In her second year at Penn State, Brooke Meyer will reprise her role in a loaded crease that also includes standouts Nicole Paniccia and Celine Whitlinger. While Meyer was third on the depth chart last season, she was statistically flawless in not allowing a single goal through three relief efforts (against Sacred Heart on November 2nd, and against NCAA Division III Chatham on both January 4th and 5th), allowing her to contribute to all three of PSU's shutouts in 2012-13. The Naperville, IL native and model teammate joined the Nittany Lions after a successful six-year career with the Chicago Huskies program that included a 2012 Central States Developmental Hockey League title and advancement to the quarterfinals at nationals.
Tess Weaver is now a member of the all-academic team in two different conferences
College Hockey America announced on Monday that 15 members of the 2012-2013 Nittany Lions women's team have been named to the CHA All-Academic Team, an honor given to student-athletes who record a grade point average of 3.0 or better during all in-season academic periods.
The Penn Staters recognized include forwards Kate Christoffersen, Hannah Hoenshell, Jill Holdcroft, Darby Kern, Emily Laurenzi, Kendra Rasmussen, Tess Weaver, Jenna Welch and Katie Zinn, defenders Jeanette Bateman, Paige Jahnke, Lindsay Reihl, Stephanie Walkom and Sarah Wilkie, along with goaltender Brooke Meyer. All except the graduated Christoffersen and Zinn, who transferred to the University of British Columbia after the season, are returning to the team in 2013-2014. Most of PSU's winners will be part of a massive sophomore class, with Zinn, Christoffersen, graduate student Reihl, senior Welch and junior Weaver the exceptions.
Christoffersen and Reihl were both picked as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars on July 10th, an award requiring a 3.7 GPA for the previous academic year. They also joined Weaver in winning Academic All-Big Ten selection in May, giving the trio the rare distinction of honors from two different conferences. Jess Desorcie, Taylor Gross and Cara Mendelson also won the latter Big Ten award which, like the CHA, requires a 3.0 GPA - but unlike the CHA measures cumulatively while also blocking freshmen from eligibility. Eighteen players of the 27 on last year's roster have now won some sort of award for their academic performance.
In all, 77 CHA players received that league's distinction, with Robert Morris' 21 leading the way. Additionally, 11 of the 77 were named co-winners of the Student-Athlete of the Year award for carrying a perfect 4.0: Kendra Broad (Lindenwood), Celeste Brown (RIT), Gina Buquet (Mercyhurst), Lauren Jones (Mercyhurst), Katelyn Scott (Robert Morris), Alison Wickenheiser (Lindenwood), Amy Stober (Lindenwood), Chelsea Witwicke (Lindenwood), Ali Binnington (RIT), Julia DiTondo (Mercyhurst) and Nicole Hensley (Lindenwood).
Here's the full release from CHA, including a list of all 77 winners:
Here are some photos I took at Mercyhurst University while visiting for Saturday afternoon's game between the Nittany Lion women and the Lakers. Click for full size.
A seatless chairback dedicated to Sister Damian Mlechick (1921-2004)
Tess Weaver (36) and Shannon Yoxheimer preparing to hit the ice
Nicole Paniccia stares down a shot during pregame
Kendra Rasmussen (13) looks to shoot on Brooke Meyer
The three goalie masks ready to go on the bench
The other end of the helmet spread - the forwards
I didn't really like the "anthem" shot I took on Friday, so here's another one
The Western New York Chapter of the Alumni Association took in the game
Vermont's Gutterson Field House, the eventual answer to a trivia question, awaits the Nittany Lions.
The Pennsylvania State University will play an NCAA Division I hockey game tomorrow.
Take a second to let that sink in. Read it again if you want. Maybe a third time, if you still don't believe this is really happening. It is.
For the first DI game in PSU history, of course, the women's team is in Burlington, VT to take on the UVM Catamounts for a pair of games. Both tomorrow's tilt and Sunday's rematch begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be streamed by NSN Sports.
