33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part II)

In order to bid a fond farewell to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the orange barn Penn State hockey called home from January 16, 1981 until February 16, 2013, here is the second half of a subjective opinion of the top 33 games in the building's history. The significance of the number 33, of course, is that the rink hosted 33 seasons of games. "33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part I)" covered numbers 17 through 33, while this one hits the top 16.

Unfortunately, due mostly to lack of documentation concerning Lady Icers and Ice Lions games, this list only includes contests from the Icers-to-NCAA men lineage, with sincerest apologies to all involved in the many fantastic Ice Pavilion games not involving the Icers or Nittany Lion men.

This post will also serve the secondary purpose of launching TYT into its offseason series of history-themed posts, dubbed "Breakout Past" during a period where I had to come up with a really lame title (preferably including a pun) for everything. Look for those each Thursday, starting next week.

16. Penn State 5, Towson 4 - January 22, 2005. In what would turn out to be the Icers' final championship of the Nittany Lion Invitational - a tournament created the season after the Ice Pavilion's opening - scrappy Towson played the Icers extremely tough until Brett Wilson's power play goal with 16 seconds left propelled PSU to victory. Wilson's heroics were only necessary because of three bad calls related to goals, including two apparent Icers scores that were waved off in the second period, the latter of which was a Teague Willits-Kelley effort that was ruled a goal by the referee on the play, setting off the horn... only to be overturned by a linesman 60 feet away. The brutal officiating included the other end of the ice, as the Tigers' Erik Dixon tied the game at 4-4 with 3:33 remaining despite the fact that the net behind goalie Paul Mammola was off the pegs for at least ten seconds prior to the puck's entry.

15. Penn State 4, Central Oklahoma 3 (OT) - October 15, 2010. Arguably, the 2009-2010 Icers were the best team of the Scott Balboni era, so when Jonathon Cannizzo scored late in the first overtime to eliminate PSU from championship contention by a 2-1 score in the 2010 ACHA quarterfinals after the Icers led 1-0 until just 89 seconds remained in regulation, it was quite a blow. While a regular-season win in the following campaign wasn't a full measure of revenge, it was still quite satisfying, especially after the Bronchos' Donald Geary forced overtime 23 seconds away from a Penn State win, perhaps inspiring a couple of "here we go again" eyerolls within the Greenberg throng. George Saad ensured that any similarities to the previous heartbreak ended there by making a fantastic play in overtime to take the puck off of the boards, work to the front, and score. In what - at best - is a footnote to history, the Icers' second home game following the NCAA elevation announcement was a primary motivator of the creation of this blog.

George Saad (center) celebrates his OT winner against UCO

14. Buffalo State 5, Penn State 4 - March 14, 1992. Two weeks after PSU failed to win the first-ever ACHA national championship on home ice (see number 8), the ICHL regular season champions - who went 14-1-1 in league play, the best record in ICHL history - were stunned by Buffalo State in the conference tournament opener. Chris Kruger, Bob Kowalski and Regis Marrale all scored in the third period for the Bengals, who survived a controversial finish to their win. Dave Murphy sniped in the last minute to cut the BSC lead to 5-4, then appeared to tie the game with one second remaining, a goal negated by a ruling that the Bengals had intentionally dislodged the net beforehand. The Icers were awarded a penalty shot, but ICHL MVP Andy McLaughlin was denied by goaltender Chris Economou, who would go on to win tournament MVP honors while leading his team to a championship game loss to Niagara College.

13. Penn State 3, Towson 1 - January 22, 2000. In one of the all-time great performances by a visiting goaltender at the Ice Pavilion, Towson's Derek Rabold stopped 52 of the 54 Icers shots he faced to win NLIT MVP honors, despite his team's loss in the championship game. Prior to Loren Remetta's empty-netter, heavily-favored PSU (which scored 12 on 84 shots against Rutgers the day before) only cracked Rabold twice - once with Jamie Weston's slap shot, and on the winner, a spectacular end-to-end play that saw Weston feed Neal Price at center to catch the Tigers in a line change. Price motored down the left side, then connected with Joe McArdle, who one-timed it home from the right circle.

