Morrow Lands with the Eagles

Former Ice Lions coach Matt Morrow won't be an assistant with the Tier III Idaho Jr. Steelheads this season after all - instead, he's made a right turn on the map and a step up in tier and will join the NAHL's Soo Eagles, where he will serve as the top assistant to Eagles head coach/general manager Bruno Bragagnolo.

Morrow, of course, joined PSU's ACHA Division 2 team as an assistant coach in 2011-2012 before succeeding Josh Hand as head coach for 2012-2013. The Ice Lions record with him on the staff was impressive: 57-9-1 (27-6-1 during his year in charge), a pair of appearances at the ACHA National Tournament, a pair of MACHA North regular season championships and one league playoff title. The University of Miami graduate was at Penn State while earning his MBA, then decided to make coaching his vocation. Initially, he joined the Jr. Steelheads as a full-time assistant back in May, but things began to change when Morrow attended an Eagles tryout camp in Pittsburgh.

"I told Bruno that I wanted to give coaching a shot as a career opportunity and he mentioned to me that the Eagles were going to be adding to their staff. After a lengthy process, talking to both Bruno and (Eagles owner) Ron Lavin, they offered me the job and I accepted it," said Morrow.

"I'm excited to be moving up to the Soo and getting an opportunity to coach in the North American Hockey League and with a reputable organization like the Eagles," Morrow added. "I talked to people who I know about Bruno and the Soo Eagles and all I heard were good things."

Bragagnolo said both Morrow and Sawruk "come to us very highly-recommended by several people who are credible and respected within the hockey world. Both Matt and Alex have good hockey backgrounds and we consider ourselves fortunate to be in the position to add them to our coaching staff."

Prior to PSU, Morrow assisted former NHLer Peter Worrell with Florida Atlantic University and North Broward Prep. On the other side of things, PSU has already filled his vacancy with Ryan Behnken, who guided the Ice Lions to within one win of nationals in 2010-2011.

The Soo Eagles, based in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, are the latest incarnation of Junior A hockey in an area that has had quite a bit of it over the last 50 years, primarily in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The present team was born in 2008 and won the 2011 NOJHL championship before jumping to the NAHL in 2012-2013. In the new league, Soo ran off a 41-14-5 regular season record and defeated PSU freshman Ricky DeRosa's Port Huron Fighting Falcons in a divisional semifinal series before dropping three straight to Jamestown in the subsequent playoff round.

Morrow is not alone as someone connected to Penn State behind a bench in the NAHL, a league that includes the second-season Johnstown Tomahawks. Former Icers goaltender Geoff Beauparlant was named head coach of the Kenai River Brown Bears in July.

Morrow Departs For Idaho

Ice Lions head coach Matt Morrow has accepted a full-time assistant coach position with the Western States Hockey League's Idaho Jr. Steelheads under head coach Kyle Grabowski, according to the Steelheads' website.

Morrow leaves Hockey Valley after two highly-successful years both with the ACHA Division 2 team and in Penn State's MBA program. In 2011-2012, as an assistant to Josh Hand, Morrow helped guide PSU to a stellar 30-3-0 record that included the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association regular season and playoff championships. The Ice Lions, helped by captain Jim Recupero and goaltender Tom Badali (both all-region selections) qualified for the 2012 ACHA national championships and posted shutouts in the first two games of the tournament, but fell to Grand Valley State in a contest for the right to advance to the semifinals. That defeat snapped an incredible 25-game winning streak spanning from October 21, 2011 until March 18, 2012.

Hand moved on to devote more of his time to the Nittany Lions' NCAA Division I team's goaltenders this past season, giving the reins of the Ice Lions to Morrow. PSU didn't skip a beat though, reloading its way to a 27-6-1 mark, including a perfect 10-0-0 in the MACHA's North Division. For the second consecutive season, Penn State finished the regular season as the second-ranked team in the ACHA's Southeast Region, earning an autobid to nationals. However, once there, the Ice Lions were unable to recover from an opening-game loss to eventual semifinalist Illinois State and again went home with a 2-1-0 record in the group stages of the tournament.

