Taylor Vincent was PSU's second-leading goal scorer as a freshman last season
The ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions have posted the team's 2013-2014 schedule, notable as the lid lifter in Pegula Ice Arena. But it's also notable for its brutality. Consider:
Two in-season tournaments are on tap, including the ACHA Showcase in October and Navy's storied Crab Pot in February. At the former, PSU will face Michigan State, the defending national champion, as well as Grand Valley State, the D2 runners-up in each of the last two seasons (GVSU ended the Ice Lions' season on the way to the 2012 finals). Penn State, in the form of the Icers, is a four-time Crab Pot champion (1982, 1985-1987).
As in the case of the Women's Ice Hockey Club, which has to play a couple home games in Altoona this season, the Ice Lions were victimized by an ice time crunch at PIA and will only play 11 home games. Thought we were supposed to be done with that type of thing now.
A reshuffled Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association once again promises to provide some of the stiffest conference competition in the ACHA, with Maryland-Baltimore County, Virginia Tech and Rowan typically among the contenders.
Out of the MACHA, one highlight is a November road trip to New York University and William Paterson, both perennially strong programs.
Eight games against ACHA D1 competition are on the docket. Those opponents include Indiana (PA), Washington & Jefferson, Lehigh, Towson and Penn State Berks. Should PSU play host Navy on the Crab Pot's second day, the number will jump to nine.
Could that last bullet predict an eventual move to the top division? While the Ice Lions have always challenged themselves in scheduling, eight (or nine) is an abnormally high number of D1 games - over 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, Penn State played in a combined five such contests. Should a jump be in the cards, an ECHA that includes the Berks campus team as well 2013-2014 opponents Lehigh, Towson and Navy and 2011-2012 opponent Drexel would seem to be a logical conference fit.
Regardless of that blind speculation, D2 is the team's home this season as PSU attempts a first-ever national title by building off of appearances at the ACHA National Tournament in each of the last two seasons. With returning stars like Creek Lewis and Brandon Russo - both of whom have been named All-Americans before - leading the way, Penn State was 27-6-1 a year ago and won the MACHA North Division title. However, a loss to eventual semifinalist Illinois State during the group stage at nationals crippled the team's chances for advancement.
In addition to the schedule, the Ice Lions also announced tryout information, with off-ice meetings on August 27th (returning players) and 29th (new players) preceding the on-ice evaluation from September 3rd through 6th. The Ice Pavilion will host tryouts, as they take place before personnel officially moves in to Pegula Ice Arena.
Here's the full slate, with an asterisk marking MACHA games:
Caleb Witzaney: okay at hockey. As a senior at North Penn, he had 35 goals and 33 assists in 25 games and led his team to the Flyers Cup (eastern Pennsylvania championship) semifinals, even though he spent some time on defense in addition to left wing. And he might be an Ice Lion next season.
Witzaney is headed to Penn State but he’s not planning on being part of the Nittany Lions’ varsity program, which will complete its transition to the Division I level next season. He’s content to try out for the school’s club team while studying engineering.
“I decided to focus mainly on school,” he said. “If you want to go the D-I route you probably have to play with a decent junior team for a couple years. I would much rather go to college right away. Taking a couple years off from school is kind of a big deal and I don’t know if I would like that.”
Of Penn State's incredible haul of Academic All-Big Ten selections, 14 came from hockey, including Jake Friedman, Michael Longo, Mike McDonagh, Dom Morrone, Rich O'Brien, Tommy Olczyk, George Saad and Eric Steinour from the men's team and Kate Christoffersen, Jess Desorcie, Taylor Gross, Cara Mendelson, Lindsay Reihl and Tess Weaver from the women's team. Olczyk is especially notable from that group, as he carries a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
It's worth pointing out that freshmen are not eligible for the honor - selections must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year and with at least a 3.0 cumulative average. In light of those criteria and the large number of first-years on both teams in 2012-2013, the hockey teams' achievements are particularly impressive. In all, eight of 16 possible men were picked, along with six of ten on the women's side.
