Three Stars: August 5-11

3. 2013-14 USHL Protected List
(Western College Hockey Blog)

WCHB's Chris Dilks has put together the 30-player rosters and 18-player affiliate lists for each USHL franchise, which is kind of a big deal since the teams don't really go out of their way to keep everyone informed, particularly with respect to the affiliate list.

The primary takeaway from a Penn State perspective: it's verification that A.J. Greer is on the affiliate list of the Des Moines Buccaneers and not the roster. That's not shocking - anything else would have been, in fact - but since the Bucs never actually put out a formal announcement following their tryout camp and ahead of the required July 10th cutdown...

Elsewhere, Chase Berger (Tri-City), Kevin Kerr (Tri-City) and Alec Marsh (Cedar Rapids) are where they're supposed to be. Put that together with Greer's return to Kimball Union Academy, toss in BCHLers Bo Pellah (Alberni Valley) and James Robinson (Langley), and we're as certain as can be reasonably possible at this point of where all of the Nittany Lions' recruits will be playing this season.

2. Jim Delany praises Penn State
(ESPN, via the Associated Press)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany stopped by Penn State football's preseason practice Thursday afternoon, where the involved parties went through the usual song and dance of such appearances. PSU gave Delany a football jersey, Delany gave the media the league's highly-manufactured party line concerning the scandal and the sanctions, the media gave the public some filler copy masquerading as actual news...

...except for the part where someone asked Delany about Big Ten hockey.

Delany said he expected to announce a "robust" league media package soon for hockey.

"I think our championship will grow, and I think you'll see that growth pretty immediately," Delany said. "I'm very bullish on hockey."

Well, okay, that's filler copy masquerading as actual news too, it just happens to be about hockey instead of football. Still... "robust?" I can get with that. Hopefully that word and "soon" both turn out to be accurate.

1. 2013 Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff Promo
(YouTube)

Know why this year's Philly Faceoff promo is better than last year's version? Because it involves footage from an NCAA hockey game that Penn State won. This year's PSU-UVM repeat, of course, will be played on October 26th at the Wells Fargo Center and tickets are on sale now.

Best of the Rest

Neil Laessig will try to beat his father, Lehigh coach Tom Laessig, on November 15th and 16th

Lehigh Announces Schedule for 2013-2014 season
(lehighsports.com)

Two more Ice Lions games are out of the bag: November 15th and 16th at ACHA Division 1 Lehigh. The obvious storyline there is that Mountain Hawks coach Tom Laessig is the father of PSU forward Neil, as well as alumnus T.J., who graduated in 2012.

The series brings the total number of known Ice Lions contests to ten, plus postseason. For a full list (other than these, obviously) check out the third star from a couple weeks ago.

Penn State Berks is also on Lehigh's schedule as an ECHA rival, with games in Bethlehem on October 5th and in Wyomissing on November 8th.

Walkom named Senior VP and Director of Officiating
(NHL)

Noted Penn State hockey dad Stephen Walkom is the NHL's new Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, replacing the retiring Terry Gregson. He was also the NHL's old Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, as he held the job from 2005-2009 before returning to the ice as a referee. Walkom has been with the NHL in one capacity or the other since 1990 and has worn the orange stripe for 965 regular season games, along with 139 in the playoffs, the latter number including the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2011.

"We are fortunate to have someone with Stephen's on- and off-ice experience ready to step in to this position," NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said. "From 2005 to 2009, Stephen provided tremendous direction and guidance to our team of officials as the League implemented several rule changes that brought more flow and speed to our game. That management experience, combined with the fact that he has been back on the ice as a referee for the last four years, will be of tremendous benefit to the League and the game."

“The New G-Man” to Open Thursday
(Onward State)

The new era of the G-Man is underway sans the Icers-related ownership group, leaving the Shandygaff uncontested as State College's hockey player bar.

Princeton's Jack Berger: Solid guy

PU's Berger setting example
(The Princeton Packet)

Here's a nice in-depth feature on Princeton senior captain Jack Berger, a pre-med economics major who more or less is the epitome of "student-athlete." Berger was recruited to PU by Guy Gadowsky and played for him as a freshman in 2010-2011, before Gadowsky left for PSU. Additionally, younger brother Chase (who receives a quick mention in the article and another one above in the third star) is a Nittany Lions commit for 2015.

Bazin earns contract extension at Massachusetts-Lowell through ’17-18 campaign
(USCHO)

After Norm Bazin led perennially-average UMass-Lowell (a 2013-2014 PSU opponent) to both Hockey East championships and the Frozen Four in his second season last year, why wouldn't you extend him?

New Madison USHL franchise presents positives and negatives for Badgers
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Madison, WI - home to UDubs, of course - has been awarded a not-yet-named USHL franchise for the 2014-2015 season. Generally speaking, people struggle to put a finger on what, exactly, a nearby junior team means for the local college program, but B5Q's Andy Johnson got into the implications of the news as well as anyone. There's good (easier recruiting and scouting, exposure of players to the area) and bad (the cheaper USHL product freely serving alcohol might chip away at the Badgers' attendance) to it, but both are probably overstated in some corners.

UNO, which is located in the same market as the storied Omaha Lancers and is more in line with the USHL's footprint than any other DI program, was fourth in the nation in attendance last season and doesn't run college hockey. Michigan tends to do well with the Ann Arbor, MI-based National Team Development Program, but they'd be doing well with high-end prospects regardless of the NTDP's physical location. So who knows? The USHL certainly won't hurt Wisconsin's recruiting efforts and certainly won't help their attendance, but it's doubtful that any effect will be noticeable to the naked eye.

Penn State isn't barren in the junior program department, with the NAHL's Johnstown Chiefs nearby and the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms about a three-hour drive away (for as long as they can keep from being kicked out of Covelli Centre, anyway).

Comparisons to Gretzky? Valid in at least one respect.

The Crosby Effect
(The Hockey Writers)

Love him or hate him, it seems clear that Sidney Crosby's popularity has been fantastic for the growth of hockey - not just in western Pennsylvania, but nationally as well.

Decision made, Sheridan promoted
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Replacing Dan Morris who replaced Craig McCarthy as coach of the Ohio Bobcats: Jonathon Sheridan, a 2011 graduate of Lawrence University who spent last season as Morris' assistant. Good luck bud, that's quite a bit to live up to.

U.S. National Under-18 Team Roster and Schedule for 2013-14 Revealed

2013-14 U.S. National Under-17 Team Roster and Schedule Announced
(USA Hockey)

USA Hockey unveiled the rosters and schedules for its two National Team Development Program squads last week. Penn State is uninvolved, although every other Big Ten team has at least one commit on the U18 team among the league's six total (Minnesota is the school with two). Additionally the U18s, as part of their usual array of exhibitions against college teams, will battle both Michigan and Michigan State this season.

The younger team includes recruits from both Michigan (2) and Wisconsin (1).

NCAA to 'exit' business of selling school-related items
(CBS Sports)

Former Duke basketball player and present lawyer/ESPN analyst Jay Bilas - who is all kinds of awesome, by the way - discovered that on ShopNCAASports.com (a site branded as the NCAA's official online store), typing active student-athletes' names into the site's search box pulled up jerseys of the appropriate school, sport and number. The NCAA, of course, is presently busy in court defending their membership's revenue streams the noble concept of amateurism by arguing that (for example) Texas A&M football jerseys with number 2 but no name on them aren't actually Johnny Manziel jerseys, even though Manziel wears number 2 for the Aggies' football team. Ouch.

Further egg was lobbed the association's way when others discovered that merchandise involving sanctioned individuals like Joe Paterno and Reggie Bush was also available on the site. The Paterno-related items included a DVD of PSU's 2006 Orange Bowl win and a t-shirt commemorating JoePa's 400th career victory, both of which were wiped out by the NCAA penalties last summer.

Anyway, Bilas tweeted his findings last Tuesday. The story blew up from there and two days later, the NCAA announced that it was pulling out of the school- and athlete-specific merchandise business. It remains to be seen how the whole mess impacts the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit (the NCAA, for what it's worth, claims it received no revenue from ShopNCAASports.com), but given that an entity contracted by the NCAA to run its store was using player names to move product, it certainly doesn't look good.

Armchair prediction: college sports will look a lot different in the future than it does right now.

The Colonials honored Chris Kushneriuk after winning the Three Rivers Classic last year

ECHL player returning to hockey after battle with cancer
(The Score)

Saving the best news for last: Former Robert Morris captain Chris Kushneriuk, who was diagnosed with cancer last summer, is officially a survivor. Kushneriuk, who played for RMU from 2008-2011 after transferring from the dying Wayne State program, was most recently with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. He issued this statement through the team:

After a tough 13 month battle which has included 4 cycles of chemotherapy, 2 bone marrow transplants, 3 operations and 3 months of oral chemotherapy, I have finished all of my treatments and received the amazing news in Indianapolis today from Dr. Einhorn that everything continues to look good and I am cleared to play hockey this season! Stage 4 cancer survivor!

Three Stars: July 22-28

3. Southeast Schedules and What They Mean for 2013-14
(Twisted Thoughts)

While the ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions have yet to release a 2013-2014 schedule, several opponents - MACHA rivals Delaware, Virginia Tech and Liberty most recently - have. Here's what we now know of PSU's upcoming slate as a result:

October 26, 2013 - vs. Delaware
November 2, 2013 - at Delaware
December 8, 2013 - vs. Maryland-Baltimore County
January 10, 2014 - at Liberty
January 11, 2014 - at Virginia Tech
February 1, 2014 - at Maryland-Baltimore County
February 7-8, 2014 - at Navy Crab Pot (D1 Navy, D1 Towson, Maryland)
February 14-16, 2014 - at MACHA Playoffs
February 23-24, 2014 - at Southeast Regionals
March 21-25, 2014 - at ACHA National Tournament (Marlborough, MA)

The second-year Women's Ice Hockey Club, which is joining the new College Hockey East women's league with California (PA), West Chester and Delaware for 2013-2014, also has a few games out there, thanks to the schedule releases of both the Blue Hens and Michigan State.

October 19, 2013 - vs. Michigan State
October 20, 2013 - vs. Michigan State
November 16, 2013 - at Delaware
November 17, 2013 - at Delaware
December 7, 2013 - vs. Delaware
December 8, 2013 - vs. Delaware
February 21-22, 2014 - at CHE Playoffs (York, PA)
March 13-16, 2014 - at ACHA National Tournament (Newark, DE)

Notably, the December 8th Delaware game will be played at Galactic Ice in Altoona. Guess PIA isn't solving everyone's ice time issues after all.

2. The debate: players discuss CHL vs. NCAA
(The Daily Collegian)

Tackling something like a CHL vs. NCAA article is a tough task, because it's been done so often that it's difficult to find a fresh angle to bring to the table. But Matt Nestor has pulled it off by writing for a general Penn State audience that might not be familiar with The Choice while also bringing in quotes from guys like Luke Juha and Guy Gadowsky, both Canadians who played or are playing NCAA hockey.

Juha is a particularly insightful source as a guy who was once considered a potential late-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Electing for college over major junior probably hurt his stock in the short term, and he went undrafted. But Juha seems to believe that he'll ultimately be a better player because of college hockey, with a better shot of making it as a pro. And I believe that he's right.

1. Head Coach Morris to step down
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Andrew Largeman, Zach Braff's character in the movie Garden State, memorably said:

"You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone... You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start."

That's how I'm starting to feel about ACHA Division 1. Maybe the process is a bit more gradual and less traumatic than it was for Largeman, but it's there nevertheless, because the simple fact is that after you remove yourself from a place, it still continues to evolve without you.

The ACHA will look a lot less like it did when we left without legendary Ohio coach Dan Morris, who is stepping down after 12 seasons, 344 wins and the 2004 national championship. Given that he also played for the Bobcats between 1993 and 1997 (winning three more national championships during those years) and then was an assistant coach under Craig McCarthy between graduation and taking over as the head guy, it's a no-brainer to call Morris one of the most important figures in the history of one of the ACHA's most important programs. Of course, he was also the Icers' archnemesis for all but the final one of those years on the wrong side of the greatest rivalry in ACHA history - including the 2004 title game win over PSU that ended Joe Battista's dynasty of four straight and five in six years.

No Dan Morris, Illinois' Chad Cassel departed a year ago, Minot State apparently wins the Murdoch Cup now... it doesn't feel like home anymore. And to be honest, neither does NCAA Division I and the Big Ten just yet, but it will. We have to evolve too, after all.

Best of the Rest

Eddie Quagliata and Matt Welch model Illinois' new jerseys...who says there's no "I" in "team?"

Just a year in, head coach Fabbrini hires another assistant
(The Daily Illini)

Let's stick with the ACHA for a minute, because it was quite a week for IllinoisWatch.

First, last Monday, the school's student paper published a write-up on new Illini assistant coach Blake Sorensen, who seems to believe that the program would consider going DI, and claims that belief was part of the reason he took the job: "Maybe I’m thinking out of the box, but I’m thinking the U of I would be the next school having the aspiration of going to the next level. So I said, ‘Why not?’ It was a very easy decision." That's either your garden-variety pipe dream or he knows something, take your pick, but I don't remember Billy Downey saying anything like that when he was hired as an Icers assistant in 2008.