So what should you expect on this historic occasion? I normally pride myself on having answers, but I really don't have one for you here. The simple fact is that there are seventeen freshmen on this team, and unless you're a scout, live near the home base of their previous teams, are a parent/family member of one, or somehow have the means to jet all over the place watching girls hockey games without being paid to do it, you've probably never seen any of them play before. I know I haven't, beyond Wednesday's open practice as part of media day.
With that in mind, let's run down what I think I know about this team.
There, of course, are the three Connecticut transfers - Taylor Gross, Jenna Welch and Nicole Paniccia. All three, as players who have already proven themselves at the DI level, are likely to be vital to any success the Nittany Lions enjoy. Each, as you might expect given the shared conference affiliation of the Huskies and Catamounts, has played against Vermont before. None, however, have lost to Vermont before. Welch played in all six meetings over 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, going 4-0-2. She scored the game winner in a 3-0 victory on November 20, 2011 - a match where Paniccia also earned a shutout in her only appearance against UVM. Gross played in the three 2010-2011 games, and UConn didn't allow a goal in any of them.
Between Paniccia, Celine Whitlinger and Brooke Meyer, I feel like the team's goaltending will be in good hands which, to be brutally honest, is probably vital when discussing a first-year NCAA program. Whitlinger has several USA Hockey Player Development Camp invites on her resume. Meyer brings a mentality to the crease that I absolutely love - think Tim Thomas (before he flipped out).
Penn State's goaltending, including Nicole Paniccia (left), Celine Whitlinger (center) and Brooke Meyer (right) should be a team strength.
Josh Brandwene has promised a balanced approach from his team, and based on what we do know about the remainder of the roster, that's probably an accurate statement. Of those 17 freshmen, Birdie Shaw and Shannon Yoxheimer shown a scoring touch at their previous stops. Emily Laurenzi is a two-way playmaker. Paige Jahnke and Jordin Pardoski should be sturdy defensively, while Taylor McGee is more offensive minded from the blueline. Of the team members we've seen play for the Lady Icers, we know that Tess Weaver and Jess Desorcie (who is returning to her home state for these games) formed two-thirds of maybe the most dominant line in ACHA Division 1 over the second half of last season (with Gross as the third member). Lindsay Reihl, Cara Mendelson and Madison Smiddy are the most experienced members of a highly inexperienced defense corps.
However, we have yet to see how most of the last two paragraphs translates at the next level. Beyond the former UConn players, really, it's all a giant unknown.
Vermont, which has been an NCAA Division I program since 2001, is a little bit less of an unknown. Of course, given that the Catamounts haven't managed better than a .348 win percentage in any DI season, maybe they'd rather be in PSU's position. Tim Bothwell's six-year tenure ended rather unceremoniously after last season's 4-22-6 mark, part of Bothwell's overall record of 39-138-21. Jim Plumer, who guided Amherst College to a pair of Division III national titles, will step in to try and reverse course.
Other than the coaching change though, very little has changed at UVM. The team suffered just four roster departures during the offseason, although one was leading scorer Chelsea Rapin, who had 15 points last season. Appropriately, the Catamounts have offset the departures with four freshmen. One of them, forward Emily Ford, played for Brandwene and Casey McCullion at Kingswood-Oxford School. Another, blueliner Dayna Colang, played with Yoxheimer at NAHA, scoring 31 points in 77 games.
This lightly reconfigured team has already seen some action, thanks to a 2-1 exhibition loss to the University of Montreal last weekend.
One returning Catamount to watch is Amanda Pelkey. She is another NAHA product who has been picked three times for the U.S. National Under-18 Team, and has two medals from the IIHF World Championships to show for it. Pelkey stepped in as a freshman last year and was second only to Rapin in team scoring, resulting in her being named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.
Expected starting goalie Roxanne Douville, a junior, is undoubtedly one of UVM's vital players as well, but one that's a little bit of an unknown herself. As a freshman, she had a .931 save percentage and a 1.91 goals against average while starting 22 games. Last year, those numbers were .901 and 3.52. At the risk of oversimplifying things, it's fair to wonder which one of those we're getting this year. The answer probably will have a lot to do with how this weekend proceeds.
Really though, this is about an almost completely new Penn State roster facing its first-ever NCAA challenge on the road. The challenge comes from a UVM program that, yes, has done a lot of losing in the past - but at same time, the Nittany Lions haven't even done that yet.
How's it going to go? I don't know, and you probably don't either. But finally, finally, after decades of waiting and wondering, and after the interminable wait for actual, live NCAA hockey from September 17, 2010, we're about to find out. And even if our heads start spinning from trying to keep track of all the firsts, it's going to be a blast no matter what happens, you can trust me on that much.
I'm not going to linger on Thomas Welsh too much (after this, I'll probably only mention his future plans, when known, in this space, then move on), but here's a take on his decommitment.
Also, North Dakota fans are now going after our leftovers. The balance of power already shifting! All hail the era of college hockey domination by schools that...aren't North Dakota!
The women's team continued their jersey-number-based countdown of "meet" videos last week with Smiddy (selected to lead this entry for her Lady Icer status), Brooke Meyer and Celine Whitlinger.
If I'm doing my math (well, counting) correctly, expect to see Katie Murphy, Taylor Gross, Birdie Shaw, Jenna Welch, Sarah Wilkie and Emily Laurenzi here next week.
The basics: Student tickets will go on sale at the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Wednesday. Each student will only be allowed to purchase one five-game package (for $20) at that time. Should tickets remain after Wednesday, students can then purchase additional packages on Thursday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
There wasn't really an ideal way to deal with the space crunch at the Ice Pavilion, so I respect what administration is attempting here. Essentially, instead of (an estimated) 250 students with full-season plans, there will be (an estimated) 750 students with five-game plans. The fact is, in growing a fan base, the die-hards sometimes have to give way for the sake of numbers, and that's the call being made this case. The plans, as with the grown-up plans, are sliced up equitably - one includes the opener, while the other two include a game against Air Force, the only NCAA tournament team from last season to visit.
If you're a student and reading this, other than from your phone while camped at the BJC...what are you doing? Go. Now. Don't even bother with the rest of the post.
Best of the Rest
There was totally room for both of them on there...wait, got something in my eye, be right back.
The women's team, as remarkably cohesive as it already is despite 19 newcomers, is not without drama. Consider the battle being waged primarily between junior forward Taylor Gross and assistant coach Casey McCullion over whether Titanic will be played on the bus to Vermont for the season-opening series October 6th and 7th.
Gross: Titanic on DVD combo pack coming out on Monday!!! #bustrip
McCullion: We are not watching a movie about a sinking ship on the way to VT #AssistantCoachesVeto
Gross: Casey!!!!! Coach already cleared it! It is a great movie and a tear jerker. #it'shappening
At last check, Gross was continuing to push for it, while also insisting (in the linked tweet) that if she has to, she'll watch it on her computer, but that it's definitely getting watched. While it's hardly my place to bag on a movie that made $84 billion and has like 38 Academy Awards along with naked Kate Winslet, I'm not sure that I want the captain of the women's team crying on the way to the first NCAA DI game in program history either.
Positives to Titanic? Well, you'd only need to pack one movie for the trip I guess, since it's like 10 hours long and has like 10 more hours of bonus features on the newly-released combo pack.
The Nittany Lions are picked sixth of six here, which is admittedly hard to argue as one of the two new-to-DI programs in the league (the other, RIT, was the DIII national champ last year). But in a moment of unintentional comedy only Bleacher Report can provide, their logic for the slotting was, uhhh...
From a roster standpoint, there are only two Canadians on the squad, and that
will add to the obstacles of an inaugural season.
So, yeah, no pressure, Katie Zinn and Nicole Paniccia, but you'd better be freaking awesome. I mean, you have to beat the nineteen Canadians on first-place pick Robert Morris. By yourselves, since Americans suck at hockey.
