Dropping The Deuce

Does this prove that men's hockey is Penn State's number two sport?

Following the incredible turnout that overwhelmed Tuesday's student ticket sale, one popular discussion was men's hockey's potential to become the second-most-popular team at Penn State. It was initiated by two of the best journalism products PSU has to offer - Rob Greissinger, who first broached the topic, and Darian Somers, who felt through it a bit further with a column in the Daily Collegian.

Football, of course, is number one. But how do we know that? Sure, it's easy to point to the 90,000-plus in Beaver Stadium on a handful of Saturdays per year and say "there you go." But it's more than that. It has to be, otherwise men's hockey as the number two sport can't even come up, since men's basketball drew 7,672 fans per game last year, well over Pegula Ice Arena's capacity.

For possibly biased reasons, I believe that blogs are the truest, most easily-studied window to a fanbase. Generally, they're written by fans and not professional media types, but blog writers and readers/commenters - in my experience -tend to read a few rungs up on the evolutionary ladder (don't get mad, message board guy - I was a huge board guy before TYT, and the issue is the medium combined with a minority of those present, not most of you).

Look at Black Shoe Diaries, purportedly a Penn State all-sports blog. As I write this, the front page of BSD include an analysis of the football team's third down efficiency, a Q-an-A with the author of a book involving Penn State football and a preview of week three in Big Ten football. Over at Victory Bell Rings, it much of the same: PSU's upcoming game with Central Florida and college football generally are broken down from all angles imaginable, including a parody of head coach Bill O'Brien picking games from around the nation. Onward State is a general PSU blog, not a sports-specific one, but all four of its sports posts on the front page as of this writing were football-related. There is nothing at all on the highly-successful and in-season Nittany Lions women's soccer or volleyball teams on the front page of any site.

If you really want to wade into message board territory, you'll see more of the same, I promise.

I don't point that out to criticize, but as an illustration of Penn State football's dominance in the university sports landscape. Attendance counts for a lot, sure, but it's just one measure of "interest," that vague measurement we're really after here. TV ratings (or appearances for some of the smaller sports), donations, media coverage, advertising and the like all play a role as well - as does something I'll call "engagement," which is closely tied to interest and drives most of those bottom-line factors. Absent full data in some areas and under the assumption that you know how to look up attendance numbers, that slippery concept of engagement is what I'm really trying to nail down because it leads to most of the other things.

Football is obviously the top of just about any measure one can devise. But underneath that, I'm looking for the same things, just in lesser degrees. And that's precisely what hockey's lacking, for the most part.

Photo inserted to pump my stats - it almost always works

Through last season and into this preseason, Pegula Ice Arena moves the needle. There's little doubt about that. It's the focus of an overwhelming proportion of stories that hit major media outlets, possibly more than 90 percent, and the media, generally, is trying to respond to public interest. It's also my opinion - and no, I don't have a scientifically-conducted survey in hand - that it was the major driver for robust ticket sales both with the students and the general public. When a major story hits that has little to do with PIA, the NHL Entry Draft for one, there's interest as well.

But for the "regular" day-to-day stuff, it just isn't there. Other than a few die-hards, nobody wants to talk about the new uniforms (yes, they're slightly different this year), the just-announced outdoor game between Minnesota and Ohio State, the brand-new commitment of Scott Conway for next season, some of the exciting lineup battles on tap, where they think PSU will finish in the Big Ten this year, or the fact that former Icers and Ice Lions player Brandon Russo is now on an NCAA Division I roster at Canisius.

Things of that nature always receive plenty of discussion from the mainstream in football and men's basketball. And most of the time as well in wrestling, women's volleyball and women's basketball. Even Somers who, in disagreement with my opinion, pegged men's hockey as the current number two, seemed to acknowledge that.

The reason Penn State hockey will be the most popular team behind football this season, at least at first, will have nothing to do with the product on the ice. It will have everything to do with the novelty of a new arena and a new conference.

Where my opinion differs: I think it's important to draw a distinction between the arena and the team. Sellouts early in the history of Nittany Lion basketball's Bryce Jordan Center, after all, meant nothing in terms of the team's long-term position in the PSU sports landscape. Yet if the men's basketball team underperforms this year, people will be upset and individual players, coaches and strategy will be analyzed. If men's hockey suffers the same fate, people will say "wow, Pegula Ice Arena is amazing!" That, to me, proves that hockey is not number two. It might not even be number three, but it's not really worth drawing those lines.

Is there potential for more? Absolutely. PIA is, first and foremost, a hockey venue. One that's generated a ridiculous amount of attention. So I suppose it could be said that PIA proves the potential for interest. But the engagement, the nuts and bolts stuff that leads to sustained, long-term interest well after other schools have built newer and nicer arenas, is lacking in my view.

When that comes along, probably with the team winning something (because whether you admit it or not, that's how it usually starts), Penn State will truly have made it as a hockey school.

Student Turnout Tilts Roar Zone Sale

Photo: Eric Bress

Throughout the construction of Pegula Ice Arena, Penn State power brokers like Joe Battista and Guy Gadowsky promised the most intimidating student section in college hockey. Many can recite their points from heart by now: the approximately 1,000 seats will be virtually as big as the entire Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the PIA's low ceiling will bottle in noise, and the steep-as-code-allows block of seats will be located behind the opposing goaltender for two periods per game.

Of course, design can only do so much, with the rest up to the people inhabiting those seats. But so far, Penn State students have played their part to perfection, as the newly-christened Roar Zone will be packed for at least the 12 Nittany Lions home games offered in the student ticket package (the other six games fall on breaks and will be sold as single-game tickets at a later date).

The packages went on sale Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. in the HUB, but the line actually began some 12 hours before that - eventually numbering close to the Roar Zone's capacity, snaking throughout the building, and dwarfing a simultaneous line for tickets to a Jay-Z concert on January 31, 2014 at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Wait, did I say "snaking throughout the building?" My mistake.

Photo: Leah Blasko

By approximately 11:15, and due to massive wait times harming class attendance, Penn State shut down the process by collecting contact information from those in line and handing out numbered notecards. The athletic department will then reach out to those students based on line position, eventually distributing remaining tickets online. Technically, the Roar Zone isn't sold out yet, but that seems like a foregone conclusion at this point. The Daily Collegian's Darian Somers reported that, according to a PSU spokesperson, 700 student seats remain (meaning that just over 300 were sold through the original plan) and that anyone receiving a notecard will have a shot at that inventory.

Tuesday's turnout, as much as anything, once again proved the drawing power of Pegula Ice Arena, particularly when contrasted with last year's student sale for the first varsity season at the Ice Pavilion, which drew some diehards at about 5:00 in the morning but ultimately only had 56 people in line when the doors opened at 7.

Some rushed to declare this year's explosion of interest a sign that hockey would quickly overtake basketball as Penn State's number two sport. I'm not quite ready to take that leap yet, because in my perception, the excitement at this point is mostly for the arena and not necessarily the team playing in it. The hope, obviously, is that down the road, "arenaarenaarena" turns into the mainstreamers talking about things like what should be a fantastic goalie battle between Eamon McAdam and Matt Skoff, some tough decisions elsewhere in the lineup, predictions for the coming season and even recruiting. I believe that will come in time, but it's not there just yet.

Regardless, let's reset to the here and now. I, for one, can't wait to hear the noise level generated by a group of students who, quite literally, broke the planned ticketing process. See you guys on October 11th.

Student Section Named "Roar Zone" (Updated)

UPDATE 9/10, 1:10 P.M.: While there was never any official release from the university, the name "Roar Zone" for the Pegula Ice Arena student section has been confirmed numerous times through official channels, including this tweet.

The original post follows.

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If a tweet from Tommy Olczyk is to be believed, the Pegula Ice Arena student section may have a name.

"Roar Zone" has been corroborated elsewhere, there is apparently signage with the name on the arena, and another (unlinkable) source has indicated that it will officially be announced in conjunction with the sale to fill the student section, which takes place beginning at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the HUB.

It appears as if labeling the naming process one of the ten forgotten stories of the NCAA transition was a bit premature. Still, one self-quote from that post seems appropriate:

To paraphrase noted vampire hunter Abraham Lincoln, better to remain nameless and be thought a fool than to come up with a really terrible name - The A-Team at Michigan State, for example - and remove all doubt.

This name is precisely the sort of thing that inspired that sentiment. It's bland. It identifies an area and not the people in that area, as with most student section names that have survived over time (Lynah Faithful, Lawson Lunatics, Children of Yost). It incorporates nothing from the arena - the slope of the student section seemed like an automatic for any name - the sport of hockey, or really, even Penn State. It's generic to the point where it can be used by any school with a cat mascot in any location, and for any team. Actually, you can probably throw professional teams in there as well.

Long story short, I hope that this is all a big misunderstanding. Or that the powers that be go back to the drawing board. It's not Buffalo Sabres jersey terrible to be sure, it's just incredibly uninspired.

There is good news: the view from the top of the student section will be unreal, and you may not want to be first in line on Tuesday. Here's Olczyk's picture.

Ten Forgotten Stories of the Transition

Penn State's transition from ACHA to NCAA is nearly complete by every conceivable measure, as the public opening of Pegula Ice Arena and the inaugural season for the Big Ten, the last significant milestones, are just about one month away. With that in mind, here's a look back at ten obscure stories (plus two honorable mentions) that may have slipped from the memories of most observers over the three years - yes, it's been that long - since the university announced its intent to sponsor varsity hockey and thanks to the massive donation of Terry and Kim Pegula.

The nature of the stories, of course, is that they are easy to forget - and that includes by me. If you think I've missed something more deserving than what's listed here, let me know in the comments!

Honorable Mention: PIA Groundbreaking

While Pegula Ice Arena's groundbreaking event on April 20, 2012 - notable for Terry Pegula's announcement that he had upped his donation from $88 million to $102 million - hardly qualifies as a "forgotten story," one quirk of the proceedings does. The two men's players made available to the media that day to talk about the arena were goaltender Matt Madrazo and forward Justin Kirchhevel, neither of whom lasted on PSU's NCAA roster until its opening.

Honorable Mention: Pennsylvania Puck

On October 1, 2011 and following a healthy buildup, Pennsylvania Puck (papuck.com) officially launched with the promise of delivering the best coverage available of Keystone State hockey. Although it tended to be a bit too focused on the AHL's Hershey Bears, it came through for the most part with an interesting mix of behind-the-scenes features, how-to videos, first-person blogging and more conventional reporting (arguably its most notable Penn State-related article concerned then-broadcaster Steve Penstone).

Rather suddenly and after only five months, the site shut down, citing traffic and ad revenue that did not meet expectations. PA Puck still maintained Twitter and Facebook accounts that shared hockey news from around the commonwealth after discontinuing its site content, but on Monday announced that those would be stopped as well.

10. Reed Linaker

Given the way his story suddenly re-emerged in June, it's possible that Linaker doesn't qualify as "forgotten" right now, although he will certainly re-enter that territory in time. The skinny: Linaker committed in May 2011 and, as that made him the first pledge for the 2012-2013 season, he became the first pure NCAA player and first scholarship player in Penn State hockey history.

However, before his freshman season began, the Albertan abruptly disappeared from the PSU roster, and although he attended games in a suit, he never played in one. As it turned out, Linaker was not cleared to play by the university's medical staff due to a heart issue (Linaker, for his part, disputes the assessment) and was not allowed to join the team. He eventually left school and will sit out the 2013-2014 season while continuing to explore other college options both north and south of the Canadian border.

9. The Blowout at RMU

Contrary to popular belief, the Penn State women did not play Robert Morris for the first time on November 10, 2012 at the Ice Pavilion. The meeting in question actually took place the previous year, on September 23, 2011, at RMU's 84 Lumber Arena as an exhibition opener to the final Lady Icers season. Although PSU's team included future NCAAers Kate Christoffersen, Tess Weaver, Katie Murphy, Madison Smiddy, Lindsay Reihl and Cara Mendelson (Taylor Gross and Jess Desorcie didn't arrive until mid-season), the hosts scored early and often in a 12-0 shellacking.

The Colonials' goal scorers included players like Rebecca Vint, Thea Imbrogno and Jamie Joslin who would star against the Nittany Lions' NCAA entry the following year, while Murphy and current Women's Ice Hockey Club president Allie Rothman led the Lady Icers with two shots apiece. RMU went on to win the College Hockey America playoff title, so it's not like they were a terrible team.

8. The CCHA "Invitation"

In a bit of a bizarre maneuver - particularly since Penn State had not yet announced its intent to elevate hockey to varsity status - current Michigan State coach Tom Anastos, then the commissioner of the CCHA, told the Detroit News in August of 2010 that he'd love to have the school in his league. "They are a very attractive choice - very attractive," Anastos said. "They're in a different market than we're in, more and more U.S. players are on college rosters, and there's tremendous growth of the sport in Pennsylvania."

The quote actually hurt PSU in the public's estimation. One year earlier, the CCHA had rejected an application from struggling independent/cause célèbre Alabama-Huntsville, and in tandem, the two events led many to speculate that the 11-team league was "saving a seat" for PSU, to UAH's detriment. The CCHA met its demise after last season when the later-formed Big Ten took away Michigan, MSU and Ohio State (as well as Penn State) and other schools followed in jumping ship. Anastos, in all likelihood, saw that outcome in his crystal ball a couple years ahead and, without regard to UAH's application, was doing what he could to preserve his conference.

7. Tim Carr

Like Linaker, Carr was a first - along with Jake Friedman, he was the initial Penn State commit following the Pegula donation. Unlike Linaker though, Carr actually played at PSU, suiting up in three games as an Icers freshman in 2011-2012 and going 2-1-0 with a 2.00 goals against average, a 0.919 save percentage and a shutout of Rutgers. The product of Pine Bush, NY had enjoyed a great campaign with the EJHL's New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs the season before, earning a good chunk of minutes in a tandem with current Boston College netminder Brian Billett. As a result, many (guilty) pegged him as a significant contributor to the inaugural Nittany Lions, but he quickly fell behind Matt Madrazo and P.J. Musico in the Penn State crease and never recovered.

Over winter break and just before the Icers' outdoor game against Neumann at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, Carr transferred to NCAA Division III Western New England University. In a season and a half with the Golden Bears, he has compiled a 7-8-1 record, a 2.94 goals against average and a 0.919 save percentage.

6. Name The Student Section

Prior to and throughout most of the 2012-2013 season, there was a push from the fine folks in the athletic department to develop a name for Penn State's hockey student section. In addition to the standard social media solicitations, there were suggestion boxes set up at the Ice Pavilion during games. Given that we haven't heard a thing about it in roughly nine months, it's probably fair to consider the effort abandoned. And I'm fine with that. After all, PSU's well-regarded football student section doesn't have a name. The lesser-regarded basketball student section does have a name, one that does little other than draw out snarky hoops loyalists when an "ill-informed" journalist dares to use "Nittany Nation" in any sort of general context. To paraphrase noted vampire hunter Abraham Lincoln, better to remain nameless and be thought a fool than to come up with a really terrible name - The A-Team at Michigan State, for example - and remove all doubt.

5. The Shoot Twice Founders Club

The what? Yeah, pretty much. One early rendering of Pegula Ice Arena (below) included a large banner for the mythical association fronting the upper level. However, as I'm sure all of you know by now, the "shoot twice" end is, in actuality, home to the student section and not the Founders Club - and it looks nothing like what is depicted. Although the rendering quickly became dated, it remained a favorite among bloggers and media well past its sell-by date, possibly due to its showing a packed bowl with a game on the ice (something that was generally not the case with other, more accurate versions). The Founders Club was still receiving circulation as recently as January, even with the actual arena over halfway complete.

4. PegulaVille

In July 2012, then-junior John Romano initiated a movement for a student hockey campout, similar to the well-known Paternoville Nittanyville for football games. There was a Twitter account, which quickly gained a couple hundred followers. There was a Facebook page. There was some publicity, including a pretty cynical Three Stars entry on this blog and a much more positive turn in the Collegian that included quotes from Connor Varley. Then, shortly after the Nittany Lions' inaugural jersey unveiling event that September, it went poof faster than Keyser Soze and hasn't been heard from since.

3. Mark Johnson

The last, frantic days of the search for Penn State's first NCAA men's coach in April of 2011 were truly a spectacle, one that gained national interest as the college hockey world waited to hear which of finalists Guy Gadowsky, Scott Sandelin and Mark Johnson would get the nod.

The choice, obviously, ended up being Gadowsky, but Wisconsin athletic director and noted windbag Barry Alvarez stirred up controversy when he claimed days later that Johnson had received an offer from PSU and turned it down to remain the women's coach at UW, his alma mater. Was Gadowsky a Plan B, or even a Plan C (Sandelin and Minnesota-Duluth, his employer both then and now, remained silent on the issue)? Not so fast. A couple weeks after Alvarez's comments, Johnson went on the record to dispute his boss' claim of an offer and even said that he was relieved at not having to face a difficult choice.

2. The 2011-2012 Co-Coach Plan

When Gadowsky was hired, he did not directly replace then-Icers coach Scott Balboni. In fact, the two were listed as co-head coaches for 33 extremely awkward days. The idea, initially, was for Balboni to remain as the game-day, ground-level coach, allowing Gadowsky and his staff additional time to recruit while also evaluating players and implementing systems. Fortunately, sanity eventually won out: Gadowsky expressed a desire to take on the whole ball of wax, and Balboni obliged by resigning.

1. Jessi Hilton

While Penn State has had a couple of traditional major junior defections already in the forms of Thomas Welsh and Conor Garland, Jessi Hilton was sort of the backwards version of that. In early July 2011, and at the same time as Kenny Brooks, Hilton committed to PSU.

He was with the AJHL's Sherwood Park Crusaders at the time, but had previously played 12 regular season games with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, which not surprisingly presented issues. Quietly, Hilton disappeared from the Nittany Lions' commit list just one week later, when the NCAA wouldn't grant his appeal concerning those "professional" games - even if the appeal was granted, he still would have had to sit out a full season plus 12 games. Fortunately, the Hilton story has a happy ending, as he wound up at the University of British Columbia (the CIS is okay with major junior participation and UBC, by the way, is where former PSU women's player Katie Zinn transferred) and scored 10 points in 22 games as a freshman last year.

Student Tickets Available September 10th (Updated)

The PIA's student section seats will be spoken for on September 10th

UPDATE 8/30 1:45 P.M.: Penn State has released full details of the ticket sale, confirming the first-come, first-served nature of the event, which will take place on September 10th at 10:00 a.m. in the HUB. It also corrected a couple of inaccuracies in the Onward State report (below). First, with respect to payment:

Season tickets for the 1,000-seat student section are being offered at $96 for 12 of the team's 18 home games in the brand-new, $90 million facility. A valid student ID is required and tickets may be purchased with cash, check, a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express) or LionCash.

Note that only 12 of the 18 home games are part of the student package, as the Union, Wisconsin and Ohio State series take place during either Thanksgiving or Spring Break. It appears as if student single-game tickets for those games will be available on the same TBD date as the public single-game sale:

The six home games not included in student season tickets fall during Thanksgiving and Spring Break (Nov. 30, Dec. 1, March 7-8, March 15-16) and will be available once single-game tickets go on sale (date to be determined).

The original post follows.

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After the date, time and location of the long-awaited student ticket sale for the inaugural men's season at Pegula Ice Arena leaked out of Sunday night's Be A Part From The Start rally, Penn State confirmed the news on Monday but promised that more details would follow.

Onward State didn't feel like waiting though, and issued the following report.

Students who want to be part of the inaugural hockey season in Happy Valley will get their chance on September 10 [at 10 a.m.]. Student season ticket for the 16 home games will go on sale in the HUB that day for $128, or $10 for individual game tickets.

Penn State’s new $90 million arena is nearing completion and, by all accounts, will help set the standard for collegiate hockey rinks in the country. The student section is located directly behind the opposing team’s goal for two out of three periods at the steepest slope allowed by code. A virtual tour of the seating bowl is available here.

There are over 1000 student tickets available for purchase and seating is based on a first come first serve basis. Tickets for holiday games are also available for purchase later in the season. The additional space will allow more fans to enter the stadium, which was a common problem at the previous Greenberg Ice Pavilion.

First of all: "Steepest allowed by code." Finish your drink!

As mentioned and as is customary in college sports, both at PSU and elsewhere, student ticket packages will only include games played while classes are in session. Fortunately, according to Onward State, 16 of the Nittany Lions' 18 Pegula Ice Arena games fall into that category. Unfortunately, the two that don't will likely be from either the Union series (November 30th and December 1st, the weekend after Thanksgiving) or the regular season-closing Ohio State series (March 14th and 15th, 2014, the weekend on the back side of spring break), four of the most anticipated contests on the schedule. Information on games excluded from the student package, I suppose, is the one remaining loose end.

Regardless, there's little doubt that the seats will sell quickly and, as is the case in other sports, provide Penn State with one of the nation's best home-ice advantages.

The Ticket Line: One Student's Account

At established NCAA Division I powers like Cornell, waiting in line for student tickets is a tradition, a rite of passage and a source of pride, both individually and collectively. Penn State's not quite on that level yet obviously, but the school did offer what may someday be considered the start of something huge Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m.

Penn State law student Aaron Griffin, who knows a thing or two about hockey ticket lines thanks to his degree from Cornell, kept the world updated on the first-ever Penn State Hockey Line via his Twitter account. By the way, Aaron's a first-rate follow if you like chatting about hockey at either of his two schools (I don't think assuming you like chatting about at least one of them is a huge reach if you're here), so get on that.

He arrived at the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office at 5:30 a.m. and reported as follows...

5:35 a.m.: Six people (including me) as of 5:30 a.m.

5:54 a.m.: An employee arrives. I think she's enjoying our being locked outside in the "cold" (50 degrees F).

6:00 a.m.: No new people ([still] 6 total). I thought [Guy Gadowsky] was supposed to make an appearance. Hope he shows. [Less than] 1 hour [to go].

6:11 a.m.: Got memorabilia. No [Gadowsky]. Two more people at 6:10 am.

6:20 a.m.: People in line didn't know that Cornell is a hockey school. #Judgment #WelcomeToNCAA

6:30 a.m.: Count at 6:30 am: 15.

6:33 a.m.: Appear to be technical difficulties inside.

6:40 a.m.: 23 people in [line] at 6:40 am.

6:49 a.m.: 52 people in [the line] at 6:50 am and JoeBa makes an appearance.

6:56 a.m.: [Guy Gadowsky]!

6:57 a.m.: Getting trashtalk from JoeBa about my Cornell sweatshirt was the highlight of my day.

7:04 a.m.: Final count before doors opened was 56.

Okay, so it's wasn't exactly glamorous (although Gadowsky did bring donuts, so there's that), and no, there wasn't really much to do beyond counting and tweeting, but we'll get there. Cornell certainly did:

By Sunday afternoon, the Ramin Room in Bartels Hall looked like the living quarters of most students across campus: pizza boxes and takeout bags overflowed from trash cans; pillows and blankets were thrown every which way; extension cords snaked across the artificial turf from outlets to laptop computers and a single TV, where a group played Madden. From 10 p.m. Saturday until 6 p.m. Sunday, more than 1,200 Cornell students called the Ramin Room home, sleeping, eating and living in The Line for the chance to buy hockey season tickets.