Three Stars: December 12-18

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

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

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

"Suspended?" Whatever do you mean?

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

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

2. Taking It Outside
(B1G Ice Hockey)

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

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

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

Best of the Rest


#sick

@Cmen12
(Twitter)

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

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

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

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

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

@RutgersHockey
(Twitter)

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

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

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

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

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

Penn State vs. Neumann Tickets
(ComcastTix)

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