Three Stars: May 6-12

3. Sewickley coach named director at Pegula Ice Arena
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Some nice coverage of Ryan Patrick, the former Icer who was named the Pegula Ice Arena's hockey director a couple weeks ago, focusing largely on his brief tenure under some adverse circumstances as Sewickley Academy. But it still fit in this quote:

“There is a lot of excitement in the area,” Patrick said. “It should be like in Pittsburgh with the ‘Sidney Tsunami.' There was a spike in playing when Sidney Crosby came to Pittsburgh. That is what we are hoping for here with the new arena.”

Population limitations (especially relative to Pittsburgh, the other half of the comparison) will always have something to say about Central PA's production of players, but there's absolutely no reason that Jill Holdcroft has to stand alone as a great locally-produced player.

2. First B1G Season for PSU Hockey
(WTAJ)

It's nothing of any great substance, but here's some coverage of Guy Gadowsky's Coaches Caravan stop in DuBois Thursday morning. That was one of his two appearances, and I'd like to think I did an adequate job on the second, in Pittsburgh that evening. So there you go.

I'm just glad that I'm not one of the PSU football writers who had to cover Bill O'Brien saying the exact same thing 12 times over. That had to be brutal.

1. Jenna Welch Highlights - Penn State Hockey
Nicole Paniccia Highlights - Penn State Hockey
(YouTube)

There's no rule that says a first star has to be something of immediate concern. Random highlight videos of Jenna Welch and Nicole Paniccia that popped on the radar last week are certainly worthy, as they involve two of my favorite players. I just wish the Welch one had that elbow she laid on Erin Zach at RIT back in February. Frustration penalty or not, it was bad ass.

Best of the Rest

Penn State-Vermont to battle for second straight year
(flyers.com)

Why is the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff being promoted by everyone except the two schools involved? Who knows. But Comcast and the Philadelphia Flyers would like you to know that tickets are on sale now.

Notably, puck drop for the October 26th game has been moved up two hours to 5:00 p.m., meaning that it will no longer overlap with the Penn State at Ohio State football game at 8:00 that night.

Your State’s Highest Paid Employee Likely an NCAA Coach
(Onward State)

Congratulations to New Hampshire's Dick Umile on being the only college hockey coach to double as his state's highest-paid employee. Get that paper. Since you're not getting the hardware, might as well.

Success With Hyperlinking: Brass Monkey Style
(Black Shoe Diaries)

Breaking my "newsworthy" requirement here, since this pissed me off...

PSU Hockey's conference schedule has been released. A brief internet search shows that three teams PSU plays (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) were all ranked at the end of last season. Oh, and their last home game is against Ohio State. I don't even like hockey and I'm getting excited.

Know why people from the outside crack on Penn State's potential as a hockey school? It's because PSU blogs with 20 times (at least) more readership than TYT act like this towards the sport. Bill DiFilippo: still a joke, if you need him.

Big Ten Schools Announce Prime Time Football Games to Appear on BTN
(bigten.org)

BTN will air just one primetime football game this coming year - Wisconsin at Illinois on October 19th - after the beginning of hockey season. One has to think that bodes well for the possibility of at least some non-conference Big Ten hockey on the network (the league schedule doesn't begin until the last regular season weekend for football, another move likely made with BTN in mind).

Ice Man Cometh... to Pittsburgh and Boston

Guest Speaker - Joe Battista
(pittsburghsmeal.org)

@psuboston
(Twitter)

Joe Battista is making the off-season rounds, doing that thing he does where he talks and people are inspired. One stop will be in Pittsburgh on May 30th at the Allegheny HYP club (free for Pittsburgh Smeal Business Club members, $15 for non-members). On June 29th, he'll speak for the Boston chapter of the alumni association, although further details haven't been announced yet.

Gophers schedule for first year of Big Ten hockey
(Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

As you may have guessed, the Big Ten schedule release last week unloaded on my inbox. Most were just the usual fluff (in other words, people painfully trying to write out a schedule in sentences) but this one quoted Minnesota coach Don Lucia, who suggested some possible 6:30 start times for PSU:

"The reality is on Friday, there could be some 8 p.m. starts. There is talk of some doubleheaders on Friday, with 6:30 Eastern [5:30 Central] and 8 p.m. Central. You have four Big Ten teams in the East and two in the West, so it would be us or Wisconsin doing an 8 p.m. start on a Friday night. That’s fine. That’s not as big a deal for our fans because it’s Friday night. I don’t think we’ll run into that on Saturdays. Who’s to say ever, but the indications I hear is that … it’s not as big of a priority for a television date."

Startup League NAIH Closing Doors, CIHA to Form
(achatalk.com)

The NAIH, which launched with some promise (and was hailed as a possible competitor to the ACHA by a certain blog) back in 2011, is kaput after two seasons. Western Washington University will go down in history as the association's only Founders Cup champion after defeating Le Moyne College 2-1 in overtime back in March (the NAIH didn't hold a championship tournament in 2011-2012). Perhaps the most memorable thing about the NAIH was its ridiculous lack of professionalism, manifested in its numerous trolling posts on ACHA forum Hockey 101 as well as by the time they were hilariously smacked down by Kelly Pegula on Twitter:

Mourn not though, for the NAIH has apparently merged with something called the USCHA (the United States College Hockey Alliance, I assume, not the Upper St. Clair Hockey Association) to form the Collegiate Ice Hockey Association. The CIHA is already off to a very NAIH-like start, as two players have apparently been crushed to death by a falling logo.