Sorry Angela, you were good, just not Canadian good.
In a story surprising only for how quickly it came up - and maybe not even for that - officials at Burnaby, BC's Simon Fraser University are "openly pondering the possibility of the school competing in NCAA Division I hockey sometime in the near future." I don't know how openly they're pondering, since this column doesn't produce any quotes from school officials, but that's what it says.
SFU, of course, recently became the first school outside of the U.S. to gain admission to the NCAA, although it does not presently sponsor varsity hockey.
A quick nugget buried in an article about how NBC Sports is sweating the NHL lockout:
"In the event of a labor stoppage, we are preparing a selection of replacement programming that includes soccer, boxing, original programming, and college football, basketball and hockey," [NBC Sports spokesperson Chris] McCloskey said.
If you're a Notre Dame fan, you have to be pumped about that. If you're not...meh.
Since last week was pretty light, we'll hit Terry Pegula's coming ice rinks-retail-hotel colossus in Buffalo for a second Three Stars in a row. You'd be hard pressed to find an article more complimentary of TPegs than this one - I'm not even sure Joe Battista can top it.
Former BU defenseman Max Nicastro who, it should be said, had his charges dropped in June.
Last Wednesday, Boston University's Men's Ice Hockey Task Force, commissioned by the school in the aftermath of sexual assault charges to former Terriers Max Nicastro and Corey Trivino, released its report. The money line from the group's conclusions, in my opinion anyway, is:
Our assessment has shown that a culture of sexual entitlement exists among some players on the men’s ice hockey team, stemming in part from their elevated social status on campus. This culture of sexual entitlement, as evidenced by frequent sexual encounters with women absent an emotional relationship or on-going commitment, can also involve unprotected sex.
Hockey players enjoy an "elevated social status" and get laid a lot without dating, possibly at parties with alcohol? First time around a hockey team, guys?
Without getting into a whole thing about the role of sports in society, suffice it to say that the issue is not unique to BU or to hockey. Nor are the observations concerning preferential treatment in admissions, less-than-rigorous courseloads or insulation from the larger student body. It sincerely is not my intention to give BU a whitewash, but I do think it's a mistake to consider them a bad actor. They're an average actor, although one with the good sense to evaluate itself following a couple of incidents with similar fact patterns. Tip of the hat to those programs - and they are out there - who do better than average. Hopefully BU can join them at some point on the back of the task force's recommendations.
Above is an embedded video (direct link here) of the August 10th edition of sports feature show The Home Stretch, which is aired on Naperville (Illinois) Community Television. A story on freshman women's goalie Brooke Meyer leads off this episode.
Because I categorically distrust the staying power of things I didn't put on the internet myself, I've also transcribed Meyer's segment.
The Home Stretch host Marc Dahlquist: When we first met Brooke Meyer more than two years ago, the then-sophomore at Neuqua Valley High School was already starting to make a name for herself on the softball field. Before grabbing her diploma this spring, the four-year letterwinner in softball was named the outstanding female athlete of the year for the Wildcats. But for Brooke, her future isn't on the diamond.
When Brooke Meyer attends Penn State in the fall, she'll compete in the inaugural Nittany Lions women's ice hockey season and will live out a lifelong dream of playing Division I hockey. The road to State College, though, started long before the puck dropped on her high school career.
Meyer: [At a] very early age, I played a lot of sports. I played soccer, hockey, baseball…t-ball, all the little things, you know, your parents get you into every sport and see what you want to do.
Patty Meyer (mother): For Brooke, it was always ‘when am I going to be old enough to play sports,’ and everything was five years old. T-ball didn’t start ‘til five years old, everything with the park district, you had to be five years old. She quickly learned that hockey, there were no rules. There were boys younger than five years old skating. So as soon as she could, we enrolled her in Rocky Hockey [Editor's Note: A pre-hockey program in the Chicago area], it just seemed like a natural transition for as much time as we spent at the rink. It’s like...it was her time.
