NCAA Elevation: Hard Truths and Luck

A confession: I'm naturally skeptical when people start discussing the prospects of schools presently without NCAA hockey adding the sport, regardless of the supporting arguments. If you're a Penn Stater, how could you not be? I mean, for years, decades, we supposedly did everything right, and... nothing. If it wasn't money for the Ice Pavilion drying up and ruining the plan, it was World War II. Yes, we eventually met a billionaire who helped clear all of the hurdles, but the struggle preceding that should never be forgotten.

Because of that struggle, I tend to get frustrated with people who casually throw candidates for NCAA promotion out there. Sometimes it's Illinois (where you at, Jimmy John?), sometimes it's the west coast, sometimes it's... uhhh... Buffalo, sometimes it's Rhode Island (even ten years ago). Now it's Maryland and Rutgers, thanks to their brand new Big Ten memberships.

URI's Boss Ice Arena meets the facility standards of Atlantic Hockey, but a Big Ten team will likely have to spend $50 million or more to construct an adequate arena.

Big Ten hockey can be a double-edged sword in that the revenue (potentially, at least) is greater, but so is the cost of entry. It would be one thing for Rhode Island to find some money for Atlantic Hockey's maximum of 12 scholarships - or not, Connecticut didn't even offer that prior to announcing its departure for Hockey East - and go NCAA out of their current rink, the completely-adequate-for-that-purpose Brad Boss Ice Arena, which would become the third largest facility in the AHA. The Big Ten is a whole 'nother thing. Big Arenas, Big Budgets, Big Life, Big Stage, Big Ten. Remember: Penn State, in its flush-with-cash pre-scandal days, got an $88 million donation specifically for hockey, then examined the situation and decided that still wasn't enough. Terry Pegula later added $14 million to to that number, and the university sought somewhere around $10 million from other sources.

Breaking PSU's $112 million down, $89 million was for the Pegula Ice Arena. So if you can get the building somewhere else, that number drops to a more reasonable $23 million, mostly to endow scholarships and alleviate future budget issues (or more than that, if retrofitting an existing arena with an ice plant, or something else along those lines). And that number also includes a women's team, which may or may not be necessary based on Title IX requirements.

Just to get that hurdle out of the way, Rutgers is 51.4 percent male and a rough count says that men take up 320 of 670 (47.8 percent) of the Scarlet Knights' varsity roster spots - obviously, even adding a hockey team to the men keeps the number just under 50 percent. Maryland (53.0 percent male) uses 288 of 508 (56.7 percent) roster spots on men. While there's certainly much more involved with Title IX compliance, on the surface, it would seem that RU is in okay shape, while Maryland is in a less flexible spot.

Facility-wise, and at least superficially, both Rutgers and Maryland have work to do. RU would likely need an entirely new rink. Maryland at least stands a chance of adding ice to the ten-year-old Comcast Center (their 17,950-seat basketball arena), but as Penn State has seen first-hand, it's often easier to just build a new rink. Either approach, regardless, is a significant expense. It should be noted that it's possible to construct an adequate facility for less than $89 million - RIT's 4,500-seat Gene Polisseni Center, scheduled for a 2014 opening, has an estimated price tag of $35 million, while Notre Dame's 5,022-seat Compton Family Ice Arena cost around $50 million.

It's conceivable, then, that a start-up needing a major-conference rink could enter the game for something around $60 million. But is that how you want to get at Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan - by cutting corners right from the beginning? Penn State certainly didn't think that was a good idea.

In some ways, Brandon DeLibero's Rutgers program is a much more likely candidate for elevation than Maryland. But the hard reality is that it would be a very long road for either school.

The revenue potential with the new Big Ten additions is certainly vast, in both directions. While the conference is banking on lucrative access to television sets in the New York City and Washington-Baltimore markets, Maryland stands to make $100 million more in conference payouts by 2020 than it would have by remaining in the ACC. The ACC's television payout dwarfs that of the Big East, so while I couldn't find a breakdown specific to Rutgers, it's a safe assumption that RU stands to gain even more than Maryland.

So is it as simple as saving up the newfound riches from 2014 (when both schools officially join) until 2020, then having a nest egg as big as Penn State's? Well, not quite.

[Big Ten commissioner Jim] Delany found two desperate, cash-strapped members in Maryland, which had to drop seven sports last summer, and Rutgers, which spent more money than any public university in the country on athletics from a school budget that was $28 million in the red. Both schools jumped at the chance when offered a long-term financial bailout, and for the opportunity to be with what they consider better company.

Both schools have a financial mess of an athletic department right now, to the point where they had to shed part of their identities for the payday. And as mentioned in the quote, Maryland's situation is severe enough to force their chopping sports.

Men’s and women’s swimming; men’s tennis; women’s water polo; acrobatics and tumbling (formerly known as competitive cheer); and two men’s track programs, cross-country and indoor track and field, were eliminated. Those programs did not show enough progress toward raising eight years’ worth of total costs by June 30.

The announcement comes after Maryland President Wallace D. Loh accepted the recommendation of a 17-member panel last November that called for the school to eliminate eight athletic programs to offset a deficit that is projected to reach more than $4 million this fiscal year and could top $17 million by 2017.

Does that seem like a school that's even about to consider adding anything, let alone the notably expensive sport of hockey? Chris Peters of The United States of Hockey raises a counterpoint in the form of one prominent Terrapins booster.

What makes Maryland all the more intriguing, is the close relationship of Under Armour founder and Maryland alum Kevin Plank with the school’s athletic department. Now billionaires don’t just give away money, but Plank probably wouldn’t mind seeing a potential for a new revenue stream opening up for his alma mater’s athletic department.

The counterpoint to the counterpoint? Plank either allowed or could not prevent things from progressing to their current state, so...

Rutgers does seem like it scores a better on most counts than Maryland - including both the quality of their ACHA team and their conference exit fee of $10 million, compared to Maryland's $50 million. Still, RU has to overcome their current red ink, and...

The Bryce Jordan Center was PSU's last great near-miss with respect to NCAA hockey.

When Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1990, the university underwent a massive facilities upgrade to bring everything up to the conference's standard. The most visible and obvious example is the Bryce Jordan Center, which opened in 1996 and cost $78.2 million in 2012 dollars. Rutgers may have their very own Rec Hall in the form of the 8,000-seat Louis Brown Athletic Center, which is set to be the Big Ten's smallest basketball venue, and it's entirely possible that they'll want to upgrade too. Does that open the door for a multi-purpose arena which includes ice? I suppose, but as mentioned, that costs extra. The current sports will always take priority, so if Rutgers has to make a choice between an arena with ice and an ice-free arena with enhancements to their football stadium, they're going to choose the latter. When the BJC needed something cut, it was the ice.