Tom Anastos' vision, ingenuity clear
(Lansing State Journal)

You know who I like? Tom Anastos. Here's an intriguing look at part of his plan to turn Michigan State around by targeting younger, more elite players. Penn State hasn't really gone down that road too much (MSU has three committed 1998 birth years along with one from 1997, and PSU's youngest commit is late 1996er A.J. Greer) but it will be interesting to see if and how things evolve for the Nittany Lions over the next couple years.

Committee hears coaches’ ideas on regionals, NCAA selection, but consensus lacking
(USCHO)

Speaking of Anastos, he's quoted in this article about the American Hockey Coaches Association meetings at the beginning of the month. Long story short, nobody agrees on how the NCAA Tournament should look in light of the brutal attendance at the regional sites this year (and most years), but many seem to agree on the idea of rewarding teams in the NCAA selection process for non-conference road wins, something that was previously done from 2003 to 2007.

The AHCA discussions are always interesting and can inform policy changes, but the rubber doesn't really meet the road on these types of things until the NCAA committee meetings in June.

NAHL announces 2012-13 season awards
(nahl.com)

The first-year Johnstown Tomahawks, with an ownership group including Penn State football legends Shane Conlan and Jack Ham, were named the NAHL's organization of the year.

Johnstown is a hockey town, and the fans proved it once again by welcoming the NAHL’s Johnstown Tomahawks with enthusiasm as the team revitalized a community with a rich hockey tradition. The Tomahawks finished fifth in the NAHL in total and average attendance, which included 11 home games with 3,000 fans or more. That’s an impressive stat for a first-year team in a market that had never witnessed NAHL action. The team also made the playoffs in their first season in Johnstown and had three players make NCAA Division I commitments.

USHL's Chicago Steel draft paralyzed hockey player Jack Jablonski
(SB Nation)

Your feel-good story of the week: in the late stages of the USHL Draft on Tuesday (one that had already seen PSU commit Greer and Tommy Olczyk's brother Nick selected), the Chicago Steel selected Jack Jablonski out of Benilde-St. Margaret's School in Minnesota.

Jablonski, of course, was paralyzed during a BSM game back in December 2011, and his subsequent rehabilitation has captivated much of the hockey world. He's unlikely to ever walk, let alone skate, again, but he's still going to be a hockey player for a very classy USHL team.

Lokomotiv Yaroslavl training in .... Lancaster County?
(Broad Street Hockey)

Three months before Jablonski's injury, the plane crash that killed all of KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was the dominant tragedy in the hockey headlines. Lokomotiv withdrew from the KHL for the rest of that 2011-2012 season and instead played in the VHL, a lower league, after pulling together an entirely new roster. They returned to the KHL this past season, going 34-18-0 and qualifying for the playoffs. Now, they're training in Manheim, PA of all places. Pretty cool.

Guy Gadowsky Coaches Caravan Recap

Penn State's second annual Coaches Caravan tour made its final stop Thursday evening at the Sheraton Station Square in Pittsburgh, an event that featured Guy Gadowsky, as well as fellow PSU coaches Bill O'Brien (football) and Mark Pavlik (men's volleyball).

The Caravan, which hit 12 cities across Pennsylvania and on the east coast over the last two weeks, was created last year when the heat of the Jerry Sandusky scandal was still white and largely to revive Penn State pride while promoting then-new football coach O'Brien. O'Brien, the headliner and only coach to appear at every stop, was joined by various coaches from other Nittany Lion teams - generally two or three others per stop - and each greets fans and alumni during a cocktail hour before giving a presentation.

Gadowsky, who was only involved with the Caravan's final day (which included an afternoon stop in DuBois, PA prior to Pittsburgh), fired off an inspiring talk. Apologies for the sound and video quality.



His number was called twice during the Q-and-A session that followed the speeches:

• When all three coaches were asked how they recruit a kid from California to Penn State, Gadowsky cited "the special thing you [the attendees] bring to us" and the feeling of pride that permeates PSU's campus.
• Another question involved trying to figure out, while on the recruiting trail, whether a prospect would be a good fit for Penn State's rigorous academic culture for athletes. Gadowsky said that he asks a player's teammates because, and I absolutely love this line, "hockey players can fool their coaches, but they can't fool their teammates."

Prior to the public event, both O'Brien and Gadowsky conducted a media availability session. PSU athletic communications recorded it for posterity.



The press conference was attended by Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and, as happened last year, the idea of hockey in Beaver Stadium got some attention.

Gadowsky said Penn State's football stadium would be an ideal place to hold the NHL Winter Classic and pit cross-state rivals like the Penguins and Flyers against one another.

“I think it would be fantastic,” Gadowsky said Thursday.

The central location of Penn State to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia makes Beaver Stadium an attractive location, he said.

One final note: the video shown during Gadowsky's speech is the Pegula Ice Arena Virtual Tour, which was published to YouTube about a month ago. Here's a better look if you've never seen it:

Gadowsky Joins Coaches Caravan

Penn State announced today that Guy Gadowsky will join the second Coaches Caravan, the offseason tour of Nittany Lion coaches from different sports across PSU-friendly cities and towns across the commonwealth and beyond. Here are the juicy parts of the release:

---

Head men's hockey coach Guy Gadowsky will join the 2013 Penn State Coaches Caravan Thursday, May 9 during stops in Pittsburgh and Penn State DuBois.

Joining Gadowsky and [PSU head football coach Bill] O'Brien at the May 9 events will be head men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik. At each Coaches Caravan stop, Penn State alumni and fans will have the opportunity to hear from Coach O'Brien and at least one other head coach and ask questions about the Nittany Lions' nationally recognized 31-sport athletic program at a lunch or evening event.

