CHN Staff Report
Concerns that Penn State's early-season rise to the top of the ratings would not hold, have all but dissipated after a huge weekend sweep at Wisconsin, capped off by Saturday's 5-2 win.
Penn State, in its fifth season of existence and looking for its first NCAA tournament bid, was the early-season darlings of college hockey, rising to No. 1 in the Pairwise. But a five-game unbeaten streak dropped the Nittany Lions to 11 and threatened to erase the team's early-season efforts.
But thanks to a pair of goals each from freshmen Nate Sucese and Denis Smirnov, Penn State is right back in the thick of things, up to No.