Three Stars: August 5-11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 2013 Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff Promo
(YouTube)

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

Best of the Rest

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

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

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

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

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

Walkom named Senior VP and Director of Officiating
(NHL)

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

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

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

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

Princeton's Jack Berger: Solid guy

PU's Berger setting example
(The Princeton Packet)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comparisons to Gretzky? Valid in at least one respect.

The Crosby Effect
(The Hockey Writers)

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

Decision made, Sheridan promoted
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boston College, UMass-Lowell Highlight Men's Slate

Lethal John Gaudreau and Boston College visit Pegula Ice Arena on January 25, 2014.

The Penn State NCAA men's program has announced its full schedule for 2013-2014, the season notable for PSU's entry into both the Big Ten and Pegula Ice Arena.

Date	Time	Opponent	Location
Fri. Oct. 11	8:00 p.m.	Army	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Oct. 18	TBD	Air Force	Cadet Ice Arena // Colorado Springs, CO
Sat. Oct. 19	TBD	Air Force	Cadet Ice Arena // Colorado Springs, CO
Fri. Oct. 25	7:00 p.m.	RIT	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Oct. 26	5:00 p.m.	Vermont	Wells Fargo Center // Philadelphia, PA
Fri. Nov. 1	7:05 p.m.	Robert Morris	84 Lumber Arena // Neville Twp., PA
Fri. Nov. 8	7:00 p.m.	Sacred Heart	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Thu. Nov. 14	7:00 p.m.	UMass-Lowell	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Nov. 15	7:00 p.m.	UMass-Lowell	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Nov. 30	7:00 p.m.	Union	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sun. Dec. 1	7:00 p.m.	Union	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Dec. 6	TBD	at Wisconsin*	Kohl Center // Madison, WI
Sat. Dec. 7	TBD	at Wisconsin*	Kohl Center // Madison, WI
Fri. Dec. 27	TBD	Three Rivers Classic (RMU, BC, BG)	Consol Energy Center // Pittsburgh, PA
Sat. Dec. 28	TBD	Three Rivers Classic (RMU, BC, BG)	Consol Energy Center // Pittsburgh, PA
Sun. Jan. 12	TBD	Minnesota*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Mon. Jan. 13	TBD	Minnesota*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Jan. 17	TBD	at Michigan State*	Munn Ice Arena // East Lansing, MI
Sat. Jan. 18	TBD	at Michigan State*	Munn Ice Arena // East Lansing, MI
Sat. Jan. 25	7:00 p.m.	Boston College	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Jan. 31	TBD	at Ohio State*	Value City Arena // Columbus, OH
Sat. Feb. 1	TBD	at Ohio State*	Value City Arena // Columbus, OH
Fri. Feb. 7	TBD	Michigan*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Feb. 8	TBD	Michigan*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Feb. 14	TBD	Michigan State*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Feb. 15	TBD	Michigan State*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Feb. 21	TBD	at Michigan*	Yost Ice Arena // Ann Arbor, MI
Sat. Feb. 22	TBD	at Michigan*	Yost Ice Arena // Ann Arbor, MI
Fri. Feb. 28	TBD	at Minnesota*	Mariucci Arena // Minneapolis, MN
Sat. Mar. 1	TBD	at Minnesota*	Mariucci Arena // Minneapolis, MN
Fri. Mar. 7	TBD	Wisconsin*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Mar. 8	TBD	Wisconsin*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Fri. Mar. 14	TBD	Ohio State*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
Sat. Mar. 15	TBD	Ohio State*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA

The Big Ten Tournament will take place March 20th through 22nd at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. On the opening day of the playoffs, the bottom four teams in the final league standings will pair off as third vs. sixth and fourth vs. fifth for a single-elimination first round. The two winners will then meet the top two seeds for the semifinals on the second day of the tournament, followed by the championship game Saturday night.

Start times for the Big Ten games, as well as the television schedule, will be released at a later date.

Obligatory Guy Gadowsky press release quote:

"We've put together a challenging non-conference schedule with several marquee games. Together with a competitive Big Ten slate and trips to both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, our fans will have the opportunity to watch some outstanding hockey whether at Pegula Ice Arena or on the road. It will be an exciting season as we enter our first year in the Big Ten Conference in a brand-new facility."

Mostly due to the late release date of PSU's schedule relative to others and the previous unveiling of the entire Big Ten schedule, no fewer than 29 of the 34 games had already been 100 percent locked in prior to this announcement. In order to avoid repeating myself while still conveying pertinent information, here are a bunch of old posts covering those contests from the time they were discovered.

2013-14 Big Ten Schedule Released
Army Will Open Pegula Ice Arena
RIT Rematch Set For October 25
Philly Phollow-Up
RMU Away Match Set for November 1st
PSU to Host Sacred Heart in November
Union Series Confirmed, Schedule Shaping Up
BC, BG Sign On For 2013 Pittsburgh Invitational

So really, the news here is mostly about five games. And one of those stands out above the rest.

With no disrespect meant to other historical giants, there's an ebb and flow to greatness, a rise and fall (in a purely relative sense) in stature among the elite. And right now, at this moment in history, the "best program in the nation" argument begins and ends with the Boston College Eagles. BC, of course, is led by Jerry York, who became the all-time winningest coach in NCAA hockey history last season. York started out at Clarkson and won a national championship (in 1984) at Bowling Green, but his legend really exploded after returning to his alma mater in 1994. Witness...

Reminder: I'm talking about this program because they're visiting Pegula Ice Arena on January 25, 2014, roughly seven months from now. Pardon my French, but holy crap. Guess we'll know where we stand, eh?

Last season was a bit of an off year for the Eagles since they didn't win a Hockey East championship of some kind (only the fifth time that's happened since 1997-1998) and didn't win an NCAA Tournament game after qualifying for the 14th time in the last 16 years. Rough go.

In terms of personnel, BC loses some key pieces from last season - workhorse goalie/Pittsburgh native Parker Milner, Pat Mullane and Steven Whitney up front - but as usual, there's plenty of talent to spare. Electrifying junior Johnny Gaudreau is among those expected to return. Gaudreau was Team USA's leading goal scorer (7) in its gold medal run at the 2013 World Junior Championships and was named a tournament all-star. The 5'6" Carney's Point, NJ native's collegiate exploits include status as a Hobey Baker Award hat trick finalist as well as first-team All-American selection last season (thanks largely to his being the national leader in points per game), and Hockey East and Beanpot MVP honors in 2011-2012. Basically, the 2011 Calgary Flames draft pick is quite good.

UMass-Lowell goalie Connor Hellebuyck, a force of nature in the biggest of games

UMass-Lowell is a compelling measuring stick as well, and it has to be said that for all of Boston College's recent success, the River Hawks actually had a better team last year. Behind a stifling defense backed by freshman goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (1.37 goals against average, 0.952 save percentage), Lowell was 28-11-2 overall. Although UML won the Hockey East regular season title with a 16-9-2 record, they still were able to kick things up another gear in the postseason - first by taking the league tournament (and ending the career of legendary Boston University coach Jack Parker with a championship game shutout), then by knocking off Wisconsin and New Hampshire in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh. Eventual national champ Yale needed overtime to take down the former Division II power by a 3-2 score. Other than 16-goal scorer Riley Wetmore, a senior last year, and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who signed with the Buffalo Sabres following the loss to Yale, UML returns every key player.

Air Force returns to the schedule for the away half of a scheduling agreement initiated last season. I suppose it's quite telling that the Falcons have become a bit of an afterthought after being the easy highlight of the 2012-2013 home slate, but here we are... although AFA head coach Frank Serratore is not amused.

The Falcons, despite a winning 17-13-7 record, suffered a bit of a down year for a program that had qualified for five of the previous six NCAA Tournaments. Outstanding goalie Jason Torf will return from the team that split a series at the Ice Pavilion last November, so their more immediate concern will be ducking hits to the nation's sixth-best offense from the losses of Kyle De Laurell, Stephen Carew and John Kruse.

Three Stars: June 10-16

VIOLATION!

3. Outdoor hockey game works best in 2016
(The Daily Collegian)

Like my subtle move in bumping the outdoor game from first star last week to third this week? Me too. Guess it's not subtle if you go out of your way to draw attention to it.

