The Boston University women's ice hockey team will close out the calendar year with a pair of games against Penn State. The two-game series begins Sunday at 2:30, with Monday's tilt scheduled for 1 p.m.

BU will host its annual Skating Strides against Breast Cancer game on Sunday. That contest will also be broadcast live on NESN.

HISTORY WITH PENN STATE

• This weekend will mark the fifth and sixth meetings between BU and Penn State.
• The Terriers are 2-1-1 all-time against the Nittany Lions, including a 1-1 record at Walter Brown Arena.
• BU last hosted Penn State on Oct. 9 and 10, 2015, with the Terriers dropping a 5-3 decision before earning a 3-1 win.
• A year later, BU visited State College, Pennsylvania and skated to a 3-3 tie on Oct. 14 before the Terriers picked up a 7-2 win the next day.
• The Nittany Lions have scored first in three of the four contests between the two teams.

NEWS ON THE NITTANY LIONS

• Like BU, Penn State has not played since Dec. 8.
• The Nittany Lions entered the semester break having been swept at Robert Morris (3-2, 4-1).
• They had won three of four prior to that series at RMU, including a sweep of RIT, the Terriers' last opponent.
• Sophomore Natalie Heising leads Penn State with 10 goals and 19 points.
• She is second in assists (9), one behind team leader Kelsey Crow (10).
• Crow, a senior, is second in points with 11.
• Junior Jenna Brenneman has started 17 of Penn State's 18 games.
• She is 7-8-2 with a 1.82 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage.

TERRIERS ON A TEAR

• BU enters the final weekend of 2018 with a 7-1-1 record since Nov. 1.
• During that time, the Terriers have averaged 4.0 goals per game while allowing just 1.67 goals per game.
• Even more impressive is that five of the seven wins have been away from home.

RECAPPING THE RIT SWEEP

• BU has not played since Dec. 8, when the Terriers completed a weekend sweep of RIT in Rochester.
• The Terriers shut out the Tigers, 8-0, that afternoon after earning a 3-1 win the previous day.
• Jesse Compher led the Terriers with seven points (2g, 5a) in two games, including a five-point effort (1g, 4a) in the 8-0 win.
• Compher, redshirt junior Sammy Davis and junior Natasza Tarnowski all finished the weekend with two goals.
• Thirteen different Terriers recorded at least one point, including freshmen Courtney Correia and Kaleigh Donnelly, who each notched their first collegiate goal on Dec. 8.
• Sophomore Corinne Schroeder stopped 49 of the 50 shots she saw over the weekend, including 27 saves on Dec. 7.
• Schroeder made 22 saves on Dec. 8 before freshman Nicole McGuigan played the final 9:11 of the contest to complete the combined shutout in what was her collegiate debut.

JESSE JUST KEEPS PUTTING UP POINTS

• A native of Northbrook, Illinois, Compher has emerged as one of the top forwards in the country. 
• She is tied for first in the conference and fourth in the nation with 31 points, and her 20 assists ranks first in the league and second in the NCAA. 
• Compher is second in the country and first in Hockey East in points per game (1.94).
• She has also averaged an NCAA-leading 1.25 assists per game and is on a nation-best 13-game assist streak. 
• Her 13-game point streak (10g, 19a) is the second longest active streak in the nation entering this weekend.
• Compher is a plus-16 this season, including a plus-13 rating over the last 10 tilts.
• She has recorded at least two points in 10 of the Terriers' 16 games this year.

DAVIS DYNAMITE LATELY

• Redshirt junior tri-captain Sammy Davis has been outstanding during her current nine-game point streak.
• She has notched 18 points (6g, 12a) in that stretch, including a career-high three assists on Dec. 1 against BC.
• Davis pushed the point streak to nine with three points (2g, 1a) in a weekend sweep at RIT.
• Davis' point streak began with a three-point night (2g, 1a) at UConn on Nov. 9.
• The tri-captain is second on the squad in goals (10), assists (13) and points (23) and has also factored on four of the Terriers' seven game-winning goals since Nov. 9.

POWER SURGE

• The Terriers went 6-for-9 on the power play in their 8-0 win on Dec. 8, matching an NCAA record for most power-play goals in a game. 
• BU was the first team to score six times on the power play in a single game since Dartmouth on Jan. 30, 2009.
• The Terriers have scored at least two power-play goals in each of their last four fixtures.
• Since Nov. 30, BU has gone 13-for-26 on the power play.
• The Terriers were second to last in the country on the power play after their Nov. 27 win at Brown.
• They now rank second in the nation at 25 percent.
• The Terriers' penalty kill has also been a big reason for their recent success.
• In their last seven wins, the Terriers are 25-of-27 (92.6%) on the penalty kill.