Three Stars: April 23-29

3. ACHA 2012 Academic All-Americans Announced
(achahockey.org)

Sara Chroman, Lydia Scott and Lindsay Reihl represent the Lady Icers among the list of 2011-2012 ACHA Women's D1 Academic All-Americans. UMass, by the way, had none. Not that I'm still bitter or anything. But PSU's better at both hockey and academics.

2.Pegula Ice Arena Becoming a Reality
(gopsusports.com)

I know this is largely just another collection of quotes from the groundbreaking, arranged differently. Still, there's always room on TYT to give a student writer some support (even if Ms. Johnson probably got more pageviews on her own than TYT gets in a month, but whatever).

1. Gadowsky looks back at year one
(Lions 247)

I probably don't give Andrew Dzurita enough love in these posts for the simple reason that I don't want to rip off his pictures and get sued. Luckily, a Q-and-A with Guy Gadowsky means I can just rip off someone else's picture. Anyway, here's some of the juicy stuff:

[On the scholarship breakdown] You can’t go out and spend 18 scholarships in one class, that isn’t taking care of the program. We have to gradually move a long, and until we have four full recruiting classes under our belt we won’t be able to see how things are going. It is certainly a process, and when we get to the Big Ten, they certainly are the best college hockey programs in the nation. They have tons of tradition and success that they can draw from and we are the new guys on the block, so it is going to take a couple of years to see where we stack up – but that is part of the fun of it.

We can only release [next year's schedule] when all of the contracts are back, so right now there isn’t anything we can talk about regarding next year’s schedule, and there isn’t a timetable I can give you on when it will be out.

As a reminder, feel free to check this page out for pieces of the schedule revealed by those with looser lips than Gadowsky.

Best of the Rest

Hilton Commits to UBC
(ajhl.ca)

Remember Jessi Hilton? Sure you do. He committed to PSU last summer, then rapidly decommitted when 12 games played with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen interfered with his NCAA eligibility. Fortunately for him, the CIS doesn't care about his time in major junior, so he'll be headed to the University of British Columbia for the coming season. Nice to see that saga have a happy ending.

Pegulas increase Penn State Hockey commitment to $102 million
(Penn State Live)

Since I openly scratched my head at the cost of the arena jumping from $75 million to $89 million at one point, here's something that breaks it down quite nicely. The Pegulas are now in for $102 million, as we know. $89 million of that will pay for the arena, while $13 million will endow scholarships. Additionally, $3.7 million has come in from other donors, headlined by John and Karen Davis as well as Paul and Nancy Silvis. Administration is seeking another $6.3 million in private gifts. There you go.

Chicago has the sickness.

Four Schools to Play Outdoor Doubleheader in Chicago
(College Hockey News)

While it's still not finalized...

Wisconsin and Minnesota, and Notre Dame and Miami, will play in doubleheader outdoor games next season, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The games would be played at Soldier Field in Chicago on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013.

To quote Joe Battista, "we want to play in that game."

College Hockey Inc. to Get New Governing Body
(College Hockey News)

The contentious dismissal of Paul Kelly seems to have led to changes in the way CHI is run, although no changes in mission or direction are expected.

W: Penn State 5-4 vs. Vermont 0-2

Saturday box score // Sunday box score

It's often said that when adversity hits, it's not the situation, but whether we react or respond to the situation that's important. Put another way, champions respond to and overcome the setback.

Call the Lady Icers champions, in more ways than one.

Just days following an inexcusable snub by the ACHA coaches that shut Penn State out of the national tournament, the team very easily could have played out the string and mailed in a couple of lackluster performances against lowly Vermont. Instead, they chose the route of champions and as a result are quite literally that as this year's winners of the ECWHL regular season crown following a sweep of the Catamounts.

On Saturday, an uneventful first period saw only one killed penalty for each team and ten total shots, but it was merely a prelude to a second-period PSU explosion. Three goals - from Taylor Gross, Katharine Gausseres and Tess Weaver - over a span of 5:31 were more than enough for the win, thanks to Katie Vaughan's second full shutout of the season on 20 saves. However, Jess Desorcie had not yet popped in her customary two goals per game, so she did just that in the third to round out the scoring.

A Vermont backchecker (right) looks for assistance on Tess Weaver. Good luck with that. Photo: PennStateWomensHockey.com

PSU's big scoring line (which totaled 13 points for the weekend) didn't wait quite as long to crank things up in Sunday's Senior Day tilt. By the 13:14 mark of the first period, Gross had already scored twice, with Weaver assisting on both. Shortly after, Paige Harrington's spectacular end-to-end rush made it 3-0 by the intermission.

Much like the first game, however, the first period did not predict the second. Suspense briefly re-entered the match when the Catamounts' Hope Simpson chipped the PSU lead down to 3-1 late in the middle frame, but she was quickly answered by Lindsay Reihl 1:54 into the third period. That insurance proved enough to withstand a late goal from UVM's Riley Fontaine.

The sweep parked the Lady Icers' conference record at 7-2-1, a single point better than second-place Rhode Island. Penn State will attempt to become dual champions of the ECWHL at the conference's playoffs on Saturday and Sunday at URI's Brad Boss Ice Arena. With each of the other three participants (URI, third-place Northeastern and fourth-place Massachusetts) also holding a bid to nationals (which, of course, eluded PSU), the usual satisfaction of victory would certainly be multiplied.

After that, we've unfortunately reached the end of the line for this season - and the end of the careers for Chelly Deiling, Sara Chroman, Abby Miller, Kassidy Augustine and Lydia Scott, this year's senior class. Whatever heights are ultimately reached by the coming NCAA program, it needs to be known that this group laid a solid foundation for that success, both on and off the ice. Congratulations and best wishes to each student-athlete!

Chroman, Augustine, Miller, Scott and Deiling during Senior Day ceremonies. Photo: PennStateWomensHockey.com