Three Days in the ACHA

Kevin Backoefer and Behrend split their opening weekend by taking down Fredonia in OT at home

On Friday, I wrote about the flood of Penn State ACHA games over the weekend that signaled the beginning of the hockey season. So... how did that all turn out? Glad you asked.

As I'm sure you know by now, I attended four of the twelve contests below in person (the ones without words underneath the final score) so feel free to click through for separate posts on those.

Friday, September 27

Men's D3: Penn State Behrend 2 at RIT 8

A quick glance at that score says that the Tigers thrashed Behrend, although the game didn't reach blowout status until a wild third period that saw seven combined goals (it was 3-0 RIT after 40 minutes). Kevin Backoefer and Nathan Ropelewski scored for the Lions.

Men's D2: Penn State 6 at IUP (D1) 1

In the front end of a home-and-home series with the Crimson Hawks, the Ice Lions steadily grew their lead throughout the contest to win rather comfortably. Creek Lewis got his season off to a great start with a hat trick - all goals coming on the power play - and Peter Daley, Voight Demeester and Fredrik Linge matched him with three more.

Men's D1: Slippery Rock 1 at Penn State Berks 4

Berks is the one PSU team in this post that had games under its belt prior to this past weekend, as they split with that same IUP team that played the Ice Lions on September 20th and 21st. A strong second period against SRU helped the Blue Lions climb to 2-1-0 on the year.

Men's D3: Rutgers-Camden 2 at Penn State Brandywine 8

The perennially-strong team at Brandywine got off to a good start by dismantling Rutgers-Camden in a DVCHC contest at West Chester's mammoth Ice Line.

Women's D2: Liberty 0 at Penn State 6

Saturday, September 28

Men's D3: IUP (D2) 4 at Penn State Altoona 5 (Photos)

Men's D1: Slippery Rock 4 at Penn State Berks 3 (OT)

The Rock, much as IUP ultimately did, rallied for a split against Berks, thanks to J.T. Grahl finishing a hat trick in the extra period. The result was at least mildly controversial, as the Blue Lions had two goals disallowed in regulation.

Men's D3: Penn State Brandywine 3 at Shippensburg 2

At the venerable Hersheypark Arena and in another DVCHC league game, Brandywine overcame two Austin Rinck goals to take a tight game that was tied after both the first (0-0) and second (1-1) periods. Brandon Benn scored twice for PSUB, Billy Gregg had the third, and goalie Andrew Hieber stopped 46 of 48 shots.

Women's D2: Liberty 0 at Penn State 7 (at Altoona, PA)

Men's D3: Fredonia 3 at Penn State Behrend 4 (OT)

Behrend bounced back with a rousing overtime win in its home opener against College Hockey East foe Fredonia. Ropelewski was the hero - although without Hunter Cunningham's two goals and an assist, he never gets a chance at the winner.

Men's D2: IUP (D1) 2 at Penn State 8 (Photos)

Sunday, September 29

Men's D1: West Chester 5 at Penn State Berks 3

Uniquely among teams featured in this post, Berks had the always-tough task of a three game weekend. They may have paid for it against West Chester as PSUB jumped out to a 3-1 second-period lead thanks to goals from Thomas DeMusis, Theodore Marquardt and Josh Flamini (shorthanded). However the Golden Rams responded decisively with four unanswered, including three in the third period.

Nine up, three down. Not a bad weekend, Penn State hockey.