Former Lady Icers forward and alternate captain Dana Heller, who earned her graphic design degree from PSU last month, has decided to put her abilities to work helping out the people of Moore, OK. Moore, of course, was the site of a devastating tornado on May 20th that killed 24 people, injured 377 others, and destroyed or damaged between 12,000 and 13,000 homes with total cost estimates hovering around $2 billion.
The concept behind Help Restore Moore is brilliant in its simplicity. Heller, whose design is shown above and contains a deft nod to the alma mater, and other graphically-inclined people have created 20" x 16" posters (vertically oriented, contrary to what is shown - I took some license to make it fit TYT's format) in support of the people of Moore, and they're on sale for $25 (printed copy) or $15 (digital download), with proceeds going to the American Red Cross' Central and Western Oklahoma region.
If you're better at graphic design than me, please accept my jealousy-tinged congratulations, then get to work on creating and submitting your own poster. If not, go buy one. Now. I'll still be here when you get back, I promise.
Best of the Rest
The Ice Lions will attempt to capture the venerable Crab Pot in February
If Witzaney does in fact join the Ice Lions, he'll have the chance to compete in one of non-varsity hockey's great traditions as a freshman: Navy's Crab Pot Invitational, which will take place for the 36th time on February 7th and 8th, 2014. PSU will open up with Towson, a D1 team and formerly a frequent opponent of the Icers, with the D1 Midshipmen and D2 Maryland in the other pairing.
Speaking of the Icers, they were a regular guest in Annapolis for the Crab Pot during the 1980s and won four titles (1982, 1985, 1986 and 1987) in seven appearances.
At the NHL Combine fitness testing on Friday and Saturday, Eamon McAdam tied for the best Vertec vertical jump with pause, 28.5 inches. And although it's not listed at the link, it's been verified through multiple sources (including a different post from the same author on NHL.com) that his wingspan was measured at 80.5 inches, tied for third best.
Keep in mind that we're talking about arguably the 101 best prospects for the NHL Entry Draft coming up in just under four weeks, so being at or near the top of anything... well, that's pretty damn good.
By the time you read this, one of the nation's best academic institutions and lacrosse schools may have already announced that it will be joining the Big Ten as an affiliate member for men's lacrosse, as Johns Hopkins University has scheduled said announcement for 11:00 a.m. on Monday. Additionally, the Big Ten will now sponsor lacrosse for the first time, as JHU joins Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and all-sports newcomers Maryland and Rutgers to give the league the magic number of six schools. It's an interesting move to me because it's long been assumed that the Big Ten was unwilling to take on new affiliate members, institutions only in the conference for one sport (the University of Chicago has long been in only for academics purposes, as most know, owing to the fact that it was a founding Big Ten member, but withdrew its sports teams in 1946). So what's to stop it from happening in other cases?
Johns Hopkins, it needs to be said, is a perfect excuse to make an exception: the school is a research powerhouse, a titan in the lacrosse world, and Division III in all other sports. It's not terribly likely that another close-to-perfect fit is floating out there. But the simple fact is that the line has been crossed. There is no shortage of lower-division schools playing up in hockey, and while none offer JHU's impressive athletic and academic resume, what if there's a revenue opportunity in a new market through Big Ten Network and the ability to back-door elevated cable rates through an affiliate member?
To be perfectly honest, I don't believe any affiliate members will come on board for men's hockey. In this case, JHU allowing the Big Ten to sponsor men's lacrosse was as essential of a consideration as the school's appeal as a member, and it's already there with men's hockey. But what about women's hockey, assuming that none of ten Big Ten schools without it are about to add it and assuming that the Big Ten wants it under the umbrella?
There's not a ton of competition for the least significant thing I've ever linked here (IT ALL MATTERS!), but... one southbound lane of University Drive will be blocked off for the month of June while they install the curb and sidewalk in front of Pegula Ice Arena. Heeeey that means it's almost done!