Jointly sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association and the Nittany Lion Club, Coaches Caravan registration is underway at www.alumni.psu.edu/coachescaravan and www.GoPSUsports.com. More than 3,000 Penn State alumni and fans have signed up for Caravan stops. Advance registration is required for all Coaches Caravan events.

---

The upcoming event is a scaled-back version of the 2012 Coaches Caravan, which hit 18 stops in seven different states, and featured both Gadowsky and women's coach Josh Brandwene. Twelve stops on six different dates are on the menu this time around, but only three stops (none of which include hockey programming) will take place outside of Pennsylvania.

Gadowsky, as mentioned in the release, will appear on May 9th in DuBois and Pittsburgh, PA at 11:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. respectively, along with O'Brien and Pavlik, two of the four coaches who joined the Edmontonian at his caravan stops last year (the others were Brandwene, who is sitting this one out, and women's basketball coach Coquese Washington, who is once again participating, but on a different date). The DuBois event will be in the Penn State DuBois campus gymnasium - the address is 1 College Place in DuBois - while the Pittsburgh reception will be hosted by the Sheraton Station Square at 300 W. Station Square Drive.

The non-Gadowsky stops are April 30th (Reading and Philadelphia), May 1st (Baltimore and Washington DC), May 2nd (Lancaster and Harrisburg), May 7th (Williamsport and Allentown) and May 8th (New York City and Scranton). O'Brien will headline each one, but the other coaches participating vary.

I'll break script at this point and offer a personal endorsement for the Coaches Caravan, as I greatly enjoyed my experience at the 2012 stop in Cleveland, at a time when I really needed an injection of Penn State pride. Gadowsky, if you've never conversed with him, is an extremely charismatic and engaging personality who, without fail, leaves anyone speaking with him feeling like he or she the most important person on the planet. And feeling like there's no limit on the potential of Penn State hockey. Attendees may even get in on the ground floor of some news, as happened last year when Gadowsky and O'Brien both threw their support behind the idea of a hockey game at Beaver Stadium. I strongly encourage anyone able to join in.

Three Stars: May 14-20

3. Big Ten Names Steve Piotrowski Incoming Coordinator of Men's Ice Hockey Officials
(bigten.org)

Here's the identity of one guy to get upset with when the calls don't go our way.

2. Bill O'Brien, Guy Gadowsky eye outdoor hockey game at Beaver Stadium
(The Daily Collegian)

In wrapping up the PSU Coaches Caravan from a hockey perspective, it's pretty safe to say that this is the most notable story to emerge. To be sure, we're still several years out from anything like this seriously being on the table, but it's an idea that has been gaining momentum.

At the Pegula Ice Arena groundbreaking ceremony, someone asked Joe Battista about the oft-suggested Penguins-Flyers Winter Classic at PSU. Battista's answer: "We want to be be in that game." It seems as if, for a couple of reasons, people are starting to realize that Gary Bettman's buy-in may not be needed to stage an outdoor hockey game in Beaver Stadium. And who knows - maybe a PSU game will serve as a catalyst to eventually landing the Winter Classic. That progression certainly worked out for Michigan better than I expected.

1. Penn State Hockey on the Coaches Caravan
(YouTube)

There was a time not too long ago when I referred to most of what came out of the Coaches Caravan as "vapid, yet fluffy." But you know what? Sometimes, that's exactly what one needs.

Best of the Rest



RMU Hockey: Pittsburgh College Hockey Invitational
(YouTube)

Robert Morris coach and occasional TYT mancrush subject Derek Schooley shares his thoughts on December's Pittsburgh College Hockey Invitational (which, of course, includes PSU, RMU, Ohio State and Miami at the Consol Energy Center), now officially the only holiday tournament that matters.

One minor observation: the Colonials play a home-and-home with the Buckeyes on December 7th and 8th, then of course visit PSU on the 15th. Given that, it seems obvious that the PCHI would pair RMU with Miami on the 28th to guarantee new opposition, which of course leaves the Nittany Lions with the Buckeyes. Bobby Mo opening with PSU or OSU opens the door to their only playing the two teams that they've already played that month. As hosts, I'm guessing that they're going to want to pile as much luster on this thing as is possible, and it seems like that would not necessarily be the way to do it.

Pieces falling into place for Gadowsky, Penn State
(USCHO)

USCHO certainly has a strange way of dropping a lengthy and comprehensive story into your lap when you least expect it. Here's some George Saad quotage from the article:

“I was pretty much just going to get my education,” said forward George Saad of Wexford, Pa., who will be a senior in the fall. “Penn State was trying to go D-I for many years, and I didn’t know if it was going to happen. I came to play [club] hockey, and it worked out in the end.”

Playing for a Division I coach in Gadowsky this season was a positive experience for Saad, who skated for Mahoning Valley of the NAHL in the junior ranks.

“He’s an awesome coach,” said Saad, a civil engineering major who posted 34 goals and 66 points in 77 club outings with the Icers. “When he came in, everything went up to the next level. The expectations became higher, and we played a lot better.”

Gratz named new Bloomington coach
(Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)

Brian Gratz didn't play all that much as an Icers goalie from 1999-2004, appearing in 17 games total, although it needs to be said that he posted a sparkling 1.53 goals against average as a senior when getting more than a fleeting opportunity (he was also an Ice Lion from 2000-2003, where he was an ACHA Division 2 All-American in 2002-2003).

It's safe to say, though, that he's close to the top of the Icers' alumni list when it comes to forging a post-PSU career in hockey. Gratz bounced around the low minors from 2004-2007, then broke into coaching (included: a stop back with the Icers as a goaltending coach in 2009-2010) rising to become GM/head coach of the Central Hockey League's Dayton Gems from 2010-2012. His tenure there ended due to the team's folding, however he's landed on his feet with this newly-acquired position as head coach of the CHL's Bloomington Blaze.

