Nationals Day 2/Penn State 3, Robert Morris (IL) 1

Collegian summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // VFTB highlights // Black Shoe Diaries recap
Team press release // Box score

For some teams, the season ends with jubilation, a happy team photo, and the handing out of a trophy. For most it ends quite differently.

I couldn't help but think about the half-circle of the Icers season while I watched this game. Remember October 8th? It was the first appearance of Penn State hockey at home after the big donation announcement. A packed Ice Pavilion, including the Pegula family and Dr. Spanier witnessed an 11-0 dismantling of Drexel. High hopes and good feelings with an eye on the future was the order of the day.

On March 6th, the story was quite different, and a lot more depressing. I counted about 30 people in the bleachers at puck drop. I was apparently the only one who even noticed the team take the ice, based on the applause. On the Icers' second goal, by Dom Morrone, the PA announcer read from the wrong roster and gave credit for the goal to Robert Morris' No. 19, Dave Bauer. Nick Fina (No. 27) and Geno Malone (No. 23) got the assists. The whole progression sort of felt like This Is Spinal Tap - next up, opening for a puppet show.

Let it be known that 2010-2011 Penn State hockey died in this snazzy venue.

My next thought went to the seniors. I watched Teddy Hume carefully throughout the warmup and as the game progressed and couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. I'm sure this season hasn't played out how he would've liked, but he should hold his head high. For all the struggles, he went out like a champ, against Rutgers and now Robert Morris. He's one of the best Penn State has ever seen. I just wish he could have gotten the shutout. But then again, maybe imperfection is fitting in a way.

Chris Pronchik was another guy who had a fantastic game. Yeah, there was the goal, a first-period shorthanded (how else?) tally from Marek Polidor (who else?) that held up as the only one of the game into the third period, but the Eagles had no answer for his speed all game long. Whenever PSU was threatening, there's a pretty good chance it was because No. 9 was beating a guy to the outside and drawing a penalty, coming hard on the backcheck to steal the puck and turn it around, or something else that involves speed and effort.

Nick Seravalli stepped in between Polidor and Chris Cerutti pretty effectively, and he's a guy that I hope to see with an increased role next season, as he's been great coming down the stretch. Tim O'Brien, the guy normally centering that line, didn't play. I'm not going to fully comment on that one without all the facts, but I sincerely hope that another all-time Icer great wasn't denied a final game in blue and white for something other than an undisclosed injury. The Bauer...err Morrone line (including Paul Daley and Mike Broccolo) was great too, but you don't need me to tell you that. The defensive effort was one of the best of the season, even with Brian Dolan, who had emerged as one of the unit's best, in warmups for this one as well.

The game ended rather quickly and with little fanfare. The Icers are the ACHA's 11th place team, which I guess is better than being 12th, but I'm still not sure how to handle the strange creature of the consolation game. I hope to not have to figure it out again next year.

Quarterfinals

Box score // Delaware press release

Originally, I was going to do these in chronological order, like yesterday. This game changed that. Because while I've witnessed a lot of hockey games in my life few, if any, were better than this one. It qualified as a good game all along, but drank some tiger blood and became great in the last minute of regulation, when the Hens' Brandon Weiner scored twice with the goalie out on pretty identical-looking plays to tie up a game that had looked like it had slipped away from UD. I ran into Kyle Drury just outside the locker rooms during the (first) overtime intermission and got my second-ever exclusive with him:

Me: How about that one?

Him: Holy shit!

Yeah, pretty much. And the two overtime periods somehow managed to one-up that by offering the most intense, heart-stopping hockey of the tournament so far. Heart-stopping? Yes. There were three power plays in the overtimes (two for UD) and myriad chances in each. SJ Broadt stopped two breakaways - I was convinced it was over each time, but he came up clutch. My dog in the hunt was on its way back to State College, but I was still on edge until a parked-in-front Kevin Miller put it home with just under eight minutes left in the second overtime.

Think I'm exaggerating how great of a game this was? Check out my Twitter feed after getting back to the hotel.

Miller: What a win for @UDHockey after double overtime #notbuiltforthis

Josh Weiner: Speechless. Most incredible sporting Event I've been apart of. Down two with a min left and tie it up. Win in 2OT.

