Men's Jersey Countdown: #20 Joseph Lordo

Sophomore - Defenseman - 5'10" - 185 pounds - St. Louis, MO

Joseph Lordo, as things turned out, was one of Penn State's most important players in 2012-13. With fellow blueliners Nate Jensen, Brian Dolan and Luke Juha all injured at the same time and Mark Yanis just returning from his own absence, PSU could only dress five defensemen for a series against the U.S. National Team Development Program on January 11th and 12th. It was at that moment, and in the immediate aftermath as the unit remained paper thin, when Lordo - along with d-partner Connor Varley - played his best hockey and helped the Nittany Lions weather the storm. That effort included the game-winning goal against the NTDP in the first half of the series (treated as an exhibition for statistical purposes), and he also assisted on three other deciding goals during the season: at RIT on October 20, 2012, at Sacred Heart one week later and at Fredonia on December 11, 2012.

Career Statistics:
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2012-13	25	0	6	6	19	0	0	0	0
NCAA Career	25	0	6	6	19	0	0	0	0

M: Penn State 5 vs. USNTDP U18 2

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // GoPSUSports.com photos
StateCollege.com recap // Centre Daily Times recap // PSU ComMedia recap

The Nittany Lion men (10-12-0 in all games, 8-11-0 in NCAA games, 6-10-0 against NCAA Division I) rallied from a 2-0 deficit early in the second period to defeat the U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-18 team 5-2 Friday night at the Ice Pavilion.

However, it was a couple of future Big Ten opponents that had the highly-physical game's first (and second) word. Midway through the first period, and capping a slow start from the Nittany Lions, future Minnesota Golden Gopher Hudson Fasching drove hard on PSU goalie Matt Skoff. Skoff was up to that challenge, but the rebound popped back in front of a gaping cage, where Connor Clifton tapped in for a 1-0 NTDP lead. Just 37 seconds into the second period, J.T. Compher, who will play at Michigan next year, beat Skoff with a wicked snipe from the right-wing circle on the power play.

Michigan-bound NTDP forward Tyler Motte is defended by PSU's Joe Lordo. Photo: Steve Hass

The last word, though, is the one that counts, and following Compher's goal, the words all belonged to the Nittany Lions.

George Saad got things started with a gritty answer to Compher 1:51 later, and PSU's normally anemic power play put the blue and white in front for good. First, at the tail end of a full two-minute 5-on-3, Kenny Brooks put home a rebound following a nice David Glen-to-Curtis Loik passing play resulted in the initial shot. Joe Lordo's blast through traffic from above the right-wing circle on a third-period power play.

Tommy Olczyk added insurance with 6:48 left after an outstanding play by Michael McDonagh to win a puck battle in the corner before getting it in front to the captain, and Brooks added a late empty-netter from the opposite side of center.

Skoff, for his part, turned in an outstanding game, ending with 47 saves on 49 shots. He was helped by a defense that only had five players dressed, including Mark Yanis, who played well in his first action since fracturing his ankle on November 3rd.

The two teams will face off again Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Ice Pavilion.

M: Penn State 8 vs. Arizona State (ACHA) 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // USCHO recap

House of Sparky recap // WCSN recap

Guy Gadowsky postgame video

Michael Longo/David Glen postgame video

Hopefully by now, you guys know how greatly I despite mailing in one of these posts by copy/pasting a press release, as I've done this time for Penn State's win over Arizona State to improve to 7-5-0 (5-4-0 NCAA DI). However, the unfortunate reality is that as just one guy, I'm not able to do something like a) Be in Erie, PA for the Penn State-Mercyhurst women's game Friday night at 7:00 p.m., b) Drive home to Medina, OH after the game, c) Do what I need to do on this blog the way I like to do it, d) Get enough sleep to avoid dying on I-90 and e) Be back in Erie, PA for a 2:00 p.m. puck drop Saturday. In that sequence, c) is what has to suffer, and so here we are.

The bright side? Because Saturday's women's game isn't directly opposite Saturday night's PSU-ASU series closer, I should be able to address both adequately. Also, at least I'm not getting paid to do it while slapping "From Staff Reports" on top. So there's that.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman forward David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) notched a hat trick to lead the Penn State men's hockey team to an 8-3 exhibition victory against Arizona State at Greenberg Ice Pavilion Friday evening.

In addition to Glen, four Nittany Lions - senior forward Michael Longo (Allison Park, Pa./1g, 1a), freshman defenseman Joseph Lordo (St. Louis, Mo./2a), senior defenseman Nate Jensen (Shorewood, Minn./2a) and junior forward Michael McDonagh (Wilmington, Mass./2a) - recorded multi-point games. Freshman goaltender Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) turned aside 24 shots.

Arizona State took a 1-0 first-period advantage before the Nittany Lions tallied four straight markers, including three in the second stanza, as they skated to a 4-1 lead. The Sun Devils, who compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, scored once more in the second to halve the lead, but Penn State responded with a 4-1 run to end the game.

Penn State outshot the Sun Devils by a 52-27 margin and finished 3-for-3 on the power play. Arizona State was 0-for-1 with the man advantage. Joe D'Elia started for the Sun Devils, allowing four goals on 19 shots, while Kyle Dietriech surrendered four goals on 33 attempts.