Anyway, here's a well-thought-out argument for staging Beaver Stadium hockey in the 2015-2016 season, rather than in 2014-2015. The essential points:

1. From an NHL perspective, the extra season will give the Penguins and Flyers separation from previous outdoor games and allow deserving markets like Minnesota and Colorado get in on the fun before the PA cities get a 54th bite at the apple.
2. Pushing things back a bit creates time for the Nittany Lions' program to grow before tossing it into a national showcase and also could position the outdoor game to combat the luster wearing off of Pegula Ice Arena and the fan fatigue that will inevitably come when things stop being new and different all the time.

In other outdoor game "news," the AP got athletic director Dave Joyner on record saying that this thing won't happen before the end of the 2014 football season. He also confirmed that he's spoken with Comcast-Spectacor (the entity that owns the Philadelphia Flyers) president Peter Luukko.

Joyner characterized the preliminary talk as exploratory and high level. “A wouldn’t-it-be-kind-of-cool thing to do” type-talk, Joyner described in a phone interview.

2. UMass Lowell Offseason Thread '13: In Norm We Trust
(USCHO)

I try to give message boardy things a sniff check before posting them, and this one passed:

I was told that Lowell will be going to Princeton on a Tuesday, followed by 2 games at Penn State on a Thu/Fri, with Penn State hosting a football game on the Saturday. Looking at their football schedule, there's only one Saturday home game that Lowell doesn't have a hockey game scheduled yet - Sat 11/16 against Purdue. So, expect to see Princeton on Tue 11/12 and Penn State on Thu 11/14 and Fri 11/15.

Double-checking the check of Penn State's football schedule, the home games after the start of hockey season (known UMass-Lowell hockey games that weekend in parentheses) are October 12th vs. Michigan (vs. Sacred Heart/UMass Classic, October 11th and 12th), November 2nd vs. Illinois (vs. New Hampshire, November 1st and 2nd), November 16th vs. Purdue (none) and November 23rd vs. Nebraska (vs. Notre Dame, November 22nd and 23rd). So that much works. And that Princeton game has in fact been confirmed on Tuesday, November 12th.

If this guy's intel is good, it then becomes likely that the series at Air Force (the only unsettled full road series left) will slide into October 18th and 19th while the women are taking their turn opening Pegula Ice Arena. It seems kind of silly to guess at the Robert Morris (away) and Boston College (home) single games, since they can fit in a lot of different places, including mid-week. But for whatever it's worth, I'm hoping BC comes to town on Saturday, January 25th, which falls on a weekend clear for both teams and the arena.

And that's it. There are just six games not completely locked down right now. For the rest, as always: M Schedules/Results.

1. Ban Announced on All Bags at Sporting Events
(Onward State)

Long story short, if you try to bring any kind of bag - purses included, ladies - into Pegula Ice Arena, you're gonna have a bad time. Don't be that guy or girl.

Best of the Rest

EAAAAGLEEEE(S)!!!

MMQB: Renting Out Beaver Stadium
(Black Shoe Diaries)

Simple question: Which professional sports matchup would you rather see played in Beaver Stadium, Steelers vs. Eagles or Penguins vs. Flyers? According to BSD readers, it's a very, very, very tight call (in fact, a dead heat at the time this post went up). I'm not sure whether to be discouraged that the hockey game didn't take it in a walkover - I mean...wow, a American-style football game in Beaver Stadium, how novel - or to be pumped that hockey still contended in a poll on a site that lets Bill DiFilippo write about the sport.

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame adds professor's photographs to permanent collection
(Penn State News)

From the "stories I didn't really expect to hit my inbox" file:

Mary Lou Nemanic, associate professor of communications at Penn State Altoona, has had documentary photographs accepted into the permanent collection of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Taken during the 1980s, the 16-inch by 20-inch, toned silver prints feature former U.S. hockey great John Mariucci. They are a part of a 20-print exhibit of hockey photographs that will be placed on regular display.

Mariucci, if the name rings a bell, has Minnesota's home arena named for him. He both played for (1937-1940) and coached (1952-1966) the Gophers, and still sits third on the program wins list behind Doug Woog and current coach Don Lucia. He's also credited for helping to grow Minnesota (the state) hockey at the grassroots level, as well as hockey in the U.S., partly though a silver medal as an assistant coach from the 1956 Olympics.

Eamon McAdam: 2013 NHL Draft Prospect Profile
(The Hockey Writers)

With a thoroughness impressing even yours truly, The Hockey Writers have assembled everything you could possibly want to know about Eamon McAdam ahead of the rapidly-approaching NHL Entry Draft. I'm not even offended over not being quoted this time around. Well, okay, I am a little bit.

@TomAnastos
(Twitter)

Big Ten logo on the ice at Michigan State's Munn Ice Arena? Big Ten logo on the ice at Michigan State's Munn Ice Arena.

Anastos says Big Ten could get creative
(Lansing State Journal)

Sticking with my second-favorite Big Ten coach, he dropped some interesting knowledge - the league is talking about centralizing instant replay...

“It would be implementing our current NCAA video replay policy through a command center-type setup like the NHL does,” Anastos said. “Now, we haven’t done that yet. But that’s something we talked about at the (NCAA) rules committee and we talked about the Big Ten potentially exploring its benefit and reporting back to the (NCAA) committee.”

...and also (possibly, at some point) 4-on-4 overtime, which would join the already-implemented shootout in the category of non-traditional overtime rules used in the Big Ten and nowhere else in NCAA hockey.

The Big Ten will continue to hold overtime shootouts to decide winners this season. That’s something the CCHA had pioneered during Anastos’ tenure as commissioner, starting to use them in 2009-10.

“There’s talk about, in the future, putting on our radar more discussion on the potential of modifying our overtime procedure to include 4-on-4 overtime play as opposed to just 5-on-5. That’s technically available in the rule book today, but I don’t think anybody at the Division I men’s level has gone to it,” Anastos said. “We could choose to do that if we wanted to. But because of the impact that people feel in the RPI process, I don’t think we’re going to do something like that unless everybody does it across the board.”

Also, if you really need to know, media timeouts in the Big Ten will be at the first stoppage after the clock hits 15, 10 and 6 minutes remaining in the period and will last for 30, 60 and 30 seconds, respectively.

@psuicelions
(Twitter)

Penn State's home rink? Glad you asked. It's ridiculous how done this thing is. We're literally just about at the phase where we start plastering the thing with gas company ads.

@1_800_NITTANY
(Twitter)

In case you were worried that they'd forget about seat selection until after the season had started (I was mildly concerned):

Thanks #PennState Hockey fans! First seat selection group full! Only 450 deposits can be taken for next group. Hurry! Call 1-800-NITTANY... notifications for selection time coming from Tix Office in advance of July start. Can't wait!

Alumni Challenge Final Countdown: Last Chance for Former Student-Athletes
(gopsusports.com)

Icers alumni are proving that they value Penn State's athletic department more than Penn State's athletic department values them, or at least their achievements.

With only a few weeks left to go in the Penn State Alumni Challenge for Former Student-Athletes, teams can still make a final push to win one or both $6,000 prizes. Women's Soccer continues to lead for the first prize for the highest percentage of former student-athletes who have supported Penn State Athletics with 40.85 percent participation. Trailing the Women's Soccer program are Football (35.76 percent), Men's Hockey (31.69 percent), Men's Lacrosse (28.65 percent), and Men's Volleyball (24.17 percent).

The $6,000 prizes referenced are a pair of awards, one for the team with the highest donation rate among former student-athletes, the other for the team with the greatest increase in participation from last year to this year (women's soccer leads in that category as well).

Gina Kearns: Penn State hockey's APR news for this year

Interactive data: NCAA’s academic progress scores for college hockey teams
(USCHO)

The NCAA made its annual release of Academic Progress Rate scores last week, and while the data hasn't caught up with Penn State having NCAA hockey yet (this latest batch includes everything through 2011-2012), PSU did well as an institution with a 984 four-year score across all teams.

In men's hockey, Ohio State put up a 997, tops in the Big Ten and tied for seventh nationally. That's... uhhh... paradigm shifting. The other Big Ten schools: Minnesota (987), Michigan (981), Michigan State (978) and Wisconsin (977). Dead last in all of DI? Alaska-Anchorage with a 931. Dear God, is there anything that hockey program isn't terrible at? A 924 gets you an unfriendly phone call from the NCAA, although according to Western College Hockey Blog, UAA had an extremely weak 2008-2009 score that will roll off of the books next year, so they're unlikely to be in grave danger of losing scholarships (not that it really matters because, again, they're terrible).

While hockey, generally, performed well across the board, the women did even better than the men, with Quinnipiac's 959 the only female score below 973. Boston University was one of six schools to post a perfect 1,000 - notable for our purposes because PSU assistant Gina Kearns' senior year with the Terriers is still included in the data. Robert Morris led the CHA with 991, with Mercyhurst and 982 and Syracuse at 979. And... that's it, because RIT and Lindenwood are also new to DI.

Minnetonka’s Conor McGinnis Places Ninth at State Golf Tournament
(Minnetonka Patch)

Penn State freshman Laura Bowman ended up in a tie for 26th place at the Minnesota big-school golf tournament after shooting an 87 on the first day then improving to an 80 on the second day. If nothing else, that result gives her bragging rights over Amy Petersen, who finished tied for 29th with a 173 two-day score last year.

Three Stars: April 29-May 5

Scott Wilson, a 2011 Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick, may lead his River Hawks into the PIA in the fall

3. Ryan Patrick Named Pegula Ice Arena Hockey Director
(gopsusports.com)

Former Icer Ryan Patrick is the new Hockey Director for Pegula Ice Arena.

Patrick will oversee and implement all aspects of the community's youth, student and adult hockey programs. He will manage the facility's learn to skate and play hockey programs, the youth amateur hockey program and the student and adult hockey leagues. In addition, Patrick will coordinate and organize youth hockey tournaments and high-level independent travel teams.

Patrick, who graduated in 2003, is the son of long-time NHL executive and Miracle on Ice assistant coach Craig Patrick, the brother of former Icers captain and 1999 graduate C.J. Patrick and the cousin of Curtiss Patrick, class of 2004, another former Icer who enjoyed a five-season career in professional hockey. Carrying that family tree a little bit further, Ryan's great-grandfather was Lester Patrick, who has a major trophy named for him and formerly an NHL division as well. Craig, Lester, grandfather Lynn, and great great uncle Frank (Lester's brother) are all in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while those four in addition to great uncle Muzz Patrick (Lynn's brother) have all won the Stanley Cup in some capacity. That's... uhhh... quite a legacy.

That stuff aside, maybe the most striking element to this, at least for me, is how it drives home the idea that a Pegula Ice Arena story no longer automatically equates to a Penn State hockey story, something that initially crossed my mind when that Sara Evans skating show was announced (and the reason this news didn't get a stand-alone post). Basically, that just means that the building is closer than ever to opening.

2. Penn State Selects XOS Digital for Hockey Technology
(PRWeb)

Slow news week when the coaches' video system is your second star? Yeah, pretty much. Still, it's important, and sounds pretty damn cool to boot.

XOS Digital designed both the men’s and women’s hockey video rooms as a one-stop video production center. Once complete, the facility’s video rooms will be fully equipped with edit stations and remote control systems for capturing video directly from the camera systems installed throughout the arena. The control system enables staff to capture HD practice and game footage from these cameras directly into XOS Thunder HD editing system for in-depth analysis.

The XOS Thunder HD platform enables the Nittany Lions to access all game preparation, including video analysis, reports, diagrams and other player development applications from a single interface.

With full audiovisual integration, the Nittany Lions are able to utilize new technologies that provide workflow automation between video editing systems, content distribution and coaching tools. The entire coaching staff will now be able to easily acquire, manage, distribute and display content throughout the facility including the varsity locker rooms, conference rooms, recruiting lounge, team lounge and coaches offices.

“How well we perform is a direct correlation to how well we prepare,” said Head Coach [Guy] Gadowsky. “It’s important to have the right resources and technology to ensure our preparation is efficient and effective. Individual player development is also critical to the team’s success, and our student athletes will be able to utilize these systems to propel them toward their goal of playing in the NHL. We are excited to enlist XOS Digital’s expertise for this project.”

1. 2013 / 2014 PSU Hockey Schedule?
(Blue White Illustrated)

It's just a message board rumor right now, but if BWI poster VaNtyLion is to be believed, 2013 Hockey East Champion and Frozen Four participant UMass-Lowell will be visiting the Pegula Ice Arena this coming season - obviously an instant highlight of the schedule.

Assessing credibility... well, the guy does sound like he knows what he's talking about for the most part. At the very least, he pays close attention, as he is aware of the Three Rivers Classic, the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff, RIT and Army. Issues? He has Air Force making a "return trip" to PSU when that series will be in Colorado Springs after the teams played at the Ice Pavilion back in November. Also, he states that Connecticut will be in town after January's series in Storrs, but tweets from Huskies hockey voice Will Moran laying out his team's non-conference schedule (1, 2) don't include PSU. It's entirely possible that UConn will visit PSU in 2014-2015 to reciprocate, though - one thing I've learned in doing this is that leaked information is never perfect. The only people who have every piece to the puzzle are the decision makers, and I'm pretty sure VaNtyLion isn't Billy Downey.

Verdict: Thumbs up, I buy it.

Speaking of scheduling things, Union beat writer Ken Schott "fully expects" the Dutchmen's already-known series at PSU to take place over Thanksgiving weekend. Makes sense I guess, since the 2012-2013 games at Union were also over Thanksgiving weekend.

Best of the Rest

Allie Rothman, Katie Vaughan, Carly Szyszko and Mary Kate Tonetti will lead the WIHC in 2013-14

2013-14 Executive Board Elected
(psuwihc.com)

Before parting ways for the summer, the Women's Ice Hockey Club elected its 2013-2014 officers, including Allie Rothman (president), Katie Vaughan (vice president), Carly Szyszko (treasurer) and Mary Kate Tonetti (secretary). Trust me when I say that no organization on campus has a better leadership group.

Wisconsin set for 10 home series during 2013-14 men's hockey campaign
(uwbadgers.com)

Want to know for sure who Wisconsin is playing? Here you go. No dates of course, as the Big Ten's entire schedule, when ready, will likely be released as one giant ball of... something. In other words, we're probably not going to know the dates of any of PSU's conference games before they're on GoPSUSports.com.

PSU looking to extend hockey fan base into area
(Williamsport Sun-Gazette)

This is a poorly written and researched (Penn State didn't play a single home game last year? Really?) article, but leave it to Joe Battista to say something to make me include it.

Aside from the monetary gift provided from the Pegulas, Battista said that they have raised an additional $10 million in private donations.

That's a new number, at least as far as I've seen, one that meets that "additional fundraising" goal set way back when the Pegula donation was first announced. Nice.

Former Penn State assistant athletic director Mark Sherburne hired by Lock Haven University
(PennLive)

It's really old news by now (I meant to throw it in last week and forgot), but long-time Penn State athletic department lieutenant Mark Sherburne has been hired as the new athletic director at Lock Haven. Sherburne, of course, spent ten days as PSU's acting AD during the initial fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal in November, 2011, after his former boss, Tim Curley, went on leave while under investigation for his role in the mess. He returned to his previous post as an assistant AD once the Board of Trustees decided that one of their own - Dave Joyner, who controversially moved directly from the board to the AD office - was better for the job, and was abruptly fired a few months later for withholding documents related to Curley.

And yes, that story is still bizarre, even more than one year later.

NCAA bans hashtagged fields, having solved all other problems
(SB Nation)

While my impression is that the vast majority of you are supportive of my covering the ACHA teams at some expense to the NCAA teams (because while it's not a pure zero sum game, it's close to one - any time I spend on the ACHA teams could be spent on the NCAA teams, hypothetically), I do get the sense that at least a few wonder why I bother. Well this, combined with things like that stinkbomb at North Carolina, offers at least a partial explanation, if you needed one. Really, NCAA? Hashtag legislation? Stick to exploiting student-athletes for billions of dollars, you're better at that.

Anyway, guess we won't be getting #OneTeam in Gretzky's Office at the PIA.

Vulcans hockey is back in good standing

Cal U will begin drug testing hockey players
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Cal (PA), after suspending their entire hockey program - including two men's teams and one women's team - over a massive pot bust involving two now-former players a couple weeks ago, has now restored everything back to normal, but with required drug testing for all players. Seems sensible to me.

The Vulcans' top men's team plays at the ACHA Division 3 level and in College Hockey East with Penn State-Altoona and Penn State-Behrend. The women's team, which competes in ACHA Division 2, was Penn State's first-ever opponent back in October and will join a new conference with the WIHC for next season. Both qualified for their respective ACHA national championship tournaments in 2012-2013.