Stephen Walkom, the father of women's team blueliner Stephanie Walkom, became one of the eight NHL referees selected to work the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last Thursday. Officials, as most people (I think) know, advance from round to round in the playoffs based on performance with work in the finals considered the pinnacle of the profession. Walkom, who served as the league's director of officiating from 2005 until 2009, has refereed four Stanley Cup Finals in all, including recently in 2010 and 2011 when two teams still alive this year - Chicago and Boston, respectively - hoisted the Cup.
His assignment to the conference finals made headlines because of his involvement in a controversial call during the deciding seventh game of the Red Wings-Blackhawks Western Conference semifinal series Wednesday night. Late in the third period, Walkom called Chicago's Brandon Saad (George's brother, of course, if you needed another PSU family connection in the story) and Detroit's Kyle Quincey for matching roughing minors behind the play, and his whistle negated a tie-breaking goal by the Hawks' Niklas Hjalmarsson moments later. Hjalmarsson's team went on to win early in overtime, so even if it was a bad call, no harm was ultimately done.
But for the record, I actually think Walkom got it right, and evidently I'm not the only one. Although I'm sure noted Blackhawks fanboy/Penn State hater/guy who gets entirely too much credit for making obvious statements Chris Peters disagrees.
Last week was Josh Brandwene's turn to come up trumps with a couple of insider Pegula Ice Arena photos - a locker room (above) and the view from the home bench (below).
Congratulations are in order to Arizona State forwards Kale Dolinski (first team) and Colin Hekle (second team), defenseman Ryan Clark (third team) and goaltender Joe D'Elia (third team) as well as to Ohio forwards Tyler Pilmore (first team) and Brett Agnew (third team) and defenseman J.C. Gulch (second team), the Nittany Lions' ACHA opponents from 2012-2013 who received All-American recognition.
Dolinski and Pilmore were both finalists for the ACHA's Player of the Year award as well, but Minot State goaltender Wyatt Waselenchuk took the prize after leading the Beavers to the program's first national championship in March.
Zach Stepan, who played with McAdam on the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks this past season, has received a release from his National Letter of Intent with Ohio State and will now play closer to home at Minnesota State. Stepan, a cousin of New York Ranger/Wisconsin alumnus Derek Stepan, was a fourth-round pick of the Nashville Predators in 2012 and subsequently the USHL's third-leading scorer in 2012-2013. He was generally, and for good reason, considered OSU's best incoming freshman.
Basically, ooooh... sorry about your luck, Buckeyes.
In this week's edition of "point and laugh at Alaska-Anchorage," athletic director Steve Cobb, who came under a bizarre amount of criticism from just about every corner imaginable over the last couple months, has been fired after 13 years.
"It has become clear in recent days that despite his efforts, Steve will not be able to bring all elements of the public together in support of UAA, and that criticism of Steve has become a distraction from the great work that UAA does every day," [UAA chancellor Tom] Case said.
The move came one day after a letter from Gov. Sean Parnell to University of Alaska president Patrick Gamble was made public. In the letter, Parnell demanded that Gamble "take a stand" on athletic department issues.
Yep, their governor got involved in an athletic department personnel matter... he must have called up Tom Corbett for advice. Cobb, as you might imagine, isn't happy.
In a blistering statement given to the Daily News, Cobb said Gamble didn't speak to him or anyone in the athletic department before the university's decision to fire him. He also took aim at Ashley Reed, a lobbyist who was among those who encouraged Parnell to get involved.
"Patrick Gamble may be mentally ill," Cobb said in the statement, "when you give away the university to Ashley Reed and a few local scoundrels, you are by definition insane and I intend to prove it in court.
"Gamble made the decision to fire me without speaking to one employee of the UAA Athletic Department, not one staff member, not one coach, not one student-athlete and certainly not me. Apparently Ashley Reed is the final authority.
"I am suffering secondary embarrassment for the university that I loved and devoted almost thirteen years of my life."
Yep, Cobb described University of Alaska president Patrick Gamble as "[possibly] mentally ill." Be right back, my popcorn sounds like it's done.
