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Penn State to open Pegula Ice Arena October 11 against Army

The Nittany Lions will play their first game in the $90 million on-campus arena against the Black Knights before embarking on their inaugural Big Ten hockey season.

By Nathan Wells
Penn State alumnus Terry Pegula donated $90 million towards an on-campus arena that will bear his name
Penn State alumnus Terry Pegula donated $90 million towards an on-campus arena that will bear his name
Rick Stewart

The Penn State Nittany Lions have some high and lows over their first season playing Division 1 hockey. While the team has defeated a pair of Big Ten rivals in Ohio State and Michigan State, they have also lost to a pair of Division 3 teams and Arizona State in the ACHA. Regardless, Penn State is coming to the end of the year with a respectable first-year D1 record of 10-11-0.

And they already have something to look forward to in year number two.

Penn State will open their new $90 million Pegula Ice Arena on October 11th against Army after playing their inaugural season at the smaller Greenberg Ice Pavillion and neutral sites across Pennsylvania. This news has been rumored as far back as September by Kyle Rossi of Thank You Terry, but was only confirmed by the school Wednesday.

The Nittany Lions have history with the Black Knights dating back to Penn State's first varsity team in the 1940s and makes the service academy a worthy choice to open the next era. They also played Army in West Point this past October, winning 5-0. Next season will be the team's first in the new Big Ten hockey conference alongside traditional powers Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State

PSU's 6,000 seat on-campus arena was funded with a donation by alumnus Terry Pegula and will feature a NHL-size (200x85) rink.

You can see Pegula Ice Arena's construction progress here as it nears completion for October 11th.

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