Dave Lombardi: Just finished the most exciting game of my life, @UDHockey 5-4 win in 2OT. Can't believe I was on ice for GWG, was taking 15 second shifts!

Josh Weiner again: @kcmiller12 @ColonelBrundon @2dogs1SJ were the heroes but what an effort by the whole squad. Let's get it tuesday. #final4

Andre Menard: Most exciting game I've ever been a part of @UDHockey here we go #final4

Ryan McDonald: The feeling I am experiencing right now is the reason I play hockey. Most exciting game of my life!

Nick Lepore: Too tired to realize what just happened. Unreal game though just a real barn burner out there.

Good luck to Delaware on Tuesday. Had they lost, the final four would've been three schools I never would've heard of without the ACHA and Ohio. That's reason enough to get their back.

Ohio press release // Box score

The Bobcats have to be one of the most schizophrenic teams out there - the score graphic above provides a nice little illustration of how this one went. When they're on, they're absolutely capable of justifying my championship prediction. They're sturdy defensively behind the lead pair of Steve Osacky and Zack Barbis, have a great goalie in Blake MacNicol, and a ton of forwards with clearly-defined roles, including some big-time scorers. Despite all of this, after they came out flying in the first period, Oakland controlled the second. It could have been even worse than 3-2 after two, as the Grizzlies hit a post flush on a power play and had a goal questionably waved off in addition to the two they scored that period. Here's the Ohio recap to finish it out:

With Oakland closing in, it was up in the air about how the third period would be played out.

Everyone in Fred Rust arena quickly knew the answer.

Thirty-three seconds from the opening puck drop in the third, Pilmore put the ‘Cats up 4-2 on a set-up from Zack Barbis.

The momentum was shifting Ohio’s way.

Five minutes later, Defenseman Jake Holzemer lit up a shot that beat Pikunas to increase the lead to 5-2. Schultz collected his second assist of the day and third of the tournament while Holzemer has now scored in both tournament duels.

Thirty-seven seconds after Holzemer lit the lamp, Agnew poured salt on the Grizzlies’ wounds with a hat trick! Ben Gilles earned the assist.

Davenport press release // Box score

Does anyone want to think about what happens if Penn State ends up in this game? Me neither. I obviously have a lot of respect for the ESCHL champs, which is what makes this result so stunning. There's a very large, very obvious and very disturbing question in play here as well - have the Icers and their presumed equals fallen this far behind the top of the ACHA? That's probably not something that can be answered right now, or maybe even before we're out of the ACHA's top level, but this game was not a good indicator on that front. Davenport recap:

The line of Sean McKenzie (Howell, Mich.), Matt Morang (Dearborn, Mich.), and Jeff Slusser (Kentwood, Mich.) powered the Panther offense this afternoon as DU pummeled the University of Rhode Island Rams 9-1 in the National Quarterfinal game.

The Panthers started off quickly as DU scored there first three shots on goal as McKenzie, Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.), and Sean McWhorter (Lansing, Mich.) put the #2 seed up 3-0 within five minutes of the game. McKenzie scored from below the goal line off a URI defender to give the Panthers the early lead. Bobby Collar scored another highlight reel goal as DU senior shelved a pass from Kyle McDowell (Toronto, Ontario). McWhorter put DU up by three as he unleashed a wrist shot from the slot on the powerplay.

Later in the period, Collar took advantage of a URI miscue as the forward deked the goaltender for the shorthanded tally.

The second period was much of the same as DU continued the onslaught. McKenzie completed the hattrick as the Panthers also received goals from Brandon Davis (Hartland, Mich.) and Morang. Despite giving up a powerplay goal, the Panthers led after 40 minutes of play, 8-1.

Lindenwood press release // Box score

Given that this one was pretty squarely opposite the Icers game, I'll have to pass on offering any original thoughts. Here are Lindenwood's:

The Lindenwood men’s ice hockey team defeated Oklahoma 4-1 on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the ACHA National Tournament. This win was the fifth victory over the Sooners this season for the Lions.

