Club Sandwich: October 8th

Taylor Vincent had a three-point evening in a blowout of Saint Joseph's on Friday

ACHA D2 Ice Lions

Following up their pair of blowout wins over ACHA Division 1 Indiana (PA) to open the season, the Ice Lions did something even worse to Saint Joseph's to open their Mid-Atlantic College Hockey schedule with a win at Pegula Ice Arena Friday night.

Ryan Urban got things started just 40 seconds from the opening faceoff, and the goals came even faster after that - by the 1:45 mark of the first period, it was 3-0 PSU thanks to Taylor Vincent and Abe Edson. Edson would complete a hat trick with goals in each of the final two periods while adding an assist to Peter Daley's 6-0 goal midway through the second, while Urban added a second goal and an assist on Spencer Svoboda's third-period power play snipe. Svoboda, in addition to that marker, added a couple of helpers during the stat-padding affair.

Chris Dinsmore's slapper from the dot boosted the Ice Lions to a 4-3 overtime win over MACH rival Temple the next day in Penn State's toughest test of the season to date. With the victory, PSU climbed to 4-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the MACH North Division.

Tim Acker gave the Ice Lions a 1-0 lead midway though the first period, but he was answered just 32 seconds later on a breakaway by the Owls' Steven Luongo. Temple went ahead in the second when Joseph Pisko slammed home Stephen Kennedy's rebound, but a holding call to TU moments later helped Urban re-knot the contest off of Acker's setup. Late in the second period, during a 4-on-4 stretch, Acker collected his third point and second goal to put Penn State back ahead into the third period. Once more though, the trailing team had a reply thanks to the Owls' Phil Vassilev with 6:23 remaining in regulation.

Grad student Ryan Fullerton, who previously played at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI, turned in a sound effort between the pipes.

Next up, the Ice Lions will head to the ACHA Showcase in Kalamazoo, MI this weekend to take on power programs SIU-Edwardsville, Michigan State (the defending national champs) and Grand Valley State.

Tyler Lantz (19) and Larry Barretta (17) helped Berks to a weekend sweep

Around the Commonwealth

Note: Apologies for the fact that I've neglected the team at Penn State Harrisburg in these updates - despite my best efforts, I simply can't locate anything out there about them. If you have any information, or at least know where I can find it, let me know in the comments and I'll add them in.

ACHA D1 Berks (4-2-1, 1-0-0 ECHA)

October 4th: W 10-3 vs. Cortland State
October 5th: W 5-1 at Lehigh

The Blue Lions bounced back from a tough two losses in three (one coming in overtime) weekend to blow past both Cortland State and Lehigh. In the win over the Red Dragons, a tight 2-2 game early in the second period was blown open by consecutive goals from Chris Cashin, Tyler Lantz and Tommy Demusis - then followed by five more from Berks in the third period after Cortland had trimmed the score to 5-3 late in the second. Larry Barretta, who already has nine goals and 15 points this season, scored twice to help seal the follow-up in Bethlehem the next day.

ACHA D3 Altoona (3-1-0, 0-1-0 CHE)

October 5th: W 7-3 at George Mason
October 6th: W 6-2 at George Mason
October 7th: L at California (PA)

Following their riveting season-opening win over IUP at Galactic Ice, Toontown headed down to Virginia for a series with George Mason. In the opener, Jeff Nelson clicked for two goals and an assist, while Ben Kinch added a pair of helpers in addition to his own tally. Nick DeLaurentis had a pair of goals as well, with Adam Badorrek and Conlan Sodrosky scoring the others. Freshman goaltender John Travis got the win in his first career start. The rematch featured many of the usual suspects starring offensively: Kinch scored twice and Nelson and Sodrosky each got one, as did Steven Fedena and Luk Devorski.

Details concerning Altoona's Monday night loss at Cal weren't immediately available.

ACHA D3 Behrend (3-1-0, 1-0-0 CHE)

October 4th: W 7-5 at Washington & Jefferson (D1)
October 5th: W 8-0 at Washington & Jefferson (D1)

While few would confuse W&J with Oklahoma among D1 programs, Behrend was still very impressive in securing a pair of road wins against a team two divisions up. On Friday, PSUB took a game tied at three after 40 minutes and outgunned the Presidents in the third period to win 7-5. The next day, Sam Stroud's shutout was supported by a Justin Leonard hat trick as well as two goals from Jared Bagnato.

ACHA D3 Brandywine (4-0-0, 1-0-0 DVCHC)

October 4th: W 7-3 vs. Alvernia
October 5th: W 7-3 at Rowan

Perennial ACHA regional tournament participant Brandywine is off to another great start thanks, most recently, to a pair of 7-3 wins over the weekend. The first, against Alvernia, was the team's DVCHC opener and powered by four goals from senior and Archbishop Wood graduate Drew Haber as well as a goal and three assists from Billy Gregg.

Three Days in the ACHA

Kevin Backoefer and Behrend split their opening weekend by taking down Fredonia in OT at home

On Friday, I wrote about the flood of Penn State ACHA games over the weekend that signaled the beginning of the hockey season. So... how did that all turn out? Glad you asked.

As I'm sure you know by now, I attended four of the twelve contests below in person (the ones without words underneath the final score) so feel free to click through for separate posts on those.

Friday, September 27

Men's D3: Penn State Behrend 2 at RIT 8

A quick glance at that score says that the Tigers thrashed Behrend, although the game didn't reach blowout status until a wild third period that saw seven combined goals (it was 3-0 RIT after 40 minutes). Kevin Backoefer and Nathan Ropelewski scored for the Lions.

Men's D2: Penn State 6 at IUP (D1) 1

In the front end of a home-and-home series with the Crimson Hawks, the Ice Lions steadily grew their lead throughout the contest to win rather comfortably. Creek Lewis got his season off to a great start with a hat trick - all goals coming on the power play - and Peter Daley, Voight Demeester and Fredrik Linge matched him with three more.

Men's D1: Slippery Rock 1 at Penn State Berks 4

Berks is the one PSU team in this post that had games under its belt prior to this past weekend, as they split with that same IUP team that played the Ice Lions on September 20th and 21st. A strong second period against SRU helped the Blue Lions climb to 2-1-0 on the year.

Men's D3: Rutgers-Camden 2 at Penn State Brandywine 8

The perennially-strong team at Brandywine got off to a good start by dismantling Rutgers-Camden in a DVCHC contest at West Chester's mammoth Ice Line.

Women's D2: Liberty 0 at Penn State 6

Saturday, September 28

Men's D3: IUP (D2) 4 at Penn State Altoona 5 (Photos)

Men's D1: Slippery Rock 4 at Penn State Berks 3 (OT)

The Rock, much as IUP ultimately did, rallied for a split against Berks, thanks to J.T. Grahl finishing a hat trick in the extra period. The result was at least mildly controversial, as the Blue Lions had two goals disallowed in regulation.