That, by itself, is interesting but hardly A Thing. However, mostly-spam Twitter account @USCollegeHockey fanned the flames three days later: "May we have BREAKING NEWS soon? We were 1st to report Penn St.'s ascent to D1. Is another top ACHA team making the jump? Details soon..." They didn't specify that they were referring to Illinois, which is a pretty effective technique in the world of rumor mongering (PS. Someone will die of heart disease today. Because I can see the future.)

For the record, I don't know if @USCollegeHockey was first on Penn State in August and September of 2010. And I don't care. You know who I credit as being first? The Harrisburg Patriot-News' David Jones, who noted Terry Pegula's windfall from the Royal Dutch Shell sale in May 2010 and connected it to the idea of Penn State hockey a few days later. Accuracy and fresh insight over unchecked speed, every time.

Anyway, "soon," evidently, was Saturday evening, when @USCollegeHockey jumped back in with "Remember that BREAKING NEWS we mentioned on Thursday?" and attached a screengrab of a Facebook status (since deleted).

From there, the predictable played out. People overreacted, some commented on how it would be a great idea (it would be), Let's Play Hockey patted themselves on the back over the Jimmy John's rumor they advanced a couple years ago, and real journalists like Matt Slovin and Chris Peters got to work, ultimately taking about 90 minutes to confirm that the Facebook post had to do with the sale of the team's new jerseys.

There's an important lesson, which should have been learned from Penn State, that also needs to be applied here. PSU's process took five years from the initial Battista-Pegula dinner. Along the way, people talk, toes are dipped in the various pools and feasibility studies are conducted. And any one of those occurrences, which repeat themselves many, many times throughout those five years, has the potential to become an "OMG IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" tweet. Just as a rumor doesn't mean something is imminent, the short-term dismissal of a rumor doesn't mean that the information wasn't a legitimate hint, just applied incorrectly or prematurely. Illinois probably has explored the idea of NCAA hockey, and they probably will have an NCAA program someday. There's been an awful lot of smoke, and it's increased in volume recently. But I'm fairly sure that when it does happen, @USCollegeHockey won't be the first to tell us.

Portland, ME's newly-renovated Cumberland County Civic Center will host the 2015 Ice Breaker

@Chris_MJH
(Twitter)

Last week, Notre Dame was awarded the 2014 Ice Breaker (a season-opening four-team tournament presented by College Hockey Inc.) while Maine grabbed the 2015 version. And almost immediately, the rumor mill fired up.

Hearing Michigan, Michigan St., Penn St & BC are possible teams to take part in '15 IceBreaker.

Just as a reminder, since this seems like an appropriate spot: way back in January 2012, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that the Nittany Lions had signed on for the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush. The Goal Rush is another season-opening tournament, hosted by Alaska and always including their dumpster fire of a neighbor in Anchorage. This year's field - Denver and Western Michigan are the two "outside schools" - was announced on November 16, 2012, so we might hear confirmation on that one relatively soon.

150 Miles for a Cure...
(Bike MS)

Coming up on September 28th and 29th, women's assistant Casey McCullion will once again go on a bike ride to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis. Please consider supporting her and the cause if you're able. And yes, I'll remind you again.

Pro New York Sports Exclusive: Eamon McAdam
(Pro New York Sports)

Know what I like seeing in a player? This, from Eamon McAdam:

I want to help the team progress as fast as possible and by my second or third year I want to give the team here a chance to go for a National Championship. This may seem like a lofty goal but the age old expression of championships are won with goaltending is true in my eyes and if I put in enough work I am hopeful I can give the team a chance no matter who we’re playing.

Check Gadowsky's track record, especially with a Princeton program that had/has a lot less behind it than what's in place at Penn State. Kid ain't crazy.

New York Islanders 2013 draft review
(Hockey's Future)

Your second dose of Big Mac comes through a roundup of Garth Snow's 2013 draft picks. If you're like me and are now trying to follow the Isles a little bit, it's probably good to check things like this out once in a while.

Ohio State's dumping of Mark Osiecki has continued to prove costly

Magyar chooses Kitchener Rangers over Ohio State
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Ohio State's firing of coach Mark Osiecki back in April... yep, still an absolutely terrible decision. The latest evidence: Ohio native and Cleveland Barons product Nick Magyar, a Buckeye commit who played for Sioux City and the National Team Development Program in the USHL last season, has signed with the OHL's Kitchener Rangers and blowtorched his college eligibility. Magyar is just the latest in a growing line of Osiecki recruits to flee, including Nolan Valeau, Cliff Watson and Zach Stepan.

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Unveiled
(USA Hockey)

This year's U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class lacks the direct Penn State connection of the 2012 group featuring Eddie Olczyk, but it's still a robust collection headlined (for our purposes) by Ron Mason. Mason coached at Lake Superior State (1967-1973), Bowling Green (1974-1979) and Michigan State (1980-2002), won the 1986 national title with the Spartans, and was the winningest coach in college history (924 victories) until he was passed by Jerry York last season. He was also among the hockey giants surveyed for quotes distributed to the press on September 17, 2010, for whatever that's worth:

“I think it’s wonderful that Penn State will have Division I hockey. I’ve long thought that if Penn State ever decided to elevate its program that it would be a school that would challenge for championships. This is a good move for the school and for college hockey.”

Jake Gardiner, a Maple Leafs defenseman and Max's brother, is among the U.S. Olympic hopefuls

Men's National Team Orientation Camp Roster Set
(USA Hockey)

Arguably the biggest story in the hockey world last week was the release of Olympic team camp rosters by most of the countries expected to contend in Sochi, Russia next year. Team USA's version includes a pair of Penn State siblings in Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner and Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, and yes, we're going to keep living vicariously through those guys until there are Nittany Lions in the show.

The 48-man camp roster will eventually be cut to 25, so Saad and Gardiner certainly aren't home yet, although both are strong contenders for selection.

Glen Gulutzan happy to return 'home' with Canucks
(Vancouver Sun)

Glen Gulutzan, one of the more prominent members of the Guy Gadowsky coaching tree (Gadowsky coached Gulutzan with the WCHL's Fresno Falcons in 1996-1997 and 1998-1999), has joined John Tortorella's Vancouver Canucks staff. Gulutzan, last time we checked in on him, was being fired as head coach of the Dallas Stars after two seasons, so it's nice to see him land on his feet.