Arizona State's Dan Styrna opened the scoring at 12:20 of the first period, but Penn State responded with four straight goals. Freshman defenseman Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ont.) knotted the game at 1-1 with a power-play tally with 1:15 left in the stanza. Lordo passed to McDonagh, who skated down the right-wing boards before sliding a backdoor pass to Juha.

Sophomore forward Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) put the Nittany Lions ahead, 2-1, at 2:01 of the second frame. McDonagh passed to Longo, whose initial shot was stopped, but Olczyk knocked the rebound into the net.

The Nittany Lions grabbed a 3-1 lead after Kenny Brooks' (Las Vegas, Nev.) wraparound goal at 4:20, and Glen added his first of the game 1:11 later after capitalizing on passes from sophomore defenseman Peter Sweetland (Newtown, Pa.) and senior forward George Saad (Wexford, Pa.).

Arizona State's Faiz Khan scored with 13:27 left in the second period to make it a 4-2 game. After Glen tallied a power-play marker with 15 seconds left in the frame, Arizona State cut the lead to 5-3 with Styrna's second goal at 2:26 of the third stanza.

Longo gave the Nittany Lions a 6-3 lead with 13:44 left in the game after his shot from the right circle found the back of the net. Freshman forward Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) and sophomore forward Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) collected assists on the play.

At 11:09 of the final frame, Eric Steinour (Carlisle, Pa.) gave Penn State a 7-3 advantage. Sophomore forward Jacob Friedman (West Bloomfield, Mich.) passed to Steinour, who deked to his backhand before slipping the puck past Dietriech. Lordo also garnered an assist on the play.

While on the power play, Glen capped off the evening with his third goal with 6:04 remaining. With the faceoff to the right of Dietriech, Glen won the draw back to Jensen, who took a shot from the point that Glen redirected into the back of the net.

Penn State and Arizona State will conclude their two-game series Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Praise the Lordo

Sioux Falls Stampede defenseman Joseph Lordo has committed to Penn State for 2012, according to a USHL release.

Joseph Lordo

Defenseman
Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL)
5'11", 185 pounds
St. Louis, MO
DOB 1/28/1991

EliteProspects.com

Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
2008-09  STL Amateur Blues 18U  Mdgt   38    4   13   17   70
2009-10  St. Louis Bandits      NAHL   38    0    9    9   73
2010-11  Sioux Falls Stampede   USHL   59    3    7   10   79
2011-12  Sioux Falls Stampede   USHL   34    3    9   12   73

Since the release is short, here's the whole thing (other than the last paragraph, which simply lists the other USHLers committed to PSU).

The Sioux Falls Stampede announced that defenseman Joseph Lordo will play collegiate hockey next season at Penn State University.

Lordo, who turned 21 on Saturday, has appeared in all 34 games for the Stampede this season and collected 12 points (3g, 9a) and 73 penalty minutes while also serving as a team captain. It already surpasses his point total from his first USHL season in which he posted 10 points (3g, 7a) in 59 games for Sioux Falls last year. The St. Louis, Missouri native was selected by the Stampede in the 2010 USHL Entry Draft.

Lordo will be part of a Penn State University program next season that competes for the first time as NCAA Division I. They are scheduled to play as an independent school before joining the newly-formed Big Ten Conference for the 2013-14 season.

Hockey recruiting, much like in any other sport, is based largely on connections and Lordo is no exception. He came up on the St. Louis Amateur Blues with previous commit David Goodwin, and the two were also teammates (for one game, anyway) with the St. Louis Bandits in 2009-2010. For the last two years, they've clashed as USHL opponents - one a high-scoring center, the other looking to stop him from scoring. Both were selected in the 2010 USHL Entry Draft, although Goodwin (2nd round, 25th overall) went much higher than Lordo (18th round, 266th overall).

That's hardly turned out to be an accurate measure of their relative worth. Lordo, as mentioned, is the Stampede's captain and a mainstay on the team's blueline. He's come on offensively of late, scoring 11 of his 12 points this season in the last 17 games. He also carries a -2 rating, no small achievement on a 12-20-2 team that's -36 in the goals for-goals against statistic.

Lordo looks to shut down a guy in a hideous pinstriped jersey.

The Stampede wasn't always a cellar dweller. In Lordo's rookie USHL campaign, Sioux Falls finished a robust third place and advanced to the league semifinals before losing to eventual champ Dubuque. Lordo's three playoff goals trailed only Kyle Rau (a Florida Panthers draft pick now tearing it up at Minnesota) and Connor Reilly (who now plays alongside Curtis Loik with the BCHL's Penticton Vees and is set to join the Gophers next season). Incidentally, two of the three markers came against fellow commit Matt Skoff as the Stampede put down he, Tommy Olczyk and Sioux City in the first round.

In short, he'll add further all-around stability to a defense corps that is quickly filling up with some of Guy Gadowsky's best recruits so far. Lordo joins Mark Yanis, Luke Juha and Connor Varley in their quest to help Penn State surprise some teams right out of the gate this fall.