Men's D3: Penn State Brandywine 3 at Shippensburg 2

At the venerable Hersheypark Arena and in another DVCHC league game, Brandywine overcame two Austin Rinck goals to take a tight game that was tied after both the first (0-0) and second (1-1) periods. Brandon Benn scored twice for PSUB, Billy Gregg had the third, and goalie Andrew Hieber stopped 46 of 48 shots.

Women's D2: Liberty 0 at Penn State 7 (at Altoona, PA)

Men's D3: Fredonia 3 at Penn State Behrend 4 (OT)

Behrend bounced back with a rousing overtime win in its home opener against College Hockey East foe Fredonia. Ropelewski was the hero - although without Hunter Cunningham's two goals and an assist, he never gets a chance at the winner.

Men's D2: IUP (D1) 2 at Penn State 8 (Photos)

Sunday, September 29

Men's D1: West Chester 5 at Penn State Berks 3

Uniquely among teams featured in this post, Berks had the always-tough task of a three game weekend. They may have paid for it against West Chester as PSUB jumped out to a 3-1 second-period lead thanks to goals from Thomas DeMusis, Theodore Marquardt and Josh Flamini (shorthanded). However the Golden Rams responded decisively with four unanswered, including three in the third period.

Nine up, three down. Not a bad weekend, Penn State hockey.

Jumping In With Both Feet

After the ACHA Division 1 team at Penn State Berks gave us a taste of real-life hockey action last weekend - a road split at Indiana (PA) - Penn State hockey largely hits its 2013-2014 stride beginning today. While neither NCAA team opens up until the women head to Vermont in a week, take a look at the schedule of games for all of the ACHA squads over the next three days:

Friday, September 27
Men's D3: Penn State Behrend at RIT, 7:30 p.m.
Men's D2: Penn State at IUP (D1), 7:35 p.m.
Men's D1: Slippery Rock at Penn State Berks, 7:45 p.m.
Men's D3: Rutgers-Camden at Penn State Brandywine, 9:15 p.m.
Women's D2: Liberty at Penn State, 10:15 p.m.

Saturday, September 28
Men's D3: IUP (D2) at Penn State Altoona, 3:50 p.m.
Men's D1: Slippery Rock at Penn State Berks, 4:00 p.m.
Men's D3: Penn State Brandywine at Shippensburg, 6:00 p.m.
Women's D2: Liberty at Penn State, 6:30 p.m. (at Altoona, PA)
Men's D3: Fredonia at Penn State Behrend, 7:30 p.m.
Men's D2: IUP (D1) at Penn State, 10:15 p.m.

Sunday, September 29
Men's D1: West Chester at Penn State Berks, 4:30 p.m.

Not bad, eh?

I encourage anyone able and looking for an activity this weekend to get out and support at least one of those teams. The WD2 Women's Ice Hockey Club and the D2 Ice Lions play at the Pegula Ice Arena Community Rink, of course. The WIHC's game Saturday is at Galactic Ice Rink in Altoona, which also happens to be home ice for Penn State Altoona. The Ice Lions' game at IUP tonight will take place in Indiana's S&T Bank Arena. Penn State Berks is based in the Body Zone Sports and Wellness Complex in Wyomissing, while Penn State Behrend calls the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie home. If you're in the Harrisburg-Hershey area, Shippensburg will host Penn State Brandywine at the historic Hersheypark Arena, while Brandywine's home game will be at Ice Line in West Chester.

For my part, I'm going to try something possibly crazy, but definitely unprecedented in a couple different ways.

A quartet of those games listed above are in the cards for TYT, which will tie the blog's weekend record for attendance at Penn State games originally set January 11th through 13th. The first game will be the Women's Ice Hockey Club's season opener against Liberty tonight, the first intercollegiate hockey game of any kind played in Pegula Ice Arena.

On Saturday, a never-before-attempted tripleheader is in order, beginning with a tough season opener for Altoona against IUP's Division 2 team. Immediately after that, the WIHC will play a rematch with Liberty on the same sheet of ice. The conclusion of that game should come quickly enough to grab a soft pretzel and a coffee for dinner and head back up I-99 to see the Ice Lions play their home opener, the first men's intercollegiate game in Pegula Ice Arena, against IUP's Division 1 team. Sometime in there, I hope to write posts about all of those games (this is all pretty meaningless to you without that, after all).

Should I survive, it will be a story for the grandkids. I've certainly watched and even attended three (or more) hockey games in a day before - any ACHA National Tournament is an obvious example - but never with the level of engagement that will be required tomorrow.

Here's a brief look at each of the games on the docket.

The WIHC has the highest of aspirations for the coming season

Women's D2: Penn State vs. Liberty

On paper, to put it bluntly, the Women's Ice Hockey Club should roll. Penn State is loaded up this year as seniors Carly Szyszko, Katie Vaughan and Allie Rothman are back for one more shot at a national championship after falling just short in last year's title game and in two previous seasons as ACHA D1 Lady Icers.

Although Mandy Mortach, the team's hard-nosed second-leading scorer in 2012-2013, will not return, nearly everyone else does. The list includes Smash Sisters Tara Soukup and Ashton Schaffer on defense, dynamic forward Devon Fisk and other key players like Mary Kate Tonetti, Elizabeth Denis, Nina Elia, Taylor Nyman, Jackie Saideh and Sarah Eisenhut, one of the best goalies in the nation, but with the misfortune of being stuck behind the highly-acclaimed Vaughan. A sound group of six new players will give PSU incredible depth as well, bolstering their status as a title favorite.

Liberty is on the other end of the spectrum. The Flames were 0-12-0 last season and scored just seven goals in those contests, and a pair of exhibition shutout losses to the Carolina Lightning U16AA squad two weeks ago gave little hope for improvement. Second-year head coach Sara Niemi will look to her goaltender, younger sister Leanne Niemi, to keep Liberty in range.

Altoona coach Tom Lantz hopes his team will have a late-game edge

Men's D3: Penn State Altoona vs. IUP (D2)

Altoona, as with all two-year commonwealth campus teams, is a unique coaching challenge because every player is either a freshman or (figuratively speaking) a senior. Tom Lantz doesn't have the luxury of multi-year rebuilds, and only sees limited gains from individual players along their respective development curves before needing to bring in an entirely new team.

The good news in that department, as Toontown attempts to bounce back from a disappointing 2012-2013, is that one of this year's "seniors" is explosive forward Conlan Sodrosky, and another is stalwart defenseman Brian Kruser, both of whom were recently named alternate captains. Although he slumped a bit late in his freshman season, Sodrosky showed that he produces points in bunches, as his 19 in 16 games included outings of five, three and three. The team made headlines in the offseason by acquiring the services of Penn State football legend Derrick Williams as a strength and conditioning coach, and it's hard to believe that Altoona's training with a former NFL player won't pay dividends in those tight third periods.

