Three Stars: March 12-17

3. The Penn State fans have to step up next year
(PennStateHoops.com)

Although I take issue with some of the things said about hockey within, I found this a worthwhile discussion of what may turn into an interesting and unique dynamic. People who pay more attention to PSU men's hoops than I believe that Pat Chambers' program is close to turning a corner. And of course, we all know what's going on with men's hockey. I don't think it violates #OneTeam bylaws to ask the following questions:

1. Is there room at Penn State for three heavily-attended winter sports (with wrestling being the third), particularly given the population of the immediate area? Penn State supports more different sports at a high level than most schools, and doesn't have the benefit of being the primary sports entity in a metro area of 1.5 million like Ohio State.
2. If not, who "wins" to become the alpha winter sport at Penn State? Who settles for the scraps?

My opinion? It's much too complicated of a question to answer right now. But I do think we'll have some idea of how things are headed by the end of next season.

2. PSU Women’s Ice Hockey Club: The Journey
(Onward State)

Onward State checks in with a nice review of the Women's Ice Hockey Club's ACHA tournament run. Jump on the train now, kids - this is your best shot at a national championship next year. With no disrespect at all meant to the Ice Lions, who will certainly contend as well, or to the NCAA programs, who will continue to progress but probably won't be on a national championship level just yet, of course.

1. 2013 ISS Draft Rankings - March
(The Pipeline Show)

As Gudas time as any
(The Hockey News)

When it comes to items related to recruits, it takes a lot to make a Three Stars post in a week where the appropriate gender's Commit Cycle is up. Welcome to "a lot:" 2013 commit Eamon McAdam retained his number five goaltender slot in the ISS draft rankings and also got a shout in The Hockey News' Hot List.

June's NHL Entry Draft is in New Jersey. The next great TYT roadie? Quite possibly.

Best of the Rest

An Inside Look at the Pegula Ice Arena
(Onward State)

Between the second star and this, it wasn't exactly a close race for the unofficial TYT website of the week award.

ASU Hockey Year in Review: The Game of the Year
(House of Sparky)

I'm sure you don't need me to reveal the identity of the game declared Arizona State's "Game of the Year." Now that it's all over, I'm okay with it, to be honest. We'll move on to bigger things, they have their story for the grandkids. The Icers beating then-new NCAA program Robert Morris in 2005 didn't screw up the Colonials' development and gave PSU a great moment for a time when we didn't think we'd ever have NCAA hockey. No harm either way.

OSU Ice Rink called upon one last time
(Land-Grant Holy Land)

I feel like you could swap out "OSU Ice Rink" for "Greenberg Ice Pavilion" in a lot of places here. Regardless, an outstanding look at possibly the last time the Buckeye men will be forced out of their large, multi-purpose arena and into a tiny and dated, but gloriously intimate, rink (OSU's women will continue to use the facility as their regular home).

Ice Hockey Recap: ALL THE SEASON CLOSURES!
(Black Shoe Diaries)

There's always room for IcersGuy (and apparently, all SB Nation blogs) in this post. Here, he runs down the end of the season for the NCAA women and both ACHA teams.

Mercyhurst beats Cornell, 4-3, in Overtime. Advance to NCAA Frozen Four
(chawomenshockey.com)

Speaking of season closures... Mercyhurst advanced to the Women's Frozen Four by beating No. 2 Cornell. They'll now play Boston University (PSU assistant Gina Kearns' alma mater - guessing she's going to drop conference loyalty for a couple hours there) