W: Penn State 4 at Vermont 2

Box score // Penn State recap // Vermont recap
Victory Bell Rings recap // Vermont highlights // Vermont photos

Building on an extremely strong showing in a season-opening 3-3 tie with Vermont on Friday night, Penn State (1-0-1) took the next step on Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 victory over the Catamounts (0-1-1) at UVM's Gutterson Field House.

To tell the truth, there wasn't much to set the win apart from the tie (other than the scoreline, of course) as many of the game's themes were reruns from the front half of the series. But just to review...

Theme 1: Resilience

Vermont scored five goals on Penn State this weekend. After four of them, the Nittany Lions scored next. And those answers came after just 2:11, 0:27, 4:58 and 0:06, with the latter two on Saturday. After Gina Repaci's bouncer through traffic from center point put UVM ahead just under seven minutes into the contest, Kelly Seward answered with a bar-down bomb from just inside the line at the 11:49 mark. Laura Bowman, however, decided that wasn't good enough. Twelve seconds after Seward tied it up, she broke the tie by finishing a faceoff win and Hannah Hoenshell's rush-and-pass at the back post.

In the middle period, UVM received a second goal from a blueliner 3:48 in when Dayna Colang stepped around Shannon Yoxheimer up high before burying to re-knot the contest at two. But Hoenshell - who played arguably the best game of her career - had a lighting-fast reply when she dangled down low off of the draw and tucked the puck past Roxanne Douville.

Bottom line: PSU has always been a tough team, but they now have the skill to make it count on the scoreboard.

Theme 2: Secondary scoring

It was clear on Friday that the newly-assembled unit of Amy Petersen, Bowman and Hoenshell would provide a viable second scoring line this season. However, it didn't show up in the stats immediately, as usual suspects Shannon Yoxheimer and Taylor Gross were the offensive stars. In the rematch, however, the goals came from the less-familiar sources. Hoenshell had one, plus two assists to first-star-of-the-game Bowman. After the Texan countered Colang to put the Lions back ahead, the Minnesotan once again went back post from a centering feed to supply some breathing room with 2:38 left in the second period.

Bottom line: Penn State received seven goals over the weekend, the most of any NCAA series against a major-conference team, and now present exponentially more matchup problems for opponents.

Theme 3: Goaltending

Josh Brandwene may have raised a couple eyebrows by starting Celine Whitlinger after Nicole Paniccia's stellar outing Friday, but the sophomore more than answered the bell with 37 often-spectacular saves and her second career win.

Although Penn State held a two-goal lead into the third period, it certainly wasn't an easy close-out. The Catamounts launched 16 shots on Whitlinger in the 20 minutes, including one near the halfway mark that bounced through the crease and ended up with just about every blue-clad player on the ice laying on top of it. A video review followed, but after a lengthy delay it was determined that the puck never fully traversed the goalline.

Bottom line: Start Paniccia, start Whitlinger... either way, they're both outstanding.

Theme 4: Player development

Some of the unsung heroes in the win were players who are both well-known to Penn Staters but also much better than a year ago. The defensive tandem of Jordin Pardoski and Sarah Wilkie is developing into a legitimate shutdown pair, and both were instrumental to PSU's lead protection efforts. Lindsay Reihl and Paige Jahnke also had great games on defense. Jenna Welch and her linemates made the tough plays, while Emily Laurenzi was all over the ice at times.

Bottom line: As fantastic as the freshman were in their first two college games this weekend, the bulk of this team is still in the sophomore class - and they've shown unreal growth from year one to year two.

Up next, this dangerous-looking pride of Nittany Lions travels to Hamden, CT for a two-game set at Quinnipiac. They'll make their long-awaited Pegula Ice Arena debut the following weekend against Union.

Here's the live blog from a fantastic couple hours at the Gut:

 

W: Penn State 3 at Vermont 3

Box score // Penn State recap // Vermont recap

Victory Bell Rings recap // Vermont highlights // Penn State photos

An opening tie this year matched up against an opening win last year? Please don't think of it that way.

The simple reality of the situation is this: that historic NCAA-era opening win against Vermont was an outlier. Penn State managed five goals in that contest, then didn't score more than three in a game over the rest of the season other than against NCAA Division III Chatham and Sacred Heart, a DI team in name only.

While it's impossible to project things over all of 2013-2014 based on a single evening, right now, the Nittany Lions look like a much better team than a year ago. The signs are everywhere.

After a scoreless first period, Penn State took a 1-0 lead 6:28 into the second period just nine seconds into Sarah Kelly's hooking penalty. On the play, Shannon Yoxheimer threw the puck up to Jordin Pardoski at the point. The newly-minted alternate captain bombed UVM goalie Roxanne Douville with her heavy shot, and while Douville did make the save, the puck wound up behind her and just in front of the goal line for several agonizing seconds. Enter freshman defender Kelly Seward, the first to see the loose biscuit, and therefore the first goal scorer for Penn State this year.

It was a rather important power play goal for a team that only scored 17 of them all last season.

On the other side of the ledger, a PSU penalty kill that allowed opposing tallies 23.4 percent of the time last season went into lockdown mode. An early too many players on the ice call against the Lions went unpunished. As did two tripping calls, two checking calls, an interference call and an elbowing call over the first 40 minutes. The Catamounts did eventually solve the PK unit, on a Brittany Zuback rebound goal off of Amanda Pelkey's hybrid centering pass-shot that gave UVM a 3-2 lead with 4:04 remaining in regulation. Nevertheless, things could have gone much worse in that department.

But that leads us to something else that feels different this season. The Nittany Lions were always a resilient bunch, but didn't always have the horsepower to make that trait pay off with goals. It looks as if they do now. Just 27 seconds after Zuback scored that go-ahead goal, Yoxheimer took Lindsay Reihl's pass, powered down left wing, then sniped over Douville's shoulder. Earlier, after Pelkey's spectacular one-on-one goal gave Vermont a 2-1 lead a couple minutes into the third period, Gross provided a quick answer. Yoxheimer again started that play down left wing, and centered to the blue paint. Douville stopped Gross' initial shot, but after some persistence and a survived video review, the score was tied for the third of four times.

There was plenty of the familiar. Yoxheimer had a three-point evening and tied for the team high with four shots. Gross also had four shots and was perpetually dangerous. Nicole Paniccia was her usual spectacular self in making 35 stops. Emily Laurenzi, Sarah Wilkie and Birdie Shaw all played their roles particularly well this time out.

At the same time and as expected, freshmen Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen paired up to play in just about every situation and offered the promise of a second consistent scoring line. Sarah Nielsen, another first-year player, stepped in between Yoxheimer and Gross seamlessly. Seward had her goal, but also showed how her length will limit the opposition's trips to the middle of the ice this season.

So yeah, it was a tie. But right now, it feels like a win, because it looks like plenty of the sort of victories that count towards the season record are about to follow.

Here's the live blog from a wild evening in Burlington:

 

ACHA D2: Penn State 7 vs. Weber State 3

The Ice Lions (26-6-1) will live to fight another day at the ACHA National Championships in Chesterfield, MO, thanks to a come-from-behind 7-3 win over Weber State (28-11-3) Saturday afternoon. PSU is now 1-1-0 in the Pool C round robin, and another must-win - with help needed - will follow Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. against Marist in the final game of the group round.

The easy story of the game was Penn State's power play, which finished 4-for-9 after a sluggish start. The Ice Lions misfired on their first two attempts (and frankly, didn't come very close), and immediately following the second, Braxton Green converted a breakaway to give the Wildcats a 1-0 first-period lead. Mike Broccolo answered late in the period with PSU's first conversion on the advantage, set up by a nice cross-crease feed from Chris Lewis.

WSU chased goalie Kevin Lowthert with a couple of quick goals early in the second period to put the Ice Lions down 3-1, but Ryan Demuth's entry provided a spark - the senior from Yardley, PA didn't allow a goal over the last 36 minutes of the game, with a dominant team in front of him playing like their season hung in the balance playing no small role in that. Max O'Malley's blast from right point on the power play cut the deficit to one just over eight minutes into the second, and even some penalty trouble shortly after couldn't derail PSU's comeback. Ryan Urban capitalized on a misplayed puck by Weber State goalie Craig Peterson while killing a 3-on-5 situation by firing into a gaping net. Broccolo's second power play goal of the game gave the Ice Lions their first lead into the intermission at 4-3.

WSU never really threatened for any sustained stretch after falling behind, and goals from Fredrik Linge, Neil Laessig and Mac Winchester (the last of the four PPGs, coming from the O'Malley spot on the other end of the ice in the last two minutes of the game) both sealed the result and potentially offered some tiebreaker help, should the Pool C semifinal bid come down to goal differential.

Here's the live blog:

ACHA D2: Penn State 0 vs. Illinois State 4

HockeyYall.com recap

The Ice Lions, just as quickly as their ACHA Division 2 national tournament began, find themselves on the brink of elimination after a 4-0 game one loss to Illinois State Friday in Chesterfield, MO.

Redbirds senior goaltender Ryan Siuzdak earned the shutout for ISU by closing the door on a Penn State offense that frequently threatened, but also occasionally appeared out of sync and frustrated. He got plenty of goal support as well, thanks to a gritty effort that saw two dirty goals - as well as one fluky one, and a late tally meaningful only in terms of pool tiebreakers - decide the contest.

Midway through the first period, and 24 seconds after a Mac Winchester holding penalty, Jordan Leach banged home the game's opening goal from Brian Reimel and Eric Brown, after some good movement by the latter two got the puck to the front of the net.

Five minutes into the second period, the Redbirds caught a crucial break when an Anthony Luka dump-in took a skip off of the Zamboni door and ended up right in front of PSU goalie Kevin Lowthert, where Carter Kernbauer showed up to bury (PSU actually got a similar bounce in the first period off of Brandon Russo's dump, but the timing and positioning weren't as fortunate for the Ice Lions). With 7:26 remaining in the middle frame, Connor Anderson's third-chance goal served as the likely backbreaker, while Ryan Dunne added another from just outside of the blue in the last two minutes of the game on a pretty set-up by Brown, who terrorized PSU on the forecheck for most of the afternoon.

With the loss, PSU will now likely have to win each of their other two pool games to advance to Monday's semifinals. The next challenge will be Weber State, which stunned top seed Marist 7-6 in overtime in their opener, at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Here's the live blog:

W: Penn State 2 at RIT 3 (OT)

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RITathletics.com recap

In a game defined, in part, by its early-period goals, RIT captain Kim Schlattman buried a rebound from a tight angle just 47 seconds into overtime to lift her Tigers (16-15-5, 7-8-5 CHA) into the CHA semifinals and send the Nittany Lions (7-26-2, 1-17-2 CHA) into the offseason following Penn State's first conference playoff series to close its first NCAA Division I season.

It was a heartbreaking conclusion to a campaign that may have been light on wins, but was certainly heavy on character. To be perfectly clear, I'm no less proud of the way the women's team closed out than I am of the men. Less than five days after Taylor Holstrom's OT winner at Wisconsin in the final 2012-2013 game for Guy Gadowsky's side, the women took a national championship squad (last year's DIII winners only had three seniors) into extra time though a comeback effort that saw PSU playing its best hockey in the third period. Nicole Paniccia was phenomenal with 54 often-spectacular saves. Taylor Gross, in addition to scoring the game's first goal off of a puck to the blue from right wing by Shannon Yoxheimer, played a incredibly gritty game, sacrificing whatever unbruised parts of her body remained in the name of the team and the playoffs. Hannah Hoenshell, who scored to tie the game at two 57 seconds into the third period, Jordin Pardoski, Micayla Catanzariti, Emily Laurenzi and Sarah Wilkie also stood out.

Here's all you need to know about my opinion of this group of players and coaches: TYT started out not really touching women's hockey (2010-2011), to then covering it with a fairly light treatment (2011-2012), cancelling my only scheduled trip to see the Lady Icers in year two due to a winter storm. This season, I attended 16 of the 35 games at four different locations - gotta hit Lindenwood and Syracuse next year to complete my CHA tour - and live blogged nine others from home, sometimes choosing women's games over the men when I felt that it was the more compelling matchup (of the remaining ten, five involved conflicts with trips for the men, three involved personal life conflicts and the other two... well, that's a long story).

I'll have more in the way of reflection over the next couple weeks, I promise. I'm begging off for now due to getting home from Rochester, via Buffalo, at about 12:30 a.m. (and anyway, half of the reason I started doing live blogs is so I wouldn't have to write extensive game recaps). Here's the RIT recap, followed by said live blog.

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Senior captain Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) scored 47 seconds into overtime to lift the RIT women’s hockey team (16-15-5) to a 3-2 victory over Penn State University (7-26-2) in game two of the best of three College Hockey America First Round Series from Ritter Arena on Saturday afternoon. RIT wins the series two games to zero and advances to the semifinals of the College Hockey America Tournament, where they will face No. 2 seed Syracuse on Friday.

Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) was able to keep the puck in the Penn State zone and fired a pass back to Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) at the left point. Her hard shot went just wide, but the rebound caromed to Schlattman at the right side of the goal and the senior captain backhanded a shot just past Penn State goaltender Nicole Panccia, who was diving across, but just too late. The goal was Schlattman's team-best 15th of the season

RIT dominated play throughout, out-shooting Penn State 57-19. Paniccia was outstanding for the Nittany Lions, stopping 54 shots, many in spectacular fashion to be named the game's first star.

Celeste Brown (Great Falls, MT/National Sports Academy) and Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) scored for the Tigers. In net, Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) made 17 saves to improve to 11-9-4 in 2012-13. The Tigers were awarded just one power-play, going 0-for-1.

Taylor Gross and Hannah Hoenshell scored for the Nittany Lions, who ended the season on a 14-game winless streak. Penn State was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.

RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald is happy that his team is moving on to the conference semifinals.

"It was a gutsy, close playoff win," said McDonald. "Our top line really came through in the clutch for us. Offensively, we controlled the game, (Penn State's) goaltender played realy well to keep it close. We are looking forward to be have a chance to be playing for our league championship next weekend."

Maugeri tallied her ninth goal of the season at the 9:22 mark, as she streaked into the Penn State zone and took a perfect feed from Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury), diving to redirect a shot past Paniccia. Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) also assisted on the goal.

From there, RIT continued to press, but Paniccia kept everything out, stopping 35-of-36 shots in a losing cause. Binnington made 16 saves to record her sixth shutout of the season and improve to 10-9-4. Her best save came with 6:45 left in the final period, as Paige Jahnke fired a shot through a screen on a power-play that Binnington turned aside.

The Tigers came out and dominated the first period, out-shooting the Nittany Lions 16-4, but the game was tied 1-1.

RIT came out determined, firing the first six shots on goal over the first 2:29, but Paniccia was outstanding, making three big saves to keep the game scoreless. That prompted Penn State Head Coach Josh Brandwene to call a timeout just 2:29 in.

From there, RIT kept coming, but Paniccia kept the puck out. Her best save came on a redirection by Brown in front about five minutes in.

Penn State shocked the Ritter Arena faithful by jumping out to the lead at the 9:56 mark. Shannon Yoxheimer caused a turnover at the right wing boards and fired a shot towards the net that Gross redirected past Binnington off the crossbar and in for her seventh goal of the season.

Brown tied the game at the 14:45 mark, circling after Lindsay Grigg (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Hornets) won the draw, going towards the net and firing a perfect shot over the shoulder of Paniccia and just under the crossbar from a tight angle for her first goal since Jan. 27 and ninth of the season. Grigg won an offensive zone faceoff to Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects), who on a set play, tipped a pass to Brown, coming in from the left side. Brown circled around a few players and cut to the net, putting in a perfect shot for the goal.

RIT played an even better second period, firing 22 shots in the frame, while scoring the lone goal to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Paton gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead just 1:30 into the period, taking a feed from Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) in slot, getting her first chance stopped by Paniccia, but buried her own rebound for her fourth goal of the season.

RIT had numerous chances to go up more, but Paniccia was brilliant. She robbed Yokoyama twice, once on a breakaway, and then on a point-blank chance in front after Kourtney Kunchika made a perfect feed from behind the net.

Penn State tied the game 57 seconds into the third period, as Hoenshell took a feed from Birdie Shaw at the right face-off circle and put a shot past Binnington.

From there, a frantic end of regulation ensued, as RIT peppered the Penn State net with 18 more shots, but Paniccia was once again up to the task. She made two huge saves in the final seconds on shots from Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) and Danielle Read (Brantford, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks) through traffic. Melissa Bromley (Aurora, Ontario/Aurora Panthers) had a great chance early in the period, getting a rebound in the slot, but firing a shot just wide off her teammate Zach, who was standing at the side of the net.

RIT last played an overtime game in the postseason on March 16, 2012, when Grigg took a perfect feed from Yokoyama 2:30 into the extra session to score and defeat SUNY Plattsburgh 2-1 in the NCAA National Semifinal.

Since McDonald took over in 2006, RIT is now 13-6 in the postseason, including a 13-3 mark at Ritter Arena. The Tigers are 10-1 at home in the postseason since the 2009-10 season, including a 5-0 mark last year en route to winning the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship.

W: Penn State 0 at RIT 1

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RITathletics.com recap

It's a cliche, but 1-0 losses are among the most frustrating because in hockey, there's such a fine line between goal and no goal. A bounce here, an inch there... the what-if game always fails of course, because surely, RIT (15-15-5, 7-8-5 CHA) would like to add a couple hypothetical goals to their total as well. So it might be disingenuous to suggest the Nittany Lions (7-25-2, 1-17-2 CHA) deserved a better fate in game one of their first-round best-of-three CHA playoff series, but still, the possibility was on the table for all 60 minutes of a contest that saw the narrowest shot differential (35-16) of any of the five between PSU and RIT this season.

There certainly were a handful of chances to spoil RIT goaltender Ali Binnington's shutout, with perhaps the best being among the last - a late third-period power play shot by Paige Jahnke that worked through a perfect Birdie Shaw screen but was somehow stopped by the Tigers' sophomore netminder. On the other end, Nicole Paniccia was nearly Binnington's equal with 34 saves and just one fateful goal allowed, by Marissa Maugeri on a beautiful back-door setup from Erin Zach 9:22 into the first period.

Penn State is now down to one remaining chance to extend its season, Saturday afternoon's game two. Win, and the series rubber match is on Sunday. Lose, and a longer-than-desired offseason officially commences.

Here's the RIT recap, followed by the live blog.

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The RIT women’s hockey team (15-15-5) used a first period goal from sophomore forward Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning) and 16 saves from sophomore goaltender Ali Binnington (Oakville, Ontario/Mississauga Chiefs) to shut out six-seed Penn State University (7-25-2) 1-0 in game one of the best of three College Hockey America First Round Series from Ritter Arena on Friday afternoon. It was RIT’s first playoff win as a Division I program.

Maugeri tallied her ninth goal of the season at the 9:22 mark of the opening period, as she streaked into the Penn State zone and took a perfect feed from Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury), diving to redirect a shot past Paniccia. Emilee Bulleid (Waterdown, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) also assisted on the goal.

From there, RIT continued to press, but Paniccia kept everything out, stopping 35-of-36 shots in a losing cause. Binnington made 16 saves to record her sixth shutout of the season and improve to 10-9-4. Her best save came with 6:45 left in the final period, as Paige Jahnke fired a shot through a screen on a power-play that Binnington turned aside.

RIT’s defense did a brilliant job keeping Penn State to the outside, as the Nittany Lions failed to generate much in the way of quality throughout. The Tigers out-shot Penn State 35-16 and both teams were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage.

RIT had a few other great chances to go up 2-0, but Paniccia made a handful of big saves. Kourtney Kuncihika had Paniccia beat off a clean face-off win, but her shot went off the right post and back under the pad of the Penn State goaltender.

RIT continued to press in the second period, but could not solve Paniccia, despite the healthy 16-6 edge in shots in the frame and a 29-11 edge over two periods of play.

In the final period, RIT had a handful of great chances, but were unable to get good shots off, or had them blocked. The RIT defense killed off two Penn State power-plays.

RIT Head Scott McDonald was happy with his team’s effort in their first Division I playoff game.

“I thought that was a solid playoff game,” said McDonald, who picked up his 150th win behind the bench for the Tigers. “It was very low scoring, and tight defensively. They had an odd strategy of hanging a player in the neutral zone, but once we adjusted to it, I thought we controlled play very well in their end and did a great job of limiting their offensive chances.”

McDonald is now 150-37-22 in seven seasons at RIT.

Since McDonald took over in 2006, RIT is now 12-6 in the postseason, including an 12-3 mark at Ritter Arena. The Tigers are 10-1 at home in the postseason since the 2009-10 season, including a 5-0 mark last year en route to winning the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championship.

Today’s game was the fifth meetings between the two schools this season. RIT holds a 4-0-1 edge thus far. On Oct. 25, RIT rolled to a 4-1 win over the Nittany Lions. The next night, despite firing 63 shots on goal, RIT needed a late goal from Hiller to salvage a 2-2 tie. Paniccia made 61 saves in that contest for Penn State. Just two weekends ago, RIT rolled to 3-1 and 4-0 victories over the Nittany Lions at Ritter Arena. On Feb. 15, Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects) dished out three assists to reach the 100-career point total for the Tigers. The next night, RIT exploded for three second period goals, and Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects) stopped 20 shots to record her 12th career shutout.

The Tigers and Nittany Lions will play game two of the CHA First Round Series at 2 p.m. If RIT wins, they advance to face No. 2 seed Syracuse in the CHA Semifinal next weekend at Mercyhurst. If Penn State wins, they will force a decisive game three, which will be played on Sunday at Ritter Arena, beginning at 2 p.m.

M: Penn State 3 at Wisconsin 2 (OT)

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // UWBadgers.com recap
BTN highlights // Guy Gadowsky postgame video // UWBadgers.com photos

Mike Eaves postgame video // Zengerle/McCabe/Peterson postgame video

College Hockey News recap // Bucky's 5th Quarter recap

Centre Daily Times recap // PennLive recap // USCHO recap

So, let's reset.

Penn State, a first-year NCAA Division I program featuring eight members who arrived in Happy Valley before Terry Pegula's donation announcement, went into the Kohl Center Monday night to play a nationally-televised game on Big Ten Network against Wisconsin. The Badgers, after a slow start to their season, had gone 13-3-5 since December 1st to climb to 16th in this week's USCHO poll and - more importantly - 19th in the pairwise rankings. In front of 9,078 hostile fans, the Nittany Lions rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit to win 3-2 in overtime and, despite having nothing tangible to play for themselves in their final game of the season, effectively end historic power Wisconsin's chances of receiving at at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Did I get that right? Unreal. This offseason is going to take forever.

For the record, Penn State finishes:

• 19-16-0 in all games, including ACHA opponents and the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 team
• 13-14-0 in NCAA games, which includes Division I and Division III
• 11-12-0 against DI
• 4-4-0 against major conference DI programs, including the ECAC's Union (0-2-0), the CCHA's Ohio State (1-0-0) and Michigan State (1-1-0), Hockey East's Vermont (1-0-0) and the WCHA's Wisconsin (1-1-0)
• 3-2-0 against teams that will join PSU in the Big Ten next season - Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin being the opponents, of course

Less than one year ago, we were mourning a loss to Oakland in the ACHA national tournament and the championship-free death of the Icers.

More thoughts when I'm able to express them coherently, of course. For now, here is the GoPSUSports.com recap, with what was one of the more fun live blogs I've ever done at the bottom.

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Junior forward Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) scored the game-winning goal with 34 seconds left in overtime as the Penn State men's hockey team erased a 2-0 deficit in a 3-2 overtime victory against No. 16 Wisconsin in its season finale at the Kohl Center Monday night.

The Nittany Lions, who defeated a ranked opponent for the first time and improved to 3-2-0 against future Big Ten opponents, finished their inaugural NCAA Division I campaign at 13-14-0. Penn State, which also defeated Michigan State Jan. 26 in its only other appearance on BTN, improved to 10-2-0 when scoring a power-play goal.

Penn State found itself down 2-0 in the third period after goals from Mark Zengerle and Jason LaBate. The Nittany Lions then began to claw back beginning with Holstrom's marker. The forward tallied his first of the game at 6:48 of the period and, with 7:44 left in regulation, Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) tied the game with a power-play marker.

The stage was then set for Holstrom's heroics in the overtime frame. Bailey gloved a clearing attempt at the blue line and worked the puck toward the cage. After Max Gardiner's (Deephaven, Minn.) attempt was stopped, Holstrom fired the game-winner to the back of the cage.

Freshman netminder Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) matched a career-high with 42 saves while Landon Peterson stopped 33 shots for the Badgers. Wisconsin outshot the Nittany Lions, 44-36, and went 0-for-4 on the power play. The Nittany Lions finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

W: Penn State 2 at Robert Morris 4

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RMUColonials.com recap

The Nittany Lion women (7-24-2, 1-17-2 CHA) closed the regular season by playing well in stretches, but were unable to spoil the senior day of Robert Morris (13-14-3, 9-10-1 CHA) Saturday afternoon at the Island Sports Center's 84 Lumber Arena.

Here's the RMU recap and video of the goals, followed by the live blog.

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The Robert Morris University women's hockey team earned a sweep of College Hockey America (CHA) opponent Penn State by a score of 4-2 Saturday afternoon at the RMU Island Sports Center.

The Colonials honored the class of 2013 before today's contest for senior day, as three members of the senior class tallied points in game two of the series.

In similar fashion to last night's contest, RMU maintained control of the first period versus the Nittany Lions. The Colonials outshot Penn State, 12-3 throughout the first frame. Robert Morris held PSU shotless until the 9:45 mark of the period. At 15:21 of the first frame, RMU scored the opening goal of the contest as sophomore forward Rebecca Vint (Caledon, Ontario / Brampton Jr. Thunder) scored her 16th goal of the season. Freshman defenseman Megan Eady (Renfrew, Ontario / Nepean Wildcats) hit junior assistant captain Thea Imbrogno (Etobicoke, Ontario / Mississauga Jr. Chiefs) at the point who then found Vint on the right goal post for the first Colonial goal of the game. The assist is the second of Eady's freshman campaign and the 10th of the year for Imbrogno.

The Nittany Lions quickly responded to tie the game, 1-1 just 44 seconds after the RMU score. Freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer scored the first Penn State goal at 15:45 of the first period. Defenseman Sarah Wilkie and forward Taylor Gross tallied assists on game-tying goal.

The second period proved to be the most successful for the Colonials as RMU scored two goals including the game-winner throughout the second 20 minutes of action.

Robert Morris would regain the lead as the Colonials scored an extra-attacker goal on a delayed penalty just 3:45 into the second period. Senior forward Courtney Langston(Warrensburgh, Mo. / Shattuck St. Mary's) hit junior defenseman Brandi Pollock (Virden, Manitoba / Westman Wildcats) with a pass in the left offensive faceoff zone. Pollock then found senior captain Dayna Newsom (Oakville, Ontario / Oakville Ice) on the right post for the second RMU score. The assist is the first of the season for Langston while Pollock registered her sixth of the year and second of the series with Penn State. The goal is the fourth of Newsom's senior season and her second of the series with the Nittany Lions.

The Colonials then took a 3-1 lead with 3:19 left in the period. Imbrogno found junior defenseman Anneline Lauziere (St. Thomas, Ontario / London Jr. Devilettes) who then passed off to fellow defenseman Kylie St. Louis (Windsor, Ontario / Southwest Wildcats). St. Louis fired a shot from outside the right faceoff zone that found the cage over the right should of Penn State netminder Celine Whitliner. The assists marks the 11th of the year and second of the game for Imbrogno while Lauziere tallied her third of the year. St. Louis' goal is her fourth score of the season and first game-winning goal.

RMU again dominated the shot count in the second period as the Colonials outshot the Nittany Lions, 24-2.

With 10:34 on the clock in the final frame, RMU added to its lead with a goal by senior assistant captain Cobina Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / Ottawa Jr. Senators). After junior forward Kristen Richards (Toronto, Ontario / Niagara University) won a faceoff, Lauziere blasted a shot wide of the cage that allowed Delaney to find the puck and put in net on the wrap-around attempt. The goal is sixth of the year for Delaney and her second in two games. The assist marked Lauziere's second of the contest along with her fourth of the season and is Richards' 13th assist as a RMU Colonial.

At the 13:52 mark of the third period Penn State scored in a comeback effirt, but RMU skated the reminder of the period without giving up another goal. The second Nittany Lion goal was scored by Gross as Yoxheimer tallied notched the only assist.

The final shot count favored RMU, 57-12. The Colonials also won 39 of 58 faceoffs on the afternoon.

Senior netminder Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) earned the victory between the pipes for Robert Morris. DiCiocco faced 10 shots in the contest to earn her 33rd career victory.

Next weekend, RMU will play a best-of-three series in the first round of the CHA playoffs. The Colonials opponent and location of the series is yet to be determined due to the Lindenwood and Syracuse series from this weekend being postponed. The two teams will faceoff Wednesday and Thursday of the upcoming week at 7 p.m. As long as Lindenwood does not sweep the Orange, Robert Morris will host the Lions in the first round.

W: Penn State 1 at Robert Morris 4

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RMUColonials.com recap

Despite a fortunate Emily Laurenzi goal that bounced in - seemingly in slow motion - off of a Robert Morris skate to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead late in the first period, PSU (7-23-2, 1-16-2 CHA) was unable to take down the defending CHA champion Colonials (12-14-3, 8-10-1 CHA) at the Island Sports Center Friday night. The game placed Penn State in a couple of new slots in the RMU media guide, as Colonials goalie Kristen DiCiocco reset the program wins record (32) and Robert Morris rifled 63 shots at Nicole Paniccia to set a new team mark in that category.

Here's the RMU recap (as well as video of the goals), followed by the live blog.

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The Robert Morris University women's hockey team earned its eighth College Hockey America (CHA) win of the season as the Colonials defeated Penn State, 4-1 Friday evening at the RMU Island Sports Center.

With tonight's win, senior goaltender Kristen DiCiocco (Niagara Falls, Ontario / Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres) earned her 32nd career victory to set a new record for wins by a single goaltender in Robert Morris program history. DiCiocco stopped 12 of the 13 shots she faced from the Nittany Lions to tally a .929 save percentage in the recording breaking victory.

To begin the Colonials last regular series of the year, Robert Morris hit the ice with great intensity. RMU outshot Penn State 16-5 throughout the first 20 minutes of play while the Colonial penalty kill stifled the Nittany Lion's only power play chance of the first frame. After an unusual failed clear attempt by RMU and an unlucky bounce, Penn State scored the opening goal of the contest with 1:14 remaining in the first period. Freshman forward Emily Laurenzi was credited with the score with Hannah Hoenshell and Paige Jahnke registering assists.

Halfway through the second period, the Colonials were able to execute multiple scoring opportunities as RMU scored its first goal of the game at 10:22 of the period. Senior assistant captain Jamie Joslin(Richmond Hill, Ontario / Aurora Panthers) stole the puck at the blue line, skated it into the offensive zone and immediately fire a shot on net. The shot deflected off the chest of PSU goaltender Nicole Paniccia as forward Rebecca Vint (Caledon, Ontario / Brampton Jr. Thunder) crashed the net hard and buried the puck past Paniccia. The assist is the 12th of the season for Joslin and the score marks the 15th of Vint's sophomore campaign.

Less than three minutes later, RMU would take a 2-1 lead off a bang-bang play from three Colonial forwards. Sophomore forward Maddie Collias (Roseville, Mich. / Belle Tire) hit linemate Katelyn Scott (Brighton, Mich. / Belle Tire) with a quick pass that allowed her to send the puck across the crease to senior captain Dayna Newsom (Oakville, Ontario / Oakville Ice) for a back door power play goal. The power play goal was scored at 13:12 of the second period. The assists are the sixth and ninth for Scott and Collias while the goal is the third of the season for Newsom. The goal is also second power play goal this year for Newsom, first game-winning goal and the second goal of she has scored against the Nittany Lions.

Throughout the second 20 minutes of action, RMU outshot Penn State 30-5. The 30 shots by the RMU marks a season-high for shots in a period. The Colonials surpassed its previous season-best 26 shots they put on net last weekend in the third period of game two against Lindenwood. Fourteen of RMU's 30 shots came on the three power play opportunities.

Robert Morris added to its lead at 5:33 of the third period when senior assistant captain Cobina Delaney (Stittsville, Ontario / Ottawa Jr. Senators) tallied her fifth goal of the year. Senior forward Kelsey Thomas (Hamilton, Ontario / Hamilton Hawks) passed to junior forward Kristen Richards (Toronto, Ontario / Niagara University) for the initial shot on net. After a scrum to the left of the cage, Delaney found the puck and lifted into the top of the net to put the Colonials up, 3-1. The assist for Thomas allows her to move into a tie for fifth all-time in career points with 75. The goal for Delaney also allows her to move into the top-10 in career goals as she has scored 22 goals in her four-year career at Robert Morris.

The Colonials scored their final goal of the contest with 2:16 remaining in the third frame to earn the 4-1 victory. The fourth RMU goal was scored by Scott for her second point of the game and fourth goal of the season. Junior defenseman Brandi Pollock (Virden, Manitoba / Westman Wildcats)passed off to Joslin at the blue line and Joslin fired a shot on net that Scott tipped in for the score. The assist marks Pollock's fifth of the year as Joslin tallied her 13th assist of the year and second of tonight's game. Joslin's two-point performance on the evening moves her career total for points to 43. The senior is now tied for most career points tallied by a Colonial defenseman. The defender also moves into a tie for third all-time in assists by a defenseman with 30 career assists.

RMU outshot the Nittany Lions 63-14 in the victory. The 63 shots on net sets a new single-game program record for Robert Morris passing the 61 shot-effort against Lindenwood last season. The Colonial penalty kill unit was a perfect four-for-four in the evening contest. The defensive unit now ranks 11th on national scene with an 85.7 kill percentage (102-119).

W: Penn State 0 at RIT 4

Box score // GoPSUsports.com recap // RITathletics.com recap // USCHO photos

The Nittany Lion women (7-22-2, 1-15-2 CHA) dropped a disappointing, but not discouraging, 4-0 decision at RIT (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) Saturday night. The game became rather heated in the late stages - notable because the Tigers' now-completed sweep of PSU, combined with Lindenwood's simultaneous sweep of Robert Morris in St. Louis, make Rochester the most likely destination for Penn State when the CHA tournament gets underway in two weeks.

Next weekend, PSU closes its regular season with a pair at RMU. Elsewhere in the CHA, RIT travels to Mercyhurst, while Syracuse hosts Lindenwood. Sweeps by both Lindenwood and Mercyhurst would send the Nittany Lions to LU (which is even with Robert Morris in the standings, but owns the tiebreaker) for CHAs, while any other result sets up a rematch with RIT.

A summary of the rapidly-solidfying league standings: Mercyhurst clinched the regular season title over the weekend by sweeping Syracuse, which has clinched second. Both teams will receive byes to the tournament semifinals, which will be hosted by the top-seeded Lakers. On the other end, Penn State is locked into sixth, and - barring the scenario outlined above - will head to third-place RIT in for the best-of-three first round of the playoffs. Lindenwood and Robert Morris are currently tied for fourth in points and (again, unless LU sneaks into third) will likely play each other in the first round, with home ice between the two still up for grabs.

Here's the RITathletics.com recap, followed by the live blog.

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Nicole Paniccia made 41 saves, including this one on Lindsay Grigg. Photo: Omar Phillips/USCHO

The RIT women’s hockey team (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) clinched at least a share of third place in the College Hockey America standings after defeating Penn State (7-22-2, 1-15-2 CHA) by a score of 4-0 on Saturday night at Ritter Arena.

RIT broke the game open with three second period goals. The line of Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury), Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning), and Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) combined for six points. Zach and Maugeri had a goal and an assist apiece, while Paton tallied two assists. Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) recorded a goal and an assist, while Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) also scored for RIT.

RIT out-shot Penn State, 45-20. RIT goaltender Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects) stopped all 20 shots she faced to record her second shutout of the season and 12th of her career. Chamberlain made a handful of big saves in the third period to preserve the shutout.

Nicole Paniccia made 41 saves in defeat for the Nittany Lions. The Nittany Lions were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-1.

The Tigers have clinched home ice for the upcoming CHA postseason tournament and will host a best-of-three series at Ritter Arena from March 1-3.

RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald was happy with his team’s play tonight, especially in the second period.

"I was excited with the way we played the entire game," said McDonald. "I couldn't be happier for our senior class, they were great tonight. The second period was one of our best of the year."

Neither team scored in an opening period that featured just a handful of stoppages and no goals. RIT held an 11-5 edge in shots on goal, but missed several wide.

Paton had a great chance stopped by the glove of Paniccia with 4:23 remaining, interrupting a 13-minute span between whistles. On the ensuing face-off, Maugeri rang a shot off the post.

Shannon Yoxheimer nearly scored twice in the first period. Photo: Omar Phillips/USCHO

Penn State had its best chance of the period with three minutes left in the period, as Shannon Yoxheimer fired a shot from the left wing that Chamberlain looked to have smothered, but the puck got behind the goaltender and was sitting in the crease for a few tense seconds before Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) knocked it away.

The Tigers played one of their better periods of the season in the second, scoring three times, while out-shooting the Nittany Lions 24-4 to take a 3-0 lead into the intermission.

Schlattman got the Tigers on the board just 2:08 into the period, as she shoveled a pass from Kunichika from in close off the post and in for her team-best 14th goal of the year. Great work by Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) and Kunchika down low made the goal, as Schlattman was alone in front for the goal.

RIT nearly made it 2-0 on the power-play moments later, as Hiller was denied three times in succession in front, first on a deflection, then on two rebounds.

Maugeri gave RIT a 2-0 lead at the 12:48 mark, slamming in a rebound after a shot by Zach was stopped. Paton kicked a pass in the neutral zone to Zach, who came flying in on the right wing. She had her initial attempt stopped by Paniccia, but Maugeri was there to stuff home the rebound for her seventh goal of the year.

That line struck again with 1:09 left in the period, as Zach collected a cross-ice pass from Paton on the rush to put the puck past Paniccia for her fourth goal of the year. Maugeri also assisted on the goal.

Kuncihika concluded the scoring with 4:43 left in regulation, stealing a puck into the neutral zone, flying into the Penn State zone, and putting a low shot through the pads of Paniccia for her ninth goal of the season.

Tonight was the fourth regular season meeting between the two squads, with RIT holding a 3-0-1 edge. On Oct. 25, RIT defeated the Nittany Lions 4-1 at Penn State, while the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie the next night. Last night, Schlattman scored two goals, while Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects) dished out three assists to become the 12th player in the history of the RIT women’s hockey program to record 100 career points in a 4-1 RIT win.

Before the game, RIT honored seniors Ellesha Fortuna (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas), Danielle Read (Brantford, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks), Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Yokoyama, Hiller, and Schlattman.

M: Penn State 3 vs. Oklahoma 0

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // USCHO recap

PennLive.com recap // GoPSUSports.com photo gallery

Penn State, in the final Ice Pavilion game ever for the Icers/NCAA men's team, rode a third-period surge aided significantly by a boarding major to Oklahoma's Nic Power, to a 3-0 victory over the Sooners. With the win, PSU improves to 18-15-0 in all games, while remaining 12-13-0 in NCAA games and 10-11-0 against NCAA Division I.

Here's the GoPSUSports.com recap - its incredible depth undoubtedly reflecting the respect the writer has for the tradition built at the closing venue prior to this season - followed by the live blog from the game.

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Jamie Hettema, the Nittany Lion, Joe Battista (out of frame in the first picture)...it doesn't get much more symmetrical than these photos, of the first and last ceremonial faceoffs in Ice Pavilion history. In a nice touch, Matt Glass - the first goal scorer at the rink - and John Dufford joined the latter version.

After two scoreless periods, the Penn State men's hockey team tallied three third-period goals as it garnered a 3-0 exhibition victory against the ACHA's Oklahoma Sooners in the team's final game at Greenberg Ice Pavilion. The Nittany Lions competed in front of a sellout crowd for the 14th time this season.

Freshman Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, B.C.) opened the scoring, while classmate Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) and senior Michael Longo (Allison Park, Pa.) tallied a power-play goal each. Defenseman Connor Varley (Lansdale, Pa.) collected two assists and freshman goaltender Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) turned aside 26 shots for the shutout.

Penn State outshot the Sooners, 51-26, and went 2-for-8 on the power play. Oklahoma went 0-for-4 on the man advantage, while goaltender Colin Fernandes made 48 saves.

After two scoreless periods, Loik tallied the game's first goal at 3:24 of the third. Varley sent a pass to Loik, who skated above the circles near the blue line before sending a shot through traffic for the marker.

Brooks doubled the advantage while the Sooners were defending a five-minute major. Sophomore forward Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) passed to Brooks, who went around the net before sliding a shot past the goal line. Freshman David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) also collected an assist on the play.

The Nittany Lions needed just 14 seconds to take a 3-0 lead. Freshman defenseman Joseph Lordo (St. Louis, Mo.) sent a pass to Varley at the blue line, where his shot was stopped by Fernandes. The rebound fell to the goaltender's feet, where Longo quickly knocked it in for the goal.

Penn State will conclude the 2012-13 season when it travels to Madison, Wis., for a two-game series against No. 18 Wisconsin Feb. 24-25. Opening faceoff Sunday, Feb. 24 is set at 8 p.m., while the game Monday, which will air on BTN, is set at 8:30 p.m.

W: Penn State 1 at RIT 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RITathletics.com recap

Despite a 3-1 loss to RIT (13-13-5, 6-6-5 CHA) that clinched sixth place in the CHA for the Nittany Lion women (7-21-2, 1-14-2 CHA), there continue to be a lot of encouraging signs of growth. Most obviously, this is no longer a team that needs its goalie to make 60 saves to put a cosmetically good final score on the board. It's a group capable of competing on close to even terms with a team that will probably have home ice in the first round of the league tournament, at least for 40 minutes, and just isn't making those one or two plays that often flip the result one way or another.

To the mindful observer, and although PSU ran out of steam in the third period, there's a huge difference between this game, and the 4-1 loss that opened the series with the Tigers at the Ice Pavilion back in October. We're now at the point where something like a well-executed, but unconverted power play midway through the second just after RIT went up 2-0 is making a difference in these games. On the flip side, Penn State surrendered on two of its first three penalty kills, thanks largely to Kristina Moss, the Tigers' lethal weapon on point, who set up a juicy rebound with one bomb, then scored with another. This is no longer about simply keeping it close, it's about regretting missed chances and the fact that the opponent cashed theirs in.

Most importantly in the short term, head coach Josh Brandwene might be starting to look crazy - like a fox - when he speaks of peaking for the CHA tournament, where anything can happen. I'll admit it: back at media day, when I first heard that line, I rolled my eyes a little. I'm certainly not doing that now, because his team has the look of one capable of taking down any of the possible first-round opponents with a play here or there.

Here's the RIT recap, followed by the live blog:

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Jordin Pardoski's power play bomb set up Penn State's goal

Senior Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects) dished out three assists, becoming the 12th player in the history of the RIT women’s hockey program to reach 100 career points, as the Tigers (13-13-5, 6-6-5 CHA) defeated visiting Penn State (7-21-2, 1-14-2) 3-1 in front of 792 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday night.

Yokoyama assisted on all three goals, one in each period to reach the historic milestone. She becomes the fourth active Tiger to reach the milestone. Yokoyama now has 13 goals and 87 assists in 114 career games. Her 87 assists are second all-time at the university.

Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) scored two goals, while Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons) had a goal and an assist. Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) also dished out a pair of assists in the win. Goaltender Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects) made 21 shots to earn her fourth win of the season, making a handful of good saves.

Taylor Gross spoiled Chamberlain's shutout bid, scoring a power-play goal with 3:41 left in regulation. Nicole Paniccia made 42 saves for the Nittany Lions.

RIT out-shot Penn State, 45-22, including 19-5 in the final period. The Tigers were 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while Penn State was 1-for-5.

RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald was happy with his team effort and the atmosphere at Ritter Arena tonight.

"I was excited with our team's effort seen in the game tonight," said McDonald. "We played well in all facets of the game. Our fans were great tonight and it was exciting to see all of the stuffed Tigers get launched onto the ice after our first goal."

The Tigers scored the lone goal in the opening period, out-shooting Penn State, 13-9.

At the 7:03 mark of the first period, Schlattman buried a rebound in the slot after a shot from Moss was blocked for her 12th goal of the season. On the power-play, RIT worked the puck back to the point, where Yokoyama and Moss crossed with Yokoyama feeding Moss for the one-timer. Moss’ shot was blocked with the carom coming to Schlattman who was patrolling the slot. Schlattman fired a high shot over the blocker of Paniccia.

Right after, hundreds of stuffed Tigers came pouring on to the ice as RIT Greek Life sponsored the first Tiger Toss. The Tigers were picked up by the players and workers and will be donated to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Chamberlain had to come up with two big saves in the final two minutes of the period. First, she robbed Gross on a 2-on-1 in close, sticking her left pad out to keep RIT in the lead. Next, she robbed Hannah Hoenshell in close after a RIT defensive break down.

RIT increased its lead to 2-0 after 40 minutes of play.

The Tigers upped their lead to 2-0 at the 6:22 mark of the second period, as Moss fired a rocket of a slap shot past Paniccia for her second goal of the season. Kunichika won the face-off back to Moss, who played catch at the point with Yokoyama. Yokoyama placed a perfect pass to Moss, who from the right circle, blasted the one timer in on the power-play.

Chamberlain continued her strong play later in the period, making a big save on Shannon Yoxheimer through traffic.

Schlattman put the game away with her second goal of the game and 13th of the season with 13:11 left in regulation, as Kuncihika stole a puck from a Penn State defender behind the net and put a pass out in front that deflected off Yokoyama's stick right to Schlattman, who put a low shot from in close past Paniccia.

Gross spoiled Chamberlain's shutout with 3:41 left on the power-play as a shot from Yoxheimer deflected off the stick of Gross in front, off the glove of Chamberlain and in for her fifth goal of the year.

M: Penn State 4 vs. Alabama-Huntsville 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // UAHChargers.com recap

USCHO recap // PennLive.com recap // StateCollege.com recap

Penn State (16-15-0 in all games, 12-13-0 in NCAA games, 10-11-0 vs. NCAA DI) fought off a resilient Alabama-Huntsville (8-20-2 in all games, 3-19-1 in NCAA games, 1-18-1 vs. NCAA DI) to earn a sweep in the Independent League MegaBowl. Here's the GoPSUSports.com recap, followed by the live blog.

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With the score tied with less than five minutes remaining in the game, freshman defenseman Mark Yanis (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) blasted a slap shot to the back of the net to send the Penn State men's hockey team to a 4-3 victory against Alabama Huntsville at Greenberg Ice Pavilion Saturday night.

The Nittany Lions, who improved to 12-13-0 in front of a sellout crowd, secured their third straight win for the first time since a four-game winning streak Oct. 20-Nov. 3. Penn State, which also swept a weekend series for the first time this season, closed out Greenberg Ice Pavilion at 4-4-0 against NCAA competition.

Freshmen forwards Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska/1g, 1a) and David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.), who completed a five-point weekend with a goal and an assist, gave the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead midway through the second period before the Chargers tied the game with two markers, the latter coming 54 seconds into the third.

Freshman Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) put Penn State up, 3-2, and, after UAH's Brice Geoffrion evened the score, Yanis unleashed the game-winner with 4:27 left in regulation.

Junior Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.), who garnered a pair of assists, extended his team-leading point-scoring streak to eight games (6g, 6a), while sophomore Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) recorded a point in his fourth consecutive contest with a helper on Glen's power-play tally. Freshman Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) improved to 8-8-0 with 24 saves.

The Nittany Lions outshot Alabama Huntsville by a 36-27 margin and went 1-for-2 on the power play. The Chargers finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage, while Alabama Huntsville netminder John Griggs made 32 stops.

With 11:15 left in the first period, Bailey gave the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead. Holstrom sent a pass to defenseman Peter Sweetland (Newtown, Pa.) at the blue line, where he fed Bailey in the high slot. The Anchorage, Alaska, native then ripped a shot that pinged off the left post before hitting the back of the net.

Glen doubled the Penn State advantage at 10:45 of the second period. While on the power play, Bailey sent a pass to Glen at the bottom of the right circle, where he one-timed a blast past Griggs. Gardiner also collected an assist on the play.

At 17:34 of the frame, Lysaght made it a 2-1 game. Steven Koshey started the play in his defensive zone and fed Lysaght, who sent an outlet pass to Michael Webley through the neutral zone. Webley took the puck behind the cage before passing back to Lysaght in the right circle, where he wristed a shot for the goal.

Justin Cseter tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal 54 seconds into the third stanza. While on a 5-on-3 advantage, Cseter corralled the loose puck in front of the net and slipped it past Skoff.

With 12:37 left in the game, Brooks skated Penn State to a 3-2 advantage. After Glen's shot went wide, Brooks won the race to the loose puck and had his shot from below the goal line sneak past Griggs.

The Chargers tied the game once more at 12:20 of the frame when Anderson White connected with Geoffrion at the bottom of the right circle for the marker.

At 15:33, Yanis provded the heroics with his fourth tally of the season. Junior Justin Kirchhevel (Brookings, S.D.) moved the puck to Holstrom, who fed Yanis above the right circle. The blue liner's first attempt was blocked before firing a shot to the back of the net for the 4-3 final.

The Nittany Lions, who have two weekends left in the their inaugural NCAA season, will return to action Feb. 15-16 for a two-game exhibition series against the ACHA's Oklahoma Sooners.

W: Penn State 3 vs. Lindenwood 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // LindenwoodLions.com recap

It was a win that wasn't, thanks to a brutally missed call when Taylor Gross was tripped attempting to carry out of the PSU zone with a 3-2 lead in the last minute and Lindenwood goalie Nicole Hensley on the bench - a play that directly led to Allyson Arcibal's tying goal with 42 seconds left in regulation. Officially, Penn State is now 7-20-2 (1-13-2 CHA), while Lindenwood is 4-23-3 (4-9-3 CHA), but the Nittany Lions earned two points, period. No other way to say it.

Know how bad the no-call was? It featured prominently in the generally sunny and controversy-free official recap. Here that is, followed by the live blog.

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The final Penn State women's hockey game at Greenberg Ice Pavilion was a taut affair that ended in bizarre fashion as Lindenwood tied Penn State, 3-3, on Saturday afternoon. LU's Allysson Arcibal scored an extra-attacker goal with 42 seconds remaining to force overtime after a couple of tough calls went against PSU.

Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) scored a go-ahead goal with five minutes left in the third period on a power play for a 3-2 lead. Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.) ripped a shot from the blue line that ricocheted off the post as Holdcroft slipped the puck past LU netminder Nicole Hensley (25 saves).

With less than a minute, Lindenwood earned a faceoff in the Penn State zone. Before the teams lined up for the faceoff, Penn State attempted to call a timeout, which was denied by the officials. On the ensuing faceoff, Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the skirmish with Alyssa West and was ready to send the puck out of the defensive zone. West tripped up the junior captain as Lindenwood took control of the puck along the boards and a loose puck was knocked home by Arcibal to knot the game.

In the overtime periods, Penn State (7-20-2, 1-13-2 CHA) and Lindenwood (4-24-3, 4-9-3 CHA) combined for seven shots. Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) had four stops and Hensley had three.

Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) opened the account 9:08 into the game, an unassisted tally where she sniped a shot past Hensley glove side. The goal was Yoxheimer's 13th of the season and ended an eight-game goal draught dating back to Jan. 4. In that eight game span, Yoxheimer still managed to get on the score sheet four times through assists. Lindenwood answered with a power-play goal 3:20 to tie the game and the two squads skated into the break, 1-1.

Penn State went ahead two minutes into the period when Birdie Shaw (Troy, Mich.) slotted home an Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) feed. The two reversed their roles from Friday night when Laurenzi scored from Shaw's pass.

Lindenwood spent most of the second period on the power play, garnering four power-play chances and two 5-on-3 chances. Penn State killed them all off and allowed 12 shots. Seconds after the final penalty kill, Lindenwood's Katie Erickson ripped a shot that was tipped in by Lyndsay Kirkham to tie the game with 1:41 left in the period.

For the game, LU out-shot Penn State 47-28. Lindenwood had 20 of its 47 shots come on the power play, while just 4 of PSU's 28 chances were on the player-advantage. Lindenwood went 1-for-7 on the power play and PSU went 1-for-4.

Saturday was also Senior Day as Kate Christoffersen (Trumbull, Conn.) was honored beforehand with her parents, brother, PSU director of athletics Dave Joyner, associate athletic director Joe Battista and head coach Josh Brandwene.

The Nittany Lions also paid homage to its past by having women's hockey alumnae greeted on ice during the first intermission. All women's hockey alumnae have been made honorary members of Penn State's Varsity "S" Club.

Penn State travels to Rochester, N.Y. to face RIT next week in a two-game series. The Friday-Saturday set will have 7 p.m. opening faceoffs.

M: Penn State 4 vs. UAH 0

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // UAHChargers.com recap

USCHO recap // PennLive.com recap // StateCollege.com recap

The Nittany Lion men improved to 15-15-0 in all games, 11-13-0 in NCAA games and 9-11-0 against NCAA DI with what, in hindsight, was quite a dominating win over Alabama-Huntsville in round one of the so-called Independent League MegaBowl - but one that still contained enough juice (mostly in the form of late chippiness) to set up an interesting match on Saturday. Here's the GoPSUSports.com recap, followed by the live blog.

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Freshman forward David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) notched the first hat trick in program history to lead the Penn State men's hockey team to a 4-0 victory against Alabama Huntsville at Greenberg Ice Pavilion Friday night. The Nittany Lions improved to 11-13-0 with the whitewash, while the Chargers fell to 3-18-1.

Freshman netminder Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) corralled 23 shots for his second shutout of the season, while sophomore forward Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) added a power-play marker. Freshman forward Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) collected a career-best two assists, and junior Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) extended his point-scoring streak to seven games with an assist on Glen's second goal.

After a scoreless first period, Glen opened the scoring just 1:41 into the second before Gardiner tallied for the first time since Oct. 27 with 4:29 left in the frame. The Nittany Lions added a pair of goals within a 3:30 span in the third period as they skated to the 4-0 lead. Glen added his second of the game at 11:20 of the period before completing the hat trick with 5:10 left in the game.

Penn State out shot the Chargers by a 43-23 margin and went 1-for-6 on the power play, while Alabama Huntsville finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage. Charger netminder John Griggs made 39 saves.

The two teams will conclude their weekend series Saturday, Feb. 9 with a 7:30 p.m. faceoff.

After a scoreless first period, Glen put Penn State on the board less than two minutes into the frame. Griggs stopped a dump-in behind the net, but Brooks won the battle to the puck and sent a diagonal pass from behind the goal line to Glen at the left circle, where he fired the puck past Griggs.

While on the power-play, Gardiner collected his third marker of the season at 15:31. From the left hash marks, Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) passed to Holstrom in the slot, where he one-touched it to Yanis at the point. The defenseman unleashed a slap shot that Gardiner redirected past Griggs from the top of the crease.

Glen gave the Nittany Lions a 3-0 advantage with 8:40 left in the third period. Brooks sent the puck to Peter Sweetland (Newtown, Pa.) at the blue line, where he fed Glen at the top of the left circle. With a defenseman draped over him, Glen roofed a turnaround shot for the goal.

With 5:10 left in the game, Glen added his third of the game and team-leading 15th goal of the season. Glen won the offensive zone faceoff back to junior Michael McDonagh (Winchester, Mass.), whose shot from the right circle was stopped by Griggs. Glen located the rebound and it slid it to the back of the net to account for the 4-0 final.

W: Penn State 1 vs. Lindenwood 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // LindenwoodLions.com recap

The Nittany Lion women (7-20-1, 1-13-1 CHA) started their final home series of the inaugural NCAA season well enough, as a solid first period Friday afternoon was punctuated by Emily Laurenzi's silky smooth goal off of a give-and-go with Birdie Shaw. From that point forward, though, it was all Lindenwood (4-23-2, 4-9-2 CHA) in what was likely a death blow to the Nittany Lions' chances of finishing out of the CHA cellar.

Here's the Lindenwood recap, followed by the live blog.

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The Lindenwood women's hockey team picked up another CHA victory on Friday afternoon with a 3-1 road win over Penn State.

The Lady Lions dominated special teams play by going two-for-four on the power play and killing off all four Penn State power plays. Lindenwood finished the game with nine more shots as it had a season-high 45.

Penn State struck first in the game with a goal at the 14:40 mark of the first period. That period was the only one in which the Nittany Lions had more shots than Lindenwood.

The Lady Lions began to control the action early in the second period and it finally paid dividends at the 12:15 mark when Alyssa West scored a power-play goal, with an assist going to Alison Wickenheiser. Lindenwood finished the period with a 14-7 advantage in shots.

The turning point of the game also happened late in the second period. Penn State went on the power play with a little over two minutes remaining, but West was able to get the puck into Lindenwood's offensive zone and kept it trapped there for a lengthy amount of time. Before the Nittany Lions could get out of Lindenwood's zone, they committed a penalty that gave Lindenwood a power play that extended into the third period. The Lady Lions took advantage by scoring 37 seconds into the final period on a goal by Chelsea Witwicke, with assists from Allysson Arcibal and West.

Lindenwood's penalty kill then helped turn away Penn State's best chance to tie the game. The Lady Lions had two penalties within 1:44 of each other, but they were able to kill off both power plays, including a five-on-three for 16 seconds. Penn State also had a man advantage late in the game when it pulled its goalie, but Lindenwood was able to clinch the game when Lyndsay Kirkham was able to get the puck into Lindenwood's offensive end and Caitlyn Post scored an empty-net goal.

Lindenwood is now on a three-game unbeaten streak in league action. The Lady Lions will look to complete their first series sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon with another contest against Penn State at 2 p.m.