Three Stars: August 19-25

3. Beantown Classic – Scouting the Forwards
(Over The Boards)

Forward A.J. Greer, a Nittany Lions commit scheduled for 2015 entry, participated in the highly-regarded Beantown Classic showcase from August 10th through 14th. And did quite well for himself - OTB rated him the number two forward there and had this to say:

Greer started strong here and never let up. Consistently created chances and used his outrageously long reach to score a number of creative goals including a wrap-around and a full-reach fake that got one of the better goalies here to bite just enough for Greer to bury in the ensuing opening. Surprisingly deceptive and will only get better. Would like to see more snarl from the forward but he did show a mean streak here at times. Youngest player in the pro division but finished second in overall scoring.

Just one guy's opinion? Au contraire, mes amis. USHR tabbed Greer the number two forward in the pro division (1996 birth years and older, in case you're wondering).

AJ Greer, late ’96 F, KUA (#11 Bombers) – 6’4”. The youngest player in the pro division, the Penn State recruit is not even draft-eligible until 2015. A power forward in the making.

We got ourselves a pretty good one here, guys.

2. Preseason Previews: PSU Still Too Many Unknowns
(B1G Ice Hockey)

The Big Ten Hockey Blog predicts that PSU will finish last in the conference, largely due to the unknown quantity of conference play for the young program.

I'm not going to say too much about it here, because I'm still contemplating writing a full post in response (I did fire off a few points in the comments over there if you're interested). However, I think relegating the Nittany Lions to the basement out of hand because the other league teams "have been doing it for decades" is a mistake. Banners don't skate, as the saying goes, and I sincerely cannot identify a single reason to say that Penn State is any worse than Ohio State or Michigan State right now. Given the whole 2-1-0 situation against that pair in 2012-2013 with eight pure ACHA players on the roster, there is reason to see it the other way around.

1. Penn State breaks in new Pegula Ice Arena ice sheet
(Western College Hockey Blog)

For the record and on Thursday, Joe Battista, Guy Gadowsky, Josh Brandwene and their families were the first to go for a skate at Pegula Ice Arena. Evidence of the happenings comes from Battista's Twitter, the men's team's Instagram (twice), and the women's team's Instagram (again, twice).

Most coverage of the ice's initiation focused exclusively on Gadowsky, which is understandable to a degree, as the men's team is the one that draws the eyeballs. But also a mistake, because it meant whiffing on a story like this:

(Belated) happy anniversary guys! The next 21 go pretty fast, from what I hear.

Best of the Rest

@Fung_er
(Twitter)

It certainly took a while, but the Women's Ice Hockey Club's Mary Kate Tonetti finally has her ACHA Women's Division 2 Off-Ice MVP award after being named its winner back in March.

York City Ice Arena to Host CHE Playoffs
(psuwihc.com)

Sticking with the ACHA women, some pretty great hockey will be coming to York on February 22nd and 23rd in the form of the College Hockey East playoffs. The four teams that make up this season's inaugural edition of CHE (PSU, West Chester, California (PA) and Delaware) were half of the field at the 2013 ACHA WD2 National Tournament, including both championship game participants.

Charles Vance McCullough
(Centre Daily Times)

Here's the obituary for Vance McCullough, the long-time head of Penn State's club sports who passed away unexpectedly last Monday at age 69.

Vance was a driving force in creating a club sports department supporting many programs that were organizationally on par with NCAA teams. His legacy includes the Men's and Ladies Icers Hockey teams, as well as the nationally recognized men's and women's rugby teams.

Hey wait, that sounds awfully familiar...

McCullough was a driving force in creating a club sports department supporting many programs that were organizationally on par with NCAA teams, but for the recognition and the existence of scholarships. His legacy included not only the Icers and later the Lady Icers, but continues today through the success of the Ice Lions and Women's Ice Hockey Club, as well as Penn State's nationally-recognized men's and women's rugby teams.

Flattered, Koch Funeral Home guy who wrote the obit.

Top 5 Big Ten Off-Season Stories
(Western College Hockey Blog)

PSU doesn't even register in this rundown of the Big Ten's offseason beyond a mention of the school's first NHL draft picks, with stories like the Illinois rumors and Ohio State's post-Osiecki meltdown collecting the attention. The crazy thing? PSU doesn't really deserve to register in a rundown of the Big Ten's offseason beyond the draft picks and maybe Pegula Ice Arena's completion.

Basically, Penn State's program has finally reached sort of an awkward milestone: it's more or less completely normal.

Other than new program-type stuff, making offseason news is bad roughly 92 percent of the time. So here's to never, ever appearing in one of those types of posts again.

@OhioState_MHKY
(Twitter)

Ohio State has new alternate jerseys (above), and suddenly, I want to go get Taco Bell.

Although they include a few striping modifications, they're essentially a white adaptation of the jerseys the Buckeyes wore for the Frozen Diamond Faceoff, a January 15, 2012 outdoor game against Michigan in Cleveland.

Just made you smarter than your friends on a completely useless topic. You're welcome.

In other OSU news, the team named its leadership group last week, headlined by captain Curtis Gedig.

Pittsburgh-born Saad savors his day with Stanley Cup
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Brandon Saad, the brother of former Nittany Icer George who became the first Pittsburgh born and trained player to win the Stanley Cup in June, got his customary time with sport's most iconic trophy on Thursday.

Penn State Athletics Announces National Anthem Performer Auditions for 2013-14 Year
(gopsusports.com)

Karen Newman, Lauren Hart, Jim Cornelison, Jeff Jimerson, Rene Rancourt... anthem singers can become legends to their team's fans in hockey. If you think you're up to it, September 5th is a date you should circle.

Bennett takes his hockey show to the Lone Star State
(Foster's Daily Democrat)

Luke Bennett, a Rochester, NH-native forward who recently signed with Corpus Christi in the NAHL, is interested in Penn State. But not that interested.

Bennett has grown to like the western brand of hockey.

“I like the style,” Bennett said. “It’s a little different. It’s faster with less fights (than East Coast hockey). I’m a skill guy, not a fighter. I’m 165 (pounds). I’m not throwing around too much.”

Bennett plans to use his time in Texas to expand his game and draw D-I college attention. He mentioned schools like Western Michigan, Penn State and UMass-Lowell, but adds that in his heart he wants to stay in the west.

Construction Webcam
(rit.edu)

Last week, structural steel went up on RIT's Gene Polisseni Center. The 4,500-seat arena, which will replace PIA as NCAA Division I's newest hockey venue, is scheduled to open in time for next season. The Nittany Lion women, of course, will play there each year as part of the CHA schedule.

Despite the lost distinction for Penn State, it actually is quite fun watching someone else's dream building materialize. And if you still have the urge to hate, just remember that Polisseni Center broke ground during RIT's homecoming last October - a weekend that was spoiled (for Tigers faithful) by the PSU men and their big win in Rochester.

@GopherHockey
(Twitter)

A quick bit of setup: Minnesota fans have been very vocally opposed to the Big Ten's "intrusion" into the hockey bubble because they'll miss their big games against Bemidji State and Mankato State Minnesota State-Mankato Minnesota State in the WCHA, or something like that. Furthermore, despite his pair of national titles, four Frozen Fours and seven conference regular season or playoff championships, they aren't exactly thrilled with their coach, Don Lucia, either. Because they're the State of Hockey, as they're more than happy to remind you, and if they don't win everything ever, THINGS WILL EXPLODE.

So with all of that out there and from a Penn State perspective, you can understand why the photo above, of Lucia (left) presenting Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany with a Gophers jersey, could be considered quite entertaining.

@TYTBlog
(Twitter)

A quick, shameless self-link to share some news for the Twitter-free among you:

Confirmed: Rodney Martin will return as PA announcer for the inaugural Pegula Ice Arena season. Fantastic news.

Really could not imagine things any other way.

Three Stars: August 5-11

3. 2013-14 USHL Protected List
(Western College Hockey Blog)

WCHB's Chris Dilks has put together the 30-player rosters and 18-player affiliate lists for each USHL franchise, which is kind of a big deal since the teams don't really go out of their way to keep everyone informed, particularly with respect to the affiliate list.

The primary takeaway from a Penn State perspective: it's verification that A.J. Greer is on the affiliate list of the Des Moines Buccaneers and not the roster. That's not shocking - anything else would have been, in fact - but since the Bucs never actually put out a formal announcement following their tryout camp and ahead of the required July 10th cutdown...

Elsewhere, Chase Berger (Tri-City), Kevin Kerr (Tri-City) and Alec Marsh (Cedar Rapids) are where they're supposed to be. Put that together with Greer's return to Kimball Union Academy, toss in BCHLers Bo Pellah (Alberni Valley) and James Robinson (Langley), and we're as certain as can be reasonably possible at this point of where all of the Nittany Lions' recruits will be playing this season.

2. Jim Delany praises Penn State
(ESPN, via the Associated Press)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany stopped by Penn State football's preseason practice Thursday afternoon, where the involved parties went through the usual song and dance of such appearances. PSU gave Delany a football jersey, Delany gave the media the league's highly-manufactured party line concerning the scandal and the sanctions, the media gave the public some filler copy masquerading as actual news...

...except for the part where someone asked Delany about Big Ten hockey.

Delany said he expected to announce a "robust" league media package soon for hockey.

"I think our championship will grow, and I think you'll see that growth pretty immediately," Delany said. "I'm very bullish on hockey."

Well, okay, that's filler copy masquerading as actual news too, it just happens to be about hockey instead of football. Still... "robust?" I can get with that. Hopefully that word and "soon" both turn out to be accurate.

1. 2013 Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff Promo
(YouTube)

Know why this year's Philly Faceoff promo is better than last year's version? Because it involves footage from an NCAA hockey game that Penn State won. This year's PSU-UVM repeat, of course, will be played on October 26th at the Wells Fargo Center and tickets are on sale now.

Best of the Rest

Neil Laessig will try to beat his father, Lehigh coach Tom Laessig, on November 15th and 16th

Lehigh Announces Schedule for 2013-2014 season
(lehighsports.com)

Two more Ice Lions games are out of the bag: November 15th and 16th at ACHA Division 1 Lehigh. The obvious storyline there is that Mountain Hawks coach Tom Laessig is the father of PSU forward Neil, as well as alumnus T.J., who graduated in 2012.

The series brings the total number of known Ice Lions contests to ten, plus postseason. For a full list (other than these, obviously) check out the third star from a couple weeks ago.

Penn State Berks is also on Lehigh's schedule as an ECHA rival, with games in Bethlehem on October 5th and in Wyomissing on November 8th.

Walkom named Senior VP and Director of Officiating
(NHL)

Noted Penn State hockey dad Stephen Walkom is the NHL's new Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, replacing the retiring Terry Gregson. He was also the NHL's old Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, as he held the job from 2005-2009 before returning to the ice as a referee. Walkom has been with the NHL in one capacity or the other since 1990 and has worn the orange stripe for 965 regular season games, along with 139 in the playoffs, the latter number including the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2011.

"We are fortunate to have someone with Stephen's on- and off-ice experience ready to step in to this position," NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said. "From 2005 to 2009, Stephen provided tremendous direction and guidance to our team of officials as the League implemented several rule changes that brought more flow and speed to our game. That management experience, combined with the fact that he has been back on the ice as a referee for the last four years, will be of tremendous benefit to the League and the game."

“The New G-Man” to Open Thursday
(Onward State)

The new era of the G-Man is underway sans the Icers-related ownership group, leaving the Shandygaff uncontested as State College's hockey player bar.