So, to recap: high cost of entry, heavily struggling athletic departments, conference exit fees, priority on stabilization and getting existing sports teams up to snuff.

It's precisely for those reasons that I encourage people to forget about Maryland and Rutgers and look to schools already in the conference, particularly those examining or building new arenas. Illinois is looking to renovate Assembly Hall instead of building a new facility, a likely blow to their prospects of NCAA status. Indiana's trustees have already voted in favor of a new arena "when appropriate." Nebraska's Pinnacle Bank Arena, scheduled to open at the same time as the Pegula Ice Arena, will include the potential to serve as an ice facility (Huskers blog Corn Nation recently did an outstanding piece on this very issue relative to their school, with decidedly mixed opinions on the topic). Sure, there's always a chance that a school finds its own Pegula to make much of this discussion moot, but... really? That's what you're counting on?

If it was easy, everyone would do it. But it's a little less hard for the schools that have stable finances and are already in the Big Ten.

Three national championships. Nine Frozen Fours. Hockey state. Ryan Miller. Loses money.

In the event that a school - Rutgers or Maryland or anyone else - overcomes all of that, there's at least a chance of hockey serving a revenue producer, as USCHO's Todd Milewski points out in an excellent piece. Still, questions remain.

Michigan State (a very historic program) and Ohio State lose over one million dollars per year on men's hockey. Michigan turns about half a million in profit, but doesn't have to worry about supporting a women's NCAA program. Wisconsin also makes money on men's hockey, but loses money when counting the women. We don't yet know about Penn State. That leaves Minnesota, an outlier in just about every way when it comes to hockey. Will the formation of the Big Ten and the resulting BTN broadcasts enhance anyone's hockey-specific numbers or add anything to the pot? Honestly, I have my doubts. Even a more optimistic outlook must acknowledge that it's a giant unknown right now. It's often said that hockey can be a revenue sport, but it only seems to play out that way for the Gophers, North Dakota, and maybe Boston University and a select few others. For Big Football State U. to add the sport and expect it to turn a profit or even pay for itself is unrealistic in my opinion.

From purely a dollars and cents, risk-conscious standpoint, major-conference hockey really doesn't look like something worth pursuing unless someone shows up with a high eight- or nine-figure donation to get things rolling, address the facility expense (which exists and is significant in a vast majority of cases) endow scholarships (among the largest year-to-year expenses) and protect against future shortfalls. And the donor should probably be a big hockey fan and stand firm on the donation's purpose, because with a check that large, non-hockey people are going to try to get a bite at the apple.

Ultimately, my point is this: Penn State was lucky. Damn lucky. To expect that luck to magically reproduce itself at campuses all across the country simply because college hockey's conference structure is more amenable to adding teams is foolish.

Did The Icers Matter?

With Maryland and Rutgers joining the Big Ten this week, some attention was given to the question of whether either school would take advantage of their new conference's sponsorship of hockey by adding NCAA Division I hockey to their athletic offerings. Big Ten hockey, as I'm sure you know, presently only involves six of the (now) 14 league members, so speculation regarding those (now) eight members without NCAA hockey is a favorite pastime of bored hockey bloggers.

Contrary to the assertions of many entertaining that topic who declared that neither school has a hockey team, both have ACHA programs, although at decidedly different points in the hierarchy. Maryland, once upon a time, was a conference rival of the Icers in the short-lived ACHL (although not a particularly competitive one - PSU never scored fewer than 12 on them in five meetings over two ACHL seasons from 1992 through 1994), but today, they're stuck in the rather large middle class of Division 2. Sometimes they're decent (relative to the division), sometimes not.

Jason Adams, a huge part of his team's recent successes, has helped Rutgers to a 9-4-0 start this season.

Rutgers, on the other hand, has become a pretty solid program after years of struggle following their 1998 elevation to Division 1. In recent seasons, the Ice Knights typically have won one of the weaker D1 conferences, the NECHL, collected an autobid to to the national championships, and lost once there. RU has certainly had moments - they beat defending national champ Delaware on October 26th and toppled Rhode Island last year, to cite two examples - but generally, they have struggled to break into the upper levels of D1. To its credit, the program upgraded leagues to the ESCHL (formerly PSU's home) this season and looks to continue growing.

However, with no disrespect whatsoever intended (I happen to like Rutgers' program), it's a fair statement that neither school's team is at the level of the Icers prior to the NCAA transition.

For years, Penn State and Illinois probably led the nation in "when are you guys going NCAA?" Part of that was due to the two schools' prominence, location and the promise (or specter, for some) of Big Ten hockey. Most of that, in my opinion anyway, was due to the status of the Icers and Fighting Illini as arguably the two most successful ACHA Division 1 programs of the last 10 or 15 years. I mean, why always PSU and Illinois, but not Northwestern, Indiana, Ohio State (oh right... keep forgetting, sorry) or Iowa? ACHA prominence and visibility is really the best, simplest explanation.

For a while though, I've been somewhat dismissive of the significance of that last point. Through all of the wins, All-Americans and Murdoch Cups, after all, both schools need(ed) a pile of money and an arena. No way around it - that has always been and will always be the case. So really, what do ACHA wins even matter in terms of the NCAA? If someone shows up with, say, $102 million, NCAA hockey gets started regardless of whether the school had good ACHA D1 program, a bad NAIH program, or nothing at all.

Now that we're 25 percent of the way through an actual NCAA Division I hockey season fresh off of a transition from ACHA D1, I thought it might be worthwhile to re-visit that position. Just how important were the Icers to the successful re-establishment of varsity hockey at Penn State?

Roster Ramifications

At the tail end of Frank Serratore's legendary postgame on November 9th, he made maybe his only misstep of that beauty when he said "it's not like [Penn State is] bringing guys in from club hockey."

Not quite true.

The fact is that eight of 27 players on Penn State's inaugural NCAA Division I roster came to University Park with no clue that they would ever have a chance to play NCAA Division I hockey. They're not insignificant pieces either - forwards Michael McDonagh and Michael Longo are lineup regulars, with net-front wizard McDonagh fourth on the team in scoring. Defensemen Brian Dolan and Rich O'Brien will be relied on heavily over the next couple months with Mark Yanis' fractured ankle testing the blueline group's depth. Eric Steinour has played in more than half of the games so far, and while Dom Morrone has only dressed once, it was an outstanding turn on the top line in the Nittany Lions' last game, a 5-1 win over Air Force.

"Original Icers" like forward Michael McDonagh were able to make an impression by playing a high level of hockey in 2011-2012 - and are now key contributors on an NCAA Division I team, which has benefitted the program in many areas.

An additional eight players arrived at PSU last season - after the NCAA announcement, of course - and played one season as Icers before joining the NCAA roster. While these players (which include guys like captain Tommy Olczyk, goalie P.J. Musico, and DI transfers Nate Jensen, Taylor Holstrom, Bryce Johnson and Justin Kirchhevel) certainly came in with an eye on the NCAA, the presence of a top-end ACHA program was still vital in their cases. Guy Gadowsky and his staff, which coached the final Icers season, were able get in, implement systems, make evaluations, and begin to lay a foundation for their program's culture. The transfers probably don't end up as Nittany Lions without the ability to play highly-competitive hockey during their required year in residence. For the others, most of whom arrived without any promises, the Icers represented a chance to make an impression in a way simply not possible even at a lower-end ACHA D1 school. It's also worth mentioning that PSU's good ACHA Division 2 program may have helped as a contingency plan for those in that situation, one that has been pursued by former NCAA hopefuls Brandon Russo and Forrest Dell, among others.

Recruiting Flexibility and Focus

Other than the tangible on-ice contributions of those players the Nittany Lions' surprising 6-3-0 start, it's important to look at what those previous two paragraphs mean in the big picture. PSU's roster has six seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and ten freshmen. A little young? Sure. But not nearly as young as one would expect from a first-year NCAA program.

There's a ripple effect in recruiting of course, and it's very telling that the Nittany Lions are only (as of this moment) bringing in five new players for the second NCAA season. Thanks largely to the class balance made possible by the Icers, Penn State can hone in on talent, need, and fit, as opposed to grabbing every warm body out there in order to fill out a roster. This sort of focused recruiting effort has led to early successes above and beyond what may have been possible with trying to go 0-to-27 in a short time frame. Additionally, the Icers have provided the Nittany Lions with a large collection of quality players willing to play without scholarships, allowing even greater flexibility with the available money moving forward.

It's not hard to imagine some sort of alternate reality where PSU has either no ACHA team or an ACHA team lacking the quality to offer anything to a DI-level player. I don't think it's any sort of exaggeration to say that it would have been a much larger struggle to get things going. At the very least, it's extremely unlikely that the team would be as immediately competitive as it has been.

Built-In Support

There are, of course, several other areas where the Icers have enhanced the Nittany Lions. Actually, "enhanced" is the wrong word - did Terry Pegula suddenly roll out of bed a few years back and say "hey, I went to Penn State 30 years ago, maybe I should chip off nine figures to start NCAA hockey there?" Of course not. His son Michael attended PSU hockey camps. He remained a fan of the Icers. And of course, like so many of us, he was drawn in by the charisma of Joe Battista. Simply put, Pegula doesn't exist to us without the Icers.

Penn State, thanks to the Icers, had a ready-made supply of support from day one.

Even beyond Pegula, the Icers have provided a ready-made pool of support. Two other high-profile donations - from Paul and Nancy Silvis and from John and Karen Davis - also came from people with ties to the non-varsity program. Surely, there have been numerous others from fish dating back to the Icers but not big enough for a press release, myself included. The team has a booster club that was formerly called the Icers Booster Club. From the start, Penn State has had a pool of donors, fans, sponsors and even official personnel (Billy Downey and Steve Penstone, anyone?) made possible by the Icers. Enjoy this blog? Credit the Icers for that too.

The team even has a fascinating built-in history (that extends well beyond the 1940 through 1947 period, trust me), should the athletic department ever choose to embrace it. Does that directly translate to wins and losses in the present day? Probably not, but it is a source of pride for many, and pride can be converted to dollars in most cases.

So you tell me, does having a top ACHA program matter? Would Illinois be in a better position to make the jump than Maryland or even Rutgers? I think the answer is pretty evident.

Nationals Day 1: First Round

Oakland press release // Box score

The thirteenth-seeded Oakland Grizzlies used dominant special teams to dispose of an outclassed Mercyhurst in the opening match of the ACHA national championship tournament.

Following a strong first few minutes from the Lakers, OU turned an early shorthanded situation into momentum. Shortly after Alexander Hoffman's boarding penalty expired, Oakland gained a power play, and Jordan McDonald cashed it in for the opening goal. McDonald again factored into the scoring six minutes later when he pulled the puck from the boards to feed Billy Balent, who whipped out a filthy toe drag/bury combo to make it 2-0 at the break. From there, things got a little out of hand.

The second period saw the Grizzlies explode for five goals including a rocket on the power play by defenseman Dustin Hopfner.

Not to be outdone forward Adam Novack would fire a rebound shot into a wide open Lakers net for another power play goal.

MacDonald and Novack would also add a goal each for the Grizzlies later in the second period.

Midway through the second period forward Ethan Range would extend the Grizzlies lead to 5-0. Range would also score the lone Grizzlies goal in the third period.

In all, Oakland was 4-of-9 on the power play. The Grizzlies will now face No. 4 Arizona State Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m.

Davenport press release // Box score

A game Drexel squad gave defending national champion Davenport all they could handle before falling 4-1. After the Dragons dominated play through the first 16 minutes, the Panthers flipped on a switch while killing a late Jeff Slusser cross-checking penalty. Shortly after, with only 17 seconds left in the stanza, Ben Dykstra one-timed Brock Carlston's feed home from the high slot to complete the drastic momentum swing.

The score remained 1-0 until 5:00 into the second period, when Norm Farr was awarded - and converted - a penalty shot to make it 2-0. Farr had broken in on Drexel goalie Dan Pyne alone, but Dragons defenseman Mike Antoni came back and took his legs out (whether he successfully played the puck first to make the penalty shot a bad call is a matter of some debate, especially with Drexel partisans). Ross Denczi sliced the Panther lead in half off of a centering feed from Kyle Zoldy later in the middle period, but the Dragons would get to closer, as Dysktra added a second goal with 3:56 left to seal the win before an empty-netter closed the scoring.

Here are the thoughts of Davenport head coach Phil Sweeney:

"We had to do what we had to do to win the game. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world but it's the national tournament and you're going to have games were the puck bounces over the stick or guys have breakdowns. To their credit, Drexel played us tough. They played their system, had odd-man rushes and [goalie Phil] Graveline came up big when he needed to."

Davenport, the 14th seed, will square off with No. 3 Delaware Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Box score

Arguably the most anticipated game of the first round failed to live up to that billing as West Virginia cruised to a shockingly easy 5-1 win over Rutgers. The Mountaineers move on to the second round, where they'll play Penn State Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

Really, the only reason the score wasn't more one-sided was the efforts of RU goalie Brandon DeLibero. He stopped 15 of 16 West Virginia shots in the first period to keep the Scarlet Knights temporarily engaged and 32 of 37 overall. The Eers placed themselves firmly in control with two goals 1:36 apart early in the second from Christian Lewton and Sam Jarrett. Jarrett added a second goal in the third period, and Conor Frei also tallied to thwart any notion of a Rutgers comeback. The Knights' extremely potent top line, despite a second-period Matthew McDonald goal, was largely shut down by a nice defensive effort, and RU was unable to find a secondary attack.

Box score

If the Rutgers-West Virginia game was disappointingly non-competitive, this tilt more than made up for it. I mean, what else would you expect from a matchup of a team that lost to Penn State 13-1 one week ago (part of a 13 game losing streak overall) and one that beat the Icers in January?

Thanks largely to the efforts of Golden Flashes goalie Justin Wisniewski, who stopped 63 of 65 shots playing in his hometown of Strongsville, OH, the expected blowout became an unlikely classic. He and Central Oklahoma netminder Tory Caldwell traded saves through a scoreless first two periods. But when the ice tilted towards Wisniewski as the game went on and Broncho defenseman Tyler Benson walked into the high slot and roofed one over him with 15:50 left in the game, it looked like the end for the Flashes. The story, though, was just beginning.

In the extremely late stages of the third period, and during a scramble in front of the UCO goal, Caldwell pushed his net off and was busted for doing so a single second away from victory. Penalty shot, Kent State. Jeremy Melbye calmly buried it, forcing overtime, and forcing me to delete my queued-up final score tweet.

UCO dominated play for the first five minutes of the extra session, but KSU somehow rediscovered their legs and evened things out for a wild stretch of prime chances in each direction for the next seven. With 4:13 left though, Melbye - the hero of the recent past via his penalty shot - became a goat. His turnover deep in the KSU end went right on the stick of UCO's Patrick Higgins, who teed up teammate Corey Allen to blast home the winner and send Central Oklahoma to the second round, where they'll play No. 2 Lindenwood Saturday at 8:00 p.m.

Saturday Tournament Schedule

5. Liberty vs. 12. Adrian, 10:00 a.m., East Rink
4. Arizona State vs. 13. Oakland, 11:00 a.m., West Rink
6. Ohio vs. 11. Illinois, 1:00 p.m., East Rink
3. Delaware vs. 14. Davenport, 2:00 p.m., West Rink
8. Iowa State vs. 9. Oklahoma, 4:00 p.m., East Rink
1. Penn State vs. 17. West Virginia, 5:00 p.m., West Rink
7. Minot State vs. 10. Robert Morris, 7:00 p.m., East Rink
2. Lindenwood vs. 15. Central Oklahoma, 8:00 p.m., West Rink

Final Tournament Placement

17. Rutgers
18. Kent State
19. Drexel
20. Mercyhurst

Leading Tournament Scorers

                  Team   GP   G    A   Pts.
Jordan McDonald   OAK    1    2    1    3
Jacob DeSano      OAK    1    0    3    3
Adam Novack       OAK    1    2    0    2
Ethan Range       OAK    1    2    0    2
Sam Jarrett       WVU    1    2    0    2
Ben Dykstra       DAV    1    2    0    2
Dustin Hopfner    OAK    1    1    1    2
Christian Lewton  WVU    1    1    1    2
Brandon Johnson   OAK    1    0    2    2
Alexander Hoffman OAK    1    0    2    2
Frank Matyok      OAK    1    0    2    2

Leading Tournament Goalies

                  Team   GP  Rec.   SH   SV   Pct.  GAA
Matt Toter        OAK    1   1-0-0  18   18   1.00  0.00
Tory Caldwell     UCO    1   1-0-0  31   30   .968  0.79
Phil Graveline    DAV    1   1-0-0  42   41   .976  1.00
Rob Borcky        WVU    1   1-0-0  26   25   .962  1.00
Justin Wisniewski KSU    1   0-0-1  65   63   .969  1.59

End of the Road (Part I)

Part one of a three-part series previewing the ACHA Division 1 national championship tournament.

At some point within nine days of today, the Icers will be no more. Stop and let that one sink in for a moment.

In an instance of less-than-perfect symmetry, the Icers' history will not end at the Ice Pavilion or even arenas Bird, Brad Boss or Fred Rust. Instead, the site will be a venue in which Penn State has never played - the Hoover Arena in Strongsville, OH, site of the 2012 ACHA Division 1 national championship tournament. Following one of the tournament's games (hopefully, the last one), PSU will exit the ice, along with the ACHA, and the NCAA era will officially be underway.

So let's learn a little bit about the showcase that will serve as the Icers' official farewell. Who else will be competing, you ask? With the field expanded to 20 teams this season, it's probably easier to talk about who won't. Of teams which played for the title in 2009, 2010 or 2011, it's a pretty brief list, most of which is based in the Keystone State: Penn State Berks, Canton, Duquesne, Real Robert Morris, Slippery Rock, Stony Brook, West Chester and, of course, Rhode Island, the only certifiable big fish of the group. Also not present, thankfully: consolation games.

Just about every other ACHA Division 1 program that matters will be there. Those seeded 13th through 20th will play each other on Friday, with the winners meeting the top 12 for a round of 16 on Saturday. Saturday's victors advance to Sunday's quarterfinals, and following an off day Monday, the semifinals and championship game will be on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In a manner similar to last year (Part I, Part II), I'm going to frame my tournament preview around predictions, although I'll split this one into three due to the enlarged field. Last year, I got the final four correct. This year, I'll try to not screw it up from that point. For this first post, we'll get warmed up with Friday's largely dispensable first round, featuring a few teams that would not be here under the old system.

13. Oakland (21-15-2) vs. 20. Mercyhurst (19-10-2)

Friday, 11:30 a.m.
West Rink

National Championships: Oakland: 2007, Mercyhurst: none
Last Tournament Appearance: Oakland: 2011 (8th), Mercyhurst: 2006 (16th)
Oakland: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics
Mercyhurst: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics

Straight away, Mercyhurst has never won an ACHA tournament game of consequence, and I don't see that changing this year in their first appearance in six years. Many of you saw them at the Ice Pavilion a few weeks ago, and while they can be dangerous generating turnovers on the forecheck, the ECHL champs were clearly unable to compete with a Penn State, or for that matter...

Oakland on the other hand, despite being fairly new to Division 1 (after a nice run in D2, including a pair of national titles) have become well entrenched. They Will McMahoned the Icers to a championship in their first season at the level and have since established themselves as a solid program that makes the show most years, even if they haven't come close to duplicating the success of five years ago. This season's team is probably on that same type of trajectory despite being the regular season champs of a tough GLCHL that includes defending champ Davenport and Adrian. Here's OU coach Jeremy Bachusz on what to expect from top scorers Anthony Colizza and Billy Balent, along with the rest of his team.

"We're a puck possession team in the offensive zone. That is what we do best when we are able to establish our forecheck. Defensively we have been working on trying to transition the puck out of our zone a lot faster then we have and try not to bring the puck back in because that is where we get ourselves into trouble. We have definitely been stressing that throughout this second half here in trying to get our guys moving forward out of our defensive zone."

Pick: Oakland, 6-1

14. Davenport (21-19-0) vs. 19. Drexel (22-11-0)

Friday, 2:30 p.m.
West Rink

National Championships: Davenport: 2011, Drexel: none
Last Tournament Appearance: Davenport: 2011 (1st), Drexel: 2003 (9th)
Davenport: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics
Drexel: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics

Remember that time Davenport won the ACHA Divsion 1 national championship? It was last year, but it seems much longer ago in light of the Panthers' uncharacteristic struggles this year, which include a loss to Michigan-Dearborn. Seriously, who loses to Michigan-Dearborn in 2012?

It's really quite easy to explain: the team has been decimated by departures. Only defensemen Adam Gillikin, Jonathon Frank, Phil Tesoriero and Bo Jacobs, forwards Phil Wendecker, Ben Dykstra and Jeff Slusser and goalie Phil Graveline remain from the overtime win over Lindenwood in last year's title match. Even coach Paul Lowden quit to focus on his duties as athletic director at the school, leaving former assistant Phil Sweeney in charge. Not surprisingly, it's the carryover players (plus freshman forward Mason Bollinger) doing most of the heavy lifting for DU this season.

Drexel? I'd love to talk more about you, especially since this is your first nationals trip since the Icers' last championship (2003) but you haven't updated your website since last year. You also lost to the Ice Lions this season. Get under the bus.

Pick: Davenport, 7-1

16. Rutgers (17-6-4) vs. 17. West Virginia (23-14-0)

Friday, 5:30 p.m.
West Rink

National Championships: Rutgers: none, West Virginia: none
Last Tournament Appearance: Rutgers: 2011 (16th), West Virginia: 2008 (14th)
Rutgers: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics
West Virginia: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics

This is unequivocally the game to watch on Friday, for the simple reason that the winner will advance to play the Icers. It also doesn't hurt that it may be the most competitive of the bunch, between two programs that are most likely on their way up the ladder. I like the Mountaineers goalie, Rob Borcky, and feel like he's one of the better mid-major tendys out there. Rutgers counters with a great top line of Matthew McDonald, Jason Adams and John Beatrice.

I'll be honest though: it rubs me the wrong way that the Scarlet Knights have been nationals-bound since November, when they clinched the NECHL regular season title to go with the league's autobid. Unless dealing with the 1976-1977 Montreal Canadiens (rest assured, this Rutgers team is not those Habs), that's so early that it's suspect. Given the lowly stature of RU's league and schedule, they've really had very little incentive to win - once they got in, they were going to be seeded somewhere between 15 and 20 regardless of how they played the last three months. West Virginia, on the other hand, went 12-2-0 in the CMHA and didn't wrap things up until a three-game weekend sweep of Duquesne, Slippery Rock and Pittsburgh February 10-12. I'm going to go with the team that has needed to win games this calendar year, the one that has Lady Icer Kate Christoffersen's brother on the team (senior defenseman Matt), and the one that lost to the Icers by fewer goals in the regular season.

Pick: West Virginia, 5-3.

15. Central Oklahoma  (15-22-1) vs. 18. Kent State (16-21-1)

Friday, 8:30 p.m.
West Rink

National Championships: Central Oklahoma: none, Kent State: none
Last Tournament Appearance: Central Oklahoma: 2010 (4th), Kent State: 2010 (11th)
Central Oklahoma: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics
Kent State: Roster // Schedule/Results // Statistics

Central Oklahoma, as Penn State knows all too well, is a quality program capable of an upset. The reason? Despite their geographic isolation from most of the rest of the ACHA, they battle test themselves. Don't be fooled by the record - UCO has played the top five 12 times this season, and came away with two wins (the shootout win over PSU on January 6th joined a shootout win over Arizona State on October 28th). Certainly, the Bronchos will be huge underdogs if they advance to play Lindenwood, but if they do happen to sneak one out, it will be a little less surprising than an upset in most 2-15 matchups. Defense is a little bit of a concern with a team goals against well north of three, but Donald Geary (below) tends to make up for that. His 19 goals far and away lead a team that only has two players with a double-digit number in that category.

Despite Kent State's status as Akron's (my other school, for those who don't know by now) archrival in everything besides ACHA hockey, I sincerely like the Golden Flashes. With the exception of games against Penn State, I root for them every time out, which will include this game. Since I live in the area, I've been known to pop over and watch them from time to time when it doesn't conflict with the Icers or Akron's ACHA D2 team. All of that said, they have no business being in this tournament and the honorable course may have been to decline their host autobid, as similarly train-wrecky John Carroll did in 2009. Evidence? Sure. They're on a 13-game losing streak. In 23 games this season against tournament teams, they've been competitive three times. Of course, one of those times was a 4-3 win over UCO at the D1 showcase back in October. Still, pass. Andrew Gazdak and Justin Phenney will be vital if KSU is to prove me wrong.

Pick: Central Oklahoma, 6-2.

Tomorrow, I'll toss Oakland, Davenport, West Virginia and Central Oklahoma into the second round with the top twelve to predict how that will shake out.

Three Stars: December 12-18

3. NCAA suspends $2000 miscellaneous expense stipend
(USCHO)

Maybe the most underrated story in college sports this year takes another turn.

The new rule allowing Division I institutions to give select student-athletes an additional $2,000 miscellaneous expense allowance has been suspended until the Board of Directors convenes in January, according to the official NCAA website.

"Suspended?" Whatever do you mean?

As of Dec. 15, enough schools (125) have called for an override of the legislation to prompt the automatic suspension under NCAA bylaws...the Board will meet in Indianapolis on Jan. 14 and will have several options. It can do nothing, which keeps the suspension in place until an override vote occurs, it can reconsider its adoption and eliminate the rule, or it can alter the proposal in some way to try to address the concerns of those asking for the override.

This shouldn't affect the payments to those who signed with PSU (and other schools) in November while the rule was in force, but obviously, the spending money of those who sign during the regular period in April and beyond could be affected if quick action isn't taken. Or they could just use all the money they're not paying to go to school.

2. Taking It Outside
(B1G Ice Hockey)

I'm fighting every anti-Iowa State instinct in me when I say this, but...here's a blog, written by a Cyclone (one who has hosted the Al Murdoch show, no less), that's quite well done. This post is their preview of Penn State-Neumann, as well as Michigan-OSU, the other upcoming outdoor game involving future Big Ten teams.

1. Christmas Comes Early for Penn State Hockey
(YouTube)

In a little bit of synergy between people covering Penn State hockey, here's an interview about the Pegula Ice Arena with Joe Battista. Conducted on the site, in a nice touch.

Best of the Rest


#sick

@Cmen12
(Twitter)

Your Lady Icers twitpic of the week comes to us once again from Cara Mendelson and shows off the filthy team-issue pumped-up kicks. You know I'm going to be whistling that song the rest of the day now.

Metro Exposure – South Philly Style
(PSU Sports Blog by Lions Pride)

David Pressman's second (known) attempt at writing about PSU hockey didn't go much better than the first, in my opinion. Simply put, guy's a blowhard and seems to have little, if any, respect for the Icers legacy. But hey, it was a slow week.

Rumor: Jimmy John Liautaud could be looking at funding Illinois' jump from club to DI hockey
(illinoisloyalty.com)

Just so I'm not remiss, there's been a rumor floating around out there for a couple weeks that...well, the link pretty much says it. Just something to keep an eye on. Or not, because I'm pretty sure you'll find out if anything comes of it.

@RutgersHockey
(Twitter)

Speaking of program shifting, the Icers' old league apparently has a new member for next season. The corresponding Facebook post looks to have been deleted, however.

Delaware, Rhode Island, Stony Brook (which joined this year following PSU's departure), Rutgers, West Chester, Robert Morris. That's pretty sturdy - the four teams at nationals last year is unmatched by any current ACHA D1 conference, even the mighty CSCHL. Kind of a dumb factoid, considering that league doesn't exist this year, but whatever.

Puck Headlines: Giroux, Chara updates; how Kerry Fraser apologizes
(Puck Daddy)

TYT cracked the mother of all hockey blogs last week. And largely because of that, last Monday's post containing Pegula Ice Arena renderings has something like three times as many pageviews as anything else that's ever appeared on here. On one hand, yeah, it's kind of awesome. On the other, it makes me think everything else I put up is crap...

...then again, the first spike below is Puck Daddy, the third is when PSU's own Twitter celeb, Ben Jones tweeted a link, so maybe I'm assigning credit/blame for that in the wrong place.

Penn State vs. Neumann Tickets
(ComcastTix)

Yet another reminder to buy em up...they even got rid of the stupid need for a code to help you out.

M: Penn State 9 vs. Rutgers 0

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

Black Shoe Diaries recap

A lackluster second period was sandwiched by first and third periods borrowed from Friday night as the Icers (13-1-0) rolled to a 9-0 win over No. 21 Rutgers to complete the weekend sweep/blasting.

In this affair, Tim Carr recorded his first Icers shutout with a 15-save effort. PSU once again received balanced offensive output, with seven different goal scorers headed by two each from Michael Longo and Chris Cerutti. The team flexed its depth muscle and received numerous contributions up and down the lineup with the entire Kurt Collins-Eric Steinour-George Saad line sitting this one out, as well as Nate Jensen and the injured Taylor Holstrom.

M: Penn State 13 vs. Rutgers 2

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

Fresh off of retaining their No. 1 ranking in the latest ACHA poll, the Icers (12-1-0) dismantled No. 21 Rutgers 13-2 in a game that was about as competitive as that score makes it sound.

There are a lot of impressive-sounding ways to slice up a 13-goal output, but perhaps the most telling is this: nine of the 12 dressed forwards scored a goal, including Tommy Olczyk's hat trick and Dan Meiselman's pair. Toss in assists - Justin Kirchhevel had four of those to go with his goal - and the number with points jumps to 11 of 12, along with four of the seven defensemen and goalie P.J. Musico. Another statistical snapshot that effectively captures the spirit of the thing is that Rutgers only managed three more shots than the Icers' goal number. Stated another way, a 25 percent save percentage would have been enough to win the game. However one chooses to break it down, the math works out to one of PSU's most impressive wins of the season, and against a solid club that will appear at nationals.

The two teams are back at it tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m., Penn State's final home game of the semester.

Three Teams, Seven Games

There are three hockey teams residing at the University Park campus, and each is playing games of some import this weekend. So with that in mind, and in lieu of the traditional preview piece (which has become rather irregular of late anyway), here's a quick rundown of how Penn State hockey will be spending the weekend.

Knight Time


Junior Jason Adams is Rutgers' all-time assist king.

First up is the Icers who, at 11-1-0 and No. 1 in ACHA Division 1, are set to play their final home games of the fall semester against No. 19 Rutgers at 7 p.m. Friday and 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Before I go any further, there's something you need to know about Rutgers: they have clinched a bid to the ACHA D1 national championship tournament this season. And no, I don't mean "clinched" as in "pretty much a foregone conclusion," like one might say for the Icers and a select couple of others. I mean "clinched" as in "they could lose every single game they play the rest of the season and still end up in Strongsville, OH in March."

The Scarlet Knights have already completed each conference game this season, finishing 12-0-2 in their league, the NECHL, for 26 points. Second place Cornell has 15 points, but with four NECHL games left can't finish with more than 23. The NECHL autobid was officially decided on November 19th and 20th, when Rutgers took three points from a series against the Big Red that Cornell needed to win.

While it would be understandable if Rutgers' motivation was on the wane, the situation may be a double-edged sword. RU can't fall out of nationals, as we just discussed. They also have just four regular season games left against teams presently in the poll after this weekend. And wins over No. 15 Stony Brook or No. 18 Central Oklahoma are unlikely to resonate too much with the voters. So really, the only chance the Scarlet Knights have left to significantly improve their station is to pull off a shocker against PSU. That makes them dangerous, even if it's only in a "awww look, they're actually trying to beat us" kind of way.

I suppose I could start to spout off scoring leaders and goalie stats at this point, as a means of introduction. Or I could let Rutgers introduce themselves in the following video, shot before the Cornell games but including some discussion of PSU and lots of general "how's your season going" stuff. The players interviewed are three of RU's better scorers: John Beatrice, Nick Kashmanian and Jason Adams, who just broke head coach Andy Gojdycz's program record for career assists. Gojdycz closes out the video while wearing a hat and a hood indoors. Not interviewed: leading scorer Matthew McDonald, who has 25 ginos this year, including two each in Rutgers' two most impressive results this season - a 6-3 win over Rhode Island on September 24th and a 3-2 shootout loss to Delaware a week later.

Ultimately few, even PSU bashers, would argue that the Icers are playing for much of anything other than a seeding at nationals somewhere within the top three of four spots. Even the Scarlet Knights in the video seem to realize that. On the other hand...

Raiding Rhody


URI sophomore forward Brittany Clarke battles for possession with Sacred Heart.

The Lady Icers are traveling to Kingston, RI for a pair with ECWHL power and ACHA No. 5 Rhode Island Friday at 9:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. It's really quite hard to overstate the importance of these games. Because PSU has played seven of 11 games against NCAA-level competition, the ACHA resume is seen as maybe a little lacking - as evidenced by the team's No. 10 ranking despite a 4-0-0 record in those ACHA games.

Fair or not, Penn State has a chance to change some opinions against URI, a team that is not only ranked towards the top of the list but also has some nationals chops, advancing to the semifinals last year before falling to Northeastern.

The Rams' overall record is only 6-5-0, but it's 6-3-0 within the ACHA, and 2-2-0 against the other teams that would be headed to Wooster, OH if the national championships started tomorrow. Finnish senior Johanna Leskinen, who has averaged more than a goal per game in her career (92 goals, 89 games), is off to her typically-proficient start, and she's supported by a deep group of forwards including Meghan Birnie and Lauren Lanoie. Toss in freshman Kristie Kennedy, and that's 60 percent of URI's 4.44 goals per game against ACHA foes.

While Katie Vaughan and the young, but talented, defense concern themselves with that, Tess Weaver, Elizabeth Denis and the forwards will be trying to crack the goaltending tandem of Megan McGhie and Kayla DiLorenzo, which allows two goals against per game.

Thirteen Lady Icers (12 freshmen plus super, super senior Denis) are facing the Rams for the first time, but the veterans will surely carry some motivation from last season, when URI took three of four regular season meetings, then handed concussion-riddled PSU a 7-2 loss in the ECWHL semifinals.

PSU closes the fall semester with a home-and-home against NCAA Division III Neumann next weekend before opening January with another two games against Rhode Island at the Ice Pavilion.

Retriever Rumble


UMBC freshman Matthew Bloom is a playmaking forward with size.

Finally, the Ice Lions have a huge game of their own Friday at 5:30 p.m. when they face ACHA Division 2 power Maryland-Baltimore County in the MACHA Showcase in Warwick, PA. The Retrievers are ranked second in the Southeast Region, one spot ahead of PSU's third. If you're unfamiliar with D2's playoff structure, the top two in each region receive automatic bids to the national championship tournament, while third through tenth have to play a regional tournament to decide the other half of the region's nationals bids. That alone makes the only meeting of the season between the present Nos. 2 and 3 in the region rather significant.

But there's more. As with the Lady Icers, PSU-UMBC has the trappings of a revenge game. It was, after all, the Retrievers who stopped the Ice Lions' nationals bid one game short with a 2-1 win in the regional tournament last season. Both head coaches spoke to hockeyyall.com about the showdown and seemed to understand the magnitude of the game, even if one downplayed things a little.

UMBC's Aaron Voegtli:

“This game is huge for us. We’ve been talking about it for two weeks now. It is a game that will have an impact on both universities and their playoff positions...I expect a very good game. I think this is the best game in the country on Friday night. Both teams match up well, both have excellent goalies and good team defense, and a number of forwards that can score at will.”

Josh Hand:

“I don’t pay attention to the rankings a ton, so I am not sure if this game will have any major effect. But it’s a good way to judge where we are in the season so far...We try as a team to look at every game as a big game. We want to try to play our style no matter who the opponent is. It’s important for us to be consistent in the way we play every game. I think it will be a high-paced, up and down game and will be a lot of fun for the fans of Division II hockey to watch.”

The Retrievers are led by goaltender Jon "I must break you" Drago and his 2.01 goals against average and .940 save percentage. Eight UMBC players have double-digit point totals, led by Sean O'Connor (38), Matthew Bloom (29) and Justin Stewart (29).

There will be an audio broadcast of the game on HerbFM, as well as a possible video feed (without commentary) on the Ice Lions' UStream channel.

Oh and by the way, win or lose, PSU does have two other games at the showcase - Saturday at 12:45 p.m. against St. Joseph's and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against Temple. However, with the Ice Lions already having defeated these teams by a combined 15-0 this season, I consider my disproportionate emphasis on UMBC understandable.

Nationals Day 1/Rhode Island 2, Penn State 0

Collegian summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // VFTB recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap
Team press release // Box score

This will be a pretty short post, just because I'm completely out of gas after a day full of watching hockey, I'm still upset about the game, and the internet in my hotel is slower than a health bomb on a D3 team. You don't want to read that much about it, I'm sure. Besides, what am I supposed to say? "Boy, I hope we get that power play straightened out for next week!"

I've been following Penn State hockey for quite a while, but one thing I've never gotten used to is the finality of the ACHA national tournament. We start in October and plow through 30 to 35 games until the end of February. There's an ebb and flow to each game, groups of games, and the season itself. Sometimes it all goes by quickly, sometimes not, but either way, one quick game ends all of it once the calendar turns to March. Sometimes, it's sudden death, like last year against Central Oklahoma. Sometimes it's a slow bleed, like the championship game against Oakland in 2007. But either way, it's one game that lays waste to months of work.

Any time you lose a close game, you always think back to the missed opportunities, but this game featured missed opportunities of a particularly excruciating variety.

• At the ten-minute mark of the second period, Marek Polidor won a battle on the boards to spring Mike Broccolo. Broccolo came in one-on-one and made a fantastic move to burn Dan Lassik (one of the ACHA's best defensemen), but shot it wide.
• With about a minute left in that second period and the Icers on the penalty kill, Dom Morrone hustled and won a race to the the puck in the offensive corner after it had been cleared. He got it to Paul Daley in front of the net, but Daley's turnaround attempt hit the inside of the post and got behind Rhody goalie Paul Kenny - all without fully crossing the goalline.
• Chris Cerutti put the puck in the net with 15:50 left in the game, but after he had quite literally crashed the net and taken it off its moorings.
• With 8:22 left, and at the tail end of a Penn State power play, Cerutti's one-timer was denied by Kenny's best save of the game, as he moved left to right to deny the sniper.

I haven't even fully discussed the Icers' three consecutive power play attempts in the first half of the third period, and I won't. It all adds up to mean that Shawn Tingley's second period rebound goal held up as the the winner in what was effectively a 1-0 game. He's a great player and Rhode Island has a great defense and great goaltending - I guess ultimately you'd rather lose to a good team than get shocked by scrubs.

Epitome of my day as a Penn Stater - this conversation between me and some random guy during the second intermission of the Delaware-Robert Morris (IL) game.

Him: HEY! PENN STATE! I GO TO PENN STATE!

Me: Shitty game, eh?

Him: I don't know man, I think we can take the whole thing! Are you a coach?

Me: No, it's just a sick jacket.