I ran down this entire festering mess in the Three Stars post from two weeks ago (last entry) if you're unfamiliar. But just to reiterate the basics, the situation began with the firing of eight-year head coach Dave Shyiak in March. Cobb subsequently delivered a list of four finalists to fill the vacancy, before a couple of concerned groups (the Alaska State Hockey Association and the UAA hockey alumni) fired off votes of no confidence in Cobb, as they were worried generally about the state of Seawolves hockey and specifically about their lack of say in the coaching search. The process was then reset with a new, more inclusive search committee. Even with Cobb's firing, UAA expects to have a new coach within a couple weeks (although it's fair to wonder what kind of idiot would walk into this situation and without even knowing the identity of their direct superior). Complicating matters has been the recent accusation of former player Mickey Spencer, who claims that Shyiak swung a stick at Nick Haddad, another former player, during a January, 2011 practice.
In this week's edition of "point and laugh at the NCHC," the one-time "superleague," set to officially begin play in 2013-2014, will now be looking for its second commissioner before a single game occurs. Jim Scherr, hired as the NCHC boss in January 2012, resigned on Friday to take a position as COO of the inaugural European Games (basically a mini-Olympics just for Europe, beginning in 2015 and held every four years after that). News that Scherr was offered the European Games post broke a couple weeks ago.
I love this quote from the NCHC's press release:
“We knew when we hired Jim that there would come a time when there would be competing bids for his services,” said NCHC Chairman of the Board and University of North Dakota Director of Athletics Brian Faison. “We are grateful for what Jim has done in his time with the NCHC and we are very happy that he has the opportunity to return to the Olympic sports world with the European Games in Baku. We know his expertise will greatly benefit their event.”
You knew that there would come a time? Did you know it that would be before the pucks printed with your logo shipped?
Watching a bunch of eighth-rate athletic departments scramble trying to pull double duty and run a big-time conference on a time-share basis sure is fun. If the Big Ten takes hockey seriously - and all indications are that it will - the NCHC is pretty terribly out of its depth in trying to compete. That's not to say that the NCHC's programs won't be successful on the ice, obviously Denver, North Dakota, Miami, etc. will continue among the top programs in the country. But from a business/front office perspective, they're completely outclassed.
Alabama-Huntsville head coach Kurt Kleinendorst leaving his job is pretty tame if comparing it to those last two entries. But leave he did after a single season, citing a desire to get back into the pro game, where he's spent nearly his entire career. He's been praised for departing without an offer in hand, allowing UAH added time to find a replacement, and rightly so.
But the whole thing still rubs me the wrong way. While the Chargers' survival, at least in the short term, seems ensured through their escaping the independent wasteland by being admitted to the WCHA for the coming year, the mission is hardly accomplished. We're still talking about a 3-21-1 team, and while UAH now has the stability of a conference, the program still reeks of instability thanks to what will now be four different head coaches in the seven seasons since the retirement of the legendary Doug Ross. Kleinendorst owed a bit more than he gave in my opinion, especially since - unlike with his immediate predecessors - there was no longer reason to fear the chopping of the team and sudden unemployment.
Here's a late-night musing from Wisconsin blogger Andy Johnson, possibly known to you as the guy who dropped "welcome to the big-time college hockey, Penn State" after the Badgers' 5-0 win over PSU on February 24th. Johnson's error then, as evidenced by the next night's result, was forgetting that the two games of a series often look very different from one another (he also forgot that the Nittany Lions had already been duly welcomed to the big time college hockey by Union, Ohio State, Vermont and Michigan State, but whatever). Anyway...
Now, I'm new here, but I thought you big-time programs that pump a busload of early-departure players into the show every year were used to those types of situations. Guess not.
Still, it could be worse - you could have 10 true freshmen and 12 others playing their first season of NCAA hockey, with the entire team carrying a combined 97 games of NCAA experience from four players prior to the season at hand. Even that situation is hardly a death sentence though...
Suffice it to say that the women's ACHA team had quite an interesting day on Sunday, one that began with their being locked out of the Ice Pavilion when preparing to make the drive to Annapolis for their first game of the new semester.