Princeton's Jack Berger: Solid guy

PU's Berger setting example
(The Princeton Packet)

Here's a nice in-depth feature on Princeton senior captain Jack Berger, a pre-med economics major who more or less is the epitome of "student-athlete." Berger was recruited to PU by Guy Gadowsky and played for him as a freshman in 2010-2011, before Gadowsky left for PSU. Additionally, younger brother Chase (who receives a quick mention in the article and another one above in the third star) is a Nittany Lions commit for 2015.

Bazin earns contract extension at Massachusetts-Lowell through ’17-18 campaign
(USCHO)

After Norm Bazin led perennially-average UMass-Lowell (a 2013-2014 PSU opponent) to both Hockey East championships and the Frozen Four in his second season last year, why wouldn't you extend him?

New Madison USHL franchise presents positives and negatives for Badgers
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Madison, WI - home to UDubs, of course - has been awarded a not-yet-named USHL franchise for the 2014-2015 season. Generally speaking, people struggle to put a finger on what, exactly, a nearby junior team means for the local college program, but B5Q's Andy Johnson got into the implications of the news as well as anyone. There's good (easier recruiting and scouting, exposure of players to the area) and bad (the cheaper USHL product freely serving alcohol might chip away at the Badgers' attendance) to it, but both are probably overstated in some corners.

UNO, which is located in the same market as the storied Omaha Lancers and is more in line with the USHL's footprint than any other DI program, was fourth in the nation in attendance last season and doesn't run college hockey. Michigan tends to do well with the Ann Arbor, MI-based National Team Development Program, but they'd be doing well with high-end prospects regardless of the NTDP's physical location. So who knows? The USHL certainly won't hurt Wisconsin's recruiting efforts and certainly won't help their attendance, but it's doubtful that any effect will be noticeable to the naked eye.

Penn State isn't barren in the junior program department, with the NAHL's Johnstown Chiefs nearby and the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms about a three-hour drive away (for as long as they can keep from being kicked out of Covelli Centre, anyway).

Comparisons to Gretzky? Valid in at least one respect.

The Crosby Effect
(The Hockey Writers)

Love him or hate him, it seems clear that Sidney Crosby's popularity has been fantastic for the growth of hockey - not just in western Pennsylvania, but nationally as well.

Decision made, Sheridan promoted
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Replacing Dan Morris who replaced Craig McCarthy as coach of the Ohio Bobcats: Jonathon Sheridan, a 2011 graduate of Lawrence University who spent last season as Morris' assistant. Good luck bud, that's quite a bit to live up to.

U.S. National Under-18 Team Roster and Schedule for 2013-14 Revealed

2013-14 U.S. National Under-17 Team Roster and Schedule Announced
(USA Hockey)

USA Hockey unveiled the rosters and schedules for its two National Team Development Program squads last week. Penn State is uninvolved, although every other Big Ten team has at least one commit on the U18 team among the league's six total (Minnesota is the school with two). Additionally the U18s, as part of their usual array of exhibitions against college teams, will battle both Michigan and Michigan State this season.

The younger team includes recruits from both Michigan (2) and Wisconsin (1).

NCAA to 'exit' business of selling school-related items
(CBS Sports)

Former Duke basketball player and present lawyer/ESPN analyst Jay Bilas - who is all kinds of awesome, by the way - discovered that on ShopNCAASports.com (a site branded as the NCAA's official online store), typing active student-athletes' names into the site's search box pulled up jerseys of the appropriate school, sport and number. The NCAA, of course, is presently busy in court defending their membership's revenue streams the noble concept of amateurism by arguing that (for example) Texas A&M football jerseys with number 2 but no name on them aren't actually Johnny Manziel jerseys, even though Manziel wears number 2 for the Aggies' football team. Ouch.

Further egg was lobbed the association's way when others discovered that merchandise involving sanctioned individuals like Joe Paterno and Reggie Bush was also available on the site. The Paterno-related items included a DVD of PSU's 2006 Orange Bowl win and a t-shirt commemorating JoePa's 400th career victory, both of which were wiped out by the NCAA penalties last summer.

Anyway, Bilas tweeted his findings last Tuesday. The story blew up from there and two days later, the NCAA announced that it was pulling out of the school- and athlete-specific merchandise business. It remains to be seen how the whole mess impacts the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit (the NCAA, for what it's worth, claims it received no revenue from ShopNCAASports.com), but given that an entity contracted by the NCAA to run its store was using player names to move product, it certainly doesn't look good.

Armchair prediction: college sports will look a lot different in the future than it does right now.

The Colonials honored Chris Kushneriuk after winning the Three Rivers Classic last year

ECHL player returning to hockey after battle with cancer
(The Score)

Saving the best news for last: Former Robert Morris captain Chris Kushneriuk, who was diagnosed with cancer last summer, is officially a survivor. Kushneriuk, who played for RMU from 2008-2011 after transferring from the dying Wayne State program, was most recently with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. He issued this statement through the team:

After a tough 13 month battle which has included 4 cycles of chemotherapy, 2 bone marrow transplants, 3 operations and 3 months of oral chemotherapy, I have finished all of my treatments and received the amazing news in Indianapolis today from Dr. Einhorn that everything continues to look good and I am cleared to play hockey this season! Stage 4 cancer survivor!

Marsh, Berger, Kerr Make USHL Fall Rosters

2015 recruit Alec Marsh is looking for a follow-up to a solid rookie season in Cedar Rapids

Penn State commits Alec Marsh, Chase Berger and Kevin Kerr have all been asked to fall training camps by their respective USHL squads, including the Tri-City Storm (Berger and Kerr) and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (Marsh).

Last week's invitations were extended following tryout camps held May 30th through June 2nd (Cedar Rapids) and June 19th through 21st (Tri-City). Teams don't tend to be very sharing concerning the happenings at those camps, although the Storm did provide several updates - notably including the fact that Berger scored twice in three games played by his Maroon Team, then added a goal and an assist in one of the all-star games to close things out. Obviously, the others played pretty well too.