Lindenwood jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, thanks to two goals from Grant Gorczyca. The first goal was assisted by Bret Morrell, while the second came from a pass by Jeremy Meletti.

The only score in the second period was netted by Colin Long, who received a pass from Alex Roth.

Meletti got on the scoring sheet, with Gorczyca returning the earlier favor, assisting along with Cory Spradling on the goal. Oklahoma scored a short-handed goal late in the game to lessen the deficit, but it was not enough to threaten the Lions’ lead.

Robi Cavallari stopped 15 shots between the pipes for Lindenwood. The Lions converted two out of seven power plays in the win. 

Consolation Games



Ninth-Place Game

Box score

Thirteenth-Place Game

Box score

Fifteenth-Place Game

Box score

Final Tournament Placement

1. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
2. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
3. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
4. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
5. Adrian
6. Rhode Island
7. Oklahoma
8. Oakland
9. Minot State
10. Arizona State
11. Penn State
12. Robert Morris (IL)
13. Stony Brook
14. Canton
15. Slippery Rock
16. Rutgers

Remaining Schedule

Semifinals

Tuesday:
Davenport vs. Ohio, 5:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena
Lindenwood vs. Delaware, 8:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

Final

Wednesday:
Lindenwood/Delaware vs. Davenport/Ohio, 7:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

Hen-d of the Semester Showdown

After getting an extra week off to enjoy the complete destruction of Towson (and that's exactly why it was there, don't let any Thanksgiving extremists tell you otherwise), the Icers are back at it tonight and tomorrow for the standard Ice Pavilion series against No. 4 (and possibly moving up later today) Delaware, also known as "the school with the exclusively female nickname." Yeah, okay, it's the state bird, and there's some interesting history to it, but amazingly, Penn State avoided being the Ruffed Grouses. Why not take advantage of something else the state has to offer instead, like...ummm...

Ohio serves as the Icers' most intense rivalry, yet the Delaware rivalry goes deeper than that in a sense. The teams operate in the same recruiting circles, with many former high school, minor and junior hockey teammates ending up on opposite benches. Sometimes siblings do too, as John and David Conte can attest. Penn Staters have gone on to coach at Delaware, including current assistant and former head man John O'Connor, and former head coach Josh Brandwene (Icers Hall of Fame, class of 1996).

Delaware even has their own Kevin Miller who plays a prominent role on the team, although theirs is a high-scoring forward, and ours is a top-pair defenseman on a team where the forwards do a disproportionate amount of the scoring.

Another similarity, this one also of the quirky coincidence variety: the Saturday game is the Icers' annual 3rd jersey auction, benefitting Relay For Life. The Hens actually have some recent experience in the area of jerseys for a cause, as they had a Military Appreciation Night on November 19th, complete with camo.



I can't see Kevin Miller! Can you, Kevin Miller? Photo: Delaware official site

The off-ice rivalries have slowly but surely led to an on-ice rivalry as well. Penn State flat-out dominates the all-time series at 78-13-3-0, yet four of those losses have come since the beginning of the 2007-2008 season, and three of the Icers' 10 wins in that time came via the shootout.

Similarities and rivalries aside, these games are huge. Especially for the Icers, who desperately need to collect some poll-influencing wins to gather the kind of momentum you just can't get from splattering Towson and also remove themselves from the ACHA tournament bubble. If all of that is to happen, however, Penn State will have to get through a team that is absolutely rolling.

The Hens' success thus far has also been driven by a team-wide sense of confidence, something [senior forward Dave] Lombardi said they know they will need when adversity strikes. 

"Moving forward, we know we will have a forward net a goal, a defenseman make a big hit, or our goalie bail us out with big save when the time calls," Lombardi said. "Also anyone can step into the lineup if a player is forced out by injury." 

Lombardi said the team dynamic is strong.

"To have this kind of confidence in your teammates is extremely comforting," he said. "It creates camaraderie and chemistry in the locker room."  

Delaware sits at 16-0-1, the lone blemish on the record coming in a shootout at Rhode Island on October 30th. Among the 16 wins: nine against the ACHA's top 20, including in the other half of the URI series, and two at Liberty, always a tough venue.