12. Penn State 4, Hobart 3 - November 29, 1995. While games against NCAA Division III teams later became close to a 50-50 proposition, they were something a little south of that 18 years ago. That fact, combined with a 6-5 overtime win by the Statesmen during the 1994-1995 season, made this triumph noteworthy, even if it didn't directly count for ACHA positioning. The Icers faced second-period deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 before goals by Brian Rolli, Steve Hajek and Don Coyne over a 4:30 stretch late in the period put PSU ahead for good, including insurance against Hobart's extra-attacker answer with time winding down. "The loss to them last year left a bitter taste in our mouths," goaltender Jeff Crispino said, "so this win means a lot."

11. Penn State 6, Kent State 5 (OT) - February 17, 1984. Throughout the 1980s, Kent State - which sponsored an NCAA Division I program from 1986 until 1994 - was one of the Icers' toughest regular opponents. In 1983-1984, despite PSU's eventually winning the national club championship, the Golden Flashes won three of the four games between the two, and nearly took the fourth. Penn State trailed 5-3 late in regulation, but Art McQuillan scored on a backhander with 3:51 remaining to trim the deficit to 5-4, and Brad Rush tied the game roughly two minutes later off of Lynn Sipe's setup. Greg Powers then deflected a Glenn Cawood shot past Adam Brinker for the OT winner. "We've been in overtime before," Powers said, "and me, Art [McQuillan] and Clark [Dexter] go full force in overtime. We were pressing and getting our shots - you could tell it was gonna come. I told everyone on the bench, 'You don't have to warm up, because we're going to score.'"

10. Iowa State 5, Penn State 3 - January 23, 1999. In a preview of the infamous 1999 ACHA national championship game won by "vacated," the Icers and Cyclones met in the NLIT championship game, and the teams ranked first and second in the ACHA for the entire 1998-1999 season put on a show worthy of the pollsters' esteem. After Darren Anderson (one of the stars of "vacated's" title run, as it would turn out) gave ISU a 2-0 advantage on a 3-on-0 rush, Penn State answered three times to gain the lead in the third period: Jason Zivkovic on the power play, Rob Shaner's rebound putback and C.J. Patrick's slapper. The Cyclones, however, had their own rally against a shaky John Sixt with John Strama and Brian Paolello putting ISU back ahead, and Jeff Smith added an empty-netter.

Jamie Hettema scored in the first game at the Ice Pavilion

9. Penn State 6, Upsala 5 - January 16, 1981. A contest generally only remembered for the Ice Pavilion's opening and for the crowd of 1,450 that stood as the building's record for its first nine years was also a fantastic game in and of itself. Matt Glass became the first of many Icers to fill the net beneath Section E, but he was answered by the Vikings with just 45 seconds left in the opening period. Glass' second, along with tallies by Glenn DeStefano, Rush and Jamie Hettema gave PSU a seemingly-safe 5-2 lead late into the third period, before Upsala managed to score three times in the last 120 seconds of the game. DeStefano, however, also scored late and goaltender Jim Pollock shut the door just in time for the Icers to escape with a win that wasn't finalized until 1:00 a.m.

8. Iowa State 5, Michigan-Dearborn 3 - February 29, 1992. The only non-Penn State game on the list qualifies due to its heavy significance as the first championship game in ACHA history, and still the only national title won by the man, long-time ISU coach Al Murdoch, who ended up with his name on the trophy given to the ACHA's last team standing. The Icers were denied home-ice glory that year by Dearborn, as the Wolves bombed PSU 8-5 to earn their way into the final. Incidentally, the captain of that 1991-1992 Iowa State team was Bill Ward, who is now the girls hockey coach at National Sports Academy, the alma mater of current PSU women's team forward Emily Laurenzi.

7. Niagara College 6, Penn State 5 (2OT) - March 12, 1988. In an ICHL semifinal matchup, Knights goaltender Jim Darling made 40 saves - eventually winning tournament MVP honors and leading the Welland, ON-based school to the championship - in beating the Icers. Penn State held a 5-2 lead at one point, but were unable to avoid ICHL elimination at the hands of Niagara for the third season in a row (including another 6-5 double-overtimer two years prior to this game). Payback would be sweet, and it would come the next season when PSU beat the favored Knights 5-3 on the way to the title (see number 3).