Marsh is a veteran player, as he played 40 games for the RoughRiders last season alongside PSU freshman David Goodwin, scoring four times among his 11 points while seeing his ice time increase as the year proceeded. One-time Tri-City draft picks Kerr and Berger played primarily for their high school and midget major teams, although both have received the odd call-up from the affiliate list, as the two played a combined nine games for the Storm in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.

The road isn't quite finished yet. This cutdown was designed for compliance with the USHL's July 10th roster limit of 30 players plus 18 affiliate list players. By the time the season starts, both teams will have to trim further, to 23 on the active roster and 18 affiliate listers. Preseason camps begin in August, with the regular season opening in late September.

While nothing is certain yet, it appears likely that all of Penn State's remaining commits - Bo Pellah, James Robinson and A.J. Greer - will spend 2013-2014 with their 2012-2013 teams, the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL), Langley Rivermen (BCHL) and Kimball Union Academy (New England prep), respectively. Greer, who was picked by the Des Moines Buccaneers in Phase 2 of the USHL Draft back in May, is on that team's affiliate list. The Bucs have not put out a roster announcement yet, and while it wouldn't be surprising to see Greer at fall camp, his making the team this season would fall into that category.

Elsewhere, notables surviving USHL tryout camps included Matt Mendelson, a returning player with the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the brother of Nittany Lion women's player Cara Mendelson. Fellow Pittsburgh Hornets product Matt Miller, the long-time boyfriend of the women's team's Stephanie Walkom, is vying for a spot on the Youngstown Phantoms.

Three Stars: June 17-23

3. Detroit plans for new downtown arena
(detroitredwings.com)

Plans are moving forward for a new arena in Detroit that would replace Joe Louis Arena as the home of the NHL's Red Wings. Olympia Development (a company owned by Wings owners Mike and Marian Ilitch), the city's Downtown Development Authority and Wayne County announced a memorandum of understanding last Thursday, essentially a non-binding document indicating that all parties are interested in heading down the road together. Previous reports indicated that construction could begin by the end of the year (I assume everything would have to click perfectly for that to happen), with the project taking roughly two years to complete.

So what's this have to do with Penn State? Easy. The Big Ten has committed to holding its tournament in Detroit in 2015 and 2017, and at the moment, it seems conceivable that by the time 2017 rolls around, Joe Louis Arena - redundant if a new building goes up - will be rubble. A sparkling new facility could also influence the awarding of the Big Ten championships beyond 2017.

2. Eamon McAdam
(The Hockey News)

By the time, the next Three Stars hits, Eamon McAdam's rights will (probably/hopefully) be the property of an NHL team, through this coming Sunday's NHL Entry Draft. So as you might expect, he got a fair deal of exposure this week, including the nice profile by THN's Ryan Kennedy leading this entry. McAdam also penned his final blog post for The Pipeline Show while also appearing on the show on Saturday.

In addition to all of the usual hockey firsts for PSU's program, McAdam has also crushed out a couple unique to this day and age: 1. First NCAA-era Penn State player with a Wikipedia entry, and 2. First Penn State player, to the best of my knowledge, with a parody Twitter account (language advisory on that one).

1. @TaylorCVincent
(Twitter)

Ice Lion Taylor Vincent and his teammates toured Pegula Ice Arena last week... so obviously, we'll pop a photo in.

Best of the Rest

@mikebroc23
(Twitter)

From new Icers and Ice Lions alumnus Mike Broccolo:

My mom just informed me that one of her student's name was seven

The Seinfeld episode where George Costanza shared his preferred baby name (after New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle's jersey number) originally aired on February 1, 1996. Therefore, "Seven" is more or less in play for anyone 17 years old or younger. So there you go.

Junior A gems: NHL Draft prospects from OJHL, AJHL, BCHL, and beyond
(Hockey Now)

While McAdam is the only Penn Stater more likely than not to be scooped up by the NHL on Sunday, guys like Mark Yanis, Mike Williamson and 2014 commit Bo Pellah have a chance at getting a late-round look. Here, Williamson gets a mention (literally just that) in an article listing Canadian Junior A products with draftability.

Ten members of the class of 2017 will join RIT women's hockey for 2013-14 season
(ritathletics.com)

CHA rival RIT unveiled a large and mostly Canadian freshman class, then made a routine announcement super awks by retweeting this on their official team account:

As much as I complain about Penn State's ultra-buttoned up approach to things, it could be worse I guess.

Local hockey player’s University future up in the air
(globalnews.ca)

Reed Linaker has continued to make the media rounds to share his unfortunate story. This latest news report (including video) comes from Dean Millard, who doubles as a co-host of The Pipeline Show.

National Champion Hockey Coach Interviews for UAH Job
(WHNT)

George Gwozdecky still in limbo
(Wisconsin State Journal)

Over a couple days last week, college hockey circles exploded with the news that two-time national championship coach George Gwozdecky (let go by Denver after this past season) interviewed for the vacant job at Alabama-Huntsville. Then they exploded again with the news that he withdrew from consideration.

Opinion nobody asked for: Gwozdecky has had a legendary career. However, I believe that much like athletes, coaching careers have a rise, peak and decline, and I also believe that Gwozdecky is more of a name than a great coach at this point. Still very good, of course, just not to the level of his reputation. Now, UAH could do worse than "a name" given what they've been through - and maybe the credibility coming from that name would have been a huge boost - but hopefully Gwoz passing on the job allows the Chargers to get a guy who ultimately becomes a name through his accomplishments in Alabama.

@BobcatsHockey
(Twitter)

Former Ohio forward Tyler Pilmore, who just ended his outstanding career as a Bobcat in March, has signed with the ECHL's Toledo Walleye for 2013-2014. In 2012-2013 and following the conclusion of the ACHA season, Pilmore played eight games with the Walleye and the Wheeling Nailers.

