Three Stars: July 4-10

3. Gadowsky picks up transfer
(Lions 247)

With the 2011-2012 ACHA season counting as the NCAA-mandated sit-out year, it's leading to a flood of transfers. This one's on former St. Cloud State Husky Bryce Johnson.

2. Past, Present and Future
(View From The Booth)

Despite all that's gone on this week, it's still inexcusable if you haven't yet seen the 2011-2012 promo video. Credit Mr. Rodney Martin with some Guido-level work on this one (say what you will about favorite jersey day, the videos are still amazing).

1. Lions nab another transfer
(Lions 247)

I feel kind of bad about this one, because after Andrew Dzurita broke the news of Mercyhurst d-man Nate Jensen's transfer, it fell a little bit under my radar. First off, I may or may not have been off in Akron stuffing my pasta hole at the time. Second, dude did such a good job on his piece that I really didn't feel like I could add all that much to it. Here's one of Jensen's quotes:

“I wanted to go to a school that was bigger with more of a tradition in sports, more support for the athletic teams. I saw Penn State was starting up a team and figured that would be a cool place to play, because I've heard Penn State fans are pretty nuts.”

Worth noting: Jensen was a Tri-City Storm teammate of Kenny Brooks in 2009-2010. With Brooks' recent PSU pledge, it seems likely that a text or two between friends helped push Jensen over the edge. Or the other way around.

However, I still feel pretty bad, so allow me a bonus first-star.

Jensen hockey line comes to Mercyhurst
(The Mercaid)

While Lions 247 covered Jensen's career pretty well, this one goes back to childhood. As it turns out, father Dave played in the 1984 Winter Olympics and spent three seasons with the North Stars. Cool. Oh, you know who else was on the 1984 U.S. Winter Olympic team? Ed Olczyk. And Chris Chelios and Pat LaFontaine, but they don't have kids playing at Penn State. Here's Jensen on his father.

“My dad taught me to be a good hockey player, but also how to be a good person through hockey. It has taught me several life lessons: the value of teamwork, leadership, to be positive when there is adversity, but most of all, it taught me to have fun in whatever you are doing."

More, you say? Okay, how about an ACHA connection? Twin brother Beau plays for Iowa State. I may actually have to root for the Cyclones to make nationals now so we can see them.

Best of the Rest

wildfiremike
(yfrog)

Jonathan Milley was on the sports front of the Ottawa Sun back on April 20th. He's the one with the visible face.

Williamson the main man in Vernon now
(BCHL.ca)

Mark Ferner, the coach of Luke Juha's 2011-2012 team, has moved on to a position in the major junior Western Hockey League. Given the high success level of the Vipers club, promoting assistant Jason Williamson was a pretty obvious move.

Vipers Add D-Man & Forward
(Vipersdiehardfan Blog)

Here's a guy demonstrating a degree of skepticism concerning Juha (not him specifically, but all players moving from other Canadian Jr. A leagues to the BCHL).

Ivy Leaguer thrilled for chance to put on Oilers jersey
(Edmonton Journal)

Taylor Fedun played for Gadowsky at Princeton, where he also built a hovercraft. Now he gets to go to development camp with his hometown Oilers in hopes of landing a spot, most likely with their AHL club in Oklahoma City. However, I'm not impressed until he provides me with one of these.

Colgate Sports Discussion Board
(Voy.com)

Someone's scared of us already. It's just Colgate, but still. One poster even calls for a national championship in the first decade. Can we claim that now?

Fire causes $1 million-plus in damage to Engelstad Arena
(USCHO)

How do you say "karma" in German?

* Relax, nobody was hurt, it's fair game.

In, out all that matters with volatile landscape
(Omaha World-Herald)

For the most part, I'm done talking about League 2.0 until it crosses paths with Penn State, either in the form of a transfer from a left-behinder (thanks to Teddy Hume for pointing out that possibility to me) or something else, but I had to throw this one in because I think it's the best thing yet to come from a Superleaguer - by a lot.

Everyone has an opinion on this, but it seems like almost everyone's missed the boat. The more I think about it, the answer to "is it good or bad" simply depends on the school. More autobids? A chance to compete in a conference free of top programs? Congratulations Bowling Green and Michigan Tech, you just won the lottery. But what of St. Cloud State, who's been to the DI tournament eight times but only once on an autobid? I'm sure Western Michigan (the Broncos may still be invited, but only if Notre Dame accepts), who had recommitted to their program and was ready to compete within a major conference, is thrilled with the idea of never being taken completely seriously no matter how many upsets they pull off or how many mid-major league titles they win (see Boise State football).

There are plenty of valid reasons to support what's happening. It's progress. It's driving the sport into the 21st century, making some money, and in the long run, it's probably good for the growth of the game. I just wish people would start owning those reasons. It's disingenuous to act like this is great for everyone or like we're not taking the first few steps towards football and basketball. This is more stratification, not less. And someone's going to get squeezed into irrelevance along the way. Somewhere, an athletic director is going to say "our program always loses a ton of money, but at least before we were competing with Minnesota in a big-time conference..."

By the way, how much are you sweating if you're Alabama-Huntsville right now? The idea has crossed my mind that they may still be left out when this is all said and done.

WhyWestern.com
(Western Michigan University)

WMU's actively pitching themselves for Superleague via website, which is centered largely on their location in the bustling metropolis of Kalamazoo and on the fact that they have fans who cheer when WMU scores goals. Oh and Keith Jones went there. Congratulations and good luck.

First Carlson Center upgrade: Fix the hole that the bear put in the roof.

Alaska's Carlson Center to get $3.5 million overhaul
(USCHO)

This actually went though before the Superleague stuff, but regardless, it's nice to see some good news from the leftover crew. The Nanooks have always been one of my favorite programs because of their time zone, leading to my ability to watch hockey pretty late into the night.

The project includes the construction of new home and visiting locker rooms, a media room, training room, lounge, spin room, community locker rooms, equipment rooms and a multi purpose room for other event and facility needs.

Getting You Caught Up: Penn State Hockey
(Victory Bell Rings)

Yeah, I wrote this. No, I don't have any shame. Thanks again to Ben Jones for the chance to do it - I can't recommend him or VBR enough as a source for all things PSU sports.