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.

Fall Commonwealth Campus Roundup

Junior forwards Joshua Flamini (left) and Larry Barretta are vital to the Berks attack.

One of my great regrets in doing this blog is that I haven't given more attention to the deserving ACHA teams representing Penn State's commonwealth campuses. So, in an attempt to begin to rectify that situation, here's a rundown of where each stands at the semester break.

Berks (ACHA D1)

Just a few years ago Berks, called the Blue Lions, looked like an up-and-coming program. In 2008-2009, they rode the tried-and-true horrible conference autobid formula to nationals, creating the awkward situation of two chipmunks on the tournament bracket (the Icers being the other, of course).

Two seasons later, they bottomed out in spectacular fashion, losing 24 straight to open the season (one in a shootout) before winning the final game on the schedule, the Navy Crabpot Invitational consolation game against Lehigh. I suppose in that context, 6-16-0 so far this season isn't all that bad.

Berks still lurks squarely in the lower regions of D1, playing out of the ECHA with mid-Atlantic teams like Lebanon Valley, Lehigh and Villanova. The league's position in the larger ACHA picture is reflected by the team's schedule, as the Blue Lions haven't played a team ranked higher than 21st in the latest poll all season. At the same time and despite their D1 status, they're still in the sights of top D2 programs like University Park's Ice Lions, victors by five and six goals against Berks this year (the second score was a little harsh, with two late garbage goals from the Ice Lions).

Following break, Berks' schedule ramps up a few clicks, with games against ECHA frontrunners Navy, Towson and Drexel in January. To stay afloat through that tough stretch, they'll need Larry Barretta and Sean Sowney to continue their high production level.

Altoona (ACHA D3)

People always talk about the NCAA men and women of University Park as young teams, but it's safe to say that Altoona, with its team perpetually made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores - it's a commonwealth campus, after all - has them beat.

This season's team is young even by that standard, with eight sophomores and 18 freshmen. Partly as a result, Toontown has struggled this season, with a 4-8-1 record and a last place spot in College Hockey East (CHE)'s South Division (which is also occupied by Pitt-Johnstown and St. Vincent).

Generally speaking, when things have gone right, big scorers like Conlan Sodrosky, Ben Kinch and Jeffrey Nelson have helped balance out what has been a porous defense to this point. Both sides of that Jeckyll and Hyde story made an appearance against St. Vincent on October 26th, when goals from Sodrosky (two of them) and Kinch helped Altoona to a 5-1 third period lead. The Polar Bearcats then cut it to 5-4 in short order, forcing Altoona to hang on for the last 3:39 of the game to get the win. St. Vincent is ranked tenth in the Atlantic Region of ACHA Division 3, qualifying the game as Altoona's biggest win of the season. One week later, in a 7-3 win over Pitt-Greensberg on November 3rd, James DiBerardinis and Charles Dunton stepped up with four-point nights.

Altoona will look to get the season righted and crawl back into CHE playoff contention with six straight conference games in the 2013 portion of the schedule, beginning with hosting system rival Behrend on January 12th in a game that will be covered by TYT.

Brandywine (ACHA D3)

By virtue of carrying the No. 5 slot in ACHA Division 3's Atlantic Region, Brandywine is the only one of the commonwealth campus teams presently with a poll ranking.

Division 3's tournament setup is identical to what the Ice Lions face in Division 2: The top two teams in each region at the end of the season advance to the national championships, while the teams ranked third through tenth play for two additional slots given to each region. As the fifth-place team then, Brandywine is in position to qualify for regionals, as it did last year with the ninth seed.

If there is a knock on the squad, it's that they've struggled with the sort of teams they'll need to beat to advance beyond that point. While their 13-6-0 record is packed with wins against ranked opponents - Fairfield, Fredonia, East Stroudsburg (twice) and Albany to name a few - they haven't beaten a team higher than ninth in their region. Meanwhile, the six losses have come against the likes of California (PA) (twice), Alvernia and Pitt-Johnstown, the Atlantic Region's first, third and sixth place teams - in other words, the teams that will likely stand between Brandywine and nationals.

As you might expect with a good team, the scoring has been nicely balanced, with Mike McGahey, Joseph Naselli, Francis Fourney, Brandon Benn, Billy Gregg and Andrew Haber all averaging better than a point per game. Andrew Hieber keeps things reasonably tight in goal, with a 3.05 goals against average.

Behrend (ACHA D3)

The CHE rival of Altoona has tracked fairly similarly with their southeastern frenemies, posting an overall record of 7-10-1 and trailing California (PA), Robert Morris and Fredonia in the league's North Division.

In fact, Behrend also claims a win over St. Vincent as possibly their biggest of the season. In that November 16th tilt, the Polar Bearcats led 5-2 early in the third period before Behrend stormed back with five unanswered in the last 16:34 of the game. Robert Banks had a hat trick and an assist in the game, while Jacob Grumski also put up four points. As momentum-generating as a win like that normally is, it was actually the exception in a seven-of-eight losing skid from October 27th through December 7th that turned Behrend's season in a southbound direction.

Banks and Jared Bagnato, who leads the team in goals with 12, make up a high-powered pair of defensemen with numbers that make most forwards jealous. Grumski and Kevin Backoefer, however, are not two of those forwards, as they also add plenty to an offense that - again, like Altoona - has to outscore a defense that allows 5.47 goals per game.

Another big win for Behrend came on October 21st, when Bagnato scored at 2:57 of overtime to take down Altoona, 3-2 in Erie. They'll attempt the season sweep, as mentioned, on January 12th before closing with road games against CHE teams Robert Morris, St. Vincent, Cal and Fredonia. The lone remaining home game is an out-of-conference matchup with D'Youville on January 26th.

Harrisburg (ACHA D3)

Harrisburg competes in the Mason-Dixon Collegiate Hockey Association with American, Dickinson, Johns Hopkins, Franklin & Marshall and Mount St. Mary's. Presently the Capital College representatives are in a tie for fourth place with an overall record of 2-7-0.

The team stumbled to the semester's finish line, with blowout losses at Dickinson (11-1) and at Bryn Athyn (14-5) on December 1st and 9th, respectively. In the Bryn Athyn game, Harrisburg managed two goals in a 2:05 span to cut its deficit to 6-3 midway through before things got out of hand.

November 5th was the date of Harrisburg's last win, 7-4 over Mount St. Mary's. Ian Thomson led the way with two goals and two assists, while Richard Hoffer buried a goal with three assists. Ian McKenna and Alex Shuey each chipped in a pair of scores as well.

A light spring schedule - just three games - begins January 26th at home, against American.