 |
| Tess Weaver has scored an overtime winner against a team PSU will play four times this season. Photo: PennStateWomensHockey.com |
UPDATE 5/17, 11:00 A.M.: I've added the CHA tournament dates to the schedule.
The College Hockey America website has posted PSU's schedule for the coming season. Asterisks denote CHA conference opponents.
Without further ado, here it is. Meet me after for more post.
October 2012
Fri. 5 at Vermont
Sat. 6 at Vermont
Sat. 13 vs. Syracuse*, 2:00 p.m.
Sun. 14 vs. Syracuse*, 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 19 at Sacred Heart, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 20 at Sacred Heart, 2:00 p.m.
Thu. 25 vs. RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
Fri. 26 vs. RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
November 2012
Fri. 2 vs. Sacred Heart, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 3 vs. Sacred Heart, 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 10 vs. Robert Morris*, 2:00 p.m.
Sun. 11 vs. Robert Morris*, 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 16 at Lindenwood*, 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 17 at Lindenwood*, 3:00 p.m.
Fri. 30 at Mercyhurst*, 7:00 p.m.
December 2012
Sat. 1 at Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 7 at St. Lawrence
Sat. 8 at St. Lawrence
January 2013
Fri. 4 vs. Chatham (NCAA DIII)
Sat. 5 vs. Chatham (NCAA DIII)
Fri. 11 at Union
Sat. 12 at Union
Fri. 25 at Syracuse*
Sat. 26 at Syracuse*
Tue. 29 vs. Princeton
February 2013
Fri. 1 vs. Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 2 vs. Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 8 vs. Lindenwood*, 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 9 vs. Lindenwood*, 2:00 p.m.
Fri. 15 at RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 16 at RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
Fri. 22 at Robert Morris*
Sat. 23 at Robert Morris*
March 2013
CHA Tournament
Fri. 1 - Sun. 3 First Round (Best of three, 6th place at 3rd place, 5th place at 4th place)
Fri. 8 Semifinals at 1st place (TBA vs. 1st place, TBA vs. 2nd place)
Sat. 9 Championship at 1st place (Semifinal winners)
I've created a stand-alone page with this information for convenient future reference.
Obviously, CHA opposition forms the core of the schedule, with four games each (two home, two away) against league opponents Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, Lindenwood, RIT and Syracuse. The Mercyhurst games will certainly serve as a measuring stick for the first-year program, as the Lakers have been the CHA's alpha dog throughout the league's history and have appeared in the NCAA tournament in each of the last eight seasons. At the same time, RIT is the not-really-defending Division III national champs, and they'll also make their Division I debut this season. Lindenwood went through their first-year growing pains in 2011-2012 (with an 8-21-0 record), and the pair of former ACHA teams in transition will make for an interesting matchup.
When stacking this schedule side-by-side with what's known of the men's schedule, one can see a couple shared men's/women's home weekends that will be must-attends for PSU hockey die-hards. Undoubtedly, one highlight will be that October 12-14 stretch where both teams play their first home games as NCAA programs. With the women playing on Saturday and Sunday afternoon against Syracuse, it's pretty safe to say that the men's games against American International will be Friday and Saturday night.
While that will be exciting for the history of the occasion, it may be topped by November 9-11. On Friday and Saturday night (again, I'm assuming those start times) the men play Air Force in what's likely to be their toughest home games of the season. On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the women play RMU, the defending CHA tournament champions.
The Lady Colonials represent four of the ten games against teams faced by the Lady Icers last season. RMU clubbed Penn State 12-0 on September 23rd, but PSU fared much better against Sacred Heart on January 14th when Tess Weaver's overtime goal gave the Lady Icers their first-ever win against a DI program. A pair of ties against DIII Chatham (those games will count as exhibitions this year) complete PSU's track record against this season's opposition.
Out-of-conference series with Vermont, St. Lawrence and Union, as well as a stand-alone tilt with Princeton, round out the schedule. SLU was easily the best of the four last season. The Saints finished 24-10-4, a mark that included an ECAC tournament championship win over eventual Frozen Four team Cornell and the NCAA tournament appearance that accompanies it.
Thanks for your tireless efforts to get this information.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a manageable schedule. Hopefully someday they can play Minnesota and Wisconsin and do some kind of unofficial BigTen thing (not that I fancy PSU's chances in such an event in the near term). It would also be nice to play some of the New England teams like BU to get some exposure up that way.
I'm surprised that Ohio State isn't on the schedule given the Big Ten ties and the relative proximity. I would expect that we'll see them regularly in upcoming years.
ReplyDeleteAnon - FWIW, OSU was rumored to jump to CHA at one point a while back. At the time, the CHA was Mercyhurst, RMU, Syracuse, Niagara, and PSU coming in. If I'm remembering it right, Lindenwood would have gone to the WCHA (probably a better geographic fit, although also a conference that would be a lot rougher on a new team) with OSU sliding over to be the magic 6th CHA team. Not that any of that matters much now, but with the CHA's history of instability, it's not like that type of idea has no chance of popping up again.
ReplyDeleteReed - In the early and middle '00s, the Icers played in a Thanksgiving "Big Ten Tournament" (they did call it that), generally with Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State's ACHA D2 team. Something like that with the other three Big Ten NCAA women's programs would be fantastic.
The whole CHA is fascinating to me. A top program in MU. A DIII champ. Two programs that were in the ACHA within the last two years. The league has to be one of the more unique blends of teams in college sports. I really don't have the slightest clue how it will go. Will PSU beat Lindy's eight-win first season? Considering the Lady Icers were basically even with Chatham and Sacred Heart last season, I'd have to say yes. The PSU-LU matchups will be fascinating. Lindy had a head start and was a better ACHA program, but PSU had more notice of its elevation and did much more NCAA-specific recruiting ahead of its first year.