Dahlquist: Brooke made the most of every opportunity she had as a young athlete, showing coaches at an early age that she was ready to rise to the challenge.
Meyer: There was a time when I was in mighty mites, which is probably like six years old, and it was the championship game, and everyone rotates goalies, and the one kid that was in didn’t want to play goalie, because he didn’t want to lose the game. I was like ‘I’ll do it,’ and ever since then, I’ve never left that crease.
Dahlquist: For more than 11 years, she has called the crease home, doing her best to stop wristers, one-timers, and slapshots during hundreds of club and high school games. And in her sophomore season at Neuqua Valley High School, she was named the starting goalie for the boys’ varsity hockey team, playing alongside her older brother Zach, whose footsteps she’d been following for years.
Meyer: I just wanted to always be better than him, which is kind of hard, because he’s two years older than me, and he was always stronger than me and bigger than me. You know, he could just kind of do whatever he wanted, and I had to just go with the flow.
Zach Meyer (brother who is now in the Marine Corps): I never let her win, she’d tell you that. I always had the upper hand on her, and even now, she’ll try to win, but I’ll still put her in her place sometimes. Her whole life, she’d been pushed to be better, and she loved the challenge, she embraced it, and ultimately became the athlete she is today.
Patrick Meyer (father): My son’s a big boy, and I’ve seen her wrestle and take his abuse you might say, but she never backed away. So being tough, no, I would actually suggest to you that most of the men’s teams she played on, the coach would tell you that she was one of the strongest players. Physically, not just mentally.
Dahlquist: Toughness was a must for Brooke. Unlike many of her future teammates, she played with the boys, and had to deal with her share of scrutiny from opposing players and fans. With the help of her team, coaches and family, she was able to brush off any negativity on, and off, the ice. But when she takes to the rink for Penn State next year, Brooke will just be one of the girls.
Meyer: The way the game’s played, the women’s style is a lot more faster paced, because they don’t have checking - but they still get physical. But women, I feel like they snipe more. They don’t have that hard shot, so they’re going to pick the corners, so you really gotta have your angles right.
Dahlquist: Brooke’s move to College Station [Editor's note: Ugh.] is part of a larger transition. Penn State will skate for the first time next winter as a Division I program in both women’s and men’s hockey. Thanks to the largest private donation in the school’s history of 102 million dollars, from alumnus Terry Pegula and his wife Kim, a state-of-the-art rink and facility is under construction that will bear their name and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. This is where Brooke and 17 other freshmen will join transfer students in laying the groundwork for a successful program for years to come.
PSU Head Coach Josh Brandwene: She is a very talented goaltender. One of the things that, in our process of watching her, that I’ve loved the most is that she competes for every puck. As I said earlier, she just has that character of all these kids who are coming on board for us. So we’re looking forward to the whole process of really building a foundation here, and we’re not very far away from getting started, so it’s going to be exciting for everyone.
Meyer: I just want to make a name for Penn State, in that we are someone to compete with, and that we’re going to build a program in men’s and women’s ice hockey [that] is something that’s going to become popular there, especially with the new rink in the next year.
Dahlquist: When the NCAA levied sanctions on the university this summer stemming from the highly-publicized athletic scandal, the association fined Penn State 60 million dollars, an amount some thought would negatively affect the entire athletic department, including the two newest teams.
Brandwene: It’s certainly a big challenge for the university, it’s an enormous challenge for our football program, and they’re in great hands with Coach O’Brien, who I support 110 percent, he’s terrific. But the university has made it clear that these sanctions will not have any impact on any of the other varsity sports. We’ve got a tremendous athletic program here, and we all support one another, we’re one team here at Penn State.
Dahlquist: The support between Brooke and her teammates will be put to the test when they open the season in October. And when she puts on that Penn State jersey for the first time, Brooke can check one more goal off her to-do list.
Meyer: I don’t know, this is so surreal for me, because that dream actually came true. I mean, you talk about it for the past ten years. I kept going with it, no matter what obstacles were put in my way, but I just want to play DI college.