PS. Here's some nice analysis on the CHL's franchise roulette, if you're interested.

Bailey Bram, a 2010 Patty Kaz finalist and a gold medal winner with Team Canada at the recent IIHF Women's World Championships, is among the seniors Mike Sisti will try to replace with a large recruiting class. Photo: Tim Brule/USCHO

Women's Hockey Adds A Dozen For Upcoming 2012-13 Campaign
(hurstathletics.com)

The CHA's juggernaut is adding 12 players for this season, including three transfers from dead program Niagara.

RIT women’s coach McDonald takes plea deal
(USCHO)

Memo to Coach Brandwene: if you ever play men's league with Scott McDonald, try to get on his team.

New Scoreboard & Sound System for Mariucci
(Gopher Puck Live)

There's something extraordinarily satisfying about knowing that your school's facility helped set off a mini-arms race within the Big Ten. First Yost Ice Arena, now this. Nice try, guys. As Section E would say to an opposing goalie at the beginning of the third period, "we're still here, and you still suck."

@aschwepfinger
(Twitter)

Pretty big talk for a school that has two* more NCAA conference championship-winning seasons than Penn State after 41 years in the CCHA and 49 overall as an varsity program. Also, it's hard not to appreciate the irony of a Buckeye going with an "amateurs" beak at a college hockey program. Yes, we are amateurs, no argument here. Are your guys not or something?

Apparently, Mr. Schwepfinger is the director of the OSU Knucklebucks, which is his school's hockey student section. On a related note, I've heard a lot of hype about the creativity of NCAA hockey student sections but am officially underwhelmed so far as of now.

* One of those years was 1971-1972, the first year of the CCHA's existence, and ten years before the defections of Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame from the WCHA handed it major conference status. OSU's competition for that inaugural league crown? Three other teams: Bowling Green, Ohio (yes, that Ohio) and Saint Louis.

Penn State athletics emerge from last fall’s crisis with transformative leadership
(Steve On Crisis)

Okay, one more Coaches Caravan-related link. I liked this a lot, and it reads like the post I would've written about it, had I not decided to pour my guts out to you guys instead. There's only one sentence where I have an issue.

Penn State is in the seventh month of a crisis that’s far from ended. The child sex-abuse trial of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is coming and will tear off all the healing scabs this great university grew in the last few months since legendary coach Joe Paterno’s firing and death.

He's not alone in that opinion, but I respectfully disagree, as I feel like we have a reasonably decent grasp of what happened. I can't speak for you, but rehashing it all in great detail won't harm my healing process. Sandusky can't get any lower. He (allegedly) raped numerous young boys. The specifics are irrelevant to me. Tim Curley was a disposable suit/photo op robot to me, and I'd never even heard of Gary Schultz until this all happened. There's really nothing that can come out relative to those three that makes things any worse.

Sure, there's Paterno, who has always been the lightning rod in all of this. But whatever you think of how he handled things 10 years ago, it's tangental to proving Sandusky's guilt and not likely to be a significant part of his proceedings. It's not tangental to Curley and Schultz, but a) Will those cases even make it to trial, particularly with key witness Paterno now deceased? and b) I'm still 4-5 years from a law degree, but it seems to me that the state would want to paint Paterno as someone who fulfilled his obligation while Curley and Schultz neglected theirs.

If you think I'm wrong, get at me in the comments and tell me about the rest of the iceberg I'm supposedly missing.

Justin Kirchhevel and Oklahoma goalie Nick Holmes: probably still not Facebook friends.

Gadowsky is right man for Penn State
(Buffalo News)

We should probably close on a positive note after that one, eh?

I really want to tip my hat to Buffalo News columnist Bucky Gleason here. As a Buffalonian (is that the proper demonym for someone from Buffalo?), he had a really easy story handed to him by the PSU Coaches Caravan (yeah, okay, one more link) stop on Tuesday. Terry Pegula was there, as were both Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene. It would have been very, very easy to toss some standard hero worship Pegula's way, say everyone else is pretty swell too, insert some bland quotes from each, and call it a day. Instead, Gleason did actual research and built a cogent point around it, even "uncovering" the Justin Kirchhevel-Nick Holmes incident at ACHA nationals, and Gadowsky's subsequent benching of his leading scorer.

Gadowsky sent a clear message that he wouldn't tolerate inappropriate behavior. He was committed to Penn State's motto: Success with honor.

"We're building a foundation for doing things right," he said. "The words, 'Success with honor,' they're just words until you follow through with that. What happened, I felt, was an incident that I felt spoke [against] success with honor. We want to do things the right way. You can't just talk about it. This needed a response. It had to be done."

For the record, I completely agree. Gleason went on to essentially say that the only way for Penn State to heal its reputation is to simply do the right thing at all times - the Kirchhevel suspension being one example - and that Gadowsky is the type of person who can reach that high ideal.

On the Coaches Caravan, the Healing Process, and the Light at the End of the Tunnel

Over the last two years that I've been doing this blog, "Kyle Rossi, hockey blogger" has more or less curb stomped "Kyle Rossi, hockey fan" and left him for dead. What I mean by that, of course, is that there has not been a single Penn State hockey event in quite a while where I've shut down the TYT half of my brain and simply enjoyed it without thinking about how to address it on here. Even at the alumni banquet in February, where I intended to do precisely that, I ended up tweeting quotes from speakers and taking pictures that led to this post and this post.