With the Jr. Steelheads, Morrow will be stepping into another organization that has done a bit of winning even though it was only established in 2009. Idaho has won the Thorne Cup as the champion of the Tier III Junior A WSHL in each of the last three seasons, and its most recent effort came after a 44-1-1 regular season. Last month, the team also added the Amateur Athletic Union and United Hockey Union national championships to its trophy case (in 2011, the WSHL made waves in the hockey world by leaving USA Hockey's umbrella and joining the AAU). Typically, the Jr. Steelheads send players to the Tier II North American Hockey League or directly to NCAA Division III, ACHA Division 1 and ACHA Division 2 programs. In 2012-2013, left wing Patrick Anderson became the first Idaho alumnus to join an NCAA Division I team, arriving at Michigan Tech after one season with the Jr. Steelheads and two in the NAHL.

Prior to his arrival at PSU, Morrow - a University of Miami graduate - spent three seasons assisting former NHL enforcer Peter Worrell with Florida Atlantic's ACHA Division 3 team and with North Broward (FL) Prep. With Morrow on the staff, North Broward won two state titles and appeared at the USA Hockey High School National Championships.

Club Sandwich: December 20th

Sophomore forward Chris Lewis was deadly on the power play Friday night against Berks.

Men

The Ice Lions, which beat ACHA Division 1 Penn State-Berks 8-3 at the Ice Pavilion to open the season, took a little longer to get going on Friday in southeastern Pennsylvania. Eventually though, strong special teams proved too much for Berks in a decisive win to climb to 12-4-1.

After some back-and-forth action to open the game, Max O'Malley scored about 13 minutes in to put the University Parkers ahead for good. Chris Lewis made it 2-0 at the first intermission with a power play goal set up nicely from behind the goalline by Joe Zitarelli. Berks and goalie Michael Narrigan continued to stand tall through most of the second period, and very nearly escaped the middle frame at 2-0 before Zitarelli created a turnover on the forecheck while shorthanded that was buried by Brandon Russo in the last minute of play.

The relentless Ice Lions power play finally put things out of reach in the third period, when Taylor Vincent scored on a cross-crease pass from Peter Daley while on the advantage. Lewis followed up with a his second PPG of the game, a dirty effort assisted by Zitarelli and Mike Broccolo in which he collided with Narrigan while scoring. Lewis, by the way, clearly won that confrontation. While he was knocked to the ice, he made the most of it with a snow angel celly. Narrigan, on the other hand, was knocked out of the game and watched as Justin Golia gave up two late goals to pad the margin a little.

Ryan DeMuth survived the mediocre beaks of the home crowd ("number one, your five-hole is ginormous big," for example) to turn in a solid effort despite allowing a late goal - through his six hole (between the stick/blocker arm and body).

HockeyYall.com recap

PSU followed up the Berks win with an even bigger one - 3-1 over Rowan, the Southeast Region's second-ranked team, to climb to 13-4-1 heading into the semester break. With the Ice Lions fourth in the region entering the game, some upward movement on the back of this result seems likely in the next D2 poll, expected out Friday. It also vaults PSU ahead of the Profs into the driver's seat of the MACHA North at 5-0-0 in the league.

Because it's literally the only information I could obtain online about it, here's most of the HockeyYall.com recap - I thought it would be rather disingenuous to lift information from there and restate it in my own words without bringing anything additional to the table.

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In both teams’ most meaningful game of the season to date, Penn State defeated Rowan 3-1 Saturday in New Jersey to improve to 13-4-0-1 and strengthen its hold on first place in the Mid-Atlantic College Hockey’s North Division.

After a goaless first period, Mac Winchester scored in the second to give Penn State a 1-0 lead that it carried into the third, where the Ice Lions outscored the Profs 2-1. Frederick Linge and Mike Broccolo scored for PSU to help gain the win for goalie Ryan DeMuth.

"[It was] a tight game from start to finish," noted Matt Morrow, Penn State’s head coach.

Erich Moen scored the lone Rowan goal.