Him: I don't know man, you look like a coach.

Me: I'll send in my resume.

Then he started talking about wrestling, how good Penn State is at it, and how he would've wrestled at Delaware if they hadn't dropped the sport. I can't stand wrestling, no matter how good we are at it, so I pretended to get a text message and left.

Anyway, Robert Morris (IL) looms in the 11th place game tomorrow at 5:00, and while the game is purely for pride, here's hoping we send out this season and these seniors with a win against a quality team.

Other Games



I'm going to start with the other games in the better of the two rinks. Yes, I'm talking about Gold. Better hockey games, better cell reception. Those two things make me happy.

Oakland press release // Box score

Amazingly, the only overtime game of the tournament so far, after last year's OT fest. Here's the Oakland side of things:

The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies hockey team has advanced to the second round of the 2011 ACHA Men's Division 1 Championships with a 3-2 victory over the #6 Minot State Beavers. Junior forward Jordan MacDonald sent the Beavers home when his deflection from in front of the goal beat goaltender Wyatt Waselenchuk. MacDonald deflected a shot from defenseman Jacob DeSano after he walked the blue line after receiving a pass from Kevin Kranker.

The Grizzly offense came to life finally in the third period when MacDonald's shot from the top of the circles found the back of the net. Kevin Kranker and Adam Novack were credited with the assists. Then with just over four minutes to go Novack fired a bomb that Waselenchuk only got a piece of to give Oakland a late 2-1 lead. DeSano and MacDonald netted the assists. Minot State refused to give in however, as Kale Dolinski's second goal of the game with just 64 seconds left tied the game at two.

Box score

I didn't see a second of this one, because it wasn't on TV at the California Tortilla, which needs to get in Ohio ASAP. Sue me for not eating rink hot dogs for dinner. And it figures that the game I miss ends up being a pretty good game, and with no outside account of the events.

Me discovering the place that's apparently called Cal Tort for short > you knowing about this game. Sorry, it's pretty good.

Adrian press release // Box score

People are probably going to roll their eyes at this score and write it off to your typical autobid game, but that wasn't the case at all to me. A game Stony Brook, behind the goaltending of Josh Brand (no relation to Icers assistant Josh Hand) and Wesley Hawkins' power play goal 23 seconds into the third period, cut the lead of the heavy favorites to 3-2 before the roof caved in on them. History, however, is written by the winners, so...

The Adrian College ACHA DI team advanced in the National Tournament with a 7-2 win over Stony Brook. The Bulldogs are now 30-8 on the season.

Adrian's Jared Semple got the scoring started early netting a goal at 16:33 of the first period. Stony Brook would add a power play goal with just over two minutes left in the period as the two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of the first period.

The second period belonged to the Bulldogs as goals by Cody King and Shamus Finnerty put Adrian in the lead 3-1 going into the final period.

The Seawolves scored their second power play goal of the game just 23 seconds into the third period to pull within a goal. The Bulldogs refused to let Stony Brook get any closer as they held Stony Brook scoreless the rest of the period while netting four of their own. Kevin Sunde netted Adrian's fourth goal midway through the period before Alex Norman scored the Bulldogs first power play goal of the game at 6:47 of the third. Jack Goodell added a goal 1:10 later before Semple netted another goal to finish off the scoring for the game.

Ohio press release // Canton press release // Box score

Admittedly, I didn't see a ton of this one, but the parts I did see didn't leave me feeling very good about picking the Bobcats to win the whole thing. While OU didn't exactly steal it, they were by far the better team, Canton was able to counterpunch on occasion, they drew penalties, and of course got some great goaltending. Here's how the Canton people saw it:

Senior Jimmy Merrow (Plainsboro, N.Y.), an all-ECHL First Team selection, had another stellar outing between the pipes in the national tournament as he stopped 48 of 51 shots against the Bobcats, who entered the tournament averaging 5.4 goals per game.  Merrow turned aside 51 shots in last year’s opening round game against Penn State.

The Roos, who surrendered a goal in each period, had several terrific chances to get on the board with the man advantage as Ohio was whistled for nine penalties.  The Roos have converted 23.5 percent of their power play chances this season but were denied on Saturday by a strong Bobcats defense.  The Roos had one five-on-three advantage in the second period and one more in the third, but couldn’t solve Bobcats’ goalie Blake MacNicol, who recorded his nation-leading fifth shutout of the season.

Davenport press release // Box score

All that needs to be said:

Rutgers is under there somewhere.

Lindenwood press release // Box score

I didn't get a picture of the Lindenwood team bus, sorry about that.



Delaware press release // Box score

Just to get this out in the open, with Penn State eliminated, I'm taking up for the Blue Hens. I've never been one to buy into the whole "root for your conference" thing, but I can't see an all-ESCHL final as a bad thing. Who are you rooting for now? OU? Lindenwood? That's what I thought.

So with that in mind, I liked what I saw from UD tonight. They have that definite home-ice swagger going for them, and for the vast majority of the game, they took it to a pretty decent Robert Morris (IL) team. But then they got in some penalty trouble, with calls to Brandon Weiner and Zack Reubel giving the Eagles a long 5-on-3, where Nick Fina capitalized.

It could have been a backbreaking goal, as just before the penalties, Delaware had more close calls on the other end than I can count. If RMU carried that lead into the second intermission, it might have been disastrous, momentum-wise. Dave Lombardi singlehandedly put an end to all of that crazy talk with the best goal I saw today. While killing another penalty, he came hard on the forecheck, created a turnover, passed it out to Nick LePore, got it back in front of the net, and finished with a twisting put-away that I can't accurately describe.

Anything to add, Delaware website?

Freshman Mike Piet (Robbinsville, NJ) was able to crack the deadlock with just 4:23 left to play as he snuck a quick wrist shot between the pads of Venet giving the Hens a lead they would not relinquish. Freshman Christian Tasker (Wilmington, DE) iced the victory for Delaware, putting an empty net goal away after an unselfish pass by fellow freshman Mark Zeszut (Wilmington, DE).

Oh right, they needed those goals too.

Down in front.

Sunday Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals:

3. Ohio vs. 11. Oakland, 10:00 a.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

2. Davenport vs. 7. Rhode Island, 1:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

1. Lindenwood vs. 9. Oklahoma, 4:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

4. Adrian vs. 5. Delaware, 7:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

15th place game:

15. Rutgers vs. 16. Slippery Rock, 11:00 a.m., Gold Ice Arena

9th place game:

6. Minot State vs. 8. Arizona State, 2:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena

11th place game:

11. Penn State vs. 12. Robert Morris (IL), 5:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena

13th place game:

13. Stony Brook vs. 14. Canton, 8:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena