Fifteen Lions Receive CHA Academic Accolades

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:

Three Stars: June 3-9

3. Forty Players Invited to 2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp
(usahockey.com)

The buildup to the selection of Team USA for the 2014 World Junior Championships is officially underway, as USA Hockey has picked 40 skaters for its August evaluation camp. From there, roughly 25 will be invited to training camp in December, with a few more being trimmed ahead of the event, which begins December 26, 2013 in Malmo, Sweden. Not surprisingly, given the talent flowing through the program and that Don Lucia will be the head coach of the team, five Minnesota Golden Gophers (Brady Skjei, Mike Brodzinski, Tommy Vannelli, Hudson Fasching and Taylor Cammarata) received invites.

When I see Brodzinski's name, I automatically think of Eamon McAdam, so what of the goalies? Well, they're still TBD. A bunch of them - McAdam included - are in Ann Arbor, MI right now (Sunday through Tuesday, to be precise) battling for invites to the evaluation camp. Those making the cut will be announced at the conclusion of the mini-camp.

2. Penn State's hockey team builds toward inaugural Big Ten season
(PennLive)

Often, I'm condescending towards stories built for a general audience. Not this one. Guy Gadowsky video, Pegula Ice Arena photo gallery, exploration of an underutilized angle with strength coach Robert McLean extensively quoted. Outstanding work, Mr. Leone. I'll even give bonus points for not automatically jumping on Tommy Olczyk for the player quotes. Read and enjoy, we're almost there.

1. Idea of hockey game at Beaver Stadium being considered?
(WJAC)

The big story this week, of course, was WJAC's confirmation that Penn State officials have discussed Beaver Stadium hockey. I've hesitated to talk about it because...

1. This is news? How is anyone actually surprised? Penn State would almost have to be trying for it not to have come up on some level by this point.
2. I'm roughly 98 percent sure that discussion of Beaver Stadium hockey had already been publicly confirmed. At the very least, athletic department employees Gadowsky and Bill O'Brien openly talked about it at the 2012 Coaches Caravan, and I believe that I've heard the hypothetical Joe Battista laid out for WJAC before, either on or off the record.
3. "Considered" is quite a few steps from "it's done."

But I suppose it's time to get this out of the way. To begin sorting through it, here's what Battista said.

"What will probably happen eventually is that we'll play Penn State-Notre Dame, Penn State-Boston College, Penn State-Michigan, and then we'll also have Flyers-Penguins, Penguins-Sabres, Sabres-Flyers."

"Probably," "eventually," several possibilities for games being thrown around... yeah, sounds imminent.

The idea of the NHL's Winter Classic stacked on top of major college games is not unprecedented - the now-annual Frozen Fenway college event got its start in the aftermath of the Boston Bruins' 2010 Winter Classic victory over the Flyers, and numerous lower-profile college games (Penn State-Neumann on January 4, 2012, to name one) have also piggybacked on the NHL-installed ice. Now that the pros have decided to play something like 30 outdoor games per year, that would seem to open even more possibilities.

The WJAC report was complemented by the official men's hockey Twitter dipping its toe into the water and unintentionally showing that the idea may be a bit undercooked. In response to the question "What do you think of an outdoor game at Beaver Stadium?" it got...

Ouch. Maybe we should park this one until people are excited enough about Nittany Lions hockey to think of it ahead of the NHL when the Nittany Lions' Twitter asks a hockey question. Or until PSU gets a mention in more than three of the roughly six zillion news articles and blog posts on the topic this past week (seriously, even Black Shoe Diaries is fixated on the Pens-Flyers side to the story while the Penn State blog ignores the idea of a Penn State team's potential involvement). The downside to having a huge stadium is that a crowd of 80,000 is a success for most places but a failure for University Park. We're going to need a massive amount of excitement for the college game too, and right now, nobody seems to care about Penn State playing outside.

And maybe it's a pipe dream, but as a matter of principle, I'd love for the Nittany Lions to not have to be an undercard to an NHL game. Big Ten rivals Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin have all managed to hold highly-successful outdoor hockey games in their school football stadia without swimming in someone's wake, and my hope is that PSU is able to do the same. In fact, my preference is that the PSU and NHL games take place in different seasons (yeah, good luck with that one, I know).

Enterprising journalists have confirmed that yes, people have talked about Beaver Stadium hockey, at least the NHL version of it, both in the eastern...

The Flyers have had preliminary discussions about playing a regular-season game at Penn State's Beaver Stadium against their archrivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, club president Peter Luukko confirmed Wednesday.

"We have spoken to the Pens and the league about expressing our combined interest," Luukko said. "Not sure if next year is a possibility. Penn State is very interested."

...and western...

"It would be great for Pennsylvania hockey," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said Friday.

The talks have been between Morehouse and Flyers president Peter Luukko, who confirmed them to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Luukko told the Inquirer that Penn State is "very interested" in being the site of such a game.

...halves of the commonwealth, and that PSU has been involved with those discussions on some level. Cool. Now don't blow it by letting the Sabres break up a potentially epic installment of the NHL's best rivalry (Terry Pegula, contrary to popular belief, bought an arena and some scholarships, not our souls) or by letting Luukko somehow cram his kid's team (Vermont) down our throats one more time on the NCAA side of things.