@BillRiga
@KeeferJ_
(Twitter)

The leading Twitterdrama last Tuesday: assistant coaches acting butthurt for really, really stupid reasons. First, there's the case of Quinnipiac's Bill Riga, subtweeting QU blog From the NIP to the Bank for having the audacity to predict the Bobcats' lineup for the coming season (forwards, defense/goalies).

Love people who have our line-up and freshmen predicted. I don't even know and I've seen them all play a lot. #smarterthani

Someone needs to look up the definitions of "prediction" and "know" and note the differences.

Jerry Keefe of Northeastern skipped snark and went straight to fury. His target? The Providence Journal's Mark Divver, whose horrific crime was tweeting that new Providence College commit Spenser Young, a defenseman at Phillips Exeter Academy, held an offer from Keefe's Huskies. Time to rumble.

Divver wisely bowed out at that point, but in Keefe's estimation, Twitter still wasn't safe - after all, there were people making innocuous "don't see that every day" comments about the Keefe-Divver exchange to straighten out.

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver don't like when people tweet false info to make a hockey program look bad. We all work to hard for that.

Yeah, you (may have) lost out on a highly-sought-after (heavy hitters Boston College, Yale and New Hampshire also whiffed on Young, according to Divver) recruit. Brutal. Your program looks absolutely horrible now. But no worries, you're well on the way back, because you don't spread rumors about the media.

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver I don't report false info on twitter about you guys and your jobs so don't do about hockey programs and our jobs

Also, don't tell Keefe he's in an argument...

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver it's not an argument it's a point I feel strongly about.

...or that he melted down.

@FearTheTriangle @TheBUHockeyBlog no meltdowns here!

I beg to differ. The best summation is brought to you by Boston University "blog/Twitter combo without the blog" BurntBoats.

Moving On
(From the NIP to the Bank)

Finally, best wishes in blogger retirement to Luke Devoe, who is stepping aside from his aforementioned work on Quinnipiac.

I don't feel a true kinship with too many bloggers out there (which isn't to say that I don't respect and enjoy their work or like them as human beings). The SB Nation guys have 800 different writers and 20 billion pageviews a month. Other blogs are run by professional journalists as a side project or as part of the coverage of their beat. TYT isn't any of those things, and I don't really identify much with their realities. Devoe was different. Much like him, I'm just a guy who loves hockey, loves his school, and enjoys the artificial level of closeness allowed by doing this. That's why I find his reasons for stopping heartbreaking.

I became blacklisted to a certain extent because, well, I was a little too opinionated during a rough stretch of play. I accepted this, altered my approach, and went on covering the team I love. Recently, a small but similar event occurred. While it would be easy to shrug it off and file it under the "can't make them all happy" category, I simply can't.

Back when things weren't exactly gravy and FTNTTB wasn't on the best of terms with the brass at the Q it was tough receiving sideways stares walking into a venue that I held, and still hold, so near and dear. It was even harder when those stares were coming from some people whose opinion mattered. The labor of love turned into a exhausting game of second guessing and self-censoring, even at times when I truly felt I was right. I just don't feel like doing it again. I concede.

Shame on you, Bill Riga and anyone else who may have contributed to his struggles.

Three Stars: June 17-23

3. Detroit plans for new downtown arena
(detroitredwings.com)

Plans are moving forward for a new arena in Detroit that would replace Joe Louis Arena as the home of the NHL's Red Wings. Olympia Development (a company owned by Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch), the city's Downtown Development Authority and Wayne County announced a memorandum of understanding last Thursday, essentially a non-binding document indicating that all parties are interested in heading down the road together. Previous reports indicated that construction could begin by the end of the year (I assume everything would have to click perfectly for that to happen), with the project taking roughly two years to complete.

So what's this have to do with Penn State? Easy. The Big Ten has committed to holding its tournament in Detroit in 2015 and 2017, and at the moment, it seems conceivable that by the time 2017 rolls around, Joe Louis Arena - redundant if a new building goes up - will be rubble. A sparkling new facility could also influence the awarding of the Big Ten championships beyond 2017.

2. Eamon McAdam
(The Hockey News)

By the time, the next Three Stars hits, Eamon McAdam's rights will (probably/hopefully) be the property of an NHL team, through this coming Sunday's NHL Entry Draft. So as you might expect, he got a fair deal of exposure this week, including the nice profile by THN's Ryan Kennedy leading this entry. McAdam also penned his final blog post for The Pipeline Show while also appearing on the show on Saturday.

In addition to all of the usual hockey firsts for PSU's program, McAdam has also crushed out a couple unique to this day and age: 1. First NCAA-era Penn State player with a Wikipedia entry, and 2. First Penn State player, to the best of my knowledge, with a parody Twitter account (language advisory on that one).

1. @TaylorCVincent
(Twitter)

Ice Lion Taylor Vincent and his teammates toured Pegula Ice Arena last week... so obviously, we'll pop a photo in.

Best of the Rest

@mikebroc23
(Twitter)

From new Icers and Ice Lions alumnus Mike Broccolo:

My mom just informed me that one of her student's name was seven

The Seinfeld episode where George Costanza shared his preferred baby name (after New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle's jersey number) originally aired on February 1, 1996. Therefore, "Seven" is more or less in play for anyone 17 years old or younger. So there you go.

Junior A gems: NHL Draft prospects from OJHL, AJHL, BCHL, and beyond
(Hockey Now)

While McAdam is the only Penn Stater more likely than not to be scooped up by the NHL on Sunday, guys like Mark Yanis, Mike Williamson and 2014 commit Bo Pellah have a chance at getting a late-round look. Here, Williamson gets a mention (literally just that) in an article listing Canadian Junior A products with draftability.

Ten members of the class of 2017 will join RIT women's hockey for 2013-14 season
(ritathletics.com)

CHA rival RIT unveiled a large and mostly Canadian freshman class, then made a routine announcement super awks by retweeting this on their official team account:

As much as I complain about Penn State's ultra-buttoned up approach to things, it could be worse I guess.

Local hockey player’s University future up in the air
(globalnews.ca)

Reed Linaker has continued to make the media rounds to share his unfortunate story. This latest news report (including video) comes from Dean Millard, who doubles as a co-host of The Pipeline Show.

National Champion Hockey Coach Interviews for UAH Job
(WHNT)

George Gwozdecky still in limbo
(Wisconsin State Journal)

Over a couple days last week, college hockey circles exploded with the news that two-time national championship coach George Gwozdecky (let go by Denver after this past season) interviewed for the vacant job at Alabama-Huntsville. Then they exploded again with the news that he withdrew from consideration.

