lions this past weekend.

This Terps-Lions series consists of the only regular-season games between the two squads.

“We’re at a point in the season where a lot of players are hitting their stride and getting to the pace they need at this level,” Assistant Coach Brennen Smith said.

For the Terps, this will be their final weekend of games of the calendar year, but will resume the season on Friday, January 21 at Delaware.