Once arriving at the Naval Academy, it quickly became apparent that Navy's team had forgotten about the game, scheduled for 1:55 p.m., and several options, including simply giving the ice time to PSU for a practice and recruiting some of the under-19s from the game scheduled prior to PSU-Navy were considered. But in the end, the Midshipmen were able to piece together something resembling their regular club.
For those who don't know, I've taken on the task of putting together a website for the team, so it would be kind of foolish to not plagiarize myself at least a little here in recapping the game, one notable for the successful debuts of semester break additions Taylor Nyman and Elizabeth Denis, both forwards (Denis, of course, played for the Lady Icers last year).
Mandy Mortach scored four times and added two assists, while five other players
enjoyed multi-point games as No. 4 Penn State climbed to 5-1-1 with a 9-1 rout
of the Naval Academy.
After a fairly slow and even start, Elizabeth Denis opened the scoring on a 2-on-1 with Devon Fisk 6:30 into the game. From there the floodgates opened, as just 28 seconds later, Carly Szyszko put back the rebound of a Tara Soukup shot. By the end of the first period, PSU had a 5-0 lead after Fisk created a turnover and fired home, Mortach buried a second rebound goal started by a Soukup shot during a PSU power play - then added her second four minutes later.
Navy did get a goal back on a rebound effort with 4:06 remaining in the second period, but not before Mary Kate Tonetti's redirection of a Szyszko pass followed by Tonetti's assist of a Mortach laser from the high slot pushed the game into blowout status.
In addition to Denis, and her goal in her re-introduction to Penn State hockey, Taylor Nyman made a highly-successful debut with the team. She scored the game's final goal
from just outside of the blue paint while assisting on two others, including a
late helper to Mortach on a 2-on-0 that she easily could have taken
herself.
Katie Vaughan started in goal and gave way to Sarah Eisenhut after the first period. Both were outstanding, combining for 16 saves and continuing PSU's three-month streak of not allowing more than one goal in a game.
Fourth-ranked PSU is in for a much more difficult test next up on January 26th and 27th at No. 2 West Chester. It goes without saying, but those two games carry huge implications for the next ACHA WD2 poll, due out the week following those games, and therefore for the ACHA national championship tournament.
Max O'Malley scored an important goal last Friday against Liberty.
The Ice Lions also opened their semester over the weekend, with the always-tough Virginia road trip to face MACHA South Division opponents Virginia Tech and Liberty - but thanks to two tight wins it was a successful one, as Penn State is now 15-4-1 overall.
Despite a first-period Ryan Urban goal and heavy dominance on the shot board, the Ice Lions found themselves facing a third-period deficit against Liberty on Friday, due to Flames tallies from D.J. Dinnison (twice) and Bobby Cervone in the middle frame surrounding PSU defenseman Max O'Malley's second goal of the season.
The contest swung back in the Ice Lions' favor thanks to a late second-period boarding major to LU's Seth Reed. Penn State took full advantage of that glorious opportunity by scoring twice on the long power play, once by Chris Lewis (from Joe Zitarelli) and also by Urban (from Mac Winchester and Tyler Starn). Goalie Ryan Demuth (25 shots, 22 saves) held things down for the last 16:05 of the game, including through two Flames power plays.
Against Virginia Tech the next night, the Ice Lions allowed the game's first goal, to the Hokies' Alex Hashmi, with just 15 seconds remaining in the first period. Perhaps even worse than that, PSU failed to capitalize on four power plays during the stanza, including a long 5-on-3.
The team recovered well though, with Peter Daley's rebound goal tying the game during the middle stages of the second period and Urban finally cashing in a power play with a backhander shortly after. Fredrik Linge assisted on both goals.
Demuth, who turned in another strong effort with 23 saves on 25 shots, surrendered a Virginia Tech goal to Peter Veltri with Starn in the box for interference halfway through the third to tie things back up just after a 5-on-3 ended. However, he stopped two of three Hokies during the shootout that followed a scoreless overtime, allowing goals by Zitarelli and Brandon Russo to give PSU the win.