Indiana's D2 club will present an obvious challenge as a team in a higher division. Last year, the Crimson Hawks split a pair of games against members of Altoona's conference, College Hockey East, beating Saint Vincent College 4-1 and losing to Pitt-Johnstown by the same score. Ryan Dougherty, who scored 12 times in 14 games a year ago, will lead the IUP offense.

The Ice Lions are counting on Creek Lewis to score - often - from near the blue paint

Men's D2: Penn State vs. IUP (D1)

Second-time first-year Ice Lions head coach Ryan Behnken, although also playing an Indiana team one step up in division, has a set of problems a little bit different from Lantz. After a couple seasons of reaping residual benefits of the Icers' transition to NCAA status in the form of players like Mike Broccolo, Joe Zitarelli and Mac Winchester, those guys have now graduated. Second-team All-American defenseman Brandon Russo, another former Icer, didn't graduate - but he did transfer to Canisius to play for the Golden Griffins' NCAA Division I team. So in a sense, it could be said that 2013-2014 is the first year for whatever the "real" program will be going forward, as PSU attempts to follow up on a pair of dominant seasons ending with nationals bids.

That's not to say that the Ice Lions are barren. Far from it. Junior power forward Creek Lewis remains one of D2's best scorers, and he's complimented quite nicely by Taylor Vincent, an 18-goal man as a freshman last year. Ryan Urban, Franky Reluzco and Fredrik Linge are also names to watch up front, while senior standouts Chris Dinsmore and Max O'Malley will be expected to help a somewhat inexperienced blueline corps grow into the part as the season progresses. Teddy Steinhart is the presumptive starter in goal, although he'll be pushed hard by senior Martin Gudewicz and freshmen Michael DeGaetano and Matthew Erlichman.

Much like the Ice Lions, the Crimson Hawks (who, unlike most teams discussed here, have already started their season and carry a 1-1-0 record, as mentioned at the top of the post) face a few holes to fill. Top scorers Jeff Cupelli and Chase Keibler have departed, leaving Tyler Fitzgerald and Adam Kondraski under pressure to increase their production. Ryan Lord returns in goal, although he struggled a little bit in his first outing of the season, a 5-4 loss to Penn State Berks.

Three Stars: September 16-22

Goalie Justin Golia and the Blue Lions are 1-1-0

3. NCAA Women’s Hockey: 2013-2014 CHA Preview
(The Hockey Writers)

Milestone alert: For the first time, to the best of my knowledge, a Penn State NCAA team has been picked somewhere other than last place by someone legitimate (so, like, not me). So thanks for that, Gabriella Fundaro. Okay, it's second to last, but baby steps. Additionally, Fundaro placed Shannon Yoxheimer (first team) and Jordin Pardoski (second team) on her preseason all-CHA teams.

My only criticism is that most of PSU's projected improvement was chalked up to internal growth, without a single mention of what I think is a pretty great recruiting class. It's always tough to expect rookies to be a huge part of a team (as we know from last year), but if Kelly Seward can be an anchor on defense and the Amy Petersen-Laura Bowman combination can give the Nittany Lions two reliable scoring lines, that's going to have a huge ripple effect up and down the lineup. Someone like Yoxheimer - called a borderline game-changer in the article - will suddenly see a lot more room to breathe, and she doesn't need a ton of space to pop a water bottle.

All in all, fifth place isn't a crazy thought. But if that does end up as the result, I think it will be the sort of fifth place Lindenwood experienced last year, with the occasional win over RIT and RMU, and higher slots still very much in play late in the season. And, as Josh Brandwene likes to say, anything can happen in the playoffs.

2. Penguins-Flyers outdoor game site undetermined
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Last week was an interesting one for those trying to figure out if and when Beaver Stadium will host an outdoor game between the Penguins and Flyers and/or (even better in my view) Penn State versus anyone. First up was this piece from Rob Rossi - no relation - which claims that a major sticking point in the early discussions between the NHL clubs has been figuring out which of the two will give up a home game for a neutral-siter. That's usually an easy call when the game is played in one team's city, less so when it's not. The NHL, not the designated home team, takes in the gate from the Winter Classic and other outdoor games, so it's not simply a matter of (for example) the Penguins dropping a Consol Energy Center contest and adding in one with more revenue.

Shortly after Rossi's article, the NHL announced that the Washington Capitals will host the 2015 Winter Classic (with the venue and opponent still to be determined). Since the league plays roughly 18 outdoor games per year now, that news is hardly as crippling to Penn State's chances in the short term as it would have been a couple years ago, but it certainly doesn't help.

1. @achamensd1
(Twitter)

Lately, people from across the hockey world have been noting any and all indications that the season is around the corner and attaching declarations like "HEY YOU GUYS! HOCKEY SEASON!" However, and with all due respect to the year-round preparation required to play the game at a high level, hockey season only truly begins when games take place. Well, we now have that. Congratulations to ACHA Division 1's Penn State Berks, the first PSU hockey team to play this season, and also the first to win, as the Blue Lions topped Indiana (PA) 5-4 on Friday. The next day brought a 4-1 decision for the hosting Crimson Hawks, but still, a road split is not the worst way to start a season.

Best of the Rest

Pretty please?

@rinsana11
(Twitter)

ComRadio's Ross Insana spotted jerseys at Family Clothesline in State College with a Pegula Ice Arena patch on them last week. Cool. It's important to state that these are replicas (notice that they aren't made by Nike), so it would be premature to jump to a conclusion other than "Family Clothesline is selling replica jerseys with a PIA patch on them."

Still, it would be nice to see the patches make their way on to the game jerseys for the start of the season. It won't be easy with the Big Ten and CHA logos placed in the "patch spot" on the real thing, but there are certainly options.

Trustees asked to provide financial hand to PSU sports
(PennLive)

Yeeeeeeahhhh...

Penn State is exploring a $30 million borrowing program to help tide its Athletic Department over troubled financial waters that have come with the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal and other recent developments.

The plan is designed to help cover projected operating deficits and meet short-term capital needs at a time when the department is without football bowl revenue, home ticket sales are lagging, and the Sandusky scandal is bringing new costs.

Athletic Department expenses outstripped revenues by more than $6.1 million in 2012-13, according to university figures, which in turn has drained departmental reserves and caused a near freeze in spending on major maintenance and capital projects.

I've said it before, but hockey is pretty fortunate to have the guy behind the largest private donation in Penn State history in its corner. One has to believe that fact will help shield it from potential fallout related to the athletic department's finances.

@HockeyValley
(Twitter)

An official announcement is coming soon, but it looks like there will be a sequel to last year's successful Midnight Madness to celebrate the first full practice for the NCAA men. This year's event will be on the night of Friday, October 4th, into Saturday the 5th. And of course in the new arena, which promises to add an extra dimension to the fun.