Opinion nobody asked for: Gwozdecky has had a legendary career. However, I believe that much like athletes, coaching careers have a rise, peak and decline, and I also believe that Gwozdecky is more of a name than a great coach at this point. Still very good, of course, just not to the level of his reputation. Now, UAH could do worse than "a name" given what they've been through - and maybe the credibility coming from that name would have been a huge boost - but hopefully Gwoz passing on the job allows the Chargers to get a guy who ultimately becomes a name through his accomplishments in Alabama.

@BobcatsHockey
(Twitter)

Former Ohio forward Tyler Pilmore, who just ended his outstanding career as a Bobcat in March, has signed with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye for 2013-2014. In 2012-2013 and following the conclusion of the ACHA season, Pilmore played eight games with the Walleye and the Wheeling Nailers.

While a Penn Stater will do even better than the ECHL soon enough, I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous, as (to the best of my memory, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) the last surviving Icers playing in professional hockey were Curtiss Patrick (who kicked around the minor leagues from 2004-2009) and Justin Depretis (2006-2009).

The work of former ACHA assistant Spiros Anastas helped Tomas Tatar and the Griffins to a title

Grand Rapids Griffins win the Calder Cup thanks to late goal by Brennan Evans
(MLive)

I'm obviously a sucker for a good ACHA-to-the-show story, especially one with ties to Pennsylvania, and Grand Rapids winning the AHL title last week offered one in the form of Griffins assistant coach Spiros Anastas. Anastas, a Toronto native, played for Lebanon Valley College from 2006 through 2010, when the Dutchmen were an NCAA Division III program. He stepped directly from the ice to the bench in the middle of his senior season when LVC head coach Ted Russell abruptly resigned. Anastas stayed on as an assistant in 2010-2011, the program's successful (21-4-2) ACHA Division 1 debut following a 3-95-2 stretch over the last four DIII seasons (yikes). He then left to become a volunteer video coach at Western Michigan in 2011-2012 before moving on to the Griffins under head coach Jeff Blashill (who also hired him at WMU), where he's responsible for advance scouting and statistical analysis.

Anastas actually didn't go directly from Western Michigan to Grand Rapids, by the way. From August 23, 2012 until October 29, 2012, he was the general manager of the BCHL's Alberni Valley Bulldogs. On October 31, 2012, the Bulldogs acquired Bo Pellah from the Langley Rivermen. Either Anastas is a big fan of Pellah who started negotiations before taking the Griffins job, or he was standing in the way of the trade being finalized. Your call.

Matt Thomas named head hockey coach
(goseawolves.com)

After one of the messiest coaching searches in college hockey history (fourth entry from the bottom), Alaska-Anchorage finally got their guy in Matt Thomas, who will join the Seawolves program after a long run as an ECHL coach. He also played for RIT back in the 1990s (when the Tigers were an NCAA Division III program) and served as an assistant at Maine from 2000-2002. I'm still not sure why anyone would want the UAA job, but regardless, best of luck to him.

In other Anchorage news, charges will not be pursued against the guy Thomas replaced, Dave Shyiak, over an alleged stick-swinging incident at a practice in 2011. So other than any blowups to come from discarded former athletic director Steve Cobb, it seems as if things might finally be getting back to semi-normal at Alaska's second-best hockey program.

Former Maine coach Tim Whitehead to be new hockey coach at Kimball Union Academy
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Fired Maine coach Tim Whitehead, who spent 12 years in Orono (and therefore one with Thomas), will coach PSU commit A.J. Greer's prep school team. Nice pull for the KUA Wildcats.

#AskTCR Mailbag: The Hockey Pipe Dream
(The Champaign Room)

Illinois: still not about to add NCAA hockey, if you needed that.

@LetsPlay_Hockey
(Twitter)

It won't be at Penn State, but the Big Ten could see at least one outdoor game this season:

The U of M is in talks with Intersport on hosting an outdoor hockey game vs. Ohio State at TCF Bank Stadium on @HockeyDayMN 2014.

Let me guess: both teams will receive $2 million for their participation (yes, I'm still upset about being burned by that).

33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part II)

In order to bid a fond farewell to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the orange barn Penn State hockey called home from January 16, 1981 until February 16, 2013, here is the second half of a subjective opinion of the top 33 games in the building's history. The significance of the number 33, of course, is that the rink hosted 33 seasons of games. "33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part I)" covered numbers 17 through 33, while this one hits the top 16.

Unfortunately, due mostly to lack of documentation concerning Lady Icers and Ice Lions games, this list only includes contests from the Icers-to-NCAA men lineage, with sincerest apologies to all involved in the many fantastic Ice Pavilion games not involving the Icers or Nittany Lion men.

This post will also serve the secondary purpose of launching TYT into its offseason series of history-themed posts, dubbed "Breakout Past" during a period where I had to come up with a really lame title (preferably including a pun) for everything. Look for those each Thursday, starting next week.

16. Penn State 5, Towson 4 - January 22, 2005. In what would turn out to be the Icers' final championship of the Nittany Lion Invitational - a tournament created the season after the Ice Pavilion's opening - scrappy Towson played the Icers extremely tough until Brett Wilson's power play goal with 16 seconds left propelled PSU to victory. Wilson's heroics were only necessary because of three bad calls related to goals, including two apparent Icers scores that were waved off in the second period, the latter of which was a Teague Willits-Kelley effort that was ruled a goal by the referee on the play, setting off the horn... only to be overturned by a linesman 60 feet away. The brutal officiating included the other end of the ice, as the Tigers' Erik Dixon tied the game at 4-4 with 3:33 remaining despite the fact that the net behind goalie Paul Mammola was off the pegs for at least ten seconds prior to the puck's entry.

15. Penn State 4, Central Oklahoma 3 (OT) - October 15, 2010. Arguably, the 2009-2010 Icers were the best team of the Scott Balboni era, so when Jonathon Cannizzo scored late in the first overtime to eliminate PSU from championship contention by a 2-1 score in the 2010 ACHA quarterfinals after the Icers led 1-0 until just 89 seconds remained in regulation, it was quite a blow. While a regular-season win in the following campaign wasn't a full measure of revenge, it was still quite satisfying, especially after the Bronchos' Donald Geary forced overtime 23 seconds away from a Penn State win, perhaps inspiring a couple of "here we go again" eyerolls within the Greenberg throng. George Saad ensured that any similarities to the previous heartbreak ended there by making a fantastic play in overtime to take the puck off of the boards, work to the front, and score. In what - at best - is a footnote to history, the Icers' second home game following the NCAA elevation announcement was a primary motivator of the creation of this blog.

George Saad (center) celebrates his OT winner against UCO

14. Buffalo State 5, Penn State 4 - March 14, 1992. Two weeks after PSU failed to win the first-ever ACHA national championship on home ice (see number 8), the ICHL regular season champions - who went 14-1-1 in league play, the best record in ICHL history - were stunned by Buffalo State in the conference tournament opener. Chris Kruger, Bob Kowalski and Regis Marrale all scored in the third period for the Bengals, who survived a controversial finish to their win. Dave Murphy sniped in the last minute to cut the BSC lead to 5-4, then appeared to tie the game with one second remaining, a goal negated by a ruling that the Bengals had intentionally dislodged the net beforehand. The Icers were awarded a penalty shot, but ICHL MVP Andy McLaughlin was denied by goaltender Chris Economou, who would go on to win tournament MVP honors while leading his team to a championship game loss to Niagara College.

13. Penn State 3, Towson 1 - January 22, 2000. In one of the all-time great performances by a visiting goaltender at the Ice Pavilion, Towson's Derek Rabold stopped 52 of the 54 Icers shots he faced to win NLIT MVP honors, despite his team's loss in the championship game. Prior to Loren Remetta's empty-netter, heavily-favored PSU (which scored 12 on 84 shots against Rutgers the day before) only cracked Rabold twice - once with Jamie Weston's slap shot, and on the winner, a spectacular end-to-end play that saw Weston feed Neal Price at center to catch the Tigers in a line change. Price motored down the left side, then connected with Joe McArdle, who one-timed it home from the right circle.

12. Penn State 4, Hobart 3 - November 29, 1995. While games against NCAA Division III teams later became close to a 50-50 proposition, they were something a little south of that 18 years ago. That fact, combined with a 6-5 overtime win by the Statesmen during the 1994-1995 season, made this triumph noteworthy, even if it didn't directly count for ACHA positioning. The Icers faced second-period deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 before goals by Brian Rolli, Steve Hajek and Don Coyne over a 4:30 stretch late in the period put PSU ahead for good, including insurance against Hobart's extra-attacker answer with time winding down. "The loss to them last year left a bitter taste in our mouths," goaltender Jeff Crispino said, "so this win means a lot."

11. Penn State 6, Kent State 5 (OT) - February 17, 1984. Throughout the 1980s, Kent State - which sponsored an NCAA Division I program from 1986 until 1994 - was one of the Icers' toughest regular opponents. In 1983-1984, despite PSU's eventually winning the national club championship, the Golden Flashes won three of the four games between the two, and nearly took the fourth. Penn State trailed 5-3 late in regulation, but Art McQuillan scored on a backhander with 3:51 remaining to trim the deficit to 5-4, and Brad Rush tied the game roughly two minutes later off of Lynn Sipe's setup. Greg Powers then deflected a Glenn Cawood shot past Adam Brinker for the OT winner. "We've been in overtime before," Powers said, "and me, Art [McQuillan] and Clark [Dexter] go full force in overtime. We were pressing and getting our shots - you could tell it was gonna come. I told everyone on the bench, 'You don't have to warm up, because we're going to score.'"

10. Iowa State 5, Penn State 3 - January 23, 1999. In a preview of the infamous 1999 ACHA national championship game won by "vacated," the Icers and Cyclones met in the NLIT championship game, and the teams ranked first and second in the ACHA for the entire 1998-1999 season put on a show worthy of the pollsters' esteem. After Darren Anderson (one of the stars of "vacated's" title run, as it would turn out) gave ISU a 2-0 advantage on a 3-on-0 rush, Penn State answered three times to gain the lead in the third period: Jason Zivkovic on the power play, Rob Shaner's rebound putback and C.J. Patrick's slapper. The Cyclones, however, had their own rally against a shaky John Sixt with John Strama and Brian Paolello putting ISU back ahead, and Jeff Smith added an empty-netter.

Jamie Hettema scored in the first game at the Ice Pavilion

9. Penn State 6, Upsala 5 - January 16, 1981. A contest generally only remembered for the Ice Pavilion's opening and for the crowd of 1,450 that stood as the building's record for its first nine years was also a fantastic game in and of itself. Matt Glass became the first of many Icers to fill the net beneath Section E, but he was answered by the Vikings with just 45 seconds left in the opening period. Glass' second, along with tallies by Glenn DeStefano, Rush and Jamie Hettema gave PSU a seemingly-safe 5-2 lead late into the third period, before Upsala managed to score three times in the last 120 seconds of the game. DeStefano, however, also scored late and goaltender Jim Pollock shut the door just in time for the Icers to escape with a win that wasn't finalized until 1:00 a.m.

8. Iowa State 5, Michigan-Dearborn 3 - February 29, 1992. The only non-Penn State game on the list qualifies due to its heavy significance as the first championship game in ACHA history, and still the only national title won by the man, long-time ISU coach Al Murdoch, who ended up with his name on the trophy given to the ACHA's last team standing. The Icers were denied home-ice glory that year by Dearborn, as the Wolves bombed PSU 8-5 to earn their way into the final. Incidentally, the captain of that 1991-1992 Iowa State team was Bill Ward, who is now the girls hockey coach at National Sports Academy, the alma mater of current PSU women's team forward Emily Laurenzi.

7. Niagara College 6, Penn State 5 (2OT) - March 12, 1988. In an ICHL semifinal matchup, Knights goaltender Jim Darling made 40 saves - eventually winning tournament MVP honors and leading the Welland, ON-based school to the championship - in beating the Icers. Penn State held a 5-2 lead at one point, but were unable to avoid ICHL elimination at the hands of Niagara for the third season in a row (including another 6-5 double-overtimer two years prior to this game). Payback would be sweet, and it would come the next season when PSU beat the favored Knights 5-3 on the way to the title (see number 3).

6. Penn State 4, Canton 3 (OT) - January 14, 1984. The SUNY school, then known as the Northmen, took an early 1-0 lead on a Mike Jones clapper 1:55 in, and were on the verge of running a flat PSU team out of the rink but for a series of shots ringing off posts and missing gaping nets. Even with puck luck seemingly on their side, Penn State still faced a 3-1 deficit entering the third period, but a Powers putback of a Sipe rebound, following a Jim Yablecki goal, brought the Icers back to even midway through the frame. Yablecki then won the game, and the championship of the third NLIT, 2:35 into overtime with a wrister off left wing. The goal almost never happened, as PSU survived a near-miss by Canton just six seconds into extra time: "The guy came breaking in on a 3-on-2," goaltender John Davis said. "He passed it right in front, and as he came by, he just took my skates right out from under me. They just shot it and I stopped it from the back of the net. The puck has to be completely over. I didn't think it was, it was close though."

Casey Bailey (18) scored PSU's first NCAA goal at the Ice Pavilion

5. American International 3, Penn State 2 (OT) - October 12, 2012. Without a doubt the only game that made the list based on the pre-game warmup, and the chills I (and undoubtedly others) got watching PSU get ready for an actual, honest-to-goodness NCAA Division I men's hockey game after decades of almosts and what-ifs. Nittany Lions hockey will see greater heights than an overtime loss to perennial doormat AIC, a result made possible by Ben Meisner's 61 saves and Jon Puskar's winner, but there will only be one first, and only one time experiencing the unique feelings it inspired.

4. Penn State 4, Oklahoma 3 (OT) - February 4, 2012. The Icers' aura of ACHA invincibility in the final season before making the NCAA jump had already been smashed by Delaware and Central Oklahoma by the time Oklahoma came to town late in the season, but after Shane Vordran capitalized twice on misplayed pucks by goaltender Matt Madrazo to give the Sooners a commanding 3-0 third-period edge, a palpable new height of concern among Penn Staters was reached. And promptly rendered moot by Justin Kirchhevel's two goals in the last five minutes of regulation sandwiching one by Taylor Holstrom. Saad was once again large in overtime, putting back a rebound of an Eric Steinour shot to cause the old barn to explode. "I've been here for a lot of great wins over the years," Joe Battista said. "This will go down as one of the greatest comebacks ever in this building." Third best, to be precise (the Icers never trailed in one of the top three games).

3. Penn State 8, Buffalo 6 - March 12, 1989. No less of an authority than Battista considers this game, for the ICHL tournament championship, the launching point for the success enjoyed by his program in the years that followed. The Icers, who had struggled in the conference since joining in 1985, took the unorthodox step of skipping the club national championships that season to focus on success in the ICHL playoffs after a fourth-place finish in the regular season standings (in those days, nationals preceded the ICHL tournament). The move paid off, although it certainly wasn't easy. Facing a 4-2 deficit entering the third period, PSU quickly tied the game, just as quickly fell behind by two once more at 6-4, then took advantage of a rare full two minutes of 3-on-3 hockey to once again pull even. John Ioia's rebound goal on a 2-on-1 with Lance Riddile at the 17:10 mark put the Icers ahead for good, with Brian Stevenson adding an empty-netter. Current women's head coach Josh Brandwene scored twice for Penn State on his way to the program's scoring record for defensemen.

1 and 2. Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) and Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) - October 29 and 30, 2004. I mean really... could it be anything else? Essentially, take circumstances similar to that UCO game in number 15, add in the fact that the previous season's national tournament loss was in the championship game (as opposed to the quarterfinals), the juice of the best rivalry the ACHA has ever seen and a sellout crowd wearing white t-shirts, then multiply it by two. Michael McMullen scored the winner in Friday's game by cutting to the middle off left wing and putting back his own rebound, a goal that completed a rally from a 2-0 deficit with 10:33 to play. Kevin Jaeger was the hero the next night when he finished a hat trick on a breakaway resulting from Mike Carrano's lob over the Bobcat defense.

The Rundown: February 1-4

So...if you haven't noticed, I've been completely inactive since Friday. No posts, no Twitter, nothing.

While I usually try to be as upfront as possible with you guys about things, in the interest of not airing my dirty laundry, I'm going to be a little cryptic here. So, on that note, the short version of events is that I've had continuing issues with certain people, and I felt that those issues were compromising the quality of the blog. With that in mind, I decided to completely bail on things for the weekend to get my head back and let my frustration dissipate. Did it work? I guess we'll find out together, won't we?

The purpose of this post will just be sort of a quick one-time catch-up on everything that's happened since Friday afternoon so that I can get straight back into regular programming from here. Presumably most of you know most of it by now, but just for posterity's sake...

Neil Laessig scored twice against St. Joseph's. Photo: Steve Hass

Ice Lions Sweep Weekend, "Clinch" Nationals Bid

Due to context, the ACHA D2 Southeast No. 2 Ice Lions' weekend road sweep at Southeast No. 7 Rider (4-3), at St. Joseph's (5-2) and at Southeast No. 3 UMBC (4-1) - as well as their now-likely return trip to the ACHA National Championships - has to be considered the top story for this post.

Box score

A three goal second-period proved important when Rider's late rally - against a PSU team down leading goal scorer Chris Lewis to a first-period elbowing disqualification - fell just short.

Mike Broccolo's power play goal tied things up early in that middle period after the Broncs were spotted a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Just after a Tyler Person interference penalty ended, Peter Daley and Taylor Vincent made the score 3-1 with goals 13 seconds apart. Ryan Urban's 4-1 goal midway through the third ended up being the winner after RU's Chris Daley and Connor Fox connected on 5-on-3 situations in the last five minutes to make things interesting.

Neil Laessig's pair of goals were key in the Ice Lions' sandwich-game win over the Hawks. Laessig scored late in the first period, then 2:24 into the second - or 2:00 after SJU had tied the game - to keep PSU afloat early.

Once the Hawks tied things up once again, Urban took over with his second consecutive game-winning goal at 11:31 of the period. The sophomore from Chester Springs, PA would add a late insurance goal, after Franky Reluzco, fresh out of the penalty box and on an Ice Lions' power play, made the score 4-2 early in the final period. Reluzco and SJU's Mark Boczar both took penalties at the end of the second period, but Boczar's was a major, giving the Ice Lions a three-minute advantage.

Box score

Thanks to early power play goals from Lewis and Reluzco, as well as an even-strength effort from Will Vaeth, PSU put the Sunday showdown with UMBC on ice early, and cruised to the finish line in a rematch of last season's MACHA championship game.

When the Retrievers thought about a comeback, via Daniel Durantaye's power play answer midway though the second, Fredrik Linge was there to restore the three-goal lead after 40 minutes and ensure that the Ice Lions' winning streak hit 13, part of a 22-4-1 overall record.

While nationals bids aren't official yet, PSU has just one regular season game remaining, at Monmouth this coming Sunday, in a makeup for an October game postponed by Hurricane Sandy. Since that date happens to also be the due date for the last ranking of the season, the one establishing nationals autobids and regional seeding, it's now (thanks to the weekend sweep) extremely, extremely unlikely that the Ice Lions will be outside of the Southeast Region top two (the autobid teams) when the poll is released, regardless of what happens against Monmouth.

Interestingly, the ACHA tournament for D2 is in St. Louis from March 15th through 19th, meaning that the Ice Lions will likely be the last Penn State hockey team playing this year, just as they were last year. Nationals for the ACHA women (should they qualify) run March 7th through 10th, while the seasons for the NCAA teams end on February 25th (men) and no later than March 9th (women).

Former Icers George Saad and Eric Steinour (center) got two last shots in on Ohio. Photo: Christine Baker/PennLive.com

NCAA Men End Ohio Series with Wins

PSU played its likely last-ever games against former ACHA archrival Ohio, collecting a pair of wins, including one in front of 6,107 in Hershey, to improve to 14-15-0 in all games, while remaining 10-13-0 in NCAA games and 8-11-0 against NCAA Division I.

By the way, in case anyone is wondering (since I've never fully explained it), my insistence on giving three records for the men this season stems from the fact that I really don't see much value in the official NCAA record, which includes games against NCAA Division III opponents that aren't any better in quality than the ACHA teams not counted. "How does PSU measure up with DI competition?" is a much more pertinent question than whatever question is answered by a combined DI/DIII record, and I also include an "all games" mark because I don't accept the official designation of "exhibition" for the ACHA games, not when stats against a crap DIII like Fredonia are counted.

For a while I only gave a DI record and an all games record, until a PSU representative needlessly called me to complain about the practice back in December... oh right, I'm not airing my dirty laundry.

Friday box score // Saturday box score

In the name of having someone who actually saw the games (it was a full-on mini-hiatus, I wasn't kidding about that) write the recap, here's Mary Clarke of Victory Bell Rings.

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The men’s first game of the weekend actually took place in Hershey, Pa. at the GIANT Center in front of a mostly Penn State crowd. The Bobcats got the early lead a little over six minutes into the first frame off of forward Nick Rostek but the Nittany Lions were able to bounce back with six unanswered goals of their own. Casey Bailey netted two, Kenny Brooks had one goal and two assists, Connor Varley had two assists, David Glen got one to the back of the net as well, and combined the team went +20 for the night with 37 total shots reaching Ohio’s goaltender. The game was a great defensive showing for the Nittany Lions as well, allowing only 14 shots to reach netminder PJ Musico and blocking six additional Bobcat shots.

Saturday’s game at home started off similarly to Friday’s, with the Bobcats taking a lead early in the first period, this time just less than two minutes into the frame. However, Casey Bailey and George Saad would counter for the Nittany Lions with two goals in under three minutes to give Penn State their first, but not only lead of the game. A quick goal in the beginning stages of the second period for Ohio would tie the game at 2-2 but after a scoreless frame afterwards, the Bobcats would grab their second lead of the night with a Brett Agnew goal just 38 seconds into the third. Ohio wouldn’t get the lead back again after Peter Sweetland capitalized on a Bobcat defensive error and turned the tables in favor of the Nittany Lions. Curtis Loik and Casey Bailey would cap off the scoring to make the rallying comeback complete with a final score of 5-3. Goalie Matthew Skoff faced a fair number of Ohio shots – 37 of them – and was able to stop 34 for the win. While the wins feel nice, the two games against Ohio do not count in the standings so the team still sits at 10-13-0 for the season.

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Celine Whitlinger made 59 saves against Mercyhurst on Friday. Photo: Steve Hass

NCAA Women Hang Tough Against No. 7 Mercyhurst

The women - now 7-19-1 (1-12-1 CHA) - once again demonstrated their improvement over the course of the season by forcing Mercyhurst to earn their wins at the Ice Pavilion. PSU faces a pretty important series this coming weekend - the final home games of the year - against Lindenwood. LU sits fifth in the CHA standings with eight points, while PSU is sixth with three. With only four regular seasons games left for each team following their head-to-head, a Nittany Lions sweep is all but essential for Penn State to avoid being the last seed for its first league tournament.

Friday box score // Saturday box score

Here's Mary Clarke again.

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The women’s team had a rematch against No. 7 Mercyhurst starting Friday night at the Greenberg. Penn State was in trouble early, giving up a three goal lead to a deadly Laker team. However, the Nittany Lions tightened up and scored two goals on the Laker goalie, Stephanie Ciampa. Hannah Hoenshell notched her eighth goal of the season at 6:21 in the second frame and Jordin Pardoski added a power play tally that, at the time, put the game almost within reach at 4-2 to Mercyhurst. However, the Lakers were able to hold on to the win despite Penn State’s late game surge. Celine Whitlinger was in net for the Nittany Lions and played an outstanding game, saving 59 shots on 64 attempts. The Nittany Lions were also better in the shot category in this game than they have been recently, getting 19 shots to the net.

Saturday’s game started off rough with four unanswered Mercyhurst goals. PSU goalie Nicole Paniccia was able to stop all 11 Laker shots in the first period and did end up saving 46 of the Lakers’ 50 shots. Jill Holdcroft scored her ninth goal this season on the power play with three seconds to go in the game to break Penn State’s shutout. The Nittany Lions totaled 12 shots on goal and had another 5 blocked by the Mercyhurst defense. The spirited effort by the team fell short; however, and the two losses for the weekend put their record at 7-19-1 this season.

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CDT Gets Exclusive PIA Look

In the aftermath of the games (except for the Ice Lions-UMBC one, I suppose), the big news was the Centre Daily Times' front-page story on Sunday regarding the progress of the Pegula Ice Arena, featuring a tour from Joe Battista.

I suppose at this point, there's not going to much in the way of new information - wait... the student section is as steep as code allows?!?! - given that the thing is pretty well on its way to being completed. Still, it's nice to see the latest, publicity is always good, and there's certainly going to be a thing here or there that's news-ish. Like...

The arena, other than melting the ice for about two months each spring for a few events such as commencement, will be almost exclusively for events on ice. They did not purchase covers to put over the ice and have other events on top of it.

Guess that arena football team for State College is on hold.

Dylan Richard Discusses Commitment

I greatly enjoy Andrew Dzurita's recruiting articles for Lions 247 and this one, featuring 2013 forward Dylan Richard, is his latest effort. Here's your money passage.

The 19-year-old center started speaking with the Penn State coaches after former Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL) teammate David Glen committed to the Nittany Lions, and developed a nice rapport with the staff.

“It was Keith Fisher initially. He really started it out where we got to know each other a little bit,” recalled Richard, who chose the Nittany Lions over Minnesota-Duluth, Ohio State and North Dakota. “I went down to Penn State in mid-December on a visit before committing and I thought it was great. Great people, a great campus, good atmosphere, just an overall good feeling.

“They’re a great group of people, all of the coaches. They’re easy to talk to, fun to be around. Being around them made my decision a lot easier.”

Hahahaha hate you, North Dakota.