Dahlquist: While the new program and university still have many obstacles to overcome, like so many times in the past, Brooke is ready for the challenge.
Robert Morris' Facebook page is running a poll asking who you'd like to see the Colonials play in their opener at the Pittsburgh College Hockey Invitational in December. I have no clue how much influence this poll has over the actual decision (if any), but get on there and vote for Miami. An RMU-Miami matchup would lock in PSU-Ohio State on the other side. You do want to play Ohio State this year, right?
Don't worry about coming off as selfish either. A PSU-OSU matchup stands the greatest chance of drawing out the notoriously light-traveling Buckeye fans, as well as casual PSU fans who would only turn up for a name opponent, and therefore maximizing the tournament's revenue. And from host RMU's perspective, that's a good thing. So is playing someone you haven't already played that month - the Colonials are slated to play Ohio State on December 7th and 8th, followed by the Nittany Lions on the 15th. Technically, they also play PSU on the 2nd. Wait, what?
They mean RMU's ACHA D3 team, a regular opponent of Brandywine's ACHA D3 team, right? If not, that's about the craziest scheduling quirk I've ever seen. Geographically, it makes sense. RMU is at Holy Cross on the 11/30-12/1 weekend, and it wouldn't be an ordeal to swing past southeast PA on the way home. But until the Colonials officially announce their schedule - the source on this is the Atlantic Hockey site - I'm just going to assume it's some kind of amusing error.
Get to know freshman women's goalie Brooke Meyer here. And here's all I need to know:
“I love the pressure — take me to a shootout any time,” said Meyer, who has never lost one. “I love being the last person my team can count on. You gotta love pressure to play sports.”
In a somewhat curious move, the Penticton Vees have shipped the rights to incoming forward Curtis Loik to the Victoria Grizzlies to complete the January 11th trade in which the Vees acquired Wade Murphy, a 2013 Merrimack commit and a vital component of Penticton's run to the RBC Cup this past season.
In my mind, Loik is the real wild card in the trade as he seems poised to break
out as a 19-year-old in 2012-13, but it won't be in the BCHL as he's committed
to Penn. State for the upcoming season. I'm thinking the only way he goes to
Victoria is at the recommendation of his college team, and that's got to be what
the Grizzlies are banking on, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been included
in the deal.
TYT has confirmed with Guy Gadowsky that Loik is still scheduled to come to PSU this season, so uhhh...sorry about your luck Victoria. The Grizzlies still do get Zach Urban and Chad Bannor, two uncommitted defensemen who could conceivably help their team this year. And it's not like their shot in the dark at Loik had any risk associated with it. So nice try, I guess.
...and a check in with Gadowsky's women's counterpart, Josh Brandwene (also known as "and more"), reveals that he played in the Coaches vs. Cancer Golf Tournament on Friday.
While I'm not paying too much attention to ACHA recruiting as a whole, I really can't imagine that anyone's doing better than Arizona State right now. Their latest adds: USHL defenseman Jordan Young, OJHL defenseman Zach Bayer and forward Faiz Khan, a transfer from NCAA Division III UMass-Boston. All three are Arizona or California natives who apparently agree with my opinion that going to a large and well-known school with a good ACHA program is better than DIII. There's not a huge difference in the quality of the hockey, you're not going to make much of a living playing the game either way and you're not getting an athletic scholarship either way, so you might as well go to a place like ASU instead of a place like...well, UMass-Boston.
The Sun Devils, in addition to this latest group, are also bringing in three Canadian Junior A guys and a transfer from DI Canisius to complement what was already a pretty good roster. Calling it right now: Penn State better not take the games with ASU this year lightly, or the visitors may leave the Ice Pavilion with a story for their grandkids. The Lions will have the better team, but the Devils will certainly be talented enough to punish them if they're less than fully dialed in. PSU, of all schools, should know that an in-transition DI is not necessarily an automatic over a top ACHA. Let's not be the people who don't learn from history, especially when its our own history.
Five members of the Spartan hockey media contingent discuss the coming season with coach Tom Anastos (left) while a camera guy records the proceedings...oh wait, that's just one guy on the near side of the table. So four members.
There's little doubt in my mind that Michigan State gets social media and the public dialog better than any other Big Ten school (I'll exempt Penn State from this statement, since it's still too early to say how things will go once the NCAA program is in full swing). Head coach Tom Anastos is on Twitter, and on the Derek Schooley Scale of Interesting, he doesn't rate too badly. And during Anastos' spring media briefing, the program's Twitter account shot out some of the details. This one's among the juiciest, if you don't want to listen to the whole thing:
Remember last week when I complained about a lack of analysis concerning the schedule? Order up.
I'll pass on a full critique of the critique, but generally speaking, I think this perspective eschews rationality in favor of a "waaaahhhh...I wanna be a real DI team NOW!" attitude. While that's understandable to a point, there are numerous reasons why Penn State couldn't (and really, shouldn't) have a schedule of Denver, North Dakota, Minnesota, Boston College, Michigan, rinse and repeat, this year.
Basically, have some patience. We'll get there, as soon as 2013-2014, when 20 of our 34 are spoken for by the Big Ten. Plus in the non-con, we'll almost certainly have return trips from the likes of Union and RIT (the writer seems to think that reciprocation has to happen in the same year) plus the Pittsburgh tournament.
A 54-year-old Sanitation worker jumped to his death from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Sunday morning.
Joseph Battista plunged around 8:20 a.m. from the upper level, according to police.
Passing drivers spotted Battista standing outside the guardrail, pacing in the rain, around 8 a.m., according to a New York Post report. Two officers approached Battista in an effort to talk him down, but the 54-year old Sanitation worker jumped.
You guys better appreciate the amount of stuff I have to sift through to do this. Rest in peace, Joe Battista.
Jess Desorcie (left) and Taylor Gross are two of the six members of last year's Lady Icers who will be making the jump to this year's NCAA team. Photo: PennStateWomensHockey.com
Defenders (7) Yr Hometown Previous Team Paige Jahnke Fr Oakdale, MN Roseville HS Taylor McGee Fr Pearl River, NY Taft School Jordin Pardoski Fr Rochester Hills, MI Honeybaked Lindsay Reihl Sr Cheshire, CT CT Polar Bears Madison Smiddy So Grand Rapids, MI Honeybaked Stephanie Walkom Fr Moon Township, PA Pgh. Penguins Elite Sarah Wilkie Fr Ashby, MA Williston N'hampton
Forwards (15) Yr Hometown Previous Team Jeanette Bateman Fr Greeley, CO Colorado Select Micayla Catanzariti Fr R. Santa Mrgta, CA Gilmour Academy Kate Christoffersen Sr Trumbull, CT CT Polar Bears Jess Desorcie So Westford, VT Connecticut College Taylor Gross Jr Colo. Springs, CO Univ. of Connecticut Hannah Hoenshell Fr Plano, TX Alliance Bulldogs Jill Holdcroft Fr PA Furnace, PA Pgh. Penguins Elite Darby Kern Fr Venetia, PA Pgh. Penguins Elite Emily Laurenzi Fr Townsend, DE Nat'l Sports Academy Kendra Rasmussen Fr Sartell, MN Sartell/Sauk Rpds. HS Birdie Shaw Fr Troy, MI Honeybaked Tess Weaver So Windber, PA Pgh. Penguins Elite Jenna Welch Jr Austin, TX Univ. of Connecticut Shannon Yoxheimer Fr Jackson, MI NAHA - White Katie Zinn Fr Coquitlam, BC Gilmour Academy
Goaltenders (3) Yr Hometown Previous Team Brooke Meyer Fr Naperville, IL Chicago Huskies Nicole Paniccia Jr Oakville, ON Univ. of Connecticut Celine Whitlinger Fr Garden Grove, CA Gilmour Academy
Because freshmen make up the vast majority of the team (17 of 25), let's start there. Here are some previous TYT posts with more information on several of them:
Of that massive freshman class, Laurenzi, Holdcroft, Whitlinger, Catanzariti, Zinn, Bateman, Hoenshell, Jahnke, McGee, Pardoski, Shaw, Wilkie and Yoxheimer signed their National Letters of Intent during the early signing period back in November, so they've been on everyone's radar for a while. Walkom, Kern and Rasmussen either committed after the early period or are recruited walk-ons (Kern definitely is the latter), but the three of them were already known as well.