CHA and America One to continue web broadcasts
(College Hockey America)

While the Big Ten's new television arrangement on the men's side got plenty of attention last week, the CHA and the women will have the identical setup as last season, as the league is in the final year of a three-year streaming deal with America One. Essentially, all games played in a CHA venue will be available on America One's outstanding platform, making the $125 for a season pass well worth it, in my view.

Women's Hockey Eighth In Opening USA Today Poll
(hurstathletics.com)

In the not-exactly-stunning department, CHA juggernaut Mercyhurst was eighth in the first USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine women's ranking of the year, with Minnesota - the undefeated national champions of 2012-2013 - in the top spot. Beyond the Lakers, Penn State opponents Quinnipiac (October 11th and 12th) and Ohio State (January 3rd and 4th, 2014) also appeared in the poll, among the others receiving votes.

Now it's a Penn State hockey rink

@PegulaIceArena
(Twitter)

Just in case you were wondering what became of those wall hangings that backed the seating at the Ice Pavilion...

Road wins, quality wins get boosts in changes to NCAA tournament selection criteria
(USCHO)

On Friday, the NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Committee announced fairly significant changes to its formula for selecting at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament. Out is the criterion measuring performance against "teams under consideration," or TUC, those with an RPI of .500 or greater. In are tweaks to the RPI calculation that reward both winning on the road (while also reducing the punishment for losing on the road) and winning against teams rated in the RPI top 20. Generally, reception to the changes has been positive, as using TUC added unnecessary volatility to things (if you're unfamiliar with that situation, think about what might happen when several teams have an RPI right around .500 late in the season, and the effects of their bouncing on either side of the so-called "TUC cliff" from game to game).

Here's hoping we have a reason to care about all of that sooner, rather than later.

A Who’s Who from West to East in NCAA Men’s Division-I Hockey (Part 3 of 6): Big Ten Hockey Begins
(Chief Maj's Blog)

Random Big Ten preview? Sure. On Penn State:

The program is still in its infancy, but I believe the team will be in the top half of the standings come February, and could even challenge the more structured teams such as Minnesota or Wisconsin.

Okay.

Minnesota Leads Big Ten Recruiting Class
(College Hockey News)

Good: CHN called Penn State's recruiting class for this year "noteworthy." Bad: "Noteworthy" is the worst label given to any of the Big Ten programs.

USHL Alumni Voices: Tommy Olczyk
(USHL)

The captain dropped a couple minutes worth of video on the USHL experience, watching his brothers play and helping to lay the foundation at Penn State for the league's website - and more or less demonstrated why he's the Nittany Lions' captain.

Matt Skoff: Flyers prospect?

Ranking the Flyers’ prospects: Goaltenders
(Flyers Faithful)

While not a Flyers prospect, Matt Skoff got a mention here under "other names to watch," since he attended the team's development camp in July. Of course, the guy who wrote the story is Penn State alumnus Tom Zulewski, so there may be a bit of a bias in play.

Still, Skoff is certainly a guy with pro potential, and Philly's taken more of a look at him than anyone else, so why not?

2013-2014 ACHA Men's D1 Pre-Season Ranking
(achahockey.org)

An ACHA section is part of Three Stars this week, led by the ACHA Division 1 preseason poll. Not a Penn State story anymore, just interesting to know. Defending champ Minot State is number one, with notables Arizona State (2), Ohio (5), Oklahoma (6), Illinois (7), Delaware (11), Rhode Island (18), Lebanon Valley (23) and West Chester (25) also appearing.

The Rise of ACHA Division I Hockey
(The Hockey Writers)

Arizona coach Sean Hogan, who is doing some really nice work on his rebuild in Tucson, wrote this article outlining factors explaining ACHA D1's rise over the last decade. And he's 100 percent on the money. While I'm biased as a big-school alumnus, I'm not sure that I see the benefit to playing NCAA Division III over ACHA D1, particularly now that the top ACHA programs have most of the "extras" in place like institutional support and great coaching. And, in recent years, it's begun to look like people who aren't terrible at hockey feel that way too.

Playing shorthanded: How club hockey works
(Daily Illini)

The Illinois student paper delivered a bit of an ACHA primer for the uninformed, although one that reinforced why I still like talking about it a full three years after Penn State announced that its top teams would be leaving.

Senior defenseman Mike Evans said the Illini players are responsible for generating awareness throughout the community for Illini home games, where they make their primary source of funding through ticket sales, while the remaining bills get passed down to the team’s players and coaches.

...and, as tends to happen a lot with Illinois, there was one of those quotes:

"Illinois is a hockey state and there are a lot of great youth hockey players here that have to leave the state in order to play Division I hockey elsewhere," [head coach Nick] Fabbrini said. "The Big Ten Conference is going to be great for college hockey, and hopefully at some point the University takes a look at getting involved."

By the way, "college hockey directory" CollegeHockey.info, which hasn't done much correctly since jumping on the credibility-enhancing Twitter handle @USCollegeHockey, did notice that quote in case you were wondering. If you forgot (and how could you), CollegeHockey.info is the entity that blew up the hockey world for one evening in July by claiming that a DI announcement was imminent for the Illini.

Tommy Vannelli leaves Minnesota program
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Just as quickly as he arrived, freshman Minnesota defenseman Tommy Vannelli is now gone. A statement from head coach Don Lucia said that Vannelli struggled to balance athletics and academics, but really, he was sweating Penn State. We know that.

Speaking of PSU... Vannelli was a second-round pick of the St. Louis Blues back in June. His departure makes him the second consecutive Blues draftee to leave the Gophers early, following Max Gardiner.

JoeBa and HeidiBa shut 'er down

@BattistaJoseph
(Twitter)

JoeBa wrapped up what seemed like a recurring series of people saying their farewells to the Ice Pavilion on Sunday night:

The "last skate" at PSU's Greenberg Ice Pavilion. First skated here in Jan.1981. Great memories!

Great memories, indeed.