The Ice Lions, who have likely solidified their position of second in the ACHA D2 Southeast Region (significantly, a ranking that would earn an autobid to the ACHA national championship tournament) with the two wins over the regional Nos. 7 and 8, have just six regular season games left. The first two of those are this coming Friday and Saturday at Kentucky, home of two ACHA legends: midnight starts and schedule posters.
While Heather Rossi (30) is out of eligibility and Allie Rothman (20) will join her by the time it happens (if it happens), it's possible that we haven't seen the last of the heated PSU-URI women's rivalry.
While John Buccigross and Tim Horton's are easily the two most overrated things in the hockey world, I'm a big fan of this tweet:
#cawlidgehawkey players come from 39 states. Top 7 Minnesota 182 Michigan – 131 Mass– 103 NY – 86 PA – 69 Illinois – 66 California – 59
Yep, the Big Three, New York (which I believe should apply for provisional membership in a Big Four for reasons beyond player counts), then Pennsylvania.
Arguably the biggest news in college hockey this week was the discovery that Atlantic Hockey has held at least preliminary discussions with four schools about joining. One, somewhat obviously, is NCAA Division I independent Alabama-Huntsville. The others are ACHA D1ers Rhode Island and Navy, and NCAA DIII's St. Anselm.
Other than the nostalgia involved with two former ESCHL rivals of the Icers potentially making the jump, there's actually a very significant Penn State tie-in, related to the presence of women's programs at a couple of the schools, and their likely conference destination should this all play out.
"We have met and the ball is in their court right now," said conference commissioner Bob DeGregorio [about St. Anselm]. "They would make a great addition to the league. They have a great facility and tradition. The women’s program would also be a great addition to [College Hockey America]."
URI, based in Kingston, has formed a committee to look at costs associated with moving both genders of hockey to the Division I level and is interested in the move, despite understanding the commitment that would be needed financially. The Rams currently run one of the finest American Collegiate Hockey Association club teams in the nation and would a very formidable contender.
Tip of the hat to Joshua Kummins, the only writer (of those I read) to pick up on the women's angle to the story. While his focus is New England (see the "Boston" part of "SB Nation Boston"), it should be noted that Navy could also elevate a women's program. UAH, on the other hand, already has its men's program in DI, is (I'm assuming) Title IX compliant, and can barely afford to keep things going as is. So...yeah, they probably won't be adding a women's program and joining the CHA.
Something pretty cool about this photo from an NLI signing event at Edina High School in Minnesota last Wednesday: not only is new women's hockey signee Sarah Nielsen included (far left), but so is Nittany Lions basketball recruit Graham Woodward (the other PSU shirt, obviously).
Fairbanks self-reported and self-punished on a not-all-that-serious infraction that wasn't even specific to hockey. So...nothing to see here? Not so fast.
The issue, it's reported, is still open with the NCAA, so look for Mark Emmert to pin the whole thing on Guy Gadowsky, due to the coach's previous tenure at UAF. While Gadowsky left for Princeton in 2004, three years before the period in question, it takes 15 seconds to look that up on the internet and the NCAA doesn't conduct investigations anymore. The result: Penn State hockey will be hit with a postseason ban and a loss of scholarships.
Scheduling is always an issue for the ACHA teams based in the western United States, so it's nice to see the D1s out there band together now that there are enough of them to do so. Arizona, Arizona State, Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma will join newly-promoted Colorado and Colorado State in the WCHL next year.
I was going to drop in a #nofilter, but it looks like Mr. Insana used one.
The fledgling Penn State men’s hockey program also deserves some credit. Playing this year as an independent and preparing to join the new Big 10 Hockey Conference next season, PSU has put together a 6-3 record while playing a decent schedule.
What's the news there? Re-read the first six words of the entry.