"We played okay," said John Caulfield, the Profs’ head coach. "Couldn’t buy a goal. Missed about eight rebound chances wide or bouncing over sticks. Frustrating."

The win was the Ice Lions’ sixth in their last seven games. They will resume their season Jan. 11 at No. 6 Liberty, another MACH opponent.

After going undefeated and untied in their first 11 games, the Profs were 4-4-1-1, including three losses in their last four games, and stand at 15-4-1-1 today. They’ll return to the ice on Jan. 6 against Montclair State.

"The Virginia Tech loss (7-1 on Dec. 7) was the only bad loss," said Caulfield. "We were totally outworked there. The UMBC (Maryland-Baltimore County) and PSU games, we just couldn’t score. And when we made mistakes, they scored. We need the break — injuries and tired bodies."

Both Penn State and Rowan are likely to see a change in their status when the ACHA releases its third Southeast Region ranking of the season this week, with the Ice Lions moving up the ranking and Rowan heading South.

Katie Vaughan - helped by the defense of Allie Rothman - tops the ACHA in save percentage.

Women

There's not much new to report on the women, who hit the break at 4-1-1 after thrashing Slippery Rock 8-0 on December 9th. The team is undoubtedly hoping to see some upward movement in the second ACHA Women's Division 2 poll of the season - due out this past Sunday, but unreleased as of this post - on the back of that win.

Several team members rank at or near the top of the ACHA WD2 statistical charts. Goaltenders Sarah Eisenhut and Katie Vaughan are 1-2 in goals against average, with a 0.72 and a 0.86, respectively. Vaughan leads in save percentage with a 0.959 mark, and Eisenhut's 0.947 is fourth. Offensively, freshman sensation Devon Fisk's 10 goals are tied for 11th overall, but 7th when counting on a per-game basis.

Morrow To Lead Ice Lions

Matt Morrow, an assistant to Josh Hand in 2011-2012, will take over as head coach of the ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions this season. Hand, of course, remains at PSU as a volunteer assistant with the NCAA Division I men.

In an open letter posted on the Ice Lions' website, Morrow introduced himself by saying:

A new era has begun for the Penn State Ice Lions Hockey program. Club hockey at the Pennsylvania State University has a long and storied tradition, and the Ice Lions are ready and able to carry a high standard of both athletic and academic success into the future.

In my first year as head coach, I look to build upon what has been a very deep talent pool, and continue the winning ways of the coaching staffs before me. My staff and I look to recruit the top talent starting right here in Pennsylvania, and branching our nationally.

Success in our program will begin with academic integrity and character building within the classroom and Penn State community. This solid foundation for what Penn State students are known for will serve as the platform on which athletic all-stars will be built.

He's not really kidding about that whole "very deep talent pool" thing. Despite the loss of several key seniors, headlined by captain Jim Recupero and standout goalie Tom Badali (both of whom were All-Southeastern Region selections), the Ice Lions return boatloads of quality from a team that more or less steamrolled everything in its path en route to a 30-3-0 record and a MACHA title in Hand's only season in charge. They'll also look to reap some benefit from the disappearance of the Icers and their new status as the top ACHA program on campus while seeking to do three wins better than in 2011-2012, which saw the Ice Lions' 25-game winning streak end rather inconveniently in the final game of the group stage at the ACHA National Tournament.

Hand approves of his replacement and is confident in Morrow's ability to keep the program's momentum going.

“He was my choice. He did a really good job for us last year, and was a big part of our success.”

The new boss joined the old boss' staff last season from previous positions in south Florida, assisting former NHLer Peter Worrell with North Broward Prep (Morrow's alma mater) and with ACHA D3 Florida Atlantic for three seasons. Not familiar with Worrell?



Now you know. Since beating down Rob Ray, Worrell has learned how to beat down Florida high school hockey teams as well. With Morrow as an assistant, the enforcer led North Broward to two state titles and an appearance at the USA Hockey High School National Championships.

Morrow, an MBA candidate in Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration, will be helped by long-time Icers and Lady Icers assistant Wil Gigante.