Utah awarded 2015 ACHA National Championships
(universityofutahhockey.com)

At the ACHA annual meetings on Saturday in Naples, FL (which, as always, coincided with the American Hockey Coaches Association meetings), Utah was awarded the 2015 ACHA Division 2 national tournament, which will be played in Salt Lake City. Provided the Ice Lions don't win their first-ever national title this coming season, they'll win it there, book it.

The 2014 D2 tournament is likely headed to Ashburn, VA after the Northeast Region failed to produce a bid during its turn in the four-year cycle. That hasn't been officially announced, however, and is probably still subject to change.

The women's D2 tournament (as well as those for men's and women's D1) will be in Newark, DE this coming season.

News from 2013 ACHA Annual Meeting
(ouhockey.com)

Penn State is now out of the ACHA D1 game of course, but this can still be filed under "interesting to know:" the top men's division will no longer utilize the controversial coaches poll for rankings and will now rely on computers. Hooray for that.

Also, while the format of the national championships will remain the same, the scheduling will be different. The second round, which involves playing from 16 teams down to eight, will now be spread over two days, and the day off between the quarterfinals and semifinals has been eliminated. The end result is that the tournament (which will run from Thursday-Tuesday instead of Friday-Wednesday) will never have more than four games on any one day. That re-opens the possibility of hosting by facilities with only one sheet of ice, something that hadn't been possible since the tournament expanded from 12 teams to 16 in 2005.

Examining the Big Ten Network and College Hockey
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Possibly the biggest story of the last week was the report that each of the six Big Ten hockey schools will receive an extra $2 million per year from the Big Ten Network, in addition to the rather large annual haul all 12 (soon to be 14) member universities receive.

Undoubtedly, most who follow the Big Ten closely are aware of why BTN has been so profitable since its 2007 launch - its insistence on being carried on basic cable within the conference's footprint and the escalated subscriber rates in those states that make adding schools in large TV markets a smart idea. Still, this is a nice primer for those unfamiliar, and it takes things a step further by looking at the implications of the $2 million windfall (again, it should be said, if true) and even argues that we may be near the ceiling of all of this.

Time to drop college hockey's gentlemen's agreement?
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Should college hockey coaches back off of a potential recruit after he verbally commits elsewhere or continue to go full Urban Meyer on him? Here's one well-thought-out and discussion-provoking opinion.

Seriously, thanks again, UConn

Ex-Niagara coach MacKenzie to guide UConn women
(Buffalo News)

Chris MacKenzie will attempt to correct Connecticut's women's program after the ouster of Heather Linstad, as the Huskies have devolved into a dumpster fire over the last few years. One that proved quite beneficial for Penn State, in case you've never seen UConn transfers Nicole Paniccia, Taylor Gross and Jenna Welch play.

MacKenzie coached the women's team at Niagara, his alma mater, from 2009 until 2011. The Purple Eagles, of course, would have been one of the Nittany Lions' conference rivals in College Hockey America had NU not chopped the program in 2012.

USA Hockey takes preemptive strike at scandal
(UPI)

USA Hockey has a shiny new zero-tolerance program for abuse, called SafeSport. And Executive Director Dave Ogrean would like you to know that...

"The catalyst for it is absolutely and admittedly a byproduct of the horror of what took place at Penn State University with the football program and Jerry Sandusky."

Is that right? You sure it wasn't something strikingly similar to that, but slightly closer to home?

On Monday January 24th, 2011 USA Hockey's Executive Director Dave Ogrean received a very disturbing email from the parent of a member describing the extremely deviant sexual behavior of Massachusetts Maple Leafs coach Anthony DeSilva. Instead of following through and contacting local law enforcement authorities, Ogrean and USA Hockey allowed a sexual predator to fall through the cracks.

I realize that Penn State is going to be cited as an example of administrative failure by too many people to count for a very long time (in fact, I recently had to write a case study on the Sandusky reaction in one of my grad school classes, which was obviously rather difficult). I accept that much as the bed made on my behalf by others. What I do not accept is a hypocritical attempt to blame the Penn State bogeyman by someone who, when presented with nearly identical circumstances, apparently did little differently.

Basically, nice try, douchebag.