While a Penn Stater will do even better than the ECHL soon enough, I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous, as (to the best of my memory, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) the last surviving Icers playing in professional hockey were Curtiss Patrick (who kicked around the minor leagues from 2004-2009) and Justin Depretis (2006-2009).

The work of former ACHA assistant Spiros Anastas helped Tomas Tatar and the Griffins to a title

Grand Rapids Griffins win the Calder Cup thanks to late goal by Brennan Evans
(MLive)

I'm obviously a sucker for a good ACHA-to-the-show story, especially one with ties to Pennsylvania, and Grand Rapids winning the AHL title last week offered one in the form of Griffins assistant coach Spiros Anastas. Anastas, a Toronto native, played for Lebanon Valley College from 2006 through 2010, when the Dutchmen were an NCAA Division III program. He stepped directly from the ice to the bench in the middle of his senior season when LVC head coach Ted Russell abruptly resigned. Anastas stayed on as an assistant in 2010-2011, the program's successful (21-4-2) ACHA Division 1 debut following a 3-95-2 stretch over the last four DIII seasons (yikes). He then left to become a volunteer video coach at Western Michigan in 2011-2012 before moving on to the Griffins under head coach Jeff Blashill (who also hired him at WMU), where he's responsible for advance scouting and statistical analysis.

Anastas actually didn't go directly from Western Michigan to Grand Rapids, by the way. From August 23, 2012 until October 29, 2012, he was the general manager of the BCHL's Alberni Valley Bulldogs. On October 31, 2012, the Bulldogs acquired Bo Pellah from the Langley Rivermen. Either Anastas is a big fan of Pellah who started negotiations before taking the Griffins job, or he was standing in the way of the trade being finalized. Your call.

Matt Thomas named head hockey coach
(goseawolves.com)

After one of the messiest coaching searches in college hockey history (fourth entry from the bottom), Alaska-Anchorage finally got their guy in Matt Thomas, who will join the Seawolves program after a long run as an ECHL coach. He also played for RIT back in the 1990s (when the Tigers were an NCAA Division III program) and served as an assistant at Maine from 2000-2002. I'm still not sure why anyone would want the UAA job, but regardless, best of luck to him.

In other Anchorage news, charges will not be pursued against the guy Thomas replaced, Dave Shyiak, over an alleged stick-swinging incident at a practice in 2011. So other than any blowups to come from discarded former athletic director Steve Cobb, it seems as if things might finally be getting back to semi-normal at Alaska's second-best hockey program.

Former Maine coach Tim Whitehead to be new hockey coach at Kimball Union Academy
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Fired Maine coach Tim Whitehead, who spent 12 years in Orono (and therefore one with Thomas), will coach PSU commit A.J. Greer's prep school team. Nice pull for the KUA Wildcats.

#AskTCR Mailbag: The Hockey Pipe Dream
(The Champaign Room)

Illinois: still not about to add NCAA hockey, if you needed that.

@LetsPlay_Hockey
(Twitter)

It won't be at Penn State, but the Big Ten could see at least one outdoor game this season:

The U of M is in talks with Intersport on hosting an outdoor hockey game vs. Ohio State at TCF Bank Stadium on @HockeyDayMN 2014.

Let me guess: both teams will receive $2 million for their participation (yes, I'm still upset about being burned by that).

Greer Chosen in QMJHL Draft

A.J. Greer, a commit projected to become a Nittany Lion in 2015 or 2016, was selected in the 11th round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft (193rd overall) by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Saturday afternoon.

Because the Huskies' website doesn't have an English side and because my high school French was never that good, let's have some fun with Google Translate:

In the eleventh round, the pack was initially selected Anthony John Greer. This Quebec was not there. It currently operates in the United States.

"The pack," I'm guessing, is an informal nickname for the team, "initially" refers to the fact that Rouyn-Noranda had two picks in the 11th round, and "this Quebec was not there," means, I'm assuming, that Greer was not present at the draft (the original word used was "quebecois," or "person from Quebec," so that one's a minor translation error). In the context of the rest of the article, where several picks were on site and quoted directly or indirectly, the statement actually does make sense.

Anyway, it's the second time Greer has been taken in a draft over the last couple months, as the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers made him the 66th pick in the fifth round of Phase 2 of that league's draft on May 7th.

Greer, a Repentigny, Quebec native, has seen his reputation grow quite a bit since electing to operate in the United States, at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH this past season. The sophomore power forward helped the Wildcats to a spectacular 27-3-0 campaign by finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 19 assists. KUA, which featured ten NCAA Division I commits, stood as the top-ranked team in New England prep hockey for most of the season but was stunned by Gunnery in the quarterfinals of the Stuart/Corkery Tournament.

Two seasons ago, Greer helped College Esther-Blondin to the Quebec midget AAA title and a silver medal at the Telus Cup, Canada's midget national championships.

Just to address the first question I'm generally asked when something like this pops up: Is Greer in imminent danger of joining former PSU commits Thomas Welsh and Conor Garland in major junior? Probably not. When it comes to junior drafts, signability is a major consideration when making picks, and Greer's position as the 193rd of 253 is a good and generally accepted indication that QMJHL teams don't view him as particularly likely to eventually show up - especially when contrasted with his USHL slotting.

Also, allow me to run his tweet after hearing of Garland's defection to the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats one more time.

Reaction to the selection on the Rouyn-Noranda Facebook page, roughly translated, compared him to Louis Leblanc, a 2009 Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick who played at Harvard in 2009-2010 before defecting to the QMJHL (with the then-Montreal Juniors, now known as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) the following season and finally going full-time pro in 2011-2012 with the Habs and the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs. There might be a bit of wishful thinking involved there, although that's acknowledged in the concluding comment, which more or less says "it's a good pick if he changes his mind, if he doesn't, no harm done."

It is, however, important to remember that Greer is 16 years old and isn't even scheduled to hit Hockey Valley for 2-3 more years, so never say never. As Andy Johnson of Wisconsin SB Nation blog Bucky's 5th Quarter reminded me, this is the reality in the big-time college hockey. It's what we signed up for.

If you're one of those people who lies awake at night worrying about these things - and really, you shouldn't be, defections are an occasional fact of life and often unpredictable - there's some good news. Of Penn State's recruits beyond this year's freshman class, only Greer, 2014 D Bo Pellah (Spokane Chiefs - WHL) and 2014 F James Robinson (Moose Jaw Warriors - WHL) reside on the protected list of a major junior team (according to the best available knowledge, as the lists aren't readily published).

Des Moines Snaps Up Greer in USHL Draft

A.J. Greer (black) is emerging as a highly-regarded power forward

A.J. Greer, a 2015-committed forward originally from Repentigny, Quebec, was selected in the fifth round, 66th overall, by the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL Draft, Phase 2, on Tuesday afternoon.

The USHL Draft, just as background for those unfamiliar, is divided into two phases. Phase 1, formerly known as the Futures Draft, includes only players who will qualify as under 17s for the coming season (so 1997 birth year players this time around) and was conducted on Monday. Phase 2, more or less, covers all other players eligible for junior hockey and whose rights are not already owned by a USHL team.

In his sophomore year at Kimball Union Academy in 2012-2013, Greer managed to stand out on a loaded team that included ten Division I commitments by finishing sixth in scoring with 16 goals and 19 assists in 30 games and receiving an all-scholastic underclass second team nod from Over The Boards.

KUA's campaign did not end on a high, though. After a 27-2-0 regular season and the top ranking in prep hockey for most of it, the Wildcats were stunned 4-1 by Gunnery in the quarterfinals of the Stuart/Corkery Tournament, the New England prep championships.

In 2011-2012, Greer played for College Esther-Blondin, helping the Phenix to the Quebec midget AAA championship and a silver medal at the Telus Cup, Canada's midget national championships.

Part of Greer's rising stock however, at least in this corner, was his thinly-veiled Twitter blast of Conor Garland, a former Penn State commit who elected to jump ship for the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats back in December.

Kid's already one of my favorite players.

Penn State does have a bit of history with the Buccaneers, as soon-to-be-sophomore defenseman Connor Varley played for the team, as did incoming forward Zach Saar. Former Icer-turned-Ice Lion Mac Winchester played seven games for the Bucs in 2008-2009. Still, Des Moines' franchise is not in the best of shape - they finished seventh in the eight-team Western Conference this past season with a 25-35-4 record, which was actually improvement from their 2011-2012 mark of 20-33-7. That raises at least a question of whether Greer will report to Iowa at any point prior to attending Penn State two to three seasons from now.

Another notable pick took place just two slots before Greer, as Team Illinois' Nick Olczyk went 64th overall to the Sioux City Musketeers. Olczyk, as one might guess from the rather unique last name, is the younger brother of Penn State captain Tommy Olczyk and Eddie Olczyk, who just completed his senior season at Massachusetts. Both Tommy (205 games) and Eddie (71 games) played for Sioux City during their USHL careers.

Three Stars: December 3-9

3. Hockey Hero Mike Eruzione to Speak at Penn State
(Onward State)

It's pretty well known by this point, but Eruzione was giving the famous 2010 Penn State arena tour delegation a look at Boston University's facilities when Joe Battista received the text from Terry Pegula confirming that he had made his donation official. Kind of disappointed that Onward State missed on that little tie-in.

2. California “Gilmour Girls” Bring Unique Background to Nittany Lions
(ComMedia)

Ross Insana comes in hot with a great feature on Caliswag-certified women's freshmen Celine Whitlinger and Micayla Catanzariti. The pair, of course, went to prep school at Gilmour Academy, which is about 15 minutes from my hometown of Solon, OH, so bonus points for that.

1. Pegula Ice Arena Season Ticket Deposits to be Accepted Beginning Friday
(gopsusports.com)

There's a lot of information here to digest, and in a perfect world, I would have tackled this in a separate post when it happened, but since it's not a perfect world....

Penn State began accepting deposits for men's season tickets next year at the Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, so you might want to get on that by calling 1-800-NITTANY or stopping by the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office. The deposit is $25 per seat, and no commitment to a specific type of seat is required yet. The deposit period will run through April, after which those making deposits will be prioritized based on Nittany Lion Club points and status as a current season ticket holder (it's not disclosed how those two things weigh against each other) and given a seat selection time. Beginning next June, those seeking tickets will then begin to grab specific seats, at the following prices (the color coding corresponds to the seating chart above, in case that wasn't completely obvious):

The prices and minimum donation of $50 per seat (for season tickets) are interesting, because:

1. It's not at all out of line with what people pay at major hockey schools.
2. It's still about double what people have been paying, even this year with NCAA hockey.
3. At the cheaper prices, Penn State has successfully filled the 1,300-seat Ice Pavilion, although not necessarily easily - for example, tickets to the first NCAA men's game in PSU history were still available on game day.
4. The building, as most new buildings do, will probably fill itself in the first year, but what happens after that?

I'll save more for a full post I haven't written yet at some undetermined future date, since I'm running long for a Three Stars entry. But I sincerely hope that those in charge, as well as the highly-paid consultants who undoubtedly assisted on this, haven't underestimated the amount of market building that remains to be done.

Oh, and the women? $50 for a season ticket, $5 per game for anywhere in the main seating bowl, which will be general admission. That was easy. I'm actually glad that they'll be charging for women's games starting next year, because it reinforces the idea that it's something of value.

Further information about suites, loges, etc. is available at the link - if you're interested, you're rich enough to dig that up yourself. Or pay someone to do it, your choice. You can pay me, I'd do it for like $10 and a box of Lemonheads.

Best of the Rest

AGU 2012 Beginning: “Chasing Ice” and Climate Change
(Mass Media Musings)

Last week, former Lady Icer Abbey Dufoe attended the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) fall meeting in San Francisco, mingling with the likes of James Cameron and presenting her iBook Controversies in the Hydrosphere. Yeah, no big deal.

While a nasty shoulder injury suffered last season kept her from playing on this year's ACHA team as a senior, it's pretty safe to say she has a bright future in environmental communication and is presently seeking a graduate program that will allow her to continue on that path. I have no problem admitting that she's already environmentally communicated to me - I bought and now use reusable grocery bags after reading her thoughts on the disposable version.

Anyway, make sure you're feeling okay about your life first, then check out Dufoe's blog posts about her experience at the meeting, starting with the link above, and continuing with...

AGU 2012 Day 1: Scientific Literacy, Communication and Climate Change
AGU 2012 Day 2: Presentation Day!
AGU Day 3: Favorite Aspects of the Conference
AGU Day 4: What I Learned
AGU Day 5: Sustainable San Francisco

NCAA Men's Hockey Frozen Four
(Ticketmaster)

The men's Frozen Four is in Pittsburgh this year, and tickets are now on sale. Go forth and make sure Penn State is represented beyond the annual display of every NCAA Division I jersey.

In Rhodes finalist Rocha, Army has ‘amazing young man’
(USCHO)

In case you forgot, Army senior defenseman Cheyne Rocha is the son of Larry Rocha, a former Icers assistant who led the team during its successful 1984 nationals run, and Candace Finn-Rocha, a former PSU lacrosse player and one of the best athletes in school history. A high bar, to be sure, but Cheyne certainly doesn't look like he's about to become the family loser.



#8 Conor Garland first qmjhl goal vs Victoriaville
(YouTube)

Yeah, so Conor Garland scored in his first QMJHL game on Friday after ditching Muskegon and Penn State. He's still an idiot, according to former recruiting classmate A.J. Greer.

Atlantic Hockey Picks Dec. 7-12
(USCHO)

The Nittany Lions (I liked “Icers” better)...

I like the cut of your jib, guy. Let's go Icers.

Preliminary World Juniors Roster Named
(usahockey.com)

Penn State, realistically, is still a couple years away from getting representation in the world's most prestigious junior tournament, but Miami forwards Riley Barber and Sean Kuraly (neither of whom suck) were named to Team USA's preliminary roster last week. Why does that matter? Because the tournament runs December 26th through January 5th, so both would miss the Three Rivers Classic if they pass the final cut.

Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who scored the game-winning goal in Penn State's November 25th trip to Schenectady, is also on the preliminary roster.

Big Ten added Rutgers, Maryland in part to ensure Penn State remains in league
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

While it needs to be said that Barry Alvarez has a penchant for talking out of his ass (see Johnson, Mark: Penn State coaching search and), this still has to be considered a solid ego boost for the Penn State community.



PSU Hockey 1972
(YouTube)

Okay, the quality is non-existent, I get that. Still, this video does give at least a sense of what the original Ice Pavilion was like in the earliest days of Icers history.

Three Stars: August 20-26

3. Change in Penn State Athletics… Hockey Can Be Our Edge in Slippery Conditions
(lions-pride.com)

Can our new men’s and women’s Ice Hockey teams help our Penn State athletic community regain its edge? I think so.

Josh Hand wrote this - it's gotta be true!

The men's assistant, and apologies for missing this until now, is providing hockey updates on the sports blog maintained by my favorite PSU clothing store. This was actually the first of his two posts so far. Here's the second, expressing his thoughts on his decision to relocate to State College a couple years ago.

2. @nseravalli_12
(Twitter)

The always-quotable Nick Seravalli tweeted this last Wednesday evening:

I’d give my left nut, chewing and actually go to all my classes if I could go back for one more year with the boys.

Heartbreaking coming from anyone, but especially in his case, as he didn't get a true senior season thanks to his chronic groin issues that flared up throughout his career.

Ten years from now, I might not remember that. What I will remember is the way he stepped up to become one of the Icers' best forwards down the stretch of the 2010-2011 season, playing some vital shifts to help make sure Penn State didn't miss the ACHA National Championship Tournament for what would have been the only time ever.

1. Two 2015 prospects on board
(Lions247)

Recent commits A.J. Greer and Conor Garland get the Andrew Dzurita treatment. Want a wow moment from the interviews? You got it. Apparently Garland (pictured above)...

...had offers from every school in Hockey East in addition to a number of ECAC schools, said Penn State was about the 15th different campus he visited, standing out from the rest.

So Boston College, Boston University, Maine and New Hampshire, among many others. You may have heard of these programs. And he chose Penn State.

Anyone still doubt that we're going to be getting after this thing for seriously within a few years?

Best of the Rest

@KPegula
(Twitter)

The Namesake's daughter tweeted the above photo last Wednesday. My only comment: she needed a ticket? Really? Thought the whole $88 million (at the time) thing would get the family comped on the $6.50 tickets.

2011-12 ACHA Community Service Awards Announced
(achahockey.org)

Congratulations to Penn State Altoona on winning the ACHA's Community Service Award at the D3 level for last season!

Men’s Division III title game planned to coincide with Philadelphia Frozen Four in 2014
(USCHO)

Everyone in agreement that playing the DIII championship on the off day* between the Frozen Four semifinals and final is an amazing idea? Good. Moving on...

* I'll open myself up to the scorn of the college hockey world at this point and admit that I don't really care about the Hobey Baker Award** or anything else that presently happens on that Friday. It's an off day in my book.

** I'll probably care when a Penn Stater wins it. Hey, we're all hypocrites at times.

Men's Ice Hockey Announces Four Additions to Class of 2016
(aicyellowjackets.com)

Here's the class of incoming freshmen for the Nittany Lions' first-ever opponent on the men's side. It's a small group of four, but it matches the number of departing seniors from last year's young AIC team.