I'm hardly an outdoor game hater, and have made my position clear on one of the other occasions this came up. I just think we need to pump the brakes a bit. Everything is still very obviously in the earliest of stages, and the soonest this will realistically happen is 2014-2015. Beyond the things mentioned at that link, you're crazy if you think PSU will sacrifice an inaugural-season Pegula Ice Arena game, especially with no marginal benefit to doing outdoor hockey this year versus next year. Even a date 18 months from now assumes a positive resolution of things like the idea of 100,000 people parked in an icy mud pit (grass parking areas mixed with wintry precipitation) and the timing of Beaver Stadium's winterization.

We'll give Dan Vecellio and BSD the last word.

Battista told me that no formal talks with any teams had taken place from Penn State's end and that no commitments to any groups (teams, owners, etc.) had been made. The school was still in the exploratory phase and still researching whether a game at the stadium is even feasible considering parking and "winterizing" the stadium like they do every year as had been reported before. So, don't put too much stock into these stories just yet.

Yeah, that.

Best of the Rest

Kate Christoffersen before (left) and after (right) running a marathon

Lake Placid Marathon & Half Marathon
(coolrunning.com)

Kate Christoffersen, the Lady Icers original who played her senior year as an NCAA Nittany Lion in 2012-2013, ran a marathon on Sunday. Hey, if you have what it takes inside to come back from a career-ending concussion, why not?

She actually did quite well too. From start line to finish line, she only required 3:48:02, or 3:48:20 when measuring from the starting gun (the latter is the actual time used to rank the runners, which seems silly in this day and age). That was good for 85th place of the 327 runners overall, or sixth among females between 20 and 29 years old.

Save the Date: Summer Social
(psuboston.org)

If you're in Boston on June 29th and want to hang out with Battista and/or hear him speak (he's quite good at both of those things, trust me), here's your chance. Advance tickets are $40 for members of the Greater Boston Chapter of the alumni association, $45 for non-members, and $50 at the door.

Big Ten continues to expand its horizons and Purdue needs to catch up
(The Exponent)

Sometimes I forget that Purdue is in the Big Ten. Way to matter at things that aren't engineering, Purdue. Anyway, they're still broke and not adding sports like hockey or lacrosse, if you needed that.

Sidney Crosby’s sister carving her own hockey path in goal
(The Globe and Mail)

The headline says it all... Sidney Crosby's sister Taylor is a pretty well-regarded goalie, one good enough to get invites to Hockey Canada U18 camps. She's entering her senior year at Shattuck-St. Mary's, where she posted a 2.04 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage last season.

Hey Taylor, if you're looking at colleges, I can name one fairly close to your brother's team... geez, wouldn't that be something?

Admit it: for a split second, you thought about Laura Bowman doing the Happy Gilmore swing

2013 State Golf Tournament Qualifiers
(mshsl.org)

Laura Bowman is a Minnesota Ms. Hockey semifinalist by winter and a Minnesota state golf tournament qualifier by spring. She's okay at sports.

The Minnetonka High School senior emerged as one of five individual qualifiers from Section 6AAA and will compete for the AAA (the largest division) state title on Tuesday and Wednesday at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids, MN. For the "small world" file: on day one, she'll be playing with Lakeville North's Brianna Vetter, the younger sister of 2014 commit Christi Vetter.

Amy Petersen, Bowman's long-time linemate and a fellow incoming PSU freshman, also doesn't suck at golf, as she finished 29th at last year's state tournament.

Koelmel Named President of HARBORcenter
(Tumblr)

After Pegula's Buffalo hotel/restaurant/ice rink project hyped a "major announcement" that many (guilty) assumed was the long-awaited "Canisius will play its home games here" unveiling, they instead introduced John Koelmel as the facility's president. Koelmel is a former CEO of First Niagara Financial Group, the entity which happens to have its name on the arena in which Pegula's Buffalo Sabres play. Moving on...

Rocha Named Academic All-America
(goarmysports.com)

Cheyne Rocha, a senior defenseman at Army last season, was one of just two men's hockey players nationally to be named first-team Academic All-America. As mentioned here numerous times before, he is also the son of former Icers assistant coach Larry Rocha and Penn State lacrosse legend Candace Finn Rocha. They did an okay job raising him.

Rocha, who commissioned as a second lieutenant two weeks ago and posted a 4.20 grade-point average, is the first Army hockey player to earn the national academic honor as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He registered the highest grade point average of the 15 first-team choices.

Rocha, who won the Senior CLASS Award for ice hockey, was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and is a three-time Atlantic hockey Association Academic All-Star. The 2013-14 team has not yet been announced.

A native of Rye, N.H., Rocha missed just two games this season when he interviewed for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. In addition to play as a defenseman, he was instrumental in starting the House of Blues, an awareness campaign for prostate cancer. He is also active with the Special Olympics and Neighborhood Knights, a group of hockey players who perform community service in and around West Point.

An engineering management major, Rocha will enter the Engineers branch of the U.S. Army and begin his service in Fort Carson, Colo.

Alaska-Anchorage down to finalists for second time in coaching search
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Sure enough, despite the ouster of athletic director Steve Cobb, Alaska-Anchorage's gongshow of a head coaching search is marching forward. Even more surprisingly, they found five people who want easily the worst job in Division I right now.

@hockeyjcu
(Twitter)

John Carroll, a university in suburban Cleveland for those who don't know, has won the bid to host the ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championships in 2015. It will be the fifth time that the tournament has been held in the state of Ohio since 2003, and the fourth go for the Buckeye State in a nine-year stretch back to 2007.

This coming season's D1 tournament will be in Newark, DE, while D2 is in Marlborough, MA. The D2 men will head to Salt Lake City in 2015, and the D1 and D2 women join the D1 men at UDelly in 2014.

The Blue Streaks previously hosted D1's best in 2009, a tournament which saw the Icers bounced in the semifinals by Illinois (the Illini went on to lose the championship game to Lindenwood) but not before PSU earned nationals bragging rights over Ohio for all eternity. That year's tournament was probably best remembered, however, for the Zamboni exhaust incident that forced the evacuation of the rink, sent 100 people to the hospital (as a precaution, nobody to the best of my knowledge was seriously affected) and forced a couple games to be suspended and completed the next day, including one involving Penn State Berks. Hopefully they got that checked out at some point in the last few years.

Three Stars: February 4-10

3. A Sneak Peek at the Pegula Ice Arena
(The Penn Stater)

PIA tours have become frequent enough that it's no longer a guaranteed all-time top tenner (traffic wise) when I drop in a photo of the progress, whether from myself or someone else. Regardless, here's a solid recent look from Tina Hay, the editor of PSU's alumni magazine. Pics beyond the two in the post were dropped in a Facebook gallery as well.

2. State College High School grad Holdcroft playing big role
(Centre Daily Times)

If you don't like the way Jill Holdcroft plays, you don't like hockey.

"I work hard, which might make up for not having some other essential skills," Holdcroft said. "I love to forecheck and get into the corners and make the other team work even harder to defend against."

Yeah, no kidding.

1. Fourth concussion forces an end to Lady Icer's career
(The Daily Collegian)

While I referenced it directly and indirectly a few times over the weekend, I wanted to get one last shoutout to Kate Christoffersen on the record, following the forward's Senior Day on Saturday. She's a pre-donation player who finished on the NCAA team, a great thing in and of itself. But for those who don't know by now, this happened at the end of the 2010-2011 season:

Kate Christoffersen and her parents couldn’t help but cry at their kitchen counter.

The three shed tears on March 6, after Kate arrived home to Trumbull, Conn., for spring break as David and Mary talked to their daughter about the possibility of ending her 14-year hockey career.

The Lady Icers sophomore defender had sustained her fourth career concussion on Feb. 11. After the season, Christoffersen decided to hang up her skates and stop playing the game she has played since age 6 because of what she calls her “most severe concussion.”

From there to here - one of my favorite stories ever.

Best of the Rest

Minnesota-Grown College Commitments
(Let's Play Hockey)

When combining the men and women, and among DI schools, Penn State's six recruits from Minnesota trail only North Dakota's eight among out-of-state schools. They're not leftovers either. On the men's side, Anchorage transfer Eric Scheid is a proven DI player, as he was fourth on the Seawolves in scoring as a freshman last year. For the women, Amy Petersen and Laura Bowman are most of the offense for two-time defending state high school champ Minnetonka and Hannah Ehresmann is part of a 50-50 goalie rotation for the Skippers. Christi Vetter (Lakeville North) and Sarah Nielsen (Edina) are also two of the best players on two of the best teams in the state. National and district camp invites are sprinkled throughout as well. Basically, well done, coaches.

B³ Postgame Recap: Lincoln 2, Omaha 4
(Black and Blue Blog)

One of those Minnesotans - Scheid - had a chance to play in the USHL's first outdoor game on Saturday, the afternoon half of a doubleheader at Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park. However, the archrival Omaha Lancers jumped all over Scheid's Lincoln Stars early and coasted to the win in front of an announced 13,650. The Blaine High School product was a +1 with a pair of shots.

The nightcap was an NCAA game, with host Nebraska-Omaha (or just "Omaha" if you ask them) falling to the North Dakota [Nickname] ("Fighting Sioux" if you ask them) 5-2.

Brandon Saad First Goal
(nhl.com)

Congrats to George Saad's brother on scoring his first NHL goal for the Blackhawks. I'm going to be honest with you guys though, I'm a little tired of living vicariously through Penn State siblings and other, much more tenuous, connections to the show. Here's hoping for our very own NHLer - not one from the OHL's Saginaw Spirit or Wisconsin (Max Gardiner's brother Jake) - in the next five years or so.

Five collegians to watch for the 2013 NHL Draft
(Hockey's Future)

...so, towards that end, here's someone who thinks Mark Yanis is a "collegian to watch" for this year's NHL Entry Draft. As a second-year eligible guy, the deck's kind of stacked against him, because there's a whole new birth year available for people to get excited about, and hey, everyone already passed on him once (seven times, actually).

That said, it does happen. One example is a player PSU saw this year, and in fact scored a game-winning goal against the Nittany Lions: Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who was passed over in 2011 before being drafted 78th overall by the Flyers in 2012. Yanis, who was given a B rating (roughly translating to mid-round consideration) on the NHL Central Scouting watch list in 2011 before dropping out of the ratings closer to the 2012 draft, is an intriguing prospect. He does fit the mold as a possible second-year pick, since he's someone who has taken a developmental step that many expected to see last year, specifically with respect to his offensive capabilities. He's been as advertised otherwise, of course (see photo above). The bottom line for me is that he is good enough for an NHL team to own his rights, but the logistics are against him. We'll see - here's hoping.

2013 Draft Blog: Eamon McAdam Pt. 3
(The Pipeline Show)

A PSU guy much more likely to be drafted is Eamon McAdam, an incoming freshman next year, who chipped in a long-awaited third blog entry for TPS last week. In it, he discusses his SportsCenter-worthy save at the USHL Top Prospects Game, as well as his other experiences at the showcase.

PJ Musico riding the Penn State hockey wave and making the most of it
(Stack the Pads)

Keeping the goalie love going, here's a comprehensive look at Penn State's repository of Caliswag.

Also, is there a more Canadian place name than Flin Flon? Maybe Moose Jaw.

Penn State ice hockey team might not return to Hershey for a while
(pennlive.com)

Obvious statement is obvious. PSU will want to play at Pegula Ice Arena as much as possible, and if they do venture to neutral Pennsylvania sites, it will likely be to cultivate their following in the major cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Penn State-Lindenwood Photo Gallery II

Photos from Saturday afternoon's Penn State-Lindenwood women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Left to right: Associate AD Joe Battista, AD Dave Joyner, head coach Josh Brandwene, and forward Kate Christoffersen, during Christoffersen's Senior Day recognition before the game

Freshman forward Birdie Shaw

Freshman forward Jill Holdcroft

Sophomore forward Jess Desorcie

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell

Freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen

Yoxheimer

Hoenshell

Christoffersen

Freshman defender Steph Walkom



Junior goaltender Nicole Paniccia

Freshman defender Sarah Wilkie

W: Penn State 3 vs. Lindenwood 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // LindenwoodLions.com recap

It was a win that wasn't, thanks to a brutally missed call when Taylor Gross was tripped attempting to carry out of the PSU zone with a 3-2 lead in the last minute and Lindenwood goalie Nicole Hensley on the bench - a play that directly led to Allyson Arcibal's tying goal with 42 seconds left in regulation. Officially, Penn State is now 7-20-2 (1-13-2 CHA), while Lindenwood is 4-23-3 (4-9-3 CHA), but the Nittany Lions earned two points, period. No other way to say it.

Know how bad the no-call was? It featured prominently in the generally sunny and controversy-free official recap. Here that is, followed by the live blog.

---

The final Penn State women's hockey game at Greenberg Ice Pavilion was a taut affair that ended in bizarre fashion as Lindenwood tied Penn State, 3-3, on Saturday afternoon. LU's Allysson Arcibal scored an extra-attacker goal with 42 seconds remaining to force overtime after a couple of tough calls went against PSU.

Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) scored a go-ahead goal with five minutes left in the third period on a power play for a 3-2 lead. Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.) ripped a shot from the blue line that ricocheted off the post as Holdcroft slipped the puck past LU netminder Nicole Hensley (25 saves).

With less than a minute, Lindenwood earned a faceoff in the Penn State zone. Before the teams lined up for the faceoff, Penn State attempted to call a timeout, which was denied by the officials. On the ensuing faceoff, Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the skirmish with Alyssa West and was ready to send the puck out of the defensive zone. West tripped up the junior captain as Lindenwood took control of the puck along the boards and a loose puck was knocked home by Arcibal to knot the game.

In the overtime periods, Penn State (7-20-2, 1-13-2 CHA) and Lindenwood (4-24-3, 4-9-3 CHA) combined for seven shots. Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) had four stops and Hensley had three.

Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) opened the account 9:08 into the game, an unassisted tally where she sniped a shot past Hensley glove side. The goal was Yoxheimer's 13th of the season and ended an eight-game goal draught dating back to Jan. 4. In that eight game span, Yoxheimer still managed to get on the score sheet four times through assists. Lindenwood answered with a power-play goal 3:20 to tie the game and the two squads skated into the break, 1-1.

Penn State went ahead two minutes into the period when Birdie Shaw (Troy, Mich.) slotted home an Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) feed. The two reversed their roles from Friday night when Laurenzi scored from Shaw's pass.

Lindenwood spent most of the second period on the power play, garnering four power-play chances and two 5-on-3 chances. Penn State killed them all off and allowed 12 shots. Seconds after the final penalty kill, Lindenwood's Katie Erickson ripped a shot that was tipped in by Lyndsay Kirkham to tie the game with 1:41 left in the period.

For the game, LU out-shot Penn State 47-28. Lindenwood had 20 of its 47 shots come on the power play, while just 4 of PSU's 28 chances were on the player-advantage. Lindenwood went 1-for-7 on the power play and PSU went 1-for-4.

Saturday was also Senior Day as Kate Christoffersen (Trumbull, Conn.) was honored beforehand with her parents, brother, PSU director of athletics Dave Joyner, associate athletic director Joe Battista and head coach Josh Brandwene.

The Nittany Lions also paid homage to its past by having women's hockey alumnae greeted on ice during the first intermission. All women's hockey alumnae have been made honorary members of Penn State's Varsity "S" Club.

Penn State travels to Rochester, N.Y. to face RIT next week in a two-game series. The Friday-Saturday set will have 7 p.m. opening faceoffs.

The Stretch Run

Tess Weaver and the Nittany Lions are looking for position on defender Brett Lobreau and Lindenwood.

What
NCAA Men: vs. Alabama-Huntsville (8-18-2 all games, 3-17-1 NCAA, 1-16-1 NCAA DI)
NCAA Women: vs. Lindenwood (3-23-2, 3-9-2 CHA)

Where
NCAA Men: Greenberg Ice Pavilion, University Park, PA
NCAA Women: Greenberg Ice Pavilion, University Park, PA

When
NCAA Men: Friday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 9 at 7:30 p.m.
NCAA Women: Friday, February 8 at 2:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 9 at 2:00 p.m

Coverage
NCAA Men: Friday: TYT live blog (free), PSU video ($), PSU audio ($), PSU live stats (free); Saturday: PSU video ($), PSU audio ($), PSU live stats (free)
NCAA Women: Friday: TYT live blog (free), CHA video ($), PSU live stats (free); Saturday: CHA video ($), PSU live stats (free)

I probably don't need to use too many words in explaining the importance of the final home series of the season for the women. For starters, Saturday's Senior Day ceremony will honor forward Kate Christoffersen, a player who, safe to say, probably never expected to see a Senior Day as a member of an NCAA hockey team back when she was a freshmen (her concussion issues that nearly ended her career give that story a nice twist too).

Second, take a look at the current CHA standings.

		Pts.	GP	Record	Win%	GF	GA
1	Mercyhurst	24	14	12-2-0	0.857	68	14
2	Syracuse	21	14	10-3-1	0.750	40	19
3	RIT	15	14	5-4-5	0.536	29	31
4	Robert Morris	13	14	6-7-1	0.464	35	29
5	Lindenwood	8	14	3-9-2	0.286	25	58
6	Penn State	3	14	1-12-1	0.107	14	60

The bad news: with just six games remaining, PSU has a ceiling of 15 points, one the Nittany Lions - realistically - probably won't hit. However...

Fifth place is very much attainable with a sweep of Lindenwood, which would pull PSU within a point with road series at RIT and Robert Morris completing the regular season. LU closes with Robert Morris at home and Syracuse on the road. Avoiding last place in a year one where everyone automatically tabbed the Nittany Lions for the basement? Yeah, that's a very tangible achievement for a program that has shown plenty of intangibles so far.

Now, whether fifth place is desirable considering that the current standings would lead to a CHA tournament series at RIT, and Penn State very nearly beat the Tigers before setting for a tie back in October...well, that's a different argument, I guess. I'm not one of those "lose for the draft pick" types, so to me, fifth place is always better than sixth place. Regardless of the standings, getting a couple wins on the board would be nice in and of itself for a PSU team that last beat another DI team on November 17th, in earning a split at Lindenwood with a 3-2 win powered by Emily Laurenzi's winner with 5:50 remaining.

The Lions, not exactly DI veterans themselves, will also be looking for continued progress following a stunning tie-win series with RIT last weekend. After beating only Sacred Heart among DI teams in their first varsity season in 2011-2012, and only Penn State in the first semester of this year, the Lions have now chipped off Robert Morris in addition to RIT within the last month. And like PSU, they still have a shot at upward mobility in the standings. So really, it's a pretty big series for both teams, one which should be fantastic to watch.

Lindenwood is led offensively by Alison Wickenheiser (team highs of nine goals and 17 points), Kendra Broad (seven goals, 13 points) and Allysson Arcibal (eight goals, 12 points). Wickenheiser and Arcibal combined for ten shots and five points in the Lions' 5-1 win over PSU on November 16th. Freshman Nicole Hensley, a former teammate of PSU defender Jeanette Bateman with the Colorado Select, receives the majority of time in goal and has a very respectable (all things considered) 4.06 goals against average to go with her 0.910 save percentage.

Huntsville goalie John Griggs faces 36.8 shots per 60 minutes.

Independent League MegaBowl

Men's team members - led by captain Tommy Olczyk - have taken to Twitter with the hashtag #IndependentLeagueMegaBowl to hype their series with Alabama-Huntsville.

Really though, can you blame them? This is a team that, despite a very successful first NCAA season in a lot of ways (14-15-0 in all games, 10-13-0 in NCAA games and 8-11-0 against NCAA Division I), has absolutely nothing to play for at the end of it. Seventeen days from now, after completing a series at Wisconsin, the season will just sort of awkwardly...end. It's quite an appropriate bookend for the Ice Pavilion, actually: for the first time since the rink's opening season of 1980-1981, the highest-level PSU men's team will not close the season with a national championship or conference tournament.

Penn State and UAH, as everyone knows, are the only two independents in NCAA Men's Division I. Next year, both will be in conferences. No team in their right mind will ever choose to be an independent unless in transition to something else (the case with PSU, obviously), and under that reality, multiple independents at any one time is fairly unlikely in the future. So yeah, we're deciding the independent championship for the rest of eternity here, no big deal.

The saga of Alabama-Huntsville's program has been well-chronicled, both here and elsewhere, so I'll just distill it down to the (admittedly lengthy) bullet points.

• From 1979 through 1985, UAH was a non-varsity power, winning the 1982, 1983 and 1984 club national championships (the Icers also claim a 1984 title from a separate tournament). It's probably not accurate to call them a former Penn State archrival - it was really more a case of two top teams frequently meeting in big games. UAH beat PSU in the final for their 1983 title, to give one example.
• In 1985, the Chargers moved to NAIA status for one season, then to NCAA Division II, then to Division I from 1987-1992 (compiling a 63-81-8 record during that time) as the NCAA temporarily eliminated DII for hockey.
• Division II was restored in 1992, and UAH moved back and was extremely successful, winning national championships in 1996 and 1998.
• The NCAA once again chopped DII - this time for good - for the 1999-2000 season, and the Chargers moved back to DI and College Hockey America. UAH was also successful in the CHA, winning the league tournament in 2007 and 2010 to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
• However, the story takes a sharp turn due to the instability of the CHA. During UAH's time in the conference, Findlay and Wayne State dropped varsity hockey, while Air Force, Bemidji State, Robert Morris, Niagara fleed to other leagues, causing the CHA to fold. UAH applied to join the CCHA, but was rejected (some actually blamed Penn State for this, which is BS on a number of levels).
• Huntsville, expectedly, has struggled mightily as an independent, winning just nine games in three years. Recruiting has dropped off, a full schedule is nearly impossible, particularly for home games (UAH has hosted ACHA teams five times this year, including three ACHA D3 opponents, as a result), the head coach's office has had a revolving door (after knowing only Doug Ross from 1982 through 2007, Danton Cole, Chris Luongo and current boss Kurt Kleinendorst have held the job since), and revenue is difficult to come by without a conference arrangement.
• In response to all of that, then-Alabama system chancellor Malcolm Portera announced the cancellation of the program in October, 2011. The funeral didn't last long though, as Portera retired a couple months later and new chancellor Robert Altenkirch reversed the decision.
• Still, without a conference, UAH's days were likely numbered - fortunately, we didn't have to find out, as the program was accepted into the new-look WCHA for next season in January. Rejection from the WCHA likely would have meant a death blow for the scrappy program that has somehow survived quite a few of them.

So that's where we are - two programs facing exciting new beginnings in conferences next year, but with nothing at all to play for at the end of this season. Bring on the Independent League MegaBowl.

Penn State-Chatham Photo Gallery II

Photos from Saturday night's Penn State-Chatham women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Sophomore forward Tess Weaver

Freshman forward Katie Zinn

Senior defender Lindsay Reihl

Freshman forward Emily Laurenzi

Freshman defender Paige Jahnke

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen

Freshman defender Stephanie Walkom

Sophomore forward Cara Mendelson

Sophomore forward Katie Murphy

Senior forward Kate Christoffersen

Murphy

Junior forward Jenna Welch (left).

PSU and Lindenwood: Two of the Same?

Freshman goalie Nicole Hensley, a former teammate of PSU defender Jeanette Bateman, has been arguably the most important player while under constant pressure for 0-10-0 Lindenwood this season.

In this inaugural Division I season, the Nittany Lion women (4-7-1, 0-5-1 CHA) aren't likely to find a better way to measure their progress as a first-year program than in the four scheduled games against Lindenwood, the first two of which are tonight at 8:00 p.m. and tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at the Lindenwood Ice Arena in Wentzville, MO.

The reason is obvious, and probably already known to most of you. But for those who may be unfamiliar, LU made a transition identical to the one now underway at PSU just one year ago. The Lady Lions - like their male counterparts - were an ACHA juggernaut, winning national championships in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010. LU faced the Lady Icers six times during their shared ACHA tenure and won each contest, including one at the 2007 ACHA national championships. Nittany Lion seniors Lindsay Reihl and Kate Christoffersen played in each of the other five including the most recent, a 2-1 loss at the Ice Pavilion on October 3, 2010 that saw 54 saves from current ACHA women's team goalie Katie Vaughan.

Though Lindenwood may have started from a higher ACHA plane, Penn State had a sizable advantage through its transition process - specifically the amount of time to prepare for the move. PSU, of course, made its elevation announcement on September 17, 2010 and played its first NCAA Division I game on October 6th. Lindenwood made its announcement six months later, on March 25, 2011, and played its first DI game one year earlier, on September 23, 2011 (they chose to make their debut at Wisconsin, which is either brave or stupid, depending on your outlook). Six months simply isn't enough time to make a full transition, which is possibly reflected by the fact that Penn State already has more wins against DI competition than LU by a 4-2 count. A quality series from PSU this weekend to go with another at the Ice Pavilion on February 8th and 9th would reinforce the idea that Josh Brandwene, his staff and the team have done a phenomenal job getting things off the ground - even to the point where they've passed programs with a head start.

The games, additionally, are a chance for to solidify a position in the CHA standings, as PSU is a point up on the Lions thanks to a tie with RIT on October 26th, but sixth-place Lindenwood has a whopping four games in hand (technically, a sweep would boost Penn State all the way to second place, as both RIT and Robert Morris are playing non-conference games this weekend, although both the Tigers and Colonials would have several in hand as well).

Senior captain Brett Lobreau, who already has a 5-0-0 career record against Penn State (including two goals and an assist), leads the Lady Lions defense.

Here's the thing, though: Lindenwood likely sees things the same way, as an opportunity to collect wins against a first-year program following a brutal start to this season, and indeed their entire NCAA DI existence. LU, as mentioned, made the move from ACHA to NCAA last season and struggled mightily. They ended up 11-21-0, but 2-18-0 against other DI teams, beating only Sacred Heart (and SHU went from December 17, 2008 through October 19, 2012 between wins against DI opponents... I won't mention the game that ended that run, though).

This year, the Lady Lions are 0-10-0 (0-2-0 CHA), though it needs to be said that LU has upgraded quite significantly from last year's transitional schedule, part of which included joining the CHA along with PSU and RIT. The opponents so far: Ohio State, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State on the road, Wisconsin and Mercyhurst at home. Yikes. Not surprisingly, playing a bunch of national powers and schools from the nation's best conference - both, in Wisconsin's case - has led to a bunch of unflattering statistics.

Lindenwood allows 5.5 goals and 53.2 shots per game while scoring a mere 0.9 on 21.7 shots. The Lady Lions have yet to score a third-period goal this season and have spent exactly 19 minutes, 32 seconds with the lead. The team's top scorer is Alison Wickenheiser, who has three points on a goal and two assists (Allysson Arcibal and Lyndsay Kirkham hold the runner-up slots with a pair of goals each). Freshman goaltender Nicole Hensley, actually one of the team's bright spots so far, has not faced fewer than 41 pucks in any game that she's started and finished.

Does any of that matter, particularly in light of LU's schedule? No, not really. The only statistic that matters, as the cliche goes, is two, the number of wins possible from the weekend. For Lindenwood, two would represent a possible turning point in their DI history. For Penn State, two would simply represent another few milestones (first CHA wins and sweep, first road sweep, a proven measure of growth against another new NCAA program, etc.).

In light of those contrasting statements, maybe measurement isn't necessary after all.

Thanks to (clockwise, from top left) Lindsay Reihl, Erica Wynn, Mo Stroemel, Vince O'Mara, Allysson Arcibal and Samantha Redick, this weekend will be an informal 2011 World University Games reunion.

There are always connections between teams in the tightly-knit hockey community, but Penn State and Lindenwood seem to have an inordinate amount of them. Consider:

• Junior defender Chelsea Witwicke was two years ahead of Paige Jahnke at Roseville High School. The two won the Minnesota state AA championship together in Witwicke's senior year of 2009-2010. Witwicke started her college career at Niagara but transferred to LU when the Purple Eagles dropped women's hockey after last season.
• Junior forward Jocelyn Slattery played with Taylor Gross, Nicole Paniccia and Jenna Welch at Connecticut from 2010 through 2012 (2011 in the case of Gross).
• Junior forward Arcibal, senior forward Erica Wynn and junior forward Samantha Redick all played with Reihl on Team USA at the 2011 World University Games in Erzurum, Turkey. The four helped the U.S.' first-ever WUG women's entry to a fourth-place finish. By the way, director of hockey ops/video coach Mo Stroemel coached the team and was assisted by LU head coach Vince O'Mara.
• Freshman goalie Nicole Hensley and freshman defender Chloe Williams played with Jeanette Bateman with the Colorado Select program.
• Freshman defender Rachel Weich played with Emily Laurenzi at National Sports Academy.

I just named 15 of the 50 rostered players in the game (30 percent) on a pretty superficial flyover. Win or lose, I suppose the good news is that the teams can probably have an incident-free pizza party afterwards.

Three Stars: February 6-12

3. Family always been there for Chroman
Captain overcomes injuries this season
(The Daily Collegian)

Long-overdue, much-deserved features on Lady Icers senior captains Sara Chroman and Kate Christoffersen.

Quick confession: one of the more embarrassing moments in TYT history was last September when the Lady Icers announced this season's roster. Noting Christoffersen's appearance, I said something like "oh, that's nice that they're still listing her on the roster this year, although she's obviously not playing." Then, after seeing the box score from the first game against Division I Robert Morris, I had to set an all-time record for backtracking. Feel free to laugh at me, but more importantly, understand just how much Christoffersen has overcome to play this year.

2. 

Groundbreaking ceremony announced for new arena
(The Daily Collegian)

If I was to put together an FAQ page of stuff people frequently ask me, this would be on it. Pegula Ice Arena's ceremonial groundbreaking will be on April 20th, also known as Blue-White Friday. Mark your calendars. Or don't, since I want to be able to see.

1. Women's Ice Hockey - Program Update 2-9-2012 
(YouTube)

Crazy week. The Collegian and sports information both acknowledged the existence of the women's program.

Best of the Rest

Photo Gallery: Alumni Weekend 2012
(pennstatehockey.com)

Curtiss Patrick made us laugh. Scott Curry made us cry. And, of course, Jay Paterno proved once again that he's better at public speaking than me. Here's a nice set of photos from Saturday's Festivities.

Penn State Hockey Moving On
(wearecentralpa.com)

Getting on TV is still a big deal, right?

Confirmed: Stars-Lancers to play outdoor game in 2013
(Black and Blue)

As first reported by Lincoln Stars (USHL) blog Black and Blue, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota will play outdoors at Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park (best known as the place that hosts the College World Series). The Stars will meet archrival Omaha in the front end of the doubleheader.

North Dakota to resume use of Fighting Sioux nickname
(USCHO)

Can this story please just go away? I really don't care how you resolve it (short of eradicating whichever Sioux tribe it was that didn't approve the nickname), just figure it out.

Part of what's at issue: a crappier version of the Chicago Blackhawks logo.

Princeton, St. Lawrence meet while in a state of flux
(USCHO)

Just keeping a quick eye on the old school of Coaches Gadowsky, Fisher and Lindsay, which has struggled this year thanks to a plague of injuries.

Where Michigan Goes in Lacrosse, Will Others Follow?
(New York Times)

This isn't a hockey story (obviously), but I still thought it was interesting for its parallels to Penn State. Michigan was sort of the PSU of the club lacrosse world, now they've gone NCAA and we're talking about a domino effect, conference realignment, and the like (yet, as in hockey, nobody ever has enough money).

W: Penn State 3-3 at Sacred Heart (NCAA DI) 4-2

Sacred Heart Friday recap // Sacred Heart Saturday recap

Friday box score // Saturday box score

Forget next year. Penn State has a Division I women's hockey program right now.

To be sure, PSU's ascendancy isn't official just yet. But a 3-2 overtime triumph over NCAA Division I Sacred Heart Saturday afternoon showed that the Lady Icers - as resilient of a team as you'll find, steeled by ten previous games against NCAA opposition - have no intention of waiting any longer.

The best part? It's tough to call it in upset, despite the difference in sanctioning designation. This one didn't follow the usual upset formulae, including the one where a team hangs around and gets a fluky goal late or the other one where the underdog jumps out to a surprising lead and barely withstands a furious rally. Saturday's game was neither of those things. PSU outshot Sacred Heart 29-28 and never trailed. In fact, the Lady Icers held the lead for all but 23:16 of an overtime game. Sound like a scrappy upstart to you? Me neither.

Sara Chroman gave Penn State an early lead by burying a carom off the end boards that fooled Pioneers goalie Alexius Schutt. After maintaining that tenuous edge through the last half of the first period and most of the second (including through three PSU penalties), SHU leading scorer Nicole Palazzo won the draw immediately after a Lindsay Reihl tripping call and took it in herself to level things with just seven seconds remaining in the second period.

One way to beat a Division I team is to have a Division I-caliber scoring line on your side. PSU decidedly has that in the new Tess Weaver-Jess Desorcie-Taylor Gross alliance. It was "Descoresie" from Gross giving Penn State a 2-1 lead just 15 seconds into the third period - a gigantic goal that stemmed Pioneer momentum and kept the Lady Icers in control of the game. Palazzo's second, with 8:32 remaining, forced overtime.

However, that only set the stage for that line's third member, Weaver, to be the hero on this occasion. With a tie only 16 seconds down the road, she lifted Penn State to victory off of a scramble in front and the rebound of a Desorcie shot. Desorcie very nearly ended the game 3:08 earlier, but she was denied by Schutt on a rare overtime penalty shot after SHU defender Maura Leahy was whistled for throwing her stick.

Twitter reaction from the stopper and half of the defense that combined to hold Sacred Heart to two goals on 28 shots? You got it.

We probably should have seen that something special was in the works after Friday's game, despite a 4-3 setback, since Penn State was able to trade blows with the NCAA foe. After a scoreless first, Desorcie answered Leahy's opening goal within five minutes. Carly Szyszko (who will be in the teammate hall of fame someday if there is such a thing) gave PSU a brief lead late in the second, but it was answered by a barrage of three Pioneer goals in 114 seconds bridging the second and third periods. Desorcie pulled the Lady Icers within one on the power play with 16:11 remaining, but the comeback was left uncompleted. Mary Tonetti, who got the nod in net, made 39 saves.

The Lady Icers, now 6-11-2 overall and 5-3-0 in ACHA competition, will now focus solely on non-varsity competition the rest of the way. Next week, it's ACHA No. 1 Northeastern in Boston, followed by another trip to the Bay State to visit the Huskies on February 3rd and 4th. No. 4 Liberty comes to the Ice Pavilion January 28th and 29th, and a third trip to the Beantown, this time for No. 6 Massachusetts, is February 10th and 11th. Daunting? Maybe. But maybe not quite as much for an NCAA team.