Ice Lions Announce Challenging 2013-14 Schedule

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:

Date	Time	Opponent	Location
9/27	7:35 p.m.	Indiana (PA) (D1)	S&T Bank Arena // Indiana, PA
9/28	3:15 p.m.	Indiana (PA) (D1)	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/4	10:15 p.m.	St. Joseph's*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/5	3:15 p.m.	Temple*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
ACHA Showcase, October 11th-13th
10/11	9:30 p.m.	SIU-Edwardsville	Kalamazoo, MI
10/12	7:00 p.m.	Michigan State	Kalamazoo, MI
10/13	1:00 p.m.	Grand Valley State	Kalamazoo, MI
10/18	10:15 p.m.	Rider*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/26	10:15 p.m.	Monmouth*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/27	TBD	Wash. & Jeff. (D1)	Ice Mine // Connellsville, PA
11/2	4:45 p.m.	Delaware*	Rust Arena // Newark, DE
11/3	TBD	Temple*	Flyers Skate Zone NE // Philadelphia, PA
11/8	8:30 p.m.	New York	Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers // New York, NY
11/9	2:15 p.m.	William Paterson	Ice Vault Arena // Wayne, NJ
11/15	7:45 p.m.	Lehigh (D1)	Steel Ice Center // Bethlehem, PA
11/16	1:00 p.m.	Lehigh (D1)	Steel Ice Center // Bethlehem, PA
11/17	2:00 p.m.	Wash. & Jeff. (D1)	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/6	9:00 p.m.	Delaware*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/8	5:00 p.m.	UMBC*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/13	8:30 p.m.	Rider*	Loucks Ice Center // Lawrenceville, NJ
12/14	8:15 p.m.	Rowan*	Hollydell Ice Arena // Sewell, NJ
1/10	8:00 p.m.	Liberty*	LaHaye Ice Center // Lynchburg, VA
1/11	7:30 p.m.	Virginia Tech*	Roanoke Civic Center // Roanoke, VA
1/17	9:00 p.m.	Rowan*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/18	2:00 p.m.	Boston Univ.	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/19	7:00 p.m.	Boston Univ.	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/25	TBD	Monmouth*	Jersey Shore Arena // Wall Twp., NJ
2/1	4:30 p.m.	UMBC*	Reisterstown Sportsplex // Reisterstown, MD
2/2	5:20 p.m.	St. Joseph's*	The Skatium // Havertown, PA
Navy Crab Pot Tournament, February 7th-8th
2/7	4:30 p.m.	Towson (D1)	McMullen Hockey Arena // Annapolis, MD
2/8	TBD	Navy (D1)/Maryland	McMullen Hockey Arena // Annapolis, MD
2/9	2:00 p.m.	PSU Berks (D1)	Body Zone // Wyomissing, PA
MACHA Playoffs, February 14th-16th
2/14	TBD	First Round	TBD
2/15	TBD	Semifinals	TBD
2/16	TBD	Finals	TBD
ACHA National Tournament, March 21st-25th
3/21	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/22	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/23	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/24	TBD	Semifinals	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/25	TBD	Finals	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA

Three Stars: May 20-26

Jerry York and his program, which has won three of the last six national titles, may be visiting PIA

3. 2013 NHL Draft Rankings – War Room May Edition (Round 4: 90-120)
(The Hockey Writers)

It's not all that common to find people with the knowledge and guts to rank NHL Entry Draft prospects beyond the first round, so full marks to THW for taking on that task. They have Eamon McAdam listed 113th ahead of the June 30th event, and also quoted a certain Penn State hockey blog in discussing him.

Yeah, okay, they misspelled my last name and put this site's URL down as "ThankYouTerryBlogspot.ca," but hey, at least the link works.

McAdam will be in Toronto for the NHL Scouting Combine all this week as he attempts to maximize his draft position.

2. Special look inside PSU's new hockey arena
(WJAC)

The latest best look at the Pegula Ice Arena came from WJAC last week.

One quick news item buried in the moving pictures: all 18 men's scholarships are fully endowed, according to Joe Battista. Put that together with the arena being completely paid off, ticket sales proceeding well and Big Ten Network money (even if it isn't $2 million), and I'm pretty confident in my admittedly revised opinion of Penn State hockey's finances.

1. The Hottest Ticket in Town is Going Fast! Get Them While You Can!
(statecollege.com)

I'm not sure why StateCollege.com compromises itself as a news gathering and reporting entity to let Battista write what is essentially a weekly advertisement for Penn State hockey, but I'm glad that they do.

The non-conference schedule features a number of traditional college hockey powers that have recently played in the NCAA Frozen Four! While I can’t tell you dates or exact teams, I will whet your appetite and toss you a hint on a featured game that will take place in Pegula Ice Arena this season. Think recent National Championship team from New England that Penn Stater’s will surely pack the arena to see as we “jump in to the deep end of the pool” in just year two of our NCAA College Hockey timeline.

Wow, okay.

Just to get the less surprising part of that out of the way, "a number of traditional college hockey powers that have recently played in the NCAA Frozen Four" could probably be considered more fuel for the fire that is the UMass-Lowell rumor, as the RiverHawks made it to Pittsburgh back in April. Vermont (which made the Frozen Four in 2009), RIT (2010), Union (2012) and Three Rivers Classic participant Boston College (2010 and 2012) have also participated in the season's final weekend within the last five years. Toss in conference opponents Wisconsin (2010), Michigan (2011) and Minnesota (2012), and that's an impressive collection of eight different Frozen Four teams of the 18 different programs qualifying since 2009.

On top of that, we have a home "game" against a "recent national championship team from New England." Recent is subjective, of course, but since 2000, the only winners from New England are Boston College (2001, 2008, 2010, 2012), Boston University (2009) and Yale (2013). Right off the top, we can chop BU from the list, as the Terriers have released a schedule that does not include Penn State. It's probably not Yale either, as the Ivy League schools limit themselves to a 29-game schedule and according to USCHO's 2013-14 Schedule Thread, the Bulldogs have 31 games (two are exemptions) already in for the coming year - although it should be noted that the Bulldogs haven't officially published anything yet.

So... Boston College. The Eagles haven't released their schedule either, but The Boston College Hockey Blog has most of it pieced together. However, there are only 33 games on BCHB's list, one under the non-Ivy limit of 34. So given Battista's parameters and what we know of the other teams fitting them, I have to think that BC is it. Jerry York's program has been the class of college hockey over the last decade, and Penn State could play them twice in year two. Deep end, here we come.

Just to sweep up before leaving, Battista also mentioned that the PIA opener against Army on October 11th against Army will be nationally televised and that season ticket deposits now top 3,400.

PS. The scheduling mentioned in this entry adds up to 13 non-conference games which, when adding in the 20 Big Ten contests, still puts Penn State one under 34. So there may be a surprise yet to come.

Best of the Rest

PSU hockey arena beginning to look like hockey arena
(Broad Street Hockey)

I want to preface this by saying that, issues with Black Shoe Diaries' Bill DiFilippo aside, I'm a huge fan of the SB Nation network. I consider myself an avid reader of five of its blogs and a frequent-ish reader of at least three others, Broad Street Hockey included. Both BSD and BSH have been very good to this blog in the past. I really like Travis Hughes as well, and consider him among the most intelligent and level-headed hockey writers out there today. He's generally a PSU-friendly guy, as demonstrated by the fact that this post exists. All of that said... WTF guy?

Philadelphia will host the 2014 Frozen Four. Chances of Penn State making it are very, very slim with what's expected to be another weak out-of-conference schedule and a very tough in-conference slate.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, here's what we know about the out-of-conference schedule: one game against Army to open the PIA, the game against Vermont in Philly, a Three Rivers Classic including Boston College (although I have to think that PSU will open against Robert Morris again as the powers that be try to cultivate that rivalry, with BC and Bowling Green in the other first-day game), an away series against Air Force, a game at RMU, a home series against Union and one PIA game against RIT. The rumor mill includes three possible home games against Boston College and UMass-Lowell, as noted above.

Is that appreciably different than Wisconsin's non-league schedule? The Badgers will play (all two-game series, unless noted) Northern Michigan, at Boston College (1), at Boston University (1), Lake Superior State, at Miami, Colorado College, Alabama-Huntsville and the biggest joke in college hockey right now, known to some as Alaska-Anchorage.

What about Ohio State? They have (again, two-game series unless noted) Miami (1), at Miami (1), Bowling Green (1), at Bowling Green (1), Robert Morris (1), at Robert Morris (1), Minnesota-Duluth, Niagara, Canisius and Mercyhurst. I'm biased, but I happen to think PSU's slate is significantly better.

Long story short, Penn State scheduled well enough that there's really no rational justification for saying that the Nittany Lions have "another weak out-of-conference schedule."

Oh yeah... the link also includes a couple of pretty cool GIFs of the PIA progress from beginning to now (which were actually the centerpiece of the thing, until an throwaway comment at the end set me off).

URI: No interest in varsity hockey
(Rhode Island Public Radio)

Confirming what I sort of suspected all along but didn't want to say out loud, Rhode Island's reported efforts at varsity hockey are apparently not taking place on an official level.

URI officials have no interest in upgrading the current program from club status to a varsity sport in either men’s or women’s hockey, says URI sports information director Mike Lepray. "We’re not pursuing adding either men’s or women’s hockey to varsity status."

St. Anselm, your move.

St. Anselm hockey eyes Division I
(New Hampshire Union Leader)

If the last article didn't erase all doubt concerning the most likely elevation candidate, this one will, with Atlantic Hockey and College Hockey America commissioner Bob DeGregorio even admitting that the Hawks are the clubhouse leaders.

Chambers & O'Brien Pairing Highlights 17th Annual CVC Golf Tournament, May 31
(gopsusports.com)

Guy Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene will both play in Penn State's Coaches vs. Cancer golf tournament on Friday. BUT WHO CARES OMG BILL O'BRIEN AND PAT CHAMBERS!!!

Yeah, I'm turning into "bitter hockey guy who resents that football and basketball get more attention," after swearing I wouldn't. If I ever start dropping "pointyball" and "bouncyball" (occasionally "squeakball") with regularity, you'll know that I'm all the way gone.

Stampede Name Head Coach to Lead the 2013-14 Campaign!
(The Junior Hockey News)

Now-former Ice Lions coach Matt Morrow won't be the only guy with Penn State ties coaching in the Tier III Junior A Western States Hockey League in 2013-2014. Gary Gill, who oversaw Penn State Berks' elevation to ACHA Division 1 in 2007-2008 after serving as an assistant in 2006-2007, is the new head coach of the Cheyenne Stampede. Gill departed Berks after just one season in charge, but thanks in part to his efforts the team saw immediate success at the D1 level, qualifying for the ACHA national championships in 2009.

Creek Lewis will look to move to 4-0 in his career against UMBC on December 8th

2013-14 Schedule
(umbcicehockey.com)

Speaking of the Ice Lions, we now know two of their games for the coming season, thanks to MACHA rival Maryland-Balitmore County putting out their schedule. The Retrievers will visit Pegula Ice Arena on Sunday, December 8th, with PSU hitting crab country on Saturday, February 1, 2014. Matchups between the two powers of ACHA Division 2's Southeast Region are always tremendous, so if you want to get out to see the Ice Lions, you could make a worse call than December 8th.

Other things revealed through the UMBC schedule: the MACHA playoffs will take place over the February 14-16, 2014 weekend, the ACHA's Southeast Regionals follow on the 22nd and 23rd, while the ACHA National Tournament (March 21-25, 2014) has been awarded to Marlborough, MA. Furthermore the MACHA, which lost East Carolina and Monmouth from its ranks after last season, appears as if it is dropping its divisional structure and operating as a single and stacked ten-team circuit (PSU, UMBC, Rider, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Rowan, St. Joseph's, Liberty, Delaware, Temple), with each team playing its nine opponents once at home and once on the road.

Brandywine Ice Hockey Honored at All Sports Banquet
(psubrandywineathletics.com)

PSU Brandywine's 25th annual all-sports banquet, which featured University Park athletic director Dave Joyner as a guest speaker, had some representation from the only commonwealth campus hockey team to qualify for ACHA Division 3 regionals last season: Drew Haber, Andrew Hieber, Francis Fourney and Joe Naselli were each recognized for their DVCHC all-conference selections.

@LetsPlay_Hockey
(Twitter)

Duluth East (MN) High School product Meirs Moore, a defenseman with the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers, committed to RPI last week after previously expressing interest in Penn State.

RIT's Ali Binnington: good at playing goalie, not an idiot

RIT women's hockey raises $5,939.86 to help "CURE Childhood Cancer"

Women's hockey goaltender Ali Binnington earns 2013 Co-SIDA/Capital One Academic All-Region honor
(ritathletics.com)

Congratulations to the Tigers, a CHA rival of the Nittany Lion women, on the nearly $6,000 generated by their Skate for the Cure event in February (the check was only recently presented to the target organization, which is why this is news now) as well as to goaltender Ali Binnington on becoming RIT's first academic all-region selection of their women's Division I era.

NCHC commissioner Scherr says link to European job ‘premature’
(USCHO)

Let's close this out by taking a second to laugh at the dustiest conference in the nation, which may end up needing to hire a second commissioner before its inaugural season.

Done? Okay, now back to figuring out whether "CBS Sports Network" is a real channel or something they made up.

Three Stars: February 25-March 3

3. 2013 Men's Division 2 National Championships
(achahockey.org)

Last Monday, with the ACHA D2 regional tournaments completed, the Ice Lions learned their Pool C rivals for the upcoming ACHA championship tournament - Marist (No. 1 in the Northeast Region), Illinois State (No. 3. in the Central Region) and Weber State (No. 4 in the West Region).

In true ACHA style, I can't tell you precisely when Penn State will play each of those teams just yet, although we do know that the games will be on March 15th, 16th and 17th at the Hardee's IcePlex in Chesterfield, MO. Should PSU win the group, they'll advance to the semifinals on the 18th against the Pool A winner (Grand Valley State, Arizona State, Northeastern, Maryland), then hopefully to the finals on the 19th.

2. Joe Battista: Thank you Greenberg Ice Pavilion! Next stop: Pegula Ice Arena!
(statecollege.com)

Joe Battista dropping Ice Pavilion memories? Yes, please.

1. Sowney sets record, with assist from linemate
(phillyburbs.com)

On February 21st, in a Commonwealth Campus season wrap-up post, I mentioned that Berks senior Sean Sowney became the fourth player in program history to hit the 100-point mark for his career. Well, take that one step further: Sowney finished with 111 points to end as Berks' all-time leading scorer, with the record-breaking point coming on the final shift of his career to cap a four-point night.

“It’s a great feeling knowing of all of the people who went to this school you are the only one to ever do this,” Sowney said. “The record may be broken but at the time when I left, I was the leading scorer.”

Following his high school career, Sowney attended Burlington County College for one year before attending Penn State. The year spent at the two-year institution consumed one year of Sowney’s athletic eligibility.

“I know if I had an extra year I could have put that record out of reach.” Sowney said.

Whether the record falls next season or not, Sowney’s living in the present.

“This is one of those achievements where you realize everything you you’ve done in your career, it’s all came together. It’s an awesome feeling.” Sowney said.

A great story, and certainly worthy of the lengthy write-up it received - as well as first-star status.

Best of the Rest

@Ben_Jones88
(Twitter)

The major story here is the pouring of the concrete that will sit underneath the Pegula Ice Arena's playing surface, but to be honest, I'm more impressed with the general aesthetic here. I mean, look at it - beyond the installation of the ice and seats, a couple (much) smaller things, and a bunch of stuff you can't see in the photo, that's your home arena. Not too bad.

RIT is a great addition to a new division
(USCHO)

Too soon? Yeah, probably. But nevertheless, it's a great in-depth look at the Tigers and what has to be called a highly-successful first DI season in Henrietta, NY - I watched RIT's first DI game against Mercyhurst on September 28th where they went down 2-0 18 seconds in, and I've seen their most recent work, against Penn State of course. Not really much of a comparison. Tons of credit is due head coach Scott McDonald, his staff, and a group of senior leaders with that championship mentality for their getting up to speed quickly.

On rare occasions, Laura Bowman has to open her mouth to communicate with Amy Petersen

History is rewritten in Tonka three-peat
(Chanhassen Villager)

Here's one more look at the third consecutive Minnesota title won by Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen - soon to be called incoming PSU freshmen - and their teammates. If you hadn't already figured it out, it looks like we're in for some freaky Sedin twin-like ESP stuff with the best friends. This passage concerns Bowman's clinching goal in the state championship game:

Petersen and Bowman put the game away at the 3:04 mark of the final period. Carrying the puck into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1, Bowman slowed the play, passing across to Petersen, who returned the favor for a tap-in goal for Bowman.

"Amy and I have played together for 11 years and we just have amazing chemistry. I was impressed with our play," laughed Bowman, who added three assists in the tournament. "We were talking about how pretty it was when we were screaming. We knew it was pretty."

Conor Garland - Moncton Wildcats (2014 Eligible)
(hfboards.com)

Since bailing on his Penn State commitment for the defense-optional QMJHL, Conor Garland has done fairly well, with 17 points in 19 games. And he's starting to generate some buzz ahead of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft in spite of his elfin stature. No, I don't really care, and you probably shouldn't either, but I guess it's sort of my job to point things like this out, and I neglected to delete his Google Alert, so...

@Rob_Gsinger25
(Twitter)

Depressing? Hilarious? Awesome? Guess that sort of depends on your favorite sport and your outlook on life. Personally, I don't think it's a violation of #OneTeaminess to acknowledge that Penn State men's basketball hasn't been a highly-successful program, for the most part, and will often be on the ouch side of oddities like this. And hockey winning at Wisconsin in year one of the NCAA era was awesome. So that's where I am with it.

Notebook: Penn State no patsy in becoming Gophers' newest hockey rival
(1500espn.com)

While on the surface, this article is no different from the glut of shallow pieces generated by Guy Gadowsky's end-of-season press conference - new arena coming, surprisingly good team, everyone's happy and excited, if you missed them -respect coming from Minnesota is a little different.

Coached by Guy Gadowsky, who produced success first at Alaska and then at Princeton before landing the coveted job in State College, the Lions finished the season with a respectable 13-14-0 record, which included wins over Michigan State, Ohio State and the Badgers.

It also included a bewildering loss to Arizona State's club team, but such are the growing pains to be expected in a hockey program that had zero seniors and was started from scratch two years ago.

Gadowsky took a few players off the Lions' club team, recruited heavily in the growing hockey communities in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and got a few transfers, including ex-Gopher Max Gardiner, from Minnetonka.

"It wasn't like they were starting a new program. They had a nucleus of players on campus, and they were able to get some transfers in which helps when you're building your program," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "I think they're going to walk in in a good spot. They had a good year this year, and obviously, it was a big win (at Wisconsin)."

"Started from scratch?" Kind of a baffling way to put it, especially given that it's almost immediately contradicted by Don Lucia. I've written about it before, but you simply can't separate the Icers from what happened this season, end of story. I'll take it a step further and say that the loss to Arizona State was less about "growing pains" and more about the quality of the ACHA that helped launch PSU's NCAA program (certainly, both played some role - ASU wouldn't be able to do that to a Boston College).

Yep, I'm playing ACHA hero again. Someone at Penn State has to do it.

Spring Commonwealth Campus Roundup

Former Ice Lion Ed Maras leads Behrend's team, which fell just short of the CHE playoffs

Here's an update on how each of Penn State's five Commonwealth Campus ACHA teams finished out their seasons. As this post is meant to pick up where the semester break update in December left off, the focus here will be on games played during January and February, but feel free to refer to the previous post for more information.

Berks (ACHA D1)

The team that now can claim the distinction of being the highest-level ACHA squad at any Penn State campus finished a rough season 8-20-2, including 2-6-0 in the spring semester. Berks' 3-9-1 ECHA record was good for seventh place in the conference, but not good enough for its six-team playoff.

 

Still, there's reason for optimism. While it's always tricky to project personnel with a Commonwealth Campus team, this season's Blue Lions only had two seniors and closed on a positive note, beating Drexel 2-1 on February 3rd and trouncing Scranton on Senior Day 9-1, a win that saw Josh Flamini, Tommy McDaniel and Sean Sowney all put up 2-2-4 scorelines. For a program that's seen the high of a nationals appearance in 2009 and the low of a 24-game losing streak to open 2010-2011, things at least seem to be trending in the right direction.

 

Right now, the bar in the ECHA is set by league champ Navy, which is headed to the ACHA championships this season. Two of the six second-half losses for PSUB came at the hands of the Midshipmen, 11-2 on January 19th and 7-2 on January 26th - but even a cursory look at the Blue Lions' results shows that they're competitive with just about everyone else, including a tough Lebanon Valley College team that finished second in the ECHA.

 

One notable story from Berks' season came on January 20th, when senior Sowney became the fourth player in program history (and the second at the ACHA D1 level) to join the 100-point club. The Delran, NJ native finished as the team's leading scorer with 44 points, but was followed closely by Larry Barretta (42) and Chris Cashin (35). Goaltender Mike Narrigan was blasted with 43.6 shots per 60 minutes but still held up well, considering, with a 4.92 goals against average and a 0.887 save percentage.

Altoona (ACHA D3)

Toontown posted a rousing 3-2 overtime win over Behrend to open the spring semester, a game that saw the Eriemen erase a 2-0 deficit (including a tying goal with 14 seconds left in regulation) before Brandon Herrman made a takeaway at his line and buried a sudden-death breakaway 1:54 into overtime.

Despite the good start, Altoona was unable to climb back into CHE playoff contention against an extremely tough schedule - three of the team's last five games were against Robert Morris and California (PA), who combined to go 21-3-0 in the league - and went 2-3-0 after the Behrend game to finish 7-11-1 overall and 3-9-0 in CHE.

The team was actually pretty close to making the playoffs after a 4-3 overtime win over St. Vincent (thanks to Ben Kinch's winner) on January 20th pulled Altoona within two points of the Polar Bearcats for the fifth and final spot. As things turned out, one more upset would have been enough, and it almost happened the day before the SVC game at home against Cal, when PSUA held a 4-2 lead halfway through before surrendering five consecutive and going on to lose 8-5. The Vulcans, by the way, went on to earn the top ranking in ACHA D3's Atlantic Region and an autobid to the national championships, so Altoona's challenging them certainly proves something.

In an end-of-the-season statement posted on the team's website, head coach Tom Lantz expressed disappointment and optimism at the same time:

Although the season did not quite turn out like we had planned, I saw significant improvement from the first half of the season to the second. I can honestly say I am extremely excited for next season as we have a strong group of freshmen returning who will be the core of PSU Altoona.

Speaking of next season, what should be a more experienced team already has its first two games posted - October 5th and 6th at George Mason.

Brandywine (ACHA D3)

Brandywine was the only one of the four ACHA D3 commonwealth campus teams to qualify for the ACHA regional tournaments, as they finished sixth in the Atlantic Region (as we've seen with D2, the top two teams in each of the four regions of D3 receive nationals autobids, while third through tenth play in regional tournaments for two additional bids from each region).

However, any national championship dreams ended abruptly and decisively with a 7-1 loss to SUNY-Maritime in Brandywine's first game at regionals. SUNY-Maritime, for what it's worth, won one of the two bids available from the tournament and will compete at nationals March 12th through 16th in Springfield, MO.

Despite that season-closing disappointment, PSUB enjoyed a very successful spring semester, going 6-3-0 after New Year's Day to finish 19-9-0 overall. Included in the six second-half wins were three against teams that qualified for regionals: Pitt-Johnstown, Alvernia and Farmingdale State, which, as the number two Atlantic team, received a nationals autobid. That last game, a 3-1 victory on January 25th, featured goals from Mike McGahey, Russell Lorring and Paul Albert, as well as two assists from defenseman Kyle Laughlin. The Alvernia win was by a 3-2 score in a gritty, penalty-filled affair the next day, with Joseph Naselli, Michael McGuire and Sean Buchanan scoring the Brandywine goals.

In a meat grinder-like Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference National Division (each of the division's five teams finished in the Atlantic Region's top 12), Brandywine went 4-4-0, good for third place.

Behrend (ACHA D3)

Like Altoona, Behrend had a light schedule over the second half of the season - just five games total, including the aforementioned overtime loss to PSUA to open the semester. And also like Altoona, Behrend didn't have enough in the tank to make the CHE playoffs, finishing 8-13-2 overall and 3-8-1 in the conference to miss out on the tournament by just one point to St. Vincent.

The best play in the what-if game (beyond the January 12th contest, of course) might be Behrend's season-closing 5-3 loss at Fredonia February 10th with the playoffs still on the table. The Blue Devils built a 3-0 second-period lead through a natural hat trick by Doug Clayton, then...

With a commanding 3-0 lead the Blue Devils were near getting out of the period when Penn State was able to get their first goal of the game, on a Robert Moll penalty with only a minute left. The Penn State goal was scored by Jared Bagnato.

The late goal in the second kept Penn State rolling and they took full momentum in the game with two early goals in the third to tie the game up at 3. The goals were scored buy Kenneth Gross and Kevin Backoefer. However, the Blue Devils would not give up as they began to turn the momentum with a few big saves from [Sean] Adymy and picking up their physical play. Tyler Hagan would get Fredonia back in front, at 9:33 with goal from right from the top of the crease. Brian Marrano would later give Fredonia and insurance goal with 4:59 left in the period and would also seal the 5-3 win for Fredonia.

Actually, that might be the only play for Ed Maras' troops in the what-if game, as the other three matches were a clutch win over St. Vincent on January 25th and blowout losses to Robert Morris and Cal. Notably, all five spring semester games were played away from Behrend's home Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Defenseman Robert Banks - who scored the goal that forced overtime at Altoona before turning it over to lead to the winner - finished tied for eighth in CHE goal scoring with eight goals, impressively coming in just seven of the team's 12 conference games. Bagnato (12 goals, 22 points in all games) and Backoefer (13 goals, 25 points in all games) also stood out statistically for Behrend.

Harrisburg (ACHA D3)

 

Harrisburg can claim something none of the other Commonwealth Campus teams have - they competed in the playoffs for their league, the Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association. Of course, it helps that the Frederick, MD tournament's format includes each of the five MDCHA teams, since the Capital College finished dead last with a 1-9-0 conference record.

Expectedly, it was a short run at MDCHAs, as Mount St. Mary's ended Harrisburg's season with a 4-1 result on February 8th - despite the fact that MSM was PSUH's only conference victim, via a 7-4 win on November 5th. In that earlier game, Ian Thomson scored twice and added a pair of assists. Ian McKenna and Alex Shuey also had two goals apiece, while Richard Hoffer scored the other goal and assisted on three.

The only two games with available results in the spring semester (prior to the MDCHA tournament) were an 8-3 loss to American on January 26th and a 5-3 loss to Johns Hopkins on February 2nd.

McKenna finished as the team's leading scorer (of games reported to the ACHA) with nine goals and three assists, while Brent Antolik was the helper king with six alongside his four goals.

Note: Data on Harrisburg's team is extremely hard to come by - the team has no website, and the sites for the MDCHA, the ACHA and opponents are often not updated or incomplete. Please accept my apologies for any inaccuracies and feel free to contact me with any corrections or additional information.