The CHL and the CHLPA: Links, links, comments, and more links
(Over The Boards)

The latest twist in what's been a pretty interesting offseason for the major junior leagues is that CHL players have formed a union. Before you begin imagining (and that is the correct word at this point) this development's impact on the CHL-NCAA war - our primary concern, after all - make sure you get informed via OTB's excellent primer.

Leagues of Their Own: Josh Hauge
(Over The Boards)

The junior coach of freshman forward Kenny Brooks and possibly of 2014 defense commit Kevin Kerr (who was the Storm's first pick in May's USHL Futures Draft) at some point is interviewed here. Brooks' father, by the way, owns the Tri-City Storm team Hauge coaches.

By the way, have I given OTB an appropriate plug yet? I can't remember and am too lazy to check the archives, but two links in a row tells the story there, I suppose. The site's Twitter is also must-follow material.

Yost Arena Tour
(Big Man With Camera)

Here's a fantastic set of photos to update the progress of Yost's $14 million renovation. If this place isn't on your must-attend list for 2013-2014 when the Nittany Lions finally play at Michigan, there's something wrong with you.

MichiganHockey.net posted renderings of the completed project back in January, if you're interested in seeing where this is going. Looks incurably sick, particularly with all the natural lighting.

2012-13 Schedule Breakdown
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Ohio U. (I hear they looooove when you call them that) sees their games at the Ice Pavilion this year as a big deal.

Sun Devils Are B.C. Bound!
(sundevilhockey.com)

PSU's other two ACHA opponents (Arizona State and Oklahoma) will both head to the great northwest for a holiday tournament with the CIS' University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser, which has won the non-varsity BCIHL in three of the six years it has existed. SFU, of course, is in the process of becoming the first Canadian member of the NCAA (which has nothing to do with hockey at the present time).

Johnstown begins new hockey era
(Altoona Mirror)

The NAHL's newest entry is presently in the middle of its training camp (which runs through Friday) ahead of its first-ever regular season game on September 8th at Port Huron. These are, indeed, exciting times for Central PA hockey on many different levels.

While it is fairly light on substance, this article does include quotes from Tomahawks part-owners Jack Ham and Shane Conlan. Those two, of course, are better known as legendary Penn State linebackers.

@Billy_Downey
(Twitter)

Oh hey, what up student section?

Québécois Greer rejoindra Penn State

Anthony-John (A.J.) Greer, a left wing from Quebec, committed to Penn State Monday evening and announced his decision on Twitter. After a quiet couple of months on the recruiting front, Greer joins Conor Garland to become the second new Nittany Lion in the span of seven days.

A.J. Greer

Left Wing
Kimball Union Academy (Prep)
6'2", 185 pounds
Repentigny, QC
DOB 12/4/1996

EliteProspects.com

Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
2011-12  Collège Esther-Blondin Mdgt   42   15   13   28   75

The verbal comes in the aftermath of a campus visit last Friday, which apparently went extremely well (that day, he tweeted "Wow whatta day at penn state! Great people, cant wait to see what happens #wouldbeadreamcometrue"). I suppose at some point since then, he figured "well, if it would be a dream come true, and I have the power to make it happen... why don't I?

Last year, Greer played with Collège Esther-Blondin in Joliette, Quebec, a town roughly an hour north of Montreal (Repentigny lies about halfway between the two, in case you were wondering). For the Phénix, he was fifth in goal scoring on a 26-5-4 regular season team that won the Quebec Midget AAA League. He seemed to save his best for the big stages - like the league's championship series, where he scored the title-winning goal to cap off his run of seven goals and three assists in 13 playoff games.



Another example? How about the 2012 Telus Cup, Canada's national midget championships?

In Collège Esther-Blondin's tournament-opening win, Greer scored the first goal of the game and added a late assist. The Phénix advanced all the way to the final, where he assisted on the 2-0 goal en route to a 5-1 Esther-Blondin lead through two periods... before the Red Deer Rebels came all the way back to win in double overtime, relegating Greer to a silver medal.

More? Okay, there's his goal in the final of this past year's Reebok Midget AAA Challenge. I embedded that one in this week's Three Stars post, so I'll change things up with this sick mid-season goal:



It's hard not to like a player capable of a subtle takeaway on one end and finishing the transition on the other in a way that makes play-by-play guys yell "ET LE BUT!" with particular emphasis. Here's a second opinion on his abilities:

Interesting player who could develop into a nice power forward. Has made it clear that he is interested in prep school/NCAA hockey. A late ’96, he was quiet in the game we saw, but you could tell that he has skill and potential.

In sort of a different sense and with a different type of pressure, the Beantown Classic also counts as a big stage. Winning a championship there isn't necessarily something that will end up on your Wikipedia page someday, but it is one of the pre-eminent showcase events in the hockey world and as such, it can be vital to a player's advancement. At the summer event August 13th through 15th and in the full view of scouts from just about everywhere (including PSU assistant Matt Lindsay, who ran point on Greer's recruitment), the large prospect had a great time of things. He helped his team, the Titans, to the championship game with three goals and an assist in five games (the three goals were tied for fifth-best in the showcase's Futures Division, for 1995, 1996 and 1997 birth years).

Greer won't have the chance to avenge that Telus Cup loss, by the way, as he's moving on to Kimball Union Academy, a Division I prep school in Meriden, NH, this season. He will be a sophomore on a Wildcat team that went 27-4-4 in 2011-2012 and won the Piatelli/Simmons tournament for the New England small school championship. With someone like Greer now on board, there's a pretty good chance KUA is counting on a quick reload.

Penn State is a new program, and by definition incapable of reloading at this juncture. However, with Greer and the others arriving on campus in 2014 and 2015, it seems clear that the Nittany Lions have every intention of competing for something more than moral victories by that time.