Former Shreveport Mudbug Could Start Huge College Game at Wrigley Field

Every year the National Hockey League plays an outdoor game known as the Winter Classic. The game is played on (or around) New Years every season. The game is played in either an outdoor football stadium, or an outdoor baseball stadium...regardless of region. While most have been played in northern climates, the game has even made its way to Texas, when the Dallas Stars hosted the 2020 game at the Cotton Bowl (they lost 4-2 to the Nashville Predators).

This year, the game was played inside historic Wrigley Field in Chicago. Where the St. Louis Blues beat the hosting Blackhawks 6-2.

For the 2025 Winter Classic, college hockey will be piggy backing on the NHL's event. As the Big 10 Launches their "Frozen Confines" event. Check out how the rink looks inside Wrigley:

The Big 10's "Frozen Confines" event will feature men's hockey games between Michigan and Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State, and Notre Dame versus Penn State. There will also be a women's hockey game between Ohio State and Wisconsin.

The game that will have the attention of hockey fans in Shreveport is tonight's Penn State versus Notre Dame game. Because the starting goalie for the Penn State squad happens to be a former Shreveport Mudbug.

Penn State's starting goalie is former Shreveport Mudbug Arsenii Sergeev. Although he's been hurt for an extended period of time this season, Sergeev did help the Nittany Lions to a top-20 national ranking earlier this season. Including when he made some incredible saves against Wisconsin...

Sergeev played for the Shreveport Mudbugs in the 2020-2021. While in Shreveport, Sergeev won 14 games in the crease during the season, helping the Mudbugs capture the North American Hockey League Robertson Cup Championship. In his Mudbugs career, Sergeev had a .936 save percentage and a 2.17 goals against average.

After the 2021 Robertson Cup Championship season in Shreveport, Sergeev was selected in the 7th Round of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Calgary Flames. That fall he joined the Tri-City Storm of the USHL, where he would eventually win the USHL Goaltender of the Year award.

After the USHL, Sergeev enrolled at UConn, where he played hockey for two seasons. By 2024, Sergeev was looking for a new home on the ice, which he found at Penn State. The transfer news was big in the college hockey world, and excited the Penn State fanbase.

The transfer was an immediate success for Sergeev and Penn State, as he had a hot start to this season. But then a nagging "lower body injury" struck, and kept him off the ice for a large chunk of the year.

But this week, Penn State hockey social media has been buzzing with the idea that Sergeev could be returning to the ice, and could do it tonight in Penn State's Frozen Confines game at Wrigley.

At this time, there's no official word on whether or not Sergeev will start in the Wrigley game for Penn State, but the table is certainly set for the former Mudbug to make a huge splash.