Really though, the schedule overall hasn't exactly been a murderer's row. The Rhode Island games stand out as being the only ones against a team that can pencil in a trip to nationals - really, does a ranking of 15-20 in the ACHA impress anyone? "Balanced" is probably a pretty fair description. And other than a narrow escape against Drexel, the Hens have blown out the teams they're supposed to blow out.

Much like the Icers, Delaware's forwards come in waves. Along with leading scorer Miller (12 goals, 11 assists), Ryan McDonald, Vince Pontrello, Andre Menard, Nick LePore, Chris Tasker and Mark Zeszut all average a point per game or better. Freshman forward Chris Volonnino, another in that group, is a breakout star with NAHL pedigree. The former Janesville Jet has 11 goals in 11 games, and at 6'2", 225 pounds, the size to grind down a defense. Defensemen like Jason Michaud and captain Brandon Weiner do an effective job getting it out and getting it up, as their 25 combined assists attest. Josh Weiner, Chris Galgano, Zack Reubel and the aforementioned Conte also contribute to a deep, experienced corps of blueliners.

I've talked a lot about similarities in this post, but one important difference between the teams right now is the goaltending the Hens are getting from Nick Casella, spelled by SJ Broadt. I could go through the stats like I usually do, and they're impressive enough (goals against averages of 1.97 and 1.40, respectively), but the essential point is this: Delaware has only allowed more than two goals in five of 17 games this season. Translation: Penn State will probably have to bring a strong defensive effort to win these games, because we're not likely to bust the cheese count on these guys.

If the games last year, combined with the large number of returning players on both sides, are any indication, this could be a lot of fun. Tight-checking, competitive games with an edge and a high talent level. And something on the line in December. Buckle up.

Outside Reading

View From The Booth talked to Kevin Miller (the good one) and coach Scott Balboni. Balboni played off any perceived issues and even said that we're underranked. I have a tough time going there, considering our 2-4-0 mark against teams that can even think about booking a hotel in Delaware in early March (1-3-0 against teams in at this moment). But hey, I know one way to change my mind about that....

The Collegian's Tony Barton reports the following:

“Right now we have everyone cleared from injuries for the first time all season,” Balboni said. “I probably could have played [Cera, Loucks and Saad] against Towson but I wanted to give them extra rest with the break. They all look good and they all look strong and will be in the lineup this weekend.”

Not a moment too soon, either. I'll be interested to see how Saad and Cera fit into forward lines that seemed to click two weekends ago. Saad in particular is a high-end talent that needs to be on a scoring line, but at whose expense?

Weekend Observations: Towson

Collegian Friday recap, Collegian Saturday recap, Friday box score, Saturday box score

Old school opponent, old school stomping. There's your one-line recap for the two games.

I'm struggling, because I want to say something bad about Friday's game, if for no reason other than to be balanced. I guess if I have to pick something, it would be the early penalties. Taking two in the first 10 minutes of a game can be a nice way to get behind the 8-ball against a quality team, but in a mismatch of epic proportions like this one? Quite the opposite.

On the second penalty, a slow start sped up in a hurry. Dominic Morrone and Chris Cerutti were relentless on the forecheck. Morrone created a turnover that Cerutti pounced on and gave back to Morrone, who would've had a goal had he not tried to force an extra pass. No matter. Moments later, Towson's Brian Furlong tripped over the neutral zone chasing an errant pass, Morrone hustled to the loose puck, swooped in alone, and scored. Tim O'Brien got in on the shorthanded fun when Towson goalie Stephen Kelly's pass took a funny bounce off the boards and found his stick.

I always try and talk a little bit more about what I considered the key goals in the game, and for Friday, I'm going with the first two, unless someone can name a time a team has scored twice on the same PK and lost. I'm sure now that I said that, someone will tell me that Mike Richards did that at some point in a game the Flyers lost.

On Saturday, you can probably go right back to the beginning of the game. O'Brien in the first minute of the game off a turnover, Cerutti to Morrone on a phenomenal pass just two minutes later, then O'Brien with another goal off another Tigers turnover. We're just 7:56 into the game at this point, but we've clearly seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well for Towson.