The name of Jerry Sandusky is all to familiar to the public following the trail and downfall of one of the most respected football programs in America. Sandusky's predatory behavior has forever changed the way we think about Penn State and Joe Paterno. Organizations like Penn State and their administration were so intent and embarrassed about what allegations of sexual inappropriate behavior would do to their programs that they either looked the other way or even shielded Sandusky. The program and reputations are tarnished.
For all of their scorekeeping and broadcast production issues over the weekend, I was a big fan of Lindenwood's game notes ahead of the series with the women's team.
Lindenwood and Penn State are meeting for the first time as NCAA members. The two teams met six times during their time in the ACHA, and Lindenwood won all six contests.
The Nittany Lions and Lindenwood meet for the first time in women's hockey
This would be hilarious, but for the fact that it really isn't.
The contrasts between PSU and Lindenwood are striking in that department, despite the similarities in the transitions of the two programs. LU's ACHA results are available on their official website. Their media guide has an all-time game-by-game for the ACHA years, ACHA record holders, ACHA All-Americans, team photos of their ACHA national champions and, for their current players who played in the ACHA, an appropriate level of biographical information for those seasons.
In Penn State's version, the "club team" - remember when we used to hate that label? - is grudgingly mentioned on the player pages of those who played for the Lady Icers (curiously, under the heading "Before Penn State," as if the ACHA doesn't even count as playing for Penn State). And really, it only appears at all because it's impossible to explain what Lindsay Reihl's been doing for the three years previous to the current season without including it. Once the Lady Icers have graduated, I wouldn't be surprised if they take every media guide mention with them.
Who's to blame? I wish I knew, so that I could yell at them directly. In the meantime, all I can do is keep complaining while hoping it resonates with someone who has the ability to do something about it.
The logo for the 1992 ACHA National Tournament at the Ice Pavilion. The first seven ACHA tournaments used identical logo designs, swapping out only the host's logo and color scheme, as well as the year of course. Delaware began the current practice of unique logos for each season in 1999.
Non-varsity hockey through the first 20 years of the Icers' existence was characterized by rules inconsistencies, a scattered collection of volatile conferences and (for two seasons, anyway) competing national championship tournaments. That all changed on April 20, 1991 when the American Collegiate Hockey Association was established.
Of the fifteen individuals who had a hand in the ACHA's founding, none would subsequently impact the organization quite like Penn State's Joe Battista and Al Murdoch, the man in charge of Iowa State hockey for the last 42 years. Both would also play integral roles in the first-ever ACHA national championship tournament, which was held - for the only time - at the Ice Pavilion from February 26-29, 1992.
The tournament format was pretty simple. Eight teams were invited and divided into four-team pools of the 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th seeds on one side, and the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th seeds on the other. The tournament's first three days were a round robin within each pool. On day four, the pool winners played for the national championship, while the pool runners-up played for third place. Stacked up on the fourth-seeded Icers' side of the tournament: No. 1 Michigan-Dearborn, No. 5 Ohio and No. 8 Navy. No. 2 North Dakota State, No. 3. Iowa State, No. 6 Eastern Michigan and No. 7 Arizona made up the opposite pool.
On paper, PSU's first game, against Ohio, should have been close. On the ice, it wasn't. The Icers rolled up a 6-0 advantage (31-12 in shots) through two periods and cruised home to a 7-1 win that included a Chris Cervellero hat trick and two goals from Ross Cowan, Cervellero's teammate both at PSU and with the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. Despite the fireworks, most credited the defense with the win.
"It was our best defensive effort all season, especially by the forwards," said senior co-captain [Mike] Messner.
"We're real pleased with the way we dominated the game," Battista said. "I don't think they ever had a chance."
The win was a significant body blow in what was already a burgeoning rivalry. Earlier in the season, OU beat PSU 5-4 in overtime to hand the Icers their first-ever opening-round loss in the Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament, the four-team showcase played at the Ice Pavilion from 1982 through 2006. The ACHA tournament win, though, gave Penn State an 8-7 lead in the all-time series with the Bobcats.
Junior forward Chris Cervellero, a Philadelphia native, scored five goals in the first ACHA National Tournament, including a hat trick against Ohio.