I once again tried to take that route with the Penn State Coaches Caravan stop in Cleveland, my hometown, Tuesday evening. So naturally, here I am, posting about it. Old habits die hard.

To be fair to myself, I didn't seek access to the media sessions that have preceded each event. I didn't storm in and pepper Guy Gadowsky with serious, but tired, questions about expectations for the coming season. I did talk to him about things like his cell phone and assistant coach Keith Fisher's recent wedding in Punta Cana for a while, took a couple pictures, enjoyed some chardonnay and something that I think was orzo salad, and watched excellent presentations from four of Penn State's varsity coaches, Gadowsky, Mark Pavlik (men's volleyball), Coquese Washington (women's basketball) and Bill O'Brien (football). That's what fans do, right? I forget.

Anyway, yes, I'm still posting. What follows may read more as a catharsis than as a blog post, though.

Admittedly, I'm not huge on these types of events as a general rule. They're designed to generate largely vapid, yet fluffy and positive media content. The rather obvious mission of this particular three-week operation: generate said content on new football coach O'Brien, while selling him to a wide base of PSU alumni and boosters at the same time. Gadowsky called himself an "opening act" to me, and in a conversation with the Nittany Lion Club's John Nitardy during the cocktail hour preceding the event proper, he referred to "Coach" several times while relating anecdotes from the tour before I stopped internally asking "which one?"

In that regard, it's been a success. The media coverage has been as expected, and O'Brien presents extremely well. After watching him, I sincerely believe that he's the right person at the right time for the job. I'll leave it to people much more familiar with his resume and tenure to date for the full analysis, but he strikes me an intelligent man who, while aware of the monumental task ahead, remains willfully ignorant to a point. He tells his players to "block out the noise," and seems to do the same himself. The heaviest moment of the event, arguably, was when O'Brien seemed to become almost forceful and defiant in talking about his desire to continue Joe Paterno's legacy of athletic and academic excellence.

But as a hockey-first person, tweets from previous stops like "Gadowsky tells the #psucaravan crowd that he's honored to be a part of Nittany Nation," combined with numerous articles including verbiage like "Men's hockey coach Guy Gadowsky, women's hockey coach Josh Brandwene and men's volleyball coach Mark Pavlik also spoke to the crowd" kept my expectations for the puck portion of the show pretty low.

Gadowsky takes his turn to address the 170 in attendance.

And no, Gadowsky didn't tell us about any of the unknowns in this year's schedule (his confirmation of PSU's participation in the Pittsburgh College Hockey Tournament in December and expression of a desire to play at Beaver Stadium will probably stand as the only newsworthy hockey tidbits from the tour). The easy highlight of his time at the mic in Cleveland was his story about the recruitment of incoming forward Kenny Brooks in Las Vegas. He spotted a pair of blue and white-clad individuals on the strip and offered a hesitant "we are...?" without really knowing what to expect. Gadowsky then stepped to the side of the podium and acted out the emphatic "PENN STATE!!" he received in reply, which drew laughs, then numerous joking references to "recruiting" in Vegas from the other coaches throughout the remainder of the stop.

Gadowsky even jumped back in later, during the Q-and-A that followed the four presentations, with a (paraphrasing) "No, really! His name's Kenny Brooks, he'll be on our roster this season, and he's from Las Vegas!"

So maybe information-starved hockey bloggers weren't the target audience. However, Gadowsky did a fantastic job selling himself and the program to roughly 170 people who were there mostly for O'Brien and who may have only had a passing awareness of Penn State hockey.

Then again, maybe this information-starved hockey blogger was part of the target audience.

See, there's a hard truth out there, and please allow me to apologize in advance for bringing this up, but the reality is that many of us have not recovered from the events of this past November. The issue goes much deeper than the alleged behavior of Jerry Sandusky, the alleged inaction of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz or even the deplorable and continuing behavior of the Board of Trustees (yes, you too, Dave Joyner). It also goes deeper than my personal belief that, if the charges against Sandusky, Curley and Schultz are true, surely several others at the top of the university hierarchy, many of whom remain in their prestigious positions today, also knew of Sandusky's transgressions.

For myself, last November was about the shattering of an entire value system. As Penn Staters, we believed that our school - including each of its faculty and staff members, students and alumni - was, on some fundamental level, better than every other institution out there. Maybe Alabama wins more football championships, maybe MIT has a better engineering school, maybe Arizona State parties harder, maybe BYU parties less, maybe Virginia has a prettier campus, maybe Northwestern has a higher athletics graduation rate and so on, but roll everything together and Penn State has no peer. Even during what qualified as the worst of times before November, Penn Staters could always be secure in the idea that we were still different than everyone else. Somehow more ethical. Simply better. We lived with those beliefs for a few years or a few decades - depending on age - and in one week, it was all destroyed.

Yeah, okay, 99.99 percent of Penn Staters had nothing to do with what happened, and for many of you, that fact alone is sufficient to carry on with business as usual. But I've struggled to get past the idea that the failure of leadership within the Board of Trustees poisons everything underneath. At the very least, much like the hot girl who turns into a five when you wake up sober, PSU looked a lot like every other large research university with a large athletic program. It was no longer on its pedestal, no longer special, no longer better, it just happened to be the one I attended. And so what? I only went there because my father did, and because I grew up with Joe Paterno's Penn State football program as a result. And...well...

