Three Stars: February 13-19

3. Blasting to begin at new ice arena site; disturbance to be minimal
(Penn State Live)

I'm starting to regret my life choices now that I know there are people out there who create explosions for the purpose of setting up an ice arena's foundation. Regardless, blasting began today and will continue for approximately six weeks.

2. Kerr Commits to Penn State
(College Hockey Inc.)

The biggest casualty of my breaking the TYT hard drive after an Ice Lions game on February 11th was the usual commit post on Team Comcast d-man Kevin Kerr. Fortunately, Paul Kelly's someone else's gang picked me up in that department. Kerr, who looks to join the program in 2014, is one of the bigger scores to date for Guy Gadowsky and his staff.

1. @VinnieChant
(Twitter)

I could have gone a lot of different routes in handing THON first star this week - the fantastic routines of both the men's and women's teams at Saturday night's pep rally, your garden-variety photo of a colorfully packed Bryce Jordan Center or, of course, the eye-popping final count of $10,686,924.83. Sometimes, though, the smaller moments have more impact - like when Icers forward Josh Daley played catch with Colton, the team's THON child.

Best of the Rest

@TYTBlog
(Twitter)

In terms of promotional impact, getting on the local telecast of a Lake Erie Monsters-Rochester Americans AHL game isn't really the pinnacle of...well, anything. Still, it's pretty cool.

PSU Hockey Eligibility Matrix
(Google Documents)

Friend of TYT Andrew Dzurita (of Lions 247 fame) has attempted to put together an eligibility matrix for the men's program, including current players and recruits entering in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Spoiler alert: things are getting packed quite tightly, with surely more players to follow.

Building has started on Penn State hockey rink
(philly.com)

A well-done article by an outlet with a large readership means some nice publicity. Works for me.

Mercyhurst senior Jill Szandzik, a refugee from Wayne State's defunct program, scored the first two goals in the Lakers' 3-0 win over Robert Morris to clinch first place in the CHA.

Mercyhurst women clinch 10th straight CHA regular-season title
(goerie.com)

The Lakers held off a strong challenge from Robert Morris and have now stood as the CHA's hegemon for an entire decade. MU will try to match that regular season run with a tenth consecutive tournament title on March 2nd and 3rd at RMU.

Time running short for MSUM hockey decision
(WDAY)

Minnesota State-Moorhead is still trying to start a DI hockey program and still doesn't have enough money to do so. A completely meaningless, self-imposed deadline will likely pass at the end of the month, at which time MSUM will either give up or create a new fake deadline. Enthralling, yes?

Should Kansas Add Division One Ice Hockey?
(Rock Chalk Talk)

No. Stop it.

Three Stars: January 23-29

3. On the Fly, Jan. 28: Down 4-0, UCF Edges ‘Bama 5-4
(hockeyyall.com)

It was tougher than expected, but the Ice Lions won a 17th game in a row and moved one step closer to an autobid to the ACHA national championship tournament with a win over Rowan Saturday night. The game was also notable for a milestone reached by the team's captain.

Chalk up another memorable moment for Penn State’s Jim Recupero. The Ice Lions senior recorded the 100th point of his career in Penn State’s 5-3 victory over Rowan in a DII Mid-Atlantic College Hockey game.

This milestone point, an assist on Penn State’s first goal, comes on the heels of Recupero’s outstanding performance for the ACHA DII Selects in a five-game European tour during the semester break. Recupero was the Selects’ leading scorer.

As for the game, “Real sloppy first two periods for us, but [we] came out hard in the third [period] as we spent the first 10 minutes of that period in their zone,” said Sylvain Theriault, Penn State assistant coach.

The victory was the Ice Lions’ 17th in a row and improved their season record to 22-2-0-0 and their MACH North Division record to 10-0-0-0. They’re ranked second in the ACHA DII Southeast Region.

2. Working on a Building
(Centre Daily Times)

This creatively-titled article is probably the most thorough response to the Board of Trustees' approval of Pegula Ice Arena. Just because they're related to common questions, a couple of clips are in order.

No official ground-breaking has been set. In addition to digging into the current parking lot to tap into utilities, the turf of the former Bigler Field — a new one has been erected across University Drive for the lacrosse teams — is being torn up. [Joe] Battista said everything is ahead of schedule, digging should begin sometime in February, and an official ceremony will be held in early spring. A steel framework should be in place by the time football season rolls around and the building is expected to open in September 2013.

Remember how the arena used to cost $75 million and now it costs $89 million?

Battista, however, did not stop with the Pegulas, having raised close to $105.5 million to fund the arena and the men’s and women’s programs.