Navy, which lost 7-2 to Michigan-Dearborn in their opening game, presented a much sterner test for the Icers the next day.
The Midshipmen took a 2-1 first-period lead thanks to some PSU penalty trouble. Navy's Tim Fetsch tied the game at one on the power play, and the Middies' Steve Roberto gave his team the short-lived advantage during a 5-on-3 situation. Cowan stuffed home a rebound two minutes after Roberto scored, and the Icers responded with two more unanswered - from Cowan and senior sniper Andy McLaughlin - in the second to win 4-2.
"We didn't come out as emotionally charged as last night," senior defenseman
Geoff Martha said. "We were a little drained. As the game wore on, we got a lot
of shots on goal and stayed disciplined."
"I think we persevered," Battista said, "which I think is a good
characteristic for a hockey team. I said all along this was going to be a tough
battle for us."
While Martha argued that "it's good to have a close game" in a tournament situation, in hindsight the tight win over the tournament's lowest seed stands out more as a bad omen than anything. The Icers were bombed 8-5 by fellow 2-0 team Michigan-Dearborn in the final game of the group round robin to end their national championship quest.
PSU actually went up 2-0 early on goals from Cervellero and McLaughlin before the Wolves pumped through five consecutive to lead by three after 40 minutes. The Icers pulled within 6-5 at one point thanks to a pair of Dave Murphy goals and a slapper from defenseman Erik Lightner during a frantic third period that saw 19 PSU shots, but UMD snuffed out the comeback with two late goals.
Being forced into consolation territory gave the Icers an extremely tough draw: the North Dakota State Bison. While largely irrelevant today thanks to funding issues since the mid-1990s, NDSU was at one time the undisputed king of club hockey. They won the U.S. National Collegiate Club Hockey Championship tournament over Alabama-Huntsville in 1985 (UAH's last year of club hockey before elevating to NCAA Division II), and when that tournament dissolved, moved over to the National Invitational Tournament, winning in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991, They would later add the 1993 and 1994 ACHA championships to arrive at a best-ever eight claimed club national championships, one ahead of PSU's final tally of seven.
But in one of the more underrated Icer victories ever, Penn State rode 35 Andy Dumas saves to a 5-1 thumping of NDSU. Facing a 1-0 deficit in the second period, Brad Russell and Murphy scored 19 seconds apart, followed by third-period markers from Cervellero, Cowan and McLaughlin (on an empty net) to blow the score open.
"The whole game we kept saying, 'Hey, let's win it for the seniors,' " Battista said. "They came in with a win in this building. They are going out of this building with a win."
"We just decided we didn't want to lose no matter what," Messner said. "Third place feels so much better than fourth."
Messner, Martha, McLaughlin, Dumas, and forward Rich Filar had the unique honor of playing their final Ice Pavilion games at nationals and were the quintet of seniors behind that motivation.
Ross Cowan (top left) was named to the 1992 all-tournament second team, while (clockwise from top right) Cervellero, Geoff Martha and Andy Dumas were honorable mentions.
Top-ranked Dearborn would ultimately get their comeuppance immediately following PSU's consolation win, as Iowa State bested the Wolves 5-3 for the championship. To this day the ACHA's first title is still the only one claimed by association founding father Murdoch, who would eventually have the trophy named in his honor. In 1999, Murdoch briefly possessed a second title, then was ingloriously forced to give "his" cup back four months after a 6-4 title game win over the Icers, when it was discovered that star Cyclone forward Darcy Anderson had played professionally (PSU women's coach Josh Brandwene, incidentally, was the ACHA's president at the time and handed down the order to vacate the 1999 championship).
As an interesting footnote, the 1992 ACHA national championship tournament games did not close Penn State's season. When the Icers were members of the International Collegiate Hockey League from 1984-1992, the conference's playoff took place after the national championships. Perhaps deflated from the failure to defend their home ice two weeks prior, ICHL regular season champ PSU was upset 5-4 by Buffalo State in the first round of the tournament.