I seriously considered quitting this blog (even to the point of tweeting the notion the night Paterno was fired, but saying that I would sleep on it) because, quite simply, I wanted nothing to do with the school in the immediate aftermath of those events. I was disgusted by the allegations, and disgusted by a lot of what transpired since news of the allegations broke. To this day, my involvement with PSU is more or less strictly limited to hockey, thanks to TYT and my personal ties to the program. Gadowsky hasn't hurt things either. I have no reservations saying that I would not have been at the Coaches Caravan if not for his presence, and after talking to him once again, I continue to have no doubt that he'll build a program that will be the envy of everyone in the Big Ten and in the country - just be patient, because there's going to be some dirty ice for a couple years.

Outside of hockey though, I've flipped the switch off. I haven't watched a single non-hockey sporting event since Paterno's 409th and final win. I haven't even been on campus other than for hockey reasons (I have to be the only person who attended the Pegula Ice Arena groundbreaking, then blew town before the Blue-White Game). I'm torn as to continuing my membership in the Nittany Lion Club. The idea of tacitly approving of PSU's leadership through my annual donation still makes my skin crawl. I'm really sorry if that rubs any of you the wrong way, but that's how I feel right now.

And that's precisely why the Coaches Caravan is so much more than a factory for positive press.

Penn Staters, generally, are at different stages of the healing process. Based on the excitement I've seen for O'Brien, both on Tuesday night and otherwise, I suspect most are much further along than myself. For my part, I left the event feeling pretty good about Penn State, and not just Penn State hockey, for the first time since November.

The Nittany Lion Club table included autographed items from O'Brien, Washington and men's basketball coach Patrick Chambers that will be raffled off - as well as forms to express interest in men's and women's hockey tickets.

There's Gadowsky and O'Brien, of course. There's also the self-effacing Pavlik and Washington, whose heartfelt declaration that State College is her home (while explaining why she turned down a recent offer from Michigan, a school near her native Flint) drew enthusiastic applause. Underneath the PowerPoints, the give and take, the corny jokes and the more sincere moments, one thing is more than evident: these people are deserving of support. They're honorable people, they believe in the university, and it turns out that they're not horrible at coaching either. My realization that hey, you can like someone and believe in their cause without liking their boss, might prove a step towards a day where I wear my blue and white just as fervently as I did six months ago. A day when I'm once again secure in knowing that my alma mater is just better than yours.

That day, unfortunately, isn't today, but the idea that the day may yet pass was unfathomable eight hours ago. Now, thanks to the Coaches Caravan, that's no longer the case. I hope that those responsible for organizing the tour read this and accept my sincerest appreciation.

Three Stars: May 7-13

Cara Mendelson (right) requests your assistance.

3. @lukejuha04
(Twitter)

The star defense recruit, who struggled with injuries all season, has finally been cleared to play. Juha's last game action was November 13, 2011 at the World Jr. A Challenge and his last contest with the BCHL's Vernon Vipers was on October 28th, so this qualifies as both fantastic and long-awaited news.

2. Coaches Caravan
(Penn State Alumni Association)

To be honest, I'm kind of sick of hearing about the Coaches Caravan. But we're in the last week of it, highlighted by the entry of Guy Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene, so now-ish would probably be a decent time to register if you haven't already and want to attend (except the Altoona one, you probably missed that by the time you read this). Tickets for Nittany Lion Club and alumni association members are $40, non-members are $55. Here's the schedule. Get at me if you'll be in Cleveland.

Monday, May 14 - Altoona, PA (7:30 a.m.), Pittsburgh, PA (6:00 p.m.)
Tuesday, May 15 - Youngstown, OH (11:30 a.m.), Cleveland, OH (6:00 p.m.)
Wednesday, May 16 - Erie, PA (11:30 a.m.), Buffalo, NY (6:00 p.m.)

Gadowsky will attend all six of those stops, while Brandwene will only be in Pittsburgh and Buffalo.

1. Help the kids of Rwanda
(gofundme.com)

I'll let Lady Icer Cara Mendelson explain:

My friend Katelyn and I are taking a mission trip to Rwanda, Africa on May 23rd! We picked Rwanda because it is an extremely poor country that could really use our help. With the genocide just over 15 years ago, these people are looking to rebuild their lives. Any small donation can make a huge difference. In our case, the money raised is going to the funding of a school in which we will be working at while we are there. Thanks so much to all of you for your support!

You heard her - get on it.

Best of the Rest

Could Penn State help celebrate the groundbreaking for this edifice?

RIT's Shelby Vakiener raises bar
(Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

While I'm sure Ms. Vakiener is an outstanding lacrosse player, I'm more concerned with the sidebar on this one, titled "RIT HOCKEY Arena Update."

More than $8 million in private donations have been secured for RIT’s Gene Polisseni Center, which has an estimated total cost of $30 million to $35 million. The school wants to raise $15 million through fundraising and will pay off the remainder of construction costs through revenue generated from the venue, [RIT director of university news Paul] Stella said. 

There is no official date for ground-breaking, though speculation is that it may take place during Brick City Weekend, RIT’s homecoming event Oct. 19-21. The Tigers men’s hockey team plays Penn State at Blue Cross Arena at the Rochester Community War Memorial on Oct. 20.

Heeeey...that's us! By the way, RIT plans to open their arena during the same 2013-2014 season as the PIA. They just now selected an architect, Canadian firm BBB Architects. Better get cracking, guys.

Replay: Chat with Michigan State hockey coach Tom Anastos
(Detroit Free Press)

Ever wonder why a program like Michigan State would schedule a first-year program when a) they don't have to, since the Big Ten doesn't start until 2013-2014 and b) they get no credit in the pairwise rankings for doing so? Wonder no more.

I believe that while we are always trying to do what's in the best interest of Michigan State, when you're at a school like ours, we also need to play a leadership role in helping our sport grow. Regardless of the impact of games with PSU next season on our PWR, we believe its the right thing to do...both for the good of the sport, as well as to help a new hockey-playing member of the Big Ten.

The entire chat is worth a read for Anastos' thoughts on the Big Ten, not to mention the interesting tidbits on a future opponent.

Bondra Commits to Michigan State
(The Munn Minute)

I'm thinking when Penn State and Michigan State get together this season, there should be a game beforehand for the hockey dads from the two teams. We already had 1984 Olympic teammates Chris Chelios (MSU's Dean and Jake), David Jensen (PSU's Nate) and Ed Olczyk (PSU's Tommy) in the mix. Now toss in Peter Bondra, who didn't play for Team USA but who did score 503 goals in the NHL.

Jon Gruden, John Lynch honor student athletes at Mile High
(Denver Post)

Yep, that's incoming women's recruit Jeanette Bateman receiving $10,000 of scholarship money from NFL legend John Lynch. Nicely done.

Derek Ross
(Google+)

From the "for what it's worth" department. I don't know Mr. Ross other than through his getting pinged by my network of Google Alerts. His StalkerNet entry lists him as a Systems Administrator in the PSU registrar's office.

Just came out of a presentation on the new Pegula Ice Rink at PSU. That facility is going to be pretty amazing. I'm not even a huge hockey fan like +Bradley Snyder is, but I'm excited to go to games.

Looks like Tim Hortons is 99% confirmed to be the facilities food vendor. (He said don't tweet that. I didn't. This is G+.)

He added this comment underneath:

Tickets are dirt cheap too 8 bucks. If you want high roller tickets that includes club access and an included meal its only 45 bucks. Would be a nice evening.

Anyone have a problem with $8 tickets? Didn't think so.

White should act fast to add hockey at UB
(Buffalo News)

UB-to-DI was a hot rumor a while back, but now it has been reduced to "this would be a great hockey school, and we should do it ASAP...now who's got some money?" columns. I think Penn State spent about 30 years in that phase, so don't hold your breath. Although, it would be a good idea for Buffalo to act now, because...

Report: Hockey East wants Connecticut as 12th member for 2013-14
(USCHO)

Hockey East, now at ten members, is adding Notre Dame from the dissolving CCHA in 2013-2014. UConn, on the other hand, would leave a still-in-existence conference behind, Atlantic Hockey. AHA would be down to 11 members, and is a perfect geographic and competitive fit for a new program at Buffalo. Everyone wins. Well, except Alabama-Huntsville, but that's a whole 'nother thing.

Wolverines Unveil Redesigned Jerseys for 2012-13 Season
(mgoblue.com)

If not for Michigan's tendency to tweak their unis (seemingly) every year, I'd say that this is what the Wolverines will look like the first time they play Penn State. Regardless, I love these. I already felt like UM's whites were one of the best jerseys in college hockey, and now they have blues to match, along with the addition of the Big Chill throwbacks to the regular set.

Niagara's no longer in the game
(Buffalo News)

Two Buffalo News articles in one Three Stars, neither of which really has anything to do with Terry Pegula? Sure. This one's the definitive word on the demise of the Niagara women's program, as far as I'm concerned.

National Collegiate Hockey Conference Names Joe Novak Director of Hockey Operations
(denverpioneers.com)

Zzzzz...suffice it to say that I wouldn't include this story in a January Three Stars post.

Three Stars: April 16-22

3. Penn State breaks ground on $102 million Pegula Ice Arena
(The Daily Collegian)

The Collegian got the short end in the groundbreaking roundup post due to its publication schedule, so I'm rectifying that here.

2. O'Brien, Chambers, Washington and Gadowsky Headline Seven-State Penn State Coaches Caravan In Early May
(gopsusports.com)

This one flew under the radar with all of the groundbreaking stuff going on, but...

Penn State men's hockey coach Guy Gadowsky is joining the bus tour for all six events during the third week of the Coaches Caravan, with stops in Altoona and Pittsburgh (May 14), Youngstown and Cleveland (May 15) and Erie and Buffalo (May 16).

Previously, Gadowsky was only scheduled for the Buffalo stop. It should be a great chance to meet him, and I'll probably be at my local stop (Cleveland, if you're too lazy to check the right-hand column) now.

1. Postseason Suspensions (Part 1, Part 2)
(Off The Crossbar)

Outgoing Lady Icer senior Abby Miller started a blog last week, and it looks like great reading so far, so check her out. The biggest story of the Stanley Cup Playoffs so far, without a doubt, is the number of incidents worthy of supplemental discipline. Here's Miller's take on several of them.

Best of the Rest



Former Penn State hockey star turns false prophet
(YouTube)

Okay, so I got a Google Alert hit on this, for obvious reasons and was bored that day, so bear with me. From the not-so-subtle dedication in the video, it's established that we're talking about former Brandywine player Chad Thomas, a defenseman from 2006-2011 and an ACHA Division 3 Academic All-American in his senior year. What was his transgression?

Chad Thomas formerly operated a ministry called "The Salvation Movement" and was promptly kicked out when it was discovered he was living with his girlfriend. A hasty shotgun wedding tried to patch up the ministry but it was not to be. Chad never repented of his fornication to his followers.

Now Chad is hearing voices and is being told events are going to happen. These events ALWAYS fail and yet he claims the voice he heard was God and he continues to make videos about his false dreams and visions and posts them on youtube on a daily basis. This is not the first time he has made false prophecies. In all of Chad's videos he appears agitated and frantic. He does not have the peace of God in him. He is not saved and only wants to escape the tribulation without having to obey Jesus.

One of Thomas' YouTube videos was called "POSSIBLE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI OR SIGNIFICANT EVENT BY LAST DAY OF PASSOVER??", which particularly rubbed the uploaders of the lead video the wrong way (basically that entire account exists to attack Thomas). I particularly like the claim throughout that Thomas "misses the fame and celebrity status that being a college athlete brought him." Yeah, he's just like Claude Giroux in Southeast PA.

High drama. Aren't you glad you know about it now?

PS. It's the offseason. Get used to it.

Blues Prospects Trending Up, Apr. 22, 2012
(St. Louis Game Time)

Know what's cool? When a blog covering an NHL team rates one of your school's commits as one of their prospects that is "trending up" for the past week. That's new, eh?

Tuesdays With Jerry: An Old Man, A Young Man, And A College Hockey Dynasty's Greatest Lessons (Part 3) 
(BC Interruption)

The post is good in and of itself, but I'm particularly interested in one of the comments.

I’d especially love to see some football/hockey weekends with schools like Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Minnesota, etc. with a hockey game on Friday night and football game on Saturday. Of course, this would require the football program to schedule someone besides Perkins School for the Blind as a non-conf opponent, so I’m not getting my hopes up.

It would be tough to pull off for a non-Big Ten team on the football end, with the schedules set so far ahead and with the conference becoming increasingly insular (see: the eventual jump to nine conference games). Still, I'm game.

Former Mercyhurst Laker Meghan Agosta had three points in the IIHF World Championship gold medal game.

Three Former Lakers Help Team Canada Win World Championship
(chawomenshockey.com)

For the ill-informed, since this is kind of old news (the gold medal game was on the 15th)...

Former Mercyhurst women's hockey stars Meghan Agosta, Vicki Bendus, and Bailey Bram helped Team Canada capture the gold medal at the 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship late Saturday night at the Gutterson Fieldhouse on the University of Vermont's campus...Canada defeated the United States 5-4 in overtime to capture the country's first world title since 2007 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Agosta tied the game late in regulation, then assisted on the overtime winner. Someday, a Penn Stater will be doing that instead. Preferably for, instead of against, Amurrica.

Three Stars: April 9-15

3. Brooks Bandits win first AJHL Championship
(juniorhockey.com)

2012 forward Reed Linaker's team took home the Enerflex Cup with a six-game finals win over the Fort McMurray Oil Barons (Enerflex, if you're wondering, sells products and services to the oil industry, which is obviously huge in western Canada...I had it between that and something sold at GNC, go me). The Bandits will now play 2012 forward Curtis Loik and the Penticton Vees, the BCHL champs, in the Doyle Cup beginning Friday. The winner of that series advances to the RBC Cup, Canada's Junior A national championship.

I downplayed the Bandits relative to the Vees and their solo-post status for an obvious reason: Linaker didn't play very much. Following a mid-season trade from bottom-feeding St. Albert (where he spent three and a half seasons), Linaker busted his knee 8:46 into his first game with Brooks on December 3rd and didn't play again until the first two games of the championship series. Hopefully a healthy Linaker can be a bigger part of two more Bandit accomplishments this season.

2. Pride of Pegula
(forumotion.com)

Hey look, it's a message board. Devoted entirely to Penn State hockey. Get after it.

1.Penn State Hockey- We will show them who we are
(YouTube)

Hey look, it's a YouTube pump-up video. Devoted entirely to Penn State hockey. Get after it.

Best of the Rest

IceDogs Sign 2011 2nd Round Draft Pick Anthony DiFruscia
(niagaraicedogs.net)

I think a reasonable argument can be made that Penn State isn't really an NCAA DI program until a recruit or player bails for major junior. DiFruscia doesn't technically count towards that - he wasn't a commit, he only had an offer - but still, it's a first taste of the frustration top programs experience more or less all the time. I don't like it.



Inside Pegula Ice Arena - Applied Research Laboratory CAVE Model
(YouTube)

I put this one later in the post simply because I assume that at least 68 percent of the free world has seen it by now. If not, it's pretty freaking cool and you should take this 808th chance to watch it. Although I imagine that the arena would cost about $78 million instead of $89 million without dropping some Disclosure-looking stuff on us. (Correction: I'm told that this pile of niceness has been on the house to this point.)

Okay, the technology's improved a little since 199whatever. Also, evil Demi Moore is evil.

Penn State Coaches Caravan To Hit The Road This Spring
(gopsusports.com)

The Nittany Lion Club and the Penn State Alumni Association will team up to provide fans the chance to meet and hear from some of the leaders of Penn State Athletics this spring when the Penn State Coaches Caravan hits the road for destinations across Nittany Nation, encompassing seven states and Washington, D.C.

Long story short and of interest to us: both Guy Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene will be at the Buffalo, NY stop at 6:00 p.m. on May 16th. Brandwene will also be in Pittsburgh at 6:00 p.m. on May 14th. The events cost $40 for alumni association members and $55 for non-members.

Gadowsky, program looking forward
(Lions247)

Worth a read, especially if you like Gadowsky or (in this cut/paste) Taylor Holstrom telling you you're awesome.

“The fan support was really growing too that was the coolest part about it. I started seeing hockey stuff pop up in the stores and seeing people wearing it around campus. The entire year almost every game was sold out, that was really impressive.”

Hastings Named New Minnesota State Coach
(College Hockey News)

In the only real news from elsewhere worthy of this post from last week, Minnesota State poached UNO assistant Mike Hastings to replace Troy Jutting.

@CoachBrandwene
(Twitter)

Speaking as one of those myself, I completely agree. Know who isn't a neutral observer?

#trollsohard