Great, problem solved. Now if only Penn State had a Board of Trustees willing to ask questions or engage in any kind of debate whatsoever...and even if those questions were already asked and answered outside of the board's meeting January 20th, where is the transparency we were supposed to be getting?

1. Penn State Pegula Ice Arena to be LEED Certified
(Mass Media Musings)

Speaking of the arena...you probably already know about this post because you went to Lady Icer Abbey Dufoe's blog the last time I plugged it, loved it, and subscribed. If you didn't, I'll just assume that you weren't reading TYT three weeks ago. So for all who are new here, this post is her reaction upon learning that Pegula Ice Arena is to be LEED certified.

Now for my reaction: I realize that this isn't a popular opinion in Penn State hockey circles, but the money used to build the arena came from something that causes a whole host of environmental concerns, as one might expect when it involves pumping a bunch of things like benzene, lead, methanol and boric acid into the ground and hoping nothing bad comes of it (Terry Pegula is no exception). The least we can do is make said arena as environmentally friendly as possible, so here's hoping we find somewhere else to trim when the cost overruns start to pop up.

Best of the Rest

@TYTBlog
(Twitter)

Last week, IcersGuy from Black Shoe Diaries informed me that Curtiss Patrick, recently named to the Icers' Hall of Fame for this year, appears in NHL 09 as a free agent. So I pulled out my copy of the game and took a picture of his player bio. Crazy stuff. By the way, while his 66 overall rating doesn't sound like much, it does beat Guillaume Latendresse's brother Olivier.

Nanooks’ Karr working on organizing new WCHA
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Ready to mine some news from the News-Miner? Buried in this article is a disclosure that Penn State has committed to play in the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush, hosted by Alaska (the good Alaska, Fairbanks). This would mark Guy Gadowsky's return to the school he coached from 1999-2004 and makes all kinds of sense for that reason alone. Well, there is one other reason: the NCAA game limit exemption (specifically, games in Alaska don't count against it).

The Goal Rush is a season-opening tournament (this season, it was won by the hosts on October 14th and 15th, 2011) so this wouldn't be next season or the season after, but the season after that. Feel free to forget all about this so you can get excited again when it's officially announced.

Rasmussen leads the way for Storm'N'Sabres
(sctimes.com)

Josh Brandwene is after Kendra Rasmussen, who is about to become the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the Sartell/Sauk Rapids (MN) high school program. In 23 games this year, she leads the Storm'n Sabres in scoring with 26 goals, 14 assists and has her team on top of the Central Lakes league with a 10-1-0 conference record. Also in the running for Rasmussen are Quinnipiac and a handful of Division III schools.

Bierwirth helps Raiders right ship
(Hillsborough Beacon)

The Hillsborough High School senior defensemen is heading to Penn State University next year, where he’s unsure if he will be able to play for the Nittany Lions as they go into Division I hockey. Bierwirth is trying to extend his final scholastic season as long as he can, and that means pushing the Raiders toward the year-end state tournament.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Ohio Bobcats vs. Penn State Nittany Icers
(Taehoon Kim Photography)

An OU-centric (but still outstanding) collection of photos from Friday and Saturday.

Hockey aims to claim elusive D2 title
(eaglenews.org)

Meet D2 nationals hosts Florida Gulf Coast University, which also doubles as the team keeping the Ice Lions from the top spot in the southeast region.

Solution for sites in sight
(postcrescent.com)

It seems like there's a lot of momentum for revisiting the Big Ten tournament format, which presently calls for the teams seeded third through sixth to play a campus-site best-of-three first round, with the winners meeting the top two seeds at the No. 1 seed's rink for single-elimination semifinals and finals.

I like the neutral site idea. Unless it's played in St. Paul, MN every year. Then I hate it. I don't normally root for anything productive to happen in the NCHC, but I do hope that they swoop in and steal that particular venue. The Big Ten would then be forced to Chicago or somewhere that doesn't force the conference's easternmost team to travel to its westernmost outpost every year for the tournament. Yay. Also, a word of caution as we proceed through all of this: never believe anything out of Barry Alvarez's mouth.

MSUM athletic director says hockey is 'so close'
(inforum.com)

In case you were wondering, Minnesota State-Moorhead hasn't given up on trying to start a Division I hockey program. Oh right, you weren't wondering. Sorry about that.

For you, coach
(singledaysjourney.tumblr.com)

With good reason, numerous Icers and Lady Icers shared pictures of the backs of their buckets last week.

Three Stars: September 26-October 2

The guy on the other side of the table just questioned JoeBa's pun-making ability.

3. It's official: Flyers-Rangers in Winter Classic
(philly.com)

Brother of Nick Seravalli is the writer of record for all things Philly as far as TYT is concerned, so here's his piece on the Winter Classic's finally being announced. Of course, more to the point of why we're here:

The Winter Classic will not be only a 1-day event. The AHL's Phantoms will battle Hershey on Jan. 6 at CBP. Penn State's men's hockey team, transitioning to Division I, will face off against Aston's Division III Neumann University, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 4.

This is newsworthy in the sense that last we knew, the official word was simply "Penn State at Neumann January 4th, time TBD." Now a respected reporter is calling it tentatively scheduled for Citizens Bank Park. Maybe a fine line, but hey, that's what I do. Of course, we all know what the situation is, and the Winter Classic announcement hopefully makes it one step closer to reality.

2. New Coaches Bring Fresh Faces Division I
(achahockey.org)

No, I didn't transcribe that headline incorrectly. Total pro as always, ACHA. Other than that, this one's notable for its inclusion of (and quotes from) Guy Gadowsky, but also Friday opponent Lebanon Valley College coach Don Parsons.

1. Next Stop, Indiana…To Get a Taste of Irish Ice
(statecollege.com)

A Joe Battista column entirely about hockey? Yes, please. And yeah, "Irish Ice" is what inspired the caption at the top, even though it took me about four days to get it.

Best of the Rest

Captains Announced for 2011-12 Season
(psuicelions.com)

I'm going to try and reserve this space for a quick weekly update on the ACHA D2 Ice Lions. First off, congratulations to new captain Jim Recupero, as well as alternates Joe Zitarelli (a former Icer, of course) and Steve Aloia.

Josh Hand's charges are off to a great start at 4-0-0 (20-1 vs. Susquehanna, 6-2 vs. Rider, 7-2 vs. Pitt-Johnstown and 5-1 at Montclair State) and will head to the ACHA D2 Showcase in St. Louis this weekend, where they'll take on DePaul, Minnesota-Crookston and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Of note to Icers followers: Joe Zitarelli (two goals, eight assists) and Chris Lewis (five goals, four assists) are the team's two leading scorers so far. Mac Winchester has three assists, while Matt Venoit remains injured.

Jason Kalinowski verbally commits to New Hampshire ice hockey
(Stamford Advocate)

The best kind of recruiting losses are ones you didn't know you were in on in the first place. Such is the case with Kalinowski, who chose New Hampshire over Penn State, Quinnipiac and Cornell. The good news? He plays at Salisbury Prep with Thomas Welsh and the 16-year-old isn't college-bound until 2015. Get to work, kid.

Joe Battista Part 3
(YouTube)

The completion of the Penstone-Battista trilogy (Part 1 / Part 2)...this actually turned out to be my favorite segment because of how you can see Battista wrestling with the question that I remember discussing with my best friend Tim some years ago. Specifically, I'm talking about the certain loss of intimacy that comes with going big time and the memorializing of something great (without which there would be no big time). I have no doubt that both facets are in good hands.

Oh, did I forget the View From the Booth post with color pictures of on-campus hockey played on makeshift rinks in the front yard of a frat house from the 40s and an interview with Bill Downey? Shame on me. But here you go.

Recruiting stars aren't aligned for Gophers football team in 2012
(St. Paul Pioneer Press)

Here's a juicy little nugget, buried deep in this article's bowels:

The buzz in hockey circles is that Don Lucia could be offered the Big Ten hockey conference commissioner job when the league opens in 2013.

If true, he'd have to be pretty stupid to say no, especially considering the temperature of the chair in his current office at Minnesota. In fact, the idea of Lucia getting fired got me to do a Head Coach Candidate post on him back in March. Although I believe the same guy who made me think he might be fired wrote this (some background: Lucia's not fired). But...

...here's the problem. What people in "hockey circles" (repeatedly) don't seem to understand is that there are these things called "all-sports conferences." They often sponsor football, basketball and numerous other sports - all at the same time! So when one of these (say, the Big Ten), adds a sport (say, men's hockey), it doesn't mean it needs a commissioner. Because it already has one. His name is Jim Delaney.

Once again, there's no such thing as the "Big Ten Hockey Conference." It's just the same Big Ten that already exists. Maybe you've heard of it. That's not to say that Lucia isn't in line for a league job to oversee hockey in some capacity, it just won't be the capacity of commissioner.

Colonials honor McLaughlin with arena banner
(USCHO)

Weidner new assistant coach with Niagara women
(USCHO)

Two stories from the CHA this week - Allysen Weidner, a former four-year RPI player and one-year coach at Division III Hamilton College is now on Niagara's staff. Also, Robert Morris legend/assistant coach Brianne McLaughlin now has something in common with 2008 Capital One Mascot of the Year Zippy: a banner somewhere on the other side of "tastefully understated."

2011–2012 Women’s D-I Season Preview
(USCHO)

Speaking of, here's a little get-to-know-you on our future conference rivals (and the rest of women's DI as well). And yes, Mercyhurst is predicted to roll the CHA, as is their custom.

MSUM would spend $1 million a year on coaching expenses if it gets D-I hockey
(inforum.com)

Remember Minnesota State-Moorhead? If you don't: back in July, they announced their intention to start an NCAA Division I hockey program, and that they had raised $15 million of the $37 million that they thought they needed. As it turns out, that press conference was a miserable failure because, according the school, they now have...$15 million (but hey, they made a lot of cold calls and even know what they'll pay their head coach).

NCHC: Staying At 8; Sets Stage for Notre Dame to Hockey East
(College Hockey News)

Yesterday afternoon, the NCHC announced seemingly out of the blue that it will start Year One of Armageddon (2013-2014) with eight teams - the ones they already have. So no Notre Dame. The best guess is that ND-NCHC talks reached an unbreakable impasse over television rights, and the NCHC wanted to steal all of the thunder, own the story, spin it in a way favorable to them, however you want to say it.

With the Domers already ruling out independence, it appears they may be headed to Hockey East with seemingly no other options left on the table - in fact they'll "likely" have a Wednesday announcement, presumably for that reason. Which starts a whole new series of questions: Will HEA add another school to get back to an even number? Who? And what will the ECAC (the likely target) do in reaction? Finally, and most importantly, will this ever stop? (College Hockey News answers these questions yes, RPI, add RIT and yes, respectively).

2011 9th Annual Men's Division 1 Showcase
(achahockey.org)

I'm really glad Penn State isn't in the D1 showcase this year. Participation might have meant me having to look at this logo again.

Three Stars: July 11-17

3. Prospects looking to lock on with Penguins
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Your "sweet, we're gonna be awesome" story of the week: Pens prospect camp invitees Rob Madore and Andrew Blazek, both Pittsburgh-area natives who elected the college route, think Penn State's kinda nifty.

2. DCT: Penn State/Neumann University hockey game not yet official
(Nittany WhiteOut)

It's probably a gross understatement to say that the leaking of the try at an outdoor game didn't go as anyone planned. NWO calls out some people ("blogs" with an "s" - that could be me!) on that front and re-emphasizes the preliminary status of things, but neither are really my purpose for linking this one. It's more because of this:

The exposure that an outdoor hockey game will bring to the Penn State hockey program cannot be understated. An attention grabbing gimmick like this outdoor game just days following the Winter Classic is just what a program on the brink of rising to the Division I ranks like Penn State needs to make a splash on the hockey scene. Even the opponent will be a significant step up from the usual ACHA club-level opponents. What better way to attract the attention of scholarship athletes during the midst of our final ACHA season than scheduling the 2009 Division III national champions in an outdoor venue. A true coming out party for the soon-to-be newest member of the Division I hockey fraternity.

To be honest, I think the whole thing needs to be dialed back just a tad. A great experience for both teams? Fun for fans? An outdoor game where tickets won't require selling a kidney? Sure, I can get behind each of those things. But the hard reality is that this, if it happens, is probably going to be a lot closer to Adrian and Concordia (WI) at the Big House (What? Who? Exactly.) than to BU-BC at Fenway. It's not going to be on TV, 10,000 would be a fantastic attendance number - the Adrian-Concordia game drew 1470, I'm assigning what I think is fair credit to the Penn State name - and with the proliferation of outdoor hockey, I'm not even sure how much attention will be attracted from scholarship athletes.

1. Hockey Adds Defenseman
(Fight On State)

Forward a 'big-time' get for Lions
Canadian forward commits to Lions
(Lions 247)

Broadly speaking, "recruiting" takes the top spot this week, thanks to Andrew Dzurita's typically-excellent work and FOS popping in with a hockey recruiting article for the first time since Mark Yanis. The links are on Connor Varley, Jonathan Milley and David Glen, respectively.

Best of the Rest

We Are...........PENN STATE! (and soon to be Buffalo South)
(HockeyBuzz.com)

Julie Robenhymer makes a habit of visiting NCAA hockey schools, then posting a bunch of pictures and information she picked up on the trip. Which is pretty cool, but since the target market is generally those from places other than the one being visited, there's not much in her PSU post for people who have been following closely. Except for this little nugget:

They plan to host a combination of Sabres development camps, training camps and pre-season games once the new building is complete.

It's been known for quite a while that PSU would seek something like that for the Pegula Ice Arena, and since the facility's namesake also happens to own the Sabres...well, it wasn't exactly a reach to get there. Still, it's now somewhere in print.

...and we now know about this guy at camp too.

Smith's departure leaves Badgers in tough spot
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Wisconsin star forward Craig Smith unexpectedly left his last two seasons of college eligibility on the table to sign with the Nashville Predators, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2009. Since he possibly could have played Penn State as a senior (in the unlikely event he was still there), you might be thinking "great." Not so fast. UW now has some scholarship flexibility, and...

One option if they did bring someone in [for this season] would be Reed Linaker from the St. Albert Steel in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Linaker was linked to the Badgers this spring when Jordy Murray was considering leaving. Instead the coaching staff decided to bring in Brad Navin a year early from Waupaca high school. Linaker told me in late April that if the Badgers offered, he would accept.

However that offer never came. Instead Linaker gave a verbal commitment to start up program Penn State for 2012. When reached Friday afternoon Linaker told Bucky's 5th Quarter that he had not talked with Wisconsin recently.

That said, B5Q hockey guru Chuck Schwartz doesn't believe the Badgers will seek to re-fill Smith's scholarship. But it's still something to keep an eye on.

New conference will alter landscape of college hockey
(USA Today)

The Superleague, now with the similarly-hubristastic name of National Collegiate Hockey Conference, became official on Wednesday. And wherever it ends up hockey-wise, one thing's for sure: they need to hire some media relations people ASAP.

NCHC logo evolution. Well done, fellow big-timers.

COMMENTARY: Welcome to the Jungle
(College Hockey News)

...and like I said last week, let's just acknowledge things for what they are and ditch the "we considered everyone's interests before doing this" garbage. Adam Wodon, and most people, see through it. Good? Bad? We don't know, and we won't for some time (my hunch is that it just depends on the school). But in the meantime, quit insulting our intelligence.

Minnesota State-Moorhead Moving Towards Division I
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Penn State was nearly bumped from its spot as the newest NCAA hockey program this week when MSU-Moorhead announced it was holding a press conference...then announced, essentially, that they were simply working on it.

Moorhead's plan is to set up an endowment for the program to give them some financial security, and make sure they receive no taxpayer money (Because no state money has worked out great for the other MSU in the WCHA). They estimate that they will need $37 million to make that happen. So far, they've raised 40%, or $15 million of that goal in soft commitments (people who've said they'll write a check when the program is created). Part of that $37 million is allotted for "the best coach that money can buy."

It's actually a pretty savvy move in my opinion. Moorhead set a deadline of three months to raise the rest of the money, which coupled with the existing progress will hopefully inspire donors to come out of the woodwork. And they're making the WCHA aware of their presence before they get too far down the road of trying to salvage their conference.

Small school? Yes. But a big winner in the logo department. MORTAL KOMBAT!

WCHA to Formally Accept Northern Michigan
(College Hockey News)

Domino No. 3...wait, I think it's 4. Something like that.

The State of American Hockey - 2010-11
(The United States of Hockey)

I'm a huge fan of USoH to the point where it's in my regular rotation of must-read blogs. Proprietor Chris Peters, simply put, doesn't miss a thing and knows his stuff cold. This particular link got bumped with a busy week last week but guess what? Still topical.

Hockey East Extends Contract of Commissioner Joe Bertagna

(HockeyEastOnline.com)

Well, when you're the commissioner of the only major conference that hasn't been gutted recently, why not? Worth noting as well: he reportedly helped repel a Superleague raid on Boston College and Boston University.

Exter Joins Ohio State Hockey Staff

(OhioStateBuckeyes.com)

In what's universally being praised as a great hire, former Merrimack goalie Joe Exter is now a conference rival. He brings a tremendous depth of experience, primarily with USA Hockey as the NTDP's goalie coach, and also on the staffs of the gold medal-winning U.S. teams at the World U18 Championships and World Junior Championships. Prior to that, Exter spent one season each as an assistant in the USHL and with American International.

Guentzel Joins Minnesota Staff

(GopherSports.com)

Minnesota makes it two Big Tenners who beefed up their coaching staffs this week, as highly-respected Mike Guentzel returns to his alma mater and a place where he previously spent 14 years as an assistant before spending the last three seasons with Colorado College, the USHL's Fargo Force and Nebraska-Omaha (in that order).