6. Penn State 4, Canton 3 (OT) - January 14, 1984. The SUNY school, then known as the Northmen, took an early 1-0 lead on a Mike Jones clapper 1:55 in, and were on the verge of running a flat PSU team out of the rink but for a series of shots ringing off posts and missing gaping nets. Even with puck luck seemingly on their side, Penn State still faced a 3-1 deficit entering the third period, but a Powers putback of a Sipe rebound, following a Jim Yablecki goal, brought the Icers back to even midway through the frame. Yablecki then won the game, and the championship of the third NLIT, 2:35 into overtime with a wrister off left wing. The goal almost never happened, as PSU survived a near-miss by Canton just six seconds into extra time: "The guy came breaking in on a 3-on-2," goaltender John Davis said. "He passed it right in front, and as he came by, he just took my skates right out from under me. They just shot it and I stopped it from the back of the net. The puck has to be completely over. I didn't think it was, it was close though."

Casey Bailey (18) scored PSU's first NCAA goal at the Ice Pavilion

5. American International 3, Penn State 2 (OT) - October 12, 2012. Without a doubt the only game that made the list based on the pre-game warmup, and the chills I (and undoubtedly others) got watching PSU get ready for an actual, honest-to-goodness NCAA Division I men's hockey game after decades of almosts and what-ifs. Nittany Lions hockey will see greater heights than an overtime loss to perennial doormat AIC, a result made possible by Ben Meisner's 61 saves and Jon Puskar's winner, but there will only be one first, and only one time experiencing the unique feelings it inspired.

4. Penn State 4, Oklahoma 3 (OT) - February 4, 2012. The Icers' aura of ACHA invincibility in the final season before making the NCAA jump had already been smashed by Delaware and Central Oklahoma by the time Oklahoma came to town late in the season, but after Shane Vordran capitalized twice on misplayed pucks by goaltender Matt Madrazo to give the Sooners a commanding 3-0 third-period edge, a palpable new height of concern among Penn Staters was reached. And promptly rendered moot by Justin Kirchhevel's two goals in the last five minutes of regulation sandwiching one by Taylor Holstrom. Saad was once again large in overtime, putting back a rebound of an Eric Steinour shot to cause the old barn to explode. "I've been here for a lot of great wins over the years," Joe Battista said. "This will go down as one of the greatest comebacks ever in this building." Third best, to be precise (the Icers never trailed in one of the top three games).

3. Penn State 8, Buffalo 6 - March 12, 1989. No less of an authority than Battista considers this game, for the ICHL tournament championship, the launching point for the success enjoyed by his program in the years that followed. The Icers, who had struggled in the conference since joining in 1985, took the unorthodox step of skipping the club national championships that season to focus on success in the ICHL playoffs after a fourth-place finish in the regular season standings (in those days, nationals preceded the ICHL tournament). The move paid off, although it certainly wasn't easy. Facing a 4-2 deficit entering the third period, PSU quickly tied the game, just as quickly fell behind by two once more at 6-4, then took advantage of a rare full two minutes of 3-on-3 hockey to once again pull even. John Ioia's rebound goal on a 2-on-1 with Lance Riddile at the 17:10 mark put the Icers ahead for good, with Brian Stevenson adding an empty-netter. Current women's head coach Josh Brandwene scored twice for Penn State on his way to the program's scoring record for defensemen.

1 and 2. Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) and Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) - October 29 and 30, 2004. I mean really... could it be anything else? Essentially, take circumstances similar to that UCO game in number 15, add in the fact that the previous season's national tournament loss was in the championship game (as opposed to the quarterfinals), the juice of the best rivalry the ACHA has ever seen and a sellout crowd wearing white t-shirts, then multiply it by two. Michael McMullen scored the winner in Friday's game by cutting to the middle off left wing and putting back his own rebound, a goal that completed a rally from a 2-0 deficit with 10:33 to play. Kevin Jaeger was the hero the next night when he finished a hat trick on a breakaway resulting from Mike Carrano's lob over the Bobcat defense.