Obviously there were a staggering 20 goals scored besides the ones I've already mentioned, and of those, it's worth congratulating Michael Longo on his first Icers goal Friday. And his second. He was in no mood to wait as long for that one as he did for his first, picking Brandon Stroup's pocket right off the draw and scoring nine seconds later (Steve Penstone talked to Longo afterwards here). Also good to see Nick Seravalli on the scoresheet as he continues to get back up to speed. Paul Daley had a hat trick Friday but doesn't get a mention until now - those things happen when there's enough credit to go around. Same goes for Dan Petrick and his hat trick Saturday, or Brian Dolan, who joined Longo in scoring his first Icers goal on Saturday.

Incidentally, rough go for Kelly, as Towson coach Mario Tremblay...errr...Ed Slusher left him in the game for all 25 Penn State goals. I genuinely feel bad for the kid, he deserved better, especially on Saturday when he played better than his stats.

Morrone and Cerutti were reunited on a line, with Kurt Collins on the other wing. I said before that I like the Morrone-Cerutti combo, so I'm hoping it sticks this time. Collins certainly wasn't out of place there either. Exhibits A, B and C in my argument might be goals 2, 7 and 9 on Saturday, all of which were beautiful passing plays involving at least two of them. It wasn't just the goals though, it was the way they carried the play between the goals as well.

I think going with that and Eric Steinour-O'Brien-Daley as your top two is really more like a 1A and 1B (or 1B and 1A, tough to tell), as opposed to the first line/fourth line/who knows what in the middle setup we've been seeing. I think you have to keep Mark Polidor and Chris Pronchik together, and Longo obviously worked well with them - Polidor created the turnover that led to Longo's first.

Yeah, more of these lines, please. Easy for me to say over a weekend in which pretty much everyone who dressed ended up with points I realize, but hey, it's not like I didn't already have pieces of this opinion before these games.

It's always kind of tough to evaluate what you saw in a 13-0 game (or a 12-3 one), and goaltending might be the best example of that. At some point during the third period Friday, Matt Madrazo made two nice saves in a row. I tweeted that he just faced his two toughest challenges of the night, and got this in reply. Yeah, that too. Back in my undergrad days, in a similar type of game, I remember someone from Section E asking Mark Scally if he wanted to borrow his Game Boy. Still ranks as one of the funniest things I've heard. I think Scally cracked up too.

I think the fair assessment is this: Madrazo was barely tested in the first two periods. He saw more action in the third (yes, beyond those two saves I just referenced) and played well. His aggressive style does take him out of position on second chances sometimes, and he needed a great save from Petrick to preserve the shutout on one of those - but all in all, a great game from the freshman. And a great weekend for Petrick - saving shutouts, bagging a hatty, playing up front late on Saturday. Not too shabby.

Teddy Hume, on the other hand, still looks off. He got the start Saturday, and while the stats say three goals in 25 shots, it goes beyond that for me. He still looks like his confidence is shot, playing a little tentatively and giving up juicy rebounds. The first goal was particularly brutal, as it deflected in off his blocker. He was even perforated for four goals by the peewees during the second intermission! Just kidding, he was letting them score. I think.

Possibly the most unfortunate thing in all of this - the motivation of the Icers' record-low No. 11 ranking had to be wasted on Towson. With next weekend off, another ranking will be in the books by the time Penn State takes on Delaware, and I have to think we'll move up a spot or two on the back of these games. However, Kevin Miller is one guy who understands the situation too well to need rankings for motivation, or so he said during the second intermission of Saturday's game (1:24:05 in):

"[We were] a little bit down, and we just had to come out here and work hard and get two wins before the break, kind of get our season back on track...we just want to get some confidence going, we come back after the Thanksgiving break, have a week of practice, and then we have Delaware here. It's going to be a big weekend for us because we dropped two to Rhode Island last weekend, so we gotta get some ESCHL wins here."

My thoughts exactly. No wonder you're a personal favorite of mine.