One obvious highlight beyond the newcomers, of course, are the six players who were Lady Icers last year. Weaver, Gross and Desorcie were offensive dynamos after being united during the second half of the season and finished as the team's top three scorers. Smiddy, Reihl and Christoffersen were equally effective in their different roles. Additionally, Reihl and Christoffersen will hold a special place in team history as the only "club originals" who made the jump to NCAA hockey, since the other four members of last year's team on this year's roster came to PSU with full knowledge of the coming transition. An added dimension to Christoffersen's story is that her career was "ended" by concussions in early 2011. Now she's playing NCAA hockey. That's pretty special.
The small number of club players, of course, means that 16 players from last year's team still in school will not make the jump. They are forwards Abbey Dufoe, Kirsten Evans, Katharine Gausseres, Denise Rohlik, Sydney Sherman, Carly Szyszko, defenders Lisa Frank, Paige Harrington, Julie Horn, Cara Mendelson, Katie Murphy, Allie Rothman, Ashton Schaffer and goalies Katie Vaughan, Sarah Eisenhut and Mary Tonetti. Of that group, Vaughan comes as the biggest surprise. She was named the Lady Icers' MVP last season and was often spectacular in net, keeping PSU in games where they may have otherwise been blown out. Regardless, here's hoping that this group forms the core of what should be a good ACHA women's program this season.
Nicole Paniccia will team up with Gross and Jenna Welch at a second DI program.
Gross, who was named the team's captain by Brandwene Wednesday night after transferring from Connecticut in the middle of 2011-2012, will be teammates with incoming transfers Welch and Paniccia for a second time. Paniccia, an Ontario-native goalie, played in 24 games for the Huskies in 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 and has a career 2.51 goals against average, to go with a .924 save percentage. Welch, a forward from Austin, TX, has seven career points in 67 games over those same seasons. The trio were at their best on November 27, 2010 in a blowout of Sacred Heart, when Gross had a hat trick plus an assist and Welch added another assist to give Paniccia and her 21-save shutout more than enough offense. On January 9, 2011, Paniccia stopped 26 of 28 and Welch and Gross each had two points in a 6-2 win over Robert Morris. Paniccia has also shut out both Vermont and Union before. Basically, the three UConn transfers, who will all be juniors this year, do good work against teams on Penn State's schedule this year, which is nice.
Despite playing for a brutal team last year - UConn was seventh place of eight Hockey East teams - Paniccia was fourth in the league in GAA, with a 2.00 in conference games. Her .942 save percentage ranked third.
"Nicole and Jenna are terrific additions to our program, and I appreciate their enthusiasm and excitement for being a part of the Penn State community," said Brandwene. "The skill level and Division I experience they possess are tremendous assets to our young team, and I am looking forward to working with them."
In case you're wondering (I certainly did as a relative novice in the women's game and looked it up), women's hockey transfers are able to get exemptions from the NCAA's year-in-residence (before playing for a new school) rule unlike their male counterparts or those who play other high-profile sports like football and basketball, courtesy of NCAA Bylaw 14.5.5.2.10. In addition to Welch and Paniccia, that rule also benefits Gross, since she's still less than a year removed from UConn as well.
This Nittany Lions roster will make its debut on October 5th and 6th at Vermont before playing its first home games on the 13th and 14th against CHA foe Syracuse. Click here for the full schedule.