Penn State-AIC Photo Gallery

Photos from Saturday night's Penn State-American International men's game. All are by and courtesy of Aaron Griffin. Click for full size.

M: Penn State 4 vs. American International 3 (OT)

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // AICYellowJackets.com recap
GoPSUSports.com photos // College Hockey News recap
StateCollege.com recap // Citizens Voice recap
Guy Gadowsky postgame // David Glen and P.J. Musico postgame

Penn State is on the board in the NCAA era.

David Glen's heroics just 38 seconds into overtime gave the Nittany Lions a historic first NCAA win, 4-3 over American International Saturday night before 5,389 fans at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The result, of course, provided some measure of revenge for a PSU team that dropped Friday's series opener to AIC in overtime.

I was covering the women's game against Syracuse Saturday night (hey, I'm just one guy), so let's borrow from the accounts of those who actually saw the game for some of the finer points (all of the quotes that follow are from the links above).

According to GoPSUSports.com, the winner developed like this:

Freshman Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, B.C.) chipped the puck past an AIC defenseman before sending a pass to classmate Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) along the right-wing boards. Brooks then slid the puck to Glen in the slot, where he rifled a shot past AIC netminder Ben Meisner for the winning tally.

I wouldn't expect anything less from Loik, a guy who will rapidly become a fan favorite for things that don't always result in second assists.

Meisner, the hero of Friday night who was also outstanding on Saturday with 40 saves on 44 shots, was beaten twice by Glen. The Alberta native opened the game's scoring, in addition to closing it. According to AICYellowJackets.com:

Penn State got on the board first, as freshman center David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, AB) won a draw and flipped the puck over the head of senior goalkeeper Ben Meisner (Halifax, NS) to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 lead. The goal was unassisted, at the 16:11 mark of the period.

PSU did not enjoy the same shooting and territorial advantage as on Friday night, and so found the Yellow Jackets difficult to shake. Following Glen's first goal, Chris Porter evened the game with Max Gardiner in the box for tripping. The Nittany Lions, perhaps realizing that a one-goal lead was insufficient, built a two goal lead instead. From GoPSUSports.com:

Yanis recorded his first goal at 16:26 of the [second] frame to give Penn State a 2-1 advantage. The blueliner skated into the offensive zone and unleashed a shot from the high slot that found the back of the net.

With 15:53 left in the third period, Milley tallied the first power-play goal in Penn State history. AIC attempted to clear the puck out of its zone, but the puck bounced off Max Gardiner's (Deephaven, Minn.) shin guards. The sophomore collected the puck and sent it over to Milley, who fired it past Meisner.

AIC bounced back according, once again, to their official site:

AIC would cut the lead in half with a power play tally of their own, as Sliwinski stole the puck along the left half-wall and cut into the slot, firing a low wrist shot that hit off the post and into the net at 7:54 of the third. The goal was unassisted.

Pleskach then tied the game at 3-3 late in the frame, stealing the puck in his own end and breaking up the ice, cutting across the crease before sliding the puck under sophomore goalkeeper PJ Musico (Orange, CA) to draw even at 15:22.

Speaking of Musico, the keeper who defines Caliswag was solid in collecting his first NCAA win, as he stopped 32 of 35 Jacket shots as Guy Gadowsky looks to be using a rotation of Musico and freshman Matt Skoff to start the season.

Next Saturday, Penn State will face perhaps its toughest early-season test in the form of RIT at Rochester, NY's Blue Cross Arena. The game will be the Tigers' annual Brick City Homecoming tilt and is expected to draw in excess of 10,000 fans. The evening before that, the Lions will stop in Buffalo for a matchup with NCAA Division III Buffalo State. The Bengals are an old archrival of the Icers from back when both schools were members of the International Collegiate Hockey League between 1985 and 1992.

10/12 Postgame: American International

Comments from head coach Gary Wright, junior forward Jon Puskar (No. 28) and senior goaltender Ben Meisner (No. 30) following American International's 3-2 overtime victory over Penn State in PSU's first NCAA Division I game.

M: Penn State 2 vs. American International 3 (OT)

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // AIC YellowJackets.com recap

USCHO recap // Philadelphia Inquirer recap // AP recap/photos
Centre Daily Times recap // Pittsburgh Tribune-Review recap
 Onward State recap // StateCollege.com recap

Jon Puskar's deflection goal with just 21 seconds remaining in overtime wrote a heartbreaking ending to what on balance was a joyous occasion, despite Penn State's 3-2 overtime loss to AIC in the first NCAA Division I game in program history in front of a sellout crowd of 1,300 at the Ice Pavilion.

The star of the game, without question, was senior Yellow Jacket goaltender Ben Meisner. Meisner made an unreal 61 saves on 63 shots (and you thought PSU shot totals like that were a thing of the past) to take first-star honors. The 61 saves were an AIC and Atlantic Hockey record. In all, the Nittany Lions made 116 attempts toward the AIC goal. George Saad (twice), Jonathan Milley and Taylor Holstrom were a few of the more spectacular Meisner stops.

Despite PSU's dominance, it still somehow felt like the team was chasing the game throughout. With Mark Yanis in the box for roughing, Nathan Sliwinski gave AIC the lead just 2:43 into the game on a rebound goal. That lead held up through numerous close calls and into the second period. Just after one of those close calls, involving Casey Bailey cutting across the slot, the big freshman repositioned himself just next to Meisner, which paid off with a slice of history in the form of a rebound goal, the Nittany Lions' first as an NCAA Division I program. Joe Lordo and Nate Jensen were given the assists at 4:37 of the second period.

Chris Markiewicz's deflection goal cut that celebration off six minutes later to restore the AIC advantage. Frustratingly, it looked like that might somehow hold up as the game winner until 6:05 left, when Taylor Holstrom snapped off a filthy wrister to blow the roof off of both the net and a packed Ice Pavilion and get the teams back on level terms. A Penn State winner from that point would have transformed Friday night from "historic game in front of an electric crowd" to "story for the grandkids," but Puskar's OT winner off of Jake Williams' point shot rendered the game one to forget, yet one to remember at the same time.

The Nittany Lions (0-1-0) and Yellow Jackets (1-0-0, 0-0-0 Atlantic Hockey) will battle Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre to close the weekend series.

Here's the live blog from the historic first NCAA DI men's game:

Transition Complete

The decades-long wait for NCAA Division I men's hockey at Penn State ends tonight. And yes, I got chills typing that sentence.

I'll be honest though, I probably haven't done an adequate job setting the stage for this moment in history. In hindsight, I wish I had involved some sort of countdown, a more extensive package of preview-type posts, or something along those lines. That cliche about seeing the trees, but not the forest, describes the situation well, as I tend to get wrapped up in the day-to-day minutia without taking a sufficient number of steps back from that.

Possibly because of that, in a lot of ways, none of this feels all that different to me as I write this. Last year, the Icers opened up against Lebanon Valley College, a former NCAA DIII program that moved to ACHA Division 1. This year, the Nittany Lions open up against American International College, a similarly downtrodden program with a similarly low profile to most people. The PSU roster, in some respects, isn't substantially different - that massive bloodbath of Icers most of us predicted for the inaugural DI team never really came to pass. The primary coaching staff is the same. I'm doing the same things to prepare for the game, and I'm going to cover it the same way. The rink, of course, is the same. Many of the people who will fill it tonight are the same. In general, there's been that same sort of progression from the end of the previous season to the start of this new one: schedule release, roster release, a handful of new recruiting commits, pumping up whatever "news" turns up in July.

Different?

One of the reasons I started this blog, maybe the primary reason, was an interest in obsessing over Penn State's transition to Division I. I was in Hockey Management Association as an undergrad and remained a close follower of the Icers out in the real world. I never imagined that this day would arrive through any of that and was pumped beyond belief when, seemingly out of nowhere (from my perception on the outside, at least), some previously-unknown hydrofracking billionaire shows up to pay for the whole thing. I didn't want to miss a moment of the process, and figuring a blog would be a good way to keep up with things, I fired up TYT about a month after the donation announcement.