Weekend Observations: West Chester

Collegian weekend recap
Friday box score
Saturday box score

There's an essential question that I think needs to be asked at this juncture. I think a lot of us, myself included, have been kind of biding their time with this team through the struggles, waiting for the "real" Icers to show up and lay waste to the ACHA. Is it time to accept that maybe that isn't going to happen? That maybe what we're seeing now is what we have? I don't know the answer, although I smell a full-on post about it coming at some point when I have nothing better to talk about.

Watching Friday's game broadcast on UStream, Steve Penstone liked to talk about passes missing and/or not being controlled by the recipient. While that's true, I think it's more than simply a matter of needing Gordon Bombay's egg drill (3:20 in, and yes, I watched entirely too much of that movie in the process of finding that) - I think it's a matter of the team pressing. That occurred to me sometime during the first period when Paul Daley was floating a backhand pass across the width of the neutral zone and continued through a series of bad-angle shots from several players.

In a first-intermission interview, Joe Battista said that he thought he saw a turnaround coming.

I saw some good physical play toward the end of the period, and that says to me "alright, they're going to get revved up a little bit," and I'm sure Coach Balboni's giving it to them pretty good between periods.

Then, something - whatever it was - seemed to click for the last 40 minutes Friday and throughout Saturday's game. Penn State was dominant, playing with controlled confidence, and operating in what I like to call meat grinder mode for long stretches - cycle the puck, generate a shot, win a battle down low to keep possession (or lose the battle but cause a quick turnover on the forecheck), rinse and repeat. It's things like that, and things like the way the team responded to the two West Chester goals late in the first on Saturday that make me want to say "no, this team has more in the tank." For now, optimism's the word, and I'm not letting the scores of the West Chester-Delaware games poison that.

Dominic Morrone has been arguably the Icers' best player this season when healthy, and I don't want his efforts on what turned out to be the game-winning goal Friday to be overshadowed by Chris Cerutti's finishing off a hat trick. While on the power play, Morrone drove the net hard, working around one defender and through another, creating chances first for Daley, then for Cerutti, who pounded it home. Playmaker Morrone and natural goal scorer Cerutti complement each other well, and good things happen when they're on the ice together. It was disappointing to see them split back up on Saturday, but I also understand why Kurt Collins needed to come off of the Daley-Tim O'Brien line. Speaking of O'Brien, how great has he been quarterbacking the power play?

On the blueline, I like Kevin Miller and think he's been the steadiest of a pretty shaky group - Rich O'Brien offers offense and physicality to burn, but I trust Miller with the puck in his own end much more. That said, he has to stay on the ice. He accounted for half of the Icers' four penalties Friday night, and I considered both bad penalties to take - on the third period interference, it looked to me like he was just trying to lay someone out without regard to positional play or, you know, whether the guy had the puck. Miller came back Saturday with his first Icers goal, on a great feed from Mike Broccolo. Incidentally, I thought Broccolo and his fourth linemates, Mike McDonagh and Joe Zitarelli, had a great game Saturday.

That defense was victimized again Friday - the pairing of Carey Bell and Ryan Erbe was beaten for two of West Chester's three goals. The first goal of the game came immediately after an Erbe turnover. When the Rams took a 3-2 lead early in the third, Bell was beaten to the outside by Brian Ruskowski, who then found Tim Margadonna (Erbe's man) with space to get off a shot and beat Dan Ivanir.

I guess I have to address goaltending, since it's an issue now. With Teddy Hume away on a job interview, Ivanir got the start Friday, and Matt Madrazo was between the pipes Saturday. By the way, that job interview thing? Well, that smokescreen was nice for two days. Not that Hume didn't have an interview, but Balboni probably wasn't upset by its timing:

"We're at a point right now where our starting goalie is not playing too well. I'm trying to give other guys opportunities."

Oh, ok then. Could've just said that in the first place.

I'm really not sure what to make of either goalie's performance, although in my opinion, Madrazo was the better of the two. While he took himself out of position a couple times, he demonstrated a flair for the great save, stood tall in the face of runs in the second period and even contributed offensively with a first-period assist (and he was very close to a second). That said, I'm still not convinced that either one did enough to steal the bulk of the starts, and I'd personally like to see a couple more Hume-Madrazo split weekends to get a better look at the two in comparable situations.