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: June 3-9

3. Forty Players Invited to 2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp
(usahockey.com)

The buildup to the selection of Team USA for the 2014 World Junior Championships is officially underway, as USA Hockey has picked 40 skaters for its August evaluation camp. From there, roughly 25 will be invited to training camp in December, with a few more being trimmed ahead of the event, which begins December 26, 2013 in Malmo, Sweden. Not surprisingly, given the talent flowing through the program and that Don Lucia will be the head coach of the team, five Minnesota Golden Gophers (Brady Skjei, Mike Brodzinski, Tommy Vannelli, Hudson Fasching and Taylor Cammarata) received invites.

When I see Brodzinski's name, I automatically think of Eamon McAdam, so what of the goalies? Well, they're still TBD. A bunch of them - McAdam included - are in Ann Arbor, MI right now (Sunday through Tuesday, to be precise) battling for invites to the evaluation camp. Those making the cut will be announced at the conclusion of the mini-camp.

2. Penn State's hockey team builds toward inaugural Big Ten season
(PennLive)

Often, I'm condescending towards stories built for a general audience. Not this one. Guy Gadowsky video, Pegula Ice Arena photo gallery, exploration of an underutilized angle with strength coach Robert McLean extensively quoted. Outstanding work, Mr. Leone. I'll even give bonus points for not automatically jumping on Tommy Olczyk for the player quotes. Read and enjoy, we're almost there.

1. Idea of hockey game at Beaver Stadium being considered?
(WJAC)

The big story this week, of course, was WJAC's confirmation that Penn State officials have discussed Beaver Stadium hockey. I've hesitated to talk about it because...

1. This is news? How is anyone actually surprised? Penn State would almost have to be trying for it not to have come up on some level by this point.
2. I'm roughly 98 percent sure that discussion of Beaver Stadium hockey had already been publicly confirmed. At the very least, athletic department employees Gadowsky and Bill O'Brien openly talked about it at the 2012 Coaches Caravan, and I believe that I've heard the hypothetical Joe Battista laid out for WJAC before, either on or off the record.
3. "Considered" is quite a few steps from "it's done."

But I suppose it's time to get this out of the way. To begin sorting through it, here's what Battista said.

"What will probably happen eventually is that we'll play Penn State-Notre Dame, Penn State-Boston College, Penn State-Michigan, and then we'll also have Flyers-Penguins, Penguins-Sabres, Sabres-Flyers."

"Probably," "eventually," several possibilities for games being thrown around... yeah, sounds imminent.

The idea of the NHL's Winter Classic stacked on top of major college games is not unprecedented - the now-annual Frozen Fenway college event got its start in the aftermath of the Boston Bruins' 2010 Winter Classic victory over the Flyers, and numerous lower-profile college games (Penn State-Neumann on January 4, 2012, to name one) have also piggybacked on the NHL-installed ice. Now that the pros have decided to play something like 30 outdoor games per year, that would seem to open even more possibilities.

The WJAC report was complemented by the official men's hockey Twitter dipping its toe into the water and unintentionally showing that the idea may be a bit undercooked. In response to the question "What do you think of an outdoor game at Beaver Stadium?" it got...

Ouch. Maybe we should park this one until people are excited enough about Nittany Lions hockey to think of it ahead of the NHL when the Nittany Lions' Twitter asks a hockey question. Or until PSU gets a mention in more than three of the roughly six zillion news articles and blog posts on the topic this past week (seriously, even Black Shoe Diaries is fixated on the Pens-Flyers side to the story while the Penn State blog ignores the idea of a Penn State team's potential involvement). The downside to having a huge stadium is that a crowd of 80,000 is a success for most places but a failure for University Park. We're going to need a massive amount of excitement for the college game too, and right now, nobody seems to care about Penn State playing outside.

And maybe it's a pipe dream, but as a matter of principle, I'd love for the Nittany Lions to not have to be an undercard to an NHL game. Big Ten rivals Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin have all managed to hold highly-successful outdoor hockey games in their school football stadia without swimming in someone's wake, and my hope is that PSU is able to do the same. In fact, my preference is that the PSU and NHL games take place in different seasons (yeah, good luck with that one, I know).

Enterprising journalists have confirmed that yes, people have talked about Beaver Stadium hockey, at least the NHL version of it, both in the eastern...

The Flyers have had preliminary discussions about playing a regular-season game at Penn State's Beaver Stadium against their archrivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, club president Peter Luukko confirmed Wednesday.

"We have spoken to the Pens and the league about expressing our combined interest," Luukko said. "Not sure if next year is a possibility. Penn State is very interested."

...and western...

"It would be great for Pennsylvania hockey," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said Friday.

The talks have been between Morehouse and Flyers president Peter Luukko, who confirmed them to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Luukko told the Inquirer that Penn State is "very interested" in being the site of such a game.

...halves of the commonwealth, and that PSU has been involved with those discussions on some level. Cool. Now don't blow it by letting the Sabres break up a potentially epic installment of the NHL's best rivalry (Terry Pegula, contrary to popular belief, bought an arena and some scholarships, not our souls) or by letting Luukko somehow cram his kid's team (Vermont) down our throats one more time on the NCAA side of things.

I'm hardly an outdoor game hater, and have made my position clear on one of the other occasions this came up. I just think we need to pump the brakes a bit. Everything is still very obviously in the earliest of stages, and the soonest this will realistically happen is 2014-2015. Beyond the things mentioned at that link, you're crazy if you think PSU will sacrifice an inaugural-season Pegula Ice Arena game, especially with no marginal benefit to doing outdoor hockey this year versus next year. Even a date 18 months from now assumes a positive resolution of things like the idea of 100,000 people parked in an icy mud pit (grass parking areas mixed with wintry precipitation) and the timing of Beaver Stadium's winterization.

We'll give Dan Vecellio and BSD the last word.

Battista told me that no formal talks with any teams had taken place from Penn State's end and that no commitments to any groups (teams, owners, etc.) had been made. The school was still in the exploratory phase and still researching whether a game at the stadium is even feasible considering parking and "winterizing" the stadium like they do every year as had been reported before. So, don't put too much stock into these stories just yet.

Yeah, that.

Best of the Rest

Kate Christoffersen before (left) and after (right) running a marathon

Lake Placid Marathon & Half Marathon
(coolrunning.com)

Kate Christoffersen, the Lady Icers original who played her senior year as an NCAA Nittany Lion in 2012-2013, ran a marathon on Sunday. Hey, if you have what it takes inside to come back from a career-ending concussion, why not?

She actually did quite well too. From start line to finish line, she only required 3:48:02, or 3:48:20 when measuring from the starting gun (the latter is the actual time used to rank the runners, which seems silly in this day and age). That was good for 85th place of the 327 runners overall, or sixth among females between 20 and 29 years old.

Save the Date: Summer Social
(psuboston.org)

If you're in Boston on June 29th and want to hang out with Battista and/or hear him speak (he's quite good at both of those things, trust me), here's your chance. Advance tickets are $40 for members of the Greater Boston Chapter of the alumni association, $45 for non-members, and $50 at the door.

Big Ten continues to expand its horizons and Purdue needs to catch up
(The Exponent)

Sometimes I forget that Purdue is in the Big Ten. Way to matter at things that aren't engineering, Purdue. Anyway, they're still broke and not adding sports like hockey or lacrosse, if you needed that.

Sidney Crosby’s sister carving her own hockey path in goal
(The Globe and Mail)

The headline says it all... Sidney Crosby's sister Taylor is a pretty well-regarded goalie, one good enough to get invites to Hockey Canada U18 camps. She's entering her senior year at Shattuck-St. Mary's, where she posted a 2.04 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage last season.

Hey Taylor, if you're looking at colleges, I can name one fairly close to your brother's team... geez, wouldn't that be something?

Admit it: for a split second, you thought about Laura Bowman doing the Happy Gilmore swing

2013 State Golf Tournament Qualifiers
(mshsl.org)

Laura Bowman is a Minnesota Ms. Hockey semifinalist by winter and a Minnesota state golf tournament qualifier by spring. She's okay at sports.

The Minnetonka High School senior emerged as one of five individual qualifiers from Section 6AAA and will compete for the AAA (the largest division) state title on Tuesday and Wednesday at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids, MN. For the "small world" file: on day one, she'll be playing with Lakeville North's Brianna Vetter, the younger sister of 2014 commit Christi Vetter.

Amy Petersen, Bowman's long-time linemate and a fellow incoming PSU freshman, also doesn't suck at golf, as she finished 29th at last year's state tournament.

Koelmel Named President of HARBORcenter
(Tumblr)

After Pegula's Buffalo hotel/restaurant/ice rink project hyped a "major announcement" that many (guilty) assumed was the long-awaited "Canisius will play its home games here" unveiling, they instead introduced John Koelmel as the facility's president. Koelmel is a former CEO of First Niagara Financial Group, the entity which happens to have its name on the arena in which Pegula's Buffalo Sabres play. Moving on...

Rocha Named Academic All-America
(goarmysports.com)

Cheyne Rocha, a senior defenseman at Army last season, was one of just two men's hockey players nationally to be named first-team Academic All-America. As mentioned here numerous times before, he is also the son of former Icers assistant coach Larry Rocha and Penn State lacrosse legend Candace Finn Rocha. They did an okay job raising him.

Rocha, who commissioned as a second lieutenant two weeks ago and posted a 4.20 grade-point average, is the first Army hockey player to earn the national academic honor as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He registered the highest grade point average of the 15 first-team choices.

Rocha, who won the Senior CLASS Award for ice hockey, was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and is a three-time Atlantic hockey Association Academic All-Star. The 2013-14 team has not yet been announced.

A native of Rye, N.H., Rocha missed just two games this season when he interviewed for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. In addition to play as a defenseman, he was instrumental in starting the House of Blues, an awareness campaign for prostate cancer. He is also active with the Special Olympics and Neighborhood Knights, a group of hockey players who perform community service in and around West Point.

An engineering management major, Rocha will enter the Engineers branch of the U.S. Army and begin his service in Fort Carson, Colo.

Alaska-Anchorage down to finalists for second time in coaching search
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Sure enough, despite the ouster of athletic director Steve Cobb, Alaska-Anchorage's gongshow of a head coaching search is marching forward. Even more surprisingly, they found five people who want easily the worst job in Division I right now.

@hockeyjcu
(Twitter)

John Carroll, a university in suburban Cleveland for those who don't know, has won the bid to host the ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championships in 2015. It will be the fifth time that the tournament has been held in the state of Ohio since 2003, and the fourth go for the Buckeye State in a nine-year stretch back to 2007.

This coming season's D1 tournament will be in Newark, DE, while D2 is in Marlborough, MA. The D2 men will head to Salt Lake City in 2015, and the D1 and D2 women join the D1 men at UDelly in 2014.

The Blue Streaks previously hosted D1's best in 2009, a tournament which saw the Icers bounced in the semifinals by Illinois (the Illini went on to lose the championship game to Lindenwood) but not before PSU earned nationals bragging rights over Ohio for all eternity. That year's tournament was probably best remembered, however, for the Zamboni exhaust incident that forced the evacuation of the rink, sent 100 people to the hospital (as a precaution, nobody to the best of my knowledge was seriously affected) and forced a couple games to be suspended and completed the next day, including one involving Penn State Berks. Hopefully they got that checked out at some point in the last few years.

Three Stars: May 14-20

3. Big Ten Names Steve Piotrowski Incoming Coordinator of Men's Ice Hockey Officials
(bigten.org)

Here's the identity of one guy to get upset with when the calls don't go our way.

2. Bill O'Brien, Guy Gadowsky eye outdoor hockey game at Beaver Stadium
(The Daily Collegian)

In wrapping up the PSU Coaches Caravan from a hockey perspective, it's pretty safe to say that this is the most notable story to emerge. To be sure, we're still several years out from anything like this seriously being on the table, but it's an idea that has been gaining momentum.

At the Pegula Ice Arena groundbreaking ceremony, someone asked Joe Battista about the oft-suggested Penguins-Flyers Winter Classic at PSU. Battista's answer: "We want to be be in that game." It seems as if, for a couple of reasons, people are starting to realize that Gary Bettman's buy-in may not be needed to stage an outdoor hockey game in Beaver Stadium. And who knows - maybe a PSU game will serve as a catalyst to eventually landing the Winter Classic. That progression certainly worked out for Michigan better than I expected.

1. Penn State Hockey on the Coaches Caravan
(YouTube)

There was a time not too long ago when I referred to most of what came out of the Coaches Caravan as "vapid, yet fluffy." But you know what? Sometimes, that's exactly what one needs.

Best of the Rest



RMU Hockey: Pittsburgh College Hockey Invitational
(YouTube)

Robert Morris coach and occasional TYT mancrush subject Derek Schooley shares his thoughts on December's Pittsburgh College Hockey Invitational (which, of course, includes PSU, RMU, Ohio State and Miami at the Consol Energy Center), now officially the only holiday tournament that matters.

One minor observation: the Colonials play a home-and-home with the Buckeyes on December 7th and 8th, then of course visit PSU on the 15th. Given that, it seems obvious that the PCHI would pair RMU with Miami on the 28th to guarantee new opposition, which of course leaves the Nittany Lions with the Buckeyes. Bobby Mo opening with PSU or OSU opens the door to their only playing the two teams that they've already played that month. As hosts, I'm guessing that they're going to want to pile as much luster on this thing as is possible, and it seems like that would not necessarily be the way to do it.

Pieces falling into place for Gadowsky, Penn State
(USCHO)

USCHO certainly has a strange way of dropping a lengthy and comprehensive story into your lap when you least expect it. Here's some George Saad quotage from the article:

“I was pretty much just going to get my education,” said forward George Saad of Wexford, Pa., who will be a senior in the fall. “Penn State was trying to go D-I for many years, and I didn’t know if it was going to happen. I came to play [club] hockey, and it worked out in the end.”

Playing for a Division I coach in Gadowsky this season was a positive experience for Saad, who skated for Mahoning Valley of the NAHL in the junior ranks.

“He’s an awesome coach,” said Saad, a civil engineering major who posted 34 goals and 66 points in 77 club outings with the Icers. “When he came in, everything went up to the next level. The expectations became higher, and we played a lot better.”

Gratz named new Bloomington coach
(Fort Wayne News-Sentinel)

Brian Gratz didn't play all that much as an Icers goalie from 1999-2004, appearing in 17 games total, although it needs to be said that he posted a sparkling 1.53 goals against average as a senior when getting more than a fleeting opportunity (he was also an Ice Lion from 2000-2003, where he was an ACHA Division 2 All-American in 2002-2003).

It's safe to say, though, that he's close to the top of the Icers' alumni list when it comes to forging a post-PSU career in hockey. Gratz bounced around the low minors from 2004-2007, then broke into coaching (included: a stop back with the Icers as a goaltending coach in 2009-2010) rising to become GM/head coach of the Central Hockey League's Dayton Gems from 2010-2012. His tenure there ended due to the team's folding, however he's landed on his feet with this newly-acquired position as head coach of the CHL's Bloomington Blaze.

PS. Here's some nice analysis on the CHL's franchise roulette, if you're interested.

Bailey Bram, a 2010 Patty Kaz finalist and a gold medal winner with Team Canada at the recent IIHF Women's World Championships, is among the seniors Mike Sisti will try to replace with a large recruiting class. Photo: Tim Brule/USCHO

Women's Hockey Adds A Dozen For Upcoming 2012-13 Campaign
(hurstathletics.com)

The CHA's juggernaut is adding 12 players for this season, including three transfers from dead program Niagara.

RIT women’s coach McDonald takes plea deal
(USCHO)

Memo to Coach Brandwene: if you ever play men's league with Scott McDonald, try to get on his team.

New Scoreboard & Sound System for Mariucci
(Gopher Puck Live)

There's something extraordinarily satisfying about knowing that your school's facility helped set off a mini-arms race within the Big Ten. First Yost Ice Arena, now this. Nice try, guys. As Section E would say to an opposing goalie at the beginning of the third period, "we're still here, and you still suck."

@aschwepfinger
(Twitter)

Pretty big talk for a school that has two* more NCAA conference championship-winning seasons than Penn State after 41 years in the CCHA and 49 overall as an varsity program. Also, it's hard not to appreciate the irony of a Buckeye going with an "amateurs" beak at a college hockey program. Yes, we are amateurs, no argument here. Are your guys not or something?

Apparently, Mr. Schwepfinger is the director of the OSU Knucklebucks, which is his school's hockey student section. On a related note, I've heard a lot of hype about the creativity of NCAA hockey student sections but am officially underwhelmed so far as of now.

* One of those years was 1971-1972, the first year of the CCHA's existence, and ten years before the defections of Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame from the WCHA handed it major conference status. OSU's competition for that inaugural league crown? Three other teams: Bowling Green, Ohio (yes, that Ohio) and Saint Louis.

Penn State athletics emerge from last fall’s crisis with transformative leadership
(Steve On Crisis)

Okay, one more Coaches Caravan-related link. I liked this a lot, and it reads like the post I would've written about it, had I not decided to pour my guts out to you guys instead. There's only one sentence where I have an issue.

Penn State is in the seventh month of a crisis that’s far from ended. The child sex-abuse trial of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is coming and will tear off all the healing scabs this great university grew in the last few months since legendary coach Joe Paterno’s firing and death.

He's not alone in that opinion, but I respectfully disagree, as I feel like we have a reasonably decent grasp of what happened. I can't speak for you, but rehashing it all in great detail won't harm my healing process. Sandusky can't get any lower. He (allegedly) raped numerous young boys. The specifics are irrelevant to me. Tim Curley was a disposable suit/photo op robot to me, and I'd never even heard of Gary Schultz until this all happened. There's really nothing that can come out relative to those three that makes things any worse.

Sure, there's Paterno, who has always been the lightning rod in all of this. But whatever you think of how he handled things 10 years ago, it's tangental to proving Sandusky's guilt and not likely to be a significant part of his proceedings. It's not tangental to Curley and Schultz, but a) Will those cases even make it to trial, particularly with key witness Paterno now deceased? and b) I'm still 4-5 years from a law degree, but it seems to me that the state would want to paint Paterno as someone who fulfilled his obligation while Curley and Schultz neglected theirs.

If you think I'm wrong, get at me in the comments and tell me about the rest of the iceberg I'm supposedly missing.

Justin Kirchhevel and Oklahoma goalie Nick Holmes: probably still not Facebook friends.

Gadowsky is right man for Penn State
(Buffalo News)

We should probably close on a positive note after that one, eh?

I really want to tip my hat to Buffalo News columnist Bucky Gleason here. As a Buffalonian (is that the proper demonym for someone from Buffalo?), he had a really easy story handed to him by the PSU Coaches Caravan (yeah, okay, one more link) stop on Tuesday. Terry Pegula was there, as were both Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene. It would have been very, very easy to toss some standard hero worship Pegula's way, say everyone else is pretty swell too, insert some bland quotes from each, and call it a day. Instead, Gleason did actual research and built a cogent point around it, even "uncovering" the Justin Kirchhevel-Nick Holmes incident at ACHA nationals, and Gadowsky's subsequent benching of his leading scorer.

Gadowsky sent a clear message that he wouldn't tolerate inappropriate behavior. He was committed to Penn State's motto: Success with honor.

"We're building a foundation for doing things right," he said. "The words, 'Success with honor,' they're just words until you follow through with that. What happened, I felt, was an incident that I felt spoke [against] success with honor. We want to do things the right way. You can't just talk about it. This needed a response. It had to be done."

For the record, I completely agree. Gleason went on to essentially say that the only way for Penn State to heal its reputation is to simply do the right thing at all times - the Kirchhevel suspension being one example - and that Gadowsky is the type of person who can reach that high ideal.

Three Stars: March 26-April 1

3. 2011-12 Penn State Lady Icers Awards Banquet
(pennstatewomenshockey.com)

In last week's Three Stars, I included a picture from the event (which took place two Saturdays ago) of Sara Chroman with the coaching staff. Here is a gigantic improvement on that, both in terms of quantity and quality.

2. Hockey player scores top Thorold honour as athlete of the year
(thoroldedition.ca)

Anthony DiFruscia is a name to keep in mind if you're a recruiting geek. Selected in the second round of the OHL entry draft last year by the Niagara IceDogs, the 16-year-old Ontario forward instead chose to attend Salisbury Prep in Connecticut, where he plays with 2013 defense commit Thomas Welsh. So why am I talking about him?

He has received scholarship interest from American universities and has already received offers from Penn State and RPI.

At his age, 2014 is his earliest possible college entry, so here's hoping he continues to resist Niagara's overtures until then while simultaneously receiving a solid sales job from Welsh. If you read the article, you may have noted that the Canadian media (which is notoriously anti-college hockey) is already trying their best to push the other way.

1. Paving the Way for Future Female Hockey Players
(penguins.nhl.com)

Know what's really cool? This:

1. Someone does a pretty in-depth interview with incoming women's player Darby Kern, one of the more exciting talents arriving in the fall.
2. Said interview contains a vast photo gallery. Contrary to rumors about a rigorous selection process, if you can come up with a solid picture for the top of a Three Stars post, that's like 80 to 90 percent of becoming first star.
3. Said photo gallery unexpectedly contains an off-ice picture that (when appropriately cropped) allows me to replace the very obviously dated headshot of inadequate resolution on the W Current Commitments page and in upcoming Commit Cycle posts.

Pixelation eradication.

That there would be what the mediator's handbook calls a win-win-win situation. Now if only they'd decide to hit Jill Holdcroft next week...

Best of the Rest

Q&A Goalie Style with Hershey Bear Matt Tendler
(PennLive)

You remember Matt Tendler, right? He's the former Neumann goalie who started the game at Citizens Bank Park and kept the Icers off the board during the first period, making 12 saves. Under baseball rules, he would have been the goalie of record. It's probably worth also pointing out that he's a Pennsylvanian and therefore wasn't involved in NU's NCAA violations, which pertained to financial aid awards for Canadians. Anyway, he's now with Pennsylvania Puck's favorite team and recently had this to say to PennLive:

The outdoor game is the second greatest memory of my hockey career, second only to my first game for the Hershey Bears. For me, I think the coolest part of the game was beating Penn State, a university that many of my friends are alumni of, and as we know are very faithful to their school.

The game could not have played out any better than it did for me. I was able to start the game, posted a shutout in the first period, was named first star of the game, and gained bragging rights over so many of my close friends. To even have the opportunity to skate on the outdoor ice at Citizens Bank Park is a memorable one, but to actually get to play a game against such a well respected university and play in front of that many local fans is something I will never forget.

UConn to Apply to Hockey East
(College Hockey News)

Back in October, Notre Dame became one of the last programs to jump the sinking CCHA ship, electing for Hockey East once Conference Armageddon hits in 2013-2014. That move will give HEA 11 teams, so naturally, speculation as to a potential 12th team began immediately (nobody seemed to care that the Big Ten once chugged along for nearly 20 years with 11 teams). Apparently Connecticut, presently of Atlantic Hockey, would like to be the answer to the question. Pluses to UConn's entry from the league's perspective? Well, their women's program is already in Hockey East and non-hockey fans are familiar with the school. Minuses? Just about everything else. Regardless, according to the Hartford Courant, Hockey East officials have already taken a site visit.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen RPI take the slot. It seems pretty silly to choose a program based on promises of new facilities and increased investment when you have a program already with those things - and toss in a pair of national championships for good measure - right in front of your nose. But, if nothing else, UConn allows me to insert a picture of the former home of the Hartford Whalers, since there's a chance the Huskies would play there.

As much as I wanted to show the Whale at the height of their glory, this seems more appropriate.

Parker Milner has BC’s back
(Boston Herald)

Milner, who will attempt to lead Boston College to a national championship this week, is just one of a ridiculous number of goalies coming from Pennsylvania in recent years. There's no doubt PA hockey is on the rise, but nowhere is that more evident than between the pipes. Incoming recruit Matt Skoff gets a mention in the story as well.

AJHL career lifts Glen to Penn State
(Edmonton Journal)

Apparently, incoming forward David Glen was looking at Princeton before Guy Gadowsky moved to PSU. Score one for the coach over the arena in the "which draws more recruits" war.

Morelli OnLion: Making progress
(gantdaily.com)

The obligatory "hey, the arena is being built" article from anyone who covers Penn State athletics. Still, if you can get past the factual errors (the Pegula donation was announced in January 2011...what?) there's some nice stuff within, particularly in terms of fundraising updates. Here's one Joe Battista quote:

"Our goal is to endow every scholarship that we’ll offer. Right now, we’ve fully-endowed 20 of the 36. We’re getting there."

Jutting Relieved of Coaching Duties at Minnesota State (College Hockey News)

Outside of the Frozen Four, which begins Thursday, the dismissal of 12-year head coach Troy Jutting at Minnesota State/Mankato State/MSU-Mankato/whatever was the biggest college hockey story of the past week (to go with the UConn thing, I guess). If you're keeping score, this is coaching change number two this year - Joe Marsh officially stepping down at St. Lawrence was the first - so only six more will equal the record-breaking offseason of 2011.

@VinnieChant
(Twitter)

This is just freaking cool.

Three Stars: January 2-8

3. Mass Media Musings
(abbeydufoe.wordpress.com)

Lady Icer Abbey Dufoe is academically inclined and socially conscious. Basically, everything we like to brag about when it comes to Penn State student-athletes. Therefore, you should repay her by reading her blog and checking out her Tumblr as well.

2. M2 Select Team
(achahockey.org)

Ice Lions captain Jim Recupero returned home from a highly-successful tour with the D2 Selects just in time to help PSU climb to 18-2-0 via a 7-2 trouncing of Pittsburgh on Saturday night. While over in Europe, he helped the ACHAers to a perfect 6-0-0 record by scoring in the first four games (stats for the final game were unavailable).

1. #1 Penn St. visits Sooner ice
(A World Unto)

Remember that time Penn State played at Oklahoma and there wasn't any video? Well, here's the next best thing: a ton of great pictures.

Best of the Rest

100 People of Power & Influence
(The Hockey News)

That Terry Pegula was included in THN's annual list was not a surprise. That he dropped from 67th last year to 73rd this year, yeah, that was a little surprising. Reminder: he didn't own the Buffalo Sabres (or the AHL's Rochester Americans) at this time last year. Even the NCAA conference shakeup cited in his blurb hadn't gotten underway yet. Curious, to say the least.

'Pucksutawney' predicts these top stories for 2012
(Pennsylvania Puck)

Hershey Puck only squeezed the Bears into four of the top 10 Pennsylvania hockey stories for the upcoming calendar year, so I suppose that's a start.

PSU did get in on two themselves - pretty exciting to think that our NCAA men's and women's programs will debut and the Pegula Ice Arena will break ground before we celebrate new year's for the next time, no?

Joe Battista: From Dallas to Philly, a Whirlwind Holiday Schedule
(statecollege.com)

I'm not sure how he does it, but we're all better for it.

Last night's Penn State hockey game
(Lions 247)

One Central Oklahoma observer called their shootout upset of the Icers on Friday the biggest win in their program's history. I think the other time the Bronchos beat PSU gets a little bit of a shaft in that statement (at the 2010 national championships, UCO beat No. 2 PSU in overtime to advance to the semifinals), but who am I to judge? The team looks pretty happy about this one too.

College Hockey: The Most Underrated Atmosphere in Sports
(Let's Zoo It)

A college hockey convert at Western Michigan tells his story:

An impressive 4-2 victory later capping off a series sweep of the spartans in Kalamazoo was enough to get the whole community rocking, and sold me on my new favorite sport to attend. And by the way, these fans didn’t leave to go drink at the end of the second intermission. This was true, genuine, fight-for-our-team approach from this student body. It really says something about a sport when you can take a student body noted for its generally poor attendance and passion and have them stay till the final horn sounds and lock arms singing the alma mater with the band. Pretty powerful stuff.

National Collegiate Hockey Conference Names Jim Scherr as First Commissioner
(denverpioneers.com)

I think it's cute when the NCHC thinks it's a real conference. But yeah, they hired a commissioner, and admittedly, the former CEO of the United States Olympic Committee is a nice pull.

Penn State Icers at Winter Classic
(gopsusports.com)

That was fun, wasn't it?

PSU-Neumann: Field Access

Here are some pictures taken from the Citizens Bank Park field prior to the Penn State-Neumann warmup. Click on any of them for a gallery view with a larger size.

I thought this was a good establishing shot, because it shows where the crowd was seated - as well as a few of the many stacks of deconstructed fences lying around. The field gave off a vibe of "hey, we blew town and took most of our stuff with us, but enjoy the rink until we come back for that too."

This might sound ridiculous, but while watching the Winter Classic, I had the urge to stand on the "sticks" in the outfield showing the Rangers and Flyers logos. Fortunately, while the covering was gone, the structure was one of the only remaining traces of the on-field decoration.

The Icers were obviously happy to be on the field for photos beforehand as well.

I assume that the product of this interview will be on GoPSUSports.com sometime in the next week.

The players' walk from the baseball locker rooms to the dugout, and then to the field, has received much attention. But it sincerely never occurred to me to think about how the Zamboni gets to the ice. So there you go - it comes out of a cargo entrance near the right field foul pole, then drives all the way to the end of the rink nearest first base to get on.

One of the surprising things about the whole experience was that as I approached the rink, it sort of became just another hockey rink, unless you started looking around too much (granted, I didn't have to play on it and experience some of the vision issues cited by Guy Gadowsky in his postgame presser). This is the La Salle College High School net, which is being defended against Malvern Prep in the game preceding Penn State and Neumann. La Salle won 3-0.

For the first time in my life, I took a picture through a photo hole. Very underrated.

The famous heated benches.

An approximation of the grocery stick's view on the Penn State bench.

The snow began too late to affect the aesthetics of the game for any length of time - but it was just in time to screw up my drive home.

Apologies to Phillies fans for bringing up a bad memory, but I found it bizarre that this was still up on a dry erase board in the Citizens Bank Park press box.

PSU-Neumann Postgame Transcript (Neumann)

Jordan, two goals for you tonight in a big game like this, does it make it a little extra special considering the circumstances you were playing in?

Junior forward Jordan Zalba: Yeah, I mean, it's pretty good to get a couple goals here. My linemates helped me out quite a bit on that one. It's pretty good to have a couple goals.

What did you see on your first one? It seems like you just got the puck down low and just roofed it.

Zalba: I don't know, I closed my eyes really. There was a little bit of an opening, I thought I might as well just take a shot, and the goalie was kind of over anticipating the pass a little bit there, and I just did what I could.

What's it like playing in front of a few thousand people coming from a small school?

Zalba: It's awesome. Your fellow students are there, your peers, and family, and friends. Just for everyone on the team, I know they saw all the people there in the stands and they were just ecstatic right from the get-go. The adrenaline starts pumping, and it's pretty good.

Coach, how long do you think it took them to settle in, taking everything in and kind of getting to work?

Head coach Dominick Dawes: It took a while. I think I was on them quite a bit throughout the game. I think it went in spurts. I think both teams had a hard time just settling the puck down, I thought the puck was kind of bouncing all over the place out there. I just think for both teams, the environment, it's such a unique thing, it's such a special opportunity. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So the big thing is to enjoy it. Soak it up and you have fun with it.

Guy [Gadowsky] kind of talked a little bit about getting caught up and doing a little bit more watching. Did you feel the same thing, like you were just caught up in the scene?

Dawes: I did. I think, and Jordan will tell you, I kept saying 'keep it simple.' Let's just dump pucks in, let's keep it simple. Let's not try to do too much, because it seemed like every time each team would make one or two passes, the puck would just start bouncing around like a grenade. So it made it tough in that aspect, but you couldn't ask for a better night.

From a player's perspective, how different was it from playing in the normal league you play in all year?

Zalba: You know, it was cool. It was a little colder obviously, but just being under the lights, you can't really compare it to playing in a normal league game. It's surreal. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I'll never forget.

Everyone knows Penn State's situation moving up to DI, but were you a little bit motivated to not be shown up by what's still a club team?

Zalba: With our team in there, we want to win every night. It doesn't matter who it is, we played Princeton earlier, and we had full intentions of trying to win the game. We're here to win, do the best we can in our division. So any game we can, it's just a stepping stone to help us be better. And Penn State's a pretty good club team, you can't take them for granted. They're a good team.

Matt Tendler has been playing with a knee injury. What's the progress on his knee?

Dawes: I think it's just kind of day-by-day. I think it just kind of depends on if he twists it the wrong way or falls on it the wrong way. He's been kind of sticking with it and battling through it. I thought the break was good for him. With everyone getting back after the break, I think we're doing a little bit better on that side of things.

Jordan, you mentioned the puck bouncing around. Were there other challenges being outside that maybe you didn't anticipate until you got out there?

Zalba: Yeah, when you flip the puck up, it's harder to see for a little bit and then it comes down. But mostly just the puck, whether it's me just not handling the puck or it's...a lot of guys were mentioning that it was a little tougher, it was a lot faster. But I mean, every part of the game is going to be a little different.

With [using] all three goalies as the plan going in, how would you assess them?

Dawes: I thought in their own way, all three played pretty well. I thought Matty Tendler came out and played well, made some big saves. Really, I thought they came out pretty hard and he did his job. Ben Curley, the guy that played second, he's a freshman, that's the first he's really played all year. It's a pretty big-time situation for your first minutes. I think the kid's played two periods all year, he played the second period at Princeton and he played the second period out here. So he's played in two pretty unique atmospheres, and I don't think the guys helped him much in the second period to be honest. Ross, he's coming off a big game, and I thought he did a great job cleaning it up, he made some big saves later on. So I was happy with all three of those guys, I thought they made the saves they needed to make.

Jordan's first goal came with about 10 seconds left in the first period. How big was that?

Dawes: Huge goal. I think that's big, just momentum going into the period, any time you can get a goal in the last couple minutes of a period, it's a big momentum going into the room. It's a big difference between 1-0 and 2-0. So it was a big, timely goal.

Now that it's over, what do you feel like this game meant for your program in the big picture moving forward?

Dawes: I think honestly, it means more for our university than it does our program. Just for the university to have you guys here, to get the word out about Neumann here, regionally and locally. The publicity of the whole event I think is good. It draws more attention to Neumann. And for the program too obviously, it helps with a little bit more attention on the program. But I think for our university, it's a big thing. Because it's little old Neumann against big old Penn State. It was a great opportunity for us.

How are you going to prepare for the next game, going back to an indoor rink from the outside?

Zalba: Just take it like every other game. We've played so many games in our career, our whole team, we just have to know that this is a league game, we can't afford to lose, and every win counts. So we just have to go out there and keep it simple and work hard.

PSU-Neumann Postgame Transcript (Penn State)

Coach, your penalty kill’s been pretty solid so far this season, but obviously tonight you gave up two goals on the penalty kill, what are your thoughts on that, what do you think went wrong?

Head coach Guy Gadowsky: Well, it’s disappointing, I think we were clicking at 90 percent coming into this. I think it’s something that we all felt pretty good about. They got pucks to the net, the first one was a beautiful move and a great shot. But I think they got pucks to the net, and that’s something we didn’t get done on our power play, and I think that was the difference.

What was it like coming here and playing outside?

Gadowsky: You know what? I loved it, I really did. It was – on the bench, I sort of caught myself just watching. I sort of felt like when I grew up in Edmonton, when I was a kid and you go to the rink, and as a little guy you’d sort of wait for your turn to get on, and all the bigger kids would go on, they might give you a shift every once in a while. It sort of felt like the same thing – I would really love to play. It was a great night, it was a very cool atmosphere, I would’ve loved to have been out there.

What was it like for [the players]?

Freshman defenseman Brandon Russo: It was an unbelievable experience. Unfortunately we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted, but just being out there on such a big stage. It started to snow at the end, it made you smile, it was surreal.

Senior forward Kurt Collins: Another thing was the conditions. It was kind of cool to play on something you don’t face every day. So it kind of took a little more mental preparation to focus on the ice being a little worse than we’re used to – wind and snow a little bit at the end, so it was really cool to see and an awesome experience.

What can you say about the level of competition that Neumann provided this year? Do you think they’re the best team you’ve played so far?

Gadowsky: Well, they’ve certainly proven it. They’ve won an NCAA Division III championship recently, and I think they’re ranked eighth in the nation right now for Division III. They certainly deserve that. I thought they had some guys – that was a beautiful goal, I can’t remember which one it was. They’re a very good team, and we expected that. But I thought we hung in there. I would like to have another crack at them, but I think they’re a very good hockey team.

Anything in the works for next year in that regard?

Gadowsky: I don’t think so. Next year we’re regulated by NCAA rules and the amount of contests we can play, so it’s a lot easier to do it for this year than for next year.

Obviously you guys have been dominating teams at club D1, and you come up and play a team like Neumann, what can you take away from a game like this?

Russo: It shows what we’re going to be experiencing in the years to come, I think. It was a really good experience to play against a higher-level team than some of the teams we’ve played in the past. The tempo is a lot faster, there’s more hitting, more contact, stronger players. I thought it was a great experience for all the guys and it’s showing what else there is, what the next level’s all about.

Sophomore forward Taylor Holstrom: It kind of keeps us level-headed. Playing in our league, some of the teams can’t keep up with us and coming out here and getting killed – I mean, not getting killed, but a 6-3 win is a pretty good win in hockey, and it keeps us level-headed.

How do you guys keep focused and keep wanting to win? I mean, you’ve played two DIII teams, the Winter Classic’s now over, it’s back to ACHA, how do you stay motivated to finish out the season?

Collins: I think it’s just the nature of an athlete. Our competitive drive’s going to keep us going. Our end goal is something we’ve been working for all year, which is the national championship. I think we’re going to keep our eye on the prize and use this loss as a little motivation moving forward to start winning some games.

Taylor, what can you say about coming back, your first game back, how did you feel out there?

Holstrom: It’s nice to be back, be with the guys. Unfortunately, it was the outdoor game, but it felt good. It felt good to be back.

Can you walk me through your goal?

Holstrom: Good shot from the point. Tommy [Olczyk] and I pretty much simultaneously touched it, tipped, and it went behind the goalie.

What kind of adjustments did you have to make playing in those conditions? The perception looking at the net, the weather, what kind of adjustments were made?

Holstrom: The light was a little bit different. The ice was a little bit faster, a little bit more crisp. The puck felt different on your stick. After a period or two, you got pretty used to it.

Russo: It was kind of interesting going out in warmups and kind of feeling it out a little bit. I think the biggest difference from indoors and this rink was the peripheral vision that we had. Looking up ice, it was a little bit harder to see the puck with your peripherals, but as the game went on, as warmups went on, you got used to it. 

Taylor, is this your first time playing outside, growing up in California? Do you like it?

Holstrom: Oh yeah, absolutely man, I loved it. Like [Russo] said, it was an unbelievable experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance again, but it’s definitely something I’ll remember. 

What are you guys focusing on going into your games this weekend?

Russo: Definitely work harder and get two Ws coming out of Oklahoma. Definitely do our best to get those two Ws.

Do you think the time off between this game and the Liberty series made you guys sluggish out there? Do you think the team was affected at all by the time between games?

Gadowsky: I think our practice this week wasn’t great, and I think you can attribute that to the length. I know Neumann got to play two games beforehand, but sometimes it works differently. Sometimes you come back very refreshed and ready to go. I can’t say that’s the reason at all. I think you can show some rust, and I think we did, but at the same time, we played a very good team. They exploited our rust, put it that way.

How much practice time did you get before this game?

Gadowsky: We had two days.

Are you at all concerned about the emotion of a big event like this and then the quick turnaround, having to play two quality teams in Oklahoma?

Gadowsky: You know what? No, because I think it was Kurt Collins who answered a question very well. I think he said ‘keep your eyes on the prize.’ I think this team all year, their goals have been very well defined about having a great year this year, and Kurt Collins twice now has come out and said he wants to win the championship. And there’s a lot of them that feel that way. He’s a senior, and there’s a lot of people involved in the program where this is the last year in the ACHA and that’s very important to them. I don’t think that being motivated to do as well as we can back in our league is going to be a problem.

Logistically, what’s the schedule for the next couple days getting out to Oklahoma?

Gadowsky: We leave [Thursday] morning, we fly right out of Philadelphia, and check in. I think we’ll arrive sometime in the afternoon, we’ll have dinner, go to bed early, get up in the morning, have a pregame skate, and play at 7:00 at night.

Can you say anything about the goalie performance today?

Gadowsky: Someone asked the question about the differences…I thought I saw both goaltenders losing pucks that were shot from outside that were high. That’s what I thought I saw