I think, more than anything, what I've learned about the transition process is that there's no obvious moment where you can declare the transition complete. It is, after all, a process. A slow process that largely goes unnoticed if strict attention isn't given to it. Sure, there are a few obvious moments of punctuation like the hiring of coaches, or the arrival of the first DI-ready recruits. The construction of the Pegula Ice Arena helps us mark progress as well. But largely, the rhythms of the season and offseason pass as they would have even if it was an Penn State ACHA season opening tonight. I've taken several opportunities over the last year and a half to declare the DI era officially underway, as if it's something that can be pinpointed, and they've all been false alarms in some way or another. Even declaring the transition finished tonight, as I've done in this post's title, might be a mistake. After all, the Nittany Lions are playing what could be described as a transitional schedule this season, and some seem to point to the 2013-2014 opener at the new arena and as a Big Ten member as the "real" opening. It's all about interpretation.

At the same time, this is decidedly different. We all know that. When Penn State plays AIC tonight in the Ice Pavilion at 7:30 and tomorrow night in Wilkes-Barre at 7:00, it will do so as an NCAA Division I program opposing another NCAA Division I program. No matter how you wish to slice the larger significance of the games, the meaning of this inaugural season, the transition or the opponent, it's unprecedented. Penn State hockey is on the big boy scoreboards now.

Okay, I just gave myself chills again, so my head's back in the right place. But what's left to say at this point? I really have no clue. So I'm just going to type extemporaneously for a while, slap some subheads on after the fact, and hope you don't hate it. Sound good?

Season Expectations

Guy Gadowsky refuses to define this season by wins and losses, preferring instead to ensure that the foundation is laid for future success. I unconditionally support that approach. Really, more than anything, I'm curious to see what we have in this team. I want to see Gadowsky's trademark fast-break style played with hulking power forwards like Jonathan Milley, Casey Bailey and Max Gardiner. I want to see what should be a well-balanced defense that includes the highly-intelligent puck movement of Luke Juha and Nate Jensen with the physicality of a Mark Yanis or a Joe Lordo. I want to see how a bunch of players who had no idea that they'd even have a chance to play NCAA DI hockey when they came to Penn State adjust. All of that, in my mind, is independent of wins and losses.

Curtis Loik, who won the RBC Cup with the Penticton Vees last year, is one interesting newcomer.

But, that said, they will be keeping score in this games, and they will be counting the number of times the Nittany Lions have more goals on the board than their opponents. So, with the full understanding that it doesn't really matter this season (or next season either, to be blunt), I still think it's warranted to present an official guess at how PSU will do in this inaugural campaign.

I don't pretend to be some sort of talent evaluation expert, but based on what we know about the players on the team, their recruitment and their performance at previous stops, I think that this year's Nittany Lions will be roughly equal to a middle-of-the-pack Atlantic Hockey team. You can translate that a few different ways in terms of the final record, but for the sake of discussion and just to get a number out there, wins over the ACHA and NCAA DIII teams on the schedule, losses against the major-conference programs, and splitting the AHA, Alabama-Huntsville and NTDP games yields something like 17-14-4 (I arbitrarily threw some ties in there).

Really though, anything even approaching 15 wins would be fantastic, keeping in mind that we're playing 10 ACHA or DIII games. I also would like to see some sort of upset win over either a major conference program or a top AHA team like Air Force or RIT as sort of a definitive season highlight moment. As things sit right now, I'm keeping my eye on that January 19th game against Vermont in Philadelphia as one upset possibility. Hockey East's Catamounts were a dreadful 6-27-1 last year and endured an absolutely brutal offseason in terms of player and coach departures, as well as recruiting losses (most notably, superstar commit Zemgus Girgensons, who signed with the Buffalo Sabres in July).

An Unlikely Measuring Stick

Given everything I just said, and beyond the fact that the men's program is playing actual, for real NCAA Division I games, American International College is actually quite a compelling opponent.

The Springfield, MA-based school with an enrollment of 1,200 has been playing hockey since two seasons after PSU dropped its first varsity attempt. Don't confuse "been around for a while" with "steeped in tradition," though. AIC has spent much of its history in NCAA Division II, but when DII was eliminated for hockey in the late 1990s, they moved up to DI and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which later became Atlantic Hockey when it broke away from the MAAC, an all-sports league.

Senior forward Adam Pleskach helps drive the AIC offense.

In 14 seasons as a DI conference member, the Yellow Jackets have finished better than third-to-last exactly once, 1998-1999 when they were 5th of 8. From 2003 through 2011, AIC finished in the AHA cellar eight seasons in a row. They haven't posted double-digit wins since the season before that streak started, 2002-2003. There's really no way to sugarcoat it: if not for UAH and their understandable struggles as an independent, we're probably playing the worst program in DI. I firmly believe that these games were scheduled to give the Nittany Lions the best possible chance of winning the inaugural game (without resorting to a lower-level opponent).

That's not to say that there aren't reasons for optimism at AIC. Last season, long-time coach Gary Wright finally snapped the team's run in the cellar by finishing ahead of both Army and Sacred Heart. Among their eight wins was a 3-0 shutout at Brown, and they also pushed a resurgent Michigan Tech program to the limit, losing a pair of road games by a combined three goals to open last season. AIC lost at eventual Frozen Four team Union 5-2. Okay that's not much, I know, but it still gives at least an indication that the Jackets might finally be developing into something other than everyone's whipping boy.

Here's a highlight video of last season's efforts that includes clips from those games:



On the ice, the Jackets are a veteran team led by a trio of standout seniors, one from each position group. Forward Adam Pleskach scored 16 goals and 30 points, both team highs. On defense, California native Jeff Ceccacci is undersized at 5'9", but very effective offensively, averaging about half a point per game for his career. Ben Meisner, a senior who posted a highly-respectable (considering his team's competitiveness) 3.37 goals against average last season, is the expected starting goalie. A small freshman class is headlined by Colton Cyr, who spent part of last season with Juha on the BCHL's Vernon Vipers and is the nephew of former Hartford Whaler Paul Cyr.

So really, in my view, these first two games will finally, after a couple years of speculation, help everyone ascertain where exactly Penn State sits in year one, game one. They're measuring stick games against a program few would consider a measuring stick. But for a PSU team that desperately needs to be measured (don't tell Gadowsky I said that), these games will do better than most - a DIII win or a waxing at the hands of a Wisconsin (or similar) wouldn't really tell us very much, after all.

Of course, the question of whether the Lions can beat a team that aspires to the middle of the AHA standings is secondary to the fact that win or lose, Penn State is now an NCAA Division I program.

And there's those chills again. Enjoy the games, I know I will.

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?

A Week to Remember

Since Penn State announced the creation of NCAA hockey programs on September 17, 2010, 70 full weeks have passed. Has there been one better than number 70? Here's a quick review of the supreme greatness of the week that was in Penn State hockey, from Saturday, January 14th through Friday, January 20th.

January 14: Lady Icers defeat NCAA Division I Sacred Heart

Tess Weaver's goal with 16 seconds remaining in overtime elevated Penn State to its first-ever win against a DI program and the consensus biggest victory in program history. Sara Chroman and newcomer Jess Desorcie also scored for PSU, and Katie Vaughan stopped 26 of 28 in net.

The men won last Saturday as well, beating Rhode Island 2-1.

January 17: First Men's NCAA Home Games Announced

American International College, Atlantic Hockey's whipping boy, will visit the Ice Pavilion on October 12th and 13th. The "announcement," rather unconventionally, came via the Nittany Lion Club's 2012 wall calendar distributed to members.

January 18: Max Gardiner Commits

Guy Gadowsky has brought in a lot of great recruits so far. Gardiner, though, is the first to be the property of an NHL team - he was drafted in the third round by the St. Louis Blues in 2010. The Minnesota transfer will join PSU in the fall after a season in the USHL.

January 20: Board of Trustees Approves Pegula Ice Arena

The 6,000-seater will break ground in February and will serve as Penn State hockey's first-class venue beginning with the 2013-2014 season. While the approval was all but a certainty given that it's to be financed through a private donation, the brain-melting renderings added a high degree of excitement to the occasion.

Those who believe that hockey was born in Nova Scotia, Canada will be happy to know that the hockey gods work on Atlantic Time, as Penn State's charmed week came to an abrupt close shortly after 11:00 p.m. Friday night (but a symbolic midnight in the maritime provinces). A couple hours after the Icers polished off an 8-0 blowout of West Virginia, the Lady Icers surrendered two goals in the final 36 seconds to fall 4-3 to No. 1 Northeastern.

Of course, the women bounced back less than 12 hours later to upset the Huskies 3-2, so maybe this week will be even better.

Mark Your Calendar (But Not on July's Picture)

Since September 17, 2010, I've spent the last 16 months obsessively looking for minutiae. Part of that is my personality. But most of it is a desire to verify 8,000 times over that yep, this is all in fact happening, through the most minor indications of varsity status imaginable. So when I received my 2012 Nittany Lion Club calendar Tuesday, what do you suppose was the first thing I did?

Click for larger size.

Beauty, eh? Good representation of both men's and women's teams too.

Okay, so we got the decidedly out-of-season month of July. I can live with that... especially since hockey is also included during October. See, those sly folks at the NLC (surely with assists to Messrs. Battista and Downey) snuck the following under the list of home athletic events that appears to the left of each month:

Fri. 12 Men's Ice Hockey vs. American International College
(First Home Series as a Varsity Team)
Sat. 13 Men's Ice Hockey vs. American International College
(First Home Series as a Varsity Team)

A scoop from just about the most unlikely source imaginable. Speaking of unlikely, when you've fantasized about attending the first NCAA home series (you do do that, right?) did you ever imagine AIC on the other bench? Me neither.

Upon further inspection though, it's a savvy choice for the simple reason that the Yellow Jackets present what could be considered the best chance for PSU to win against a DI team in the highly-anticipated home opener.

AIC is in its ninth year in its present conference, Atlantic Hockey. In that time, their best season was 2007-2008's 8-23-5 mark. They fared slightly better in AHA's forerunner, the MAAC, making it all the way up to 12-16-4 in 1998-1999. The Yellow Jackets have finished dead last in the AHA in each of its first eight years, although they do sit 10th of 12 this season so far. When you're decidedly the worst program in DI's only mid-major conference, you probably have a decent claim on being the worst program in all of DI (Alabama-Huntsville may - understandably, and for reasons beyond its control - have a claim there as well, but then again, they weren't supposed to be around next season).

I could go further, but that would be mean. In short, the school of 1,200 in Springfield, MA is not particularly good at DI hockey. What's more, with an average attendance of 222 in a rink about the size of the Ice Pavilion, AIC is not in a great position to demand a return visit or to have an issue with a small venue.

Adam Pleskach's two shorthanded goals are tied for seventh-best in Division I.

Head coach Gary Wright is in his 28th season at AIC (only Boston University's Jack Parker has been in his position longer among DI head coaches), and will only lose four seniors from his roster for season number 29. Prominent among returnees will be Adam Pleskach, a junior forward who wears an A and has led the Jackets in scoring in each year on campus, including this one so far. Workhorse goalie Ben Meisner will also be a senior when he visits Penn State, and he has shutouts of Brown and Robert Morris to his credit this season.

Following the AIC home-opening series, PSU will travel to Rochester, NY for the RIT Brick City Homecoming Game, which will take place on October 20th (I've previously said - several times - that the game will be on the 15th, which was a rather dumb error on my part since 2011's game was on that date - sincerest apologies). Here is the updated list of 2012-2013 games with known dates, opponents and locations.

10/12/2012 vs. American International
10/13/2012 vs. American International
10/20/2012 at Rochester Institute of Technology (Blue Cross Arena)
10/30/2012 at Fredonia State (NCAA DIII)
11/23/2012 at Union
11/24/2012 at Union
2/22/2013 at Wisconsin
2/23/2013 at Wisconsin

Joe Battista said back in October that PSU will play around 20 or 22 DI games next season. There are seven such games listed above, and Michigan State (dates unknown) along with a holiday tournament at Robert Morris (dates and opponents unknown) will eat up four more slots.

Incidentally, the supposed end of days on December 21st was not listed on the NLC calendar. It's worth acknowledging though, since many of us assumed it would come before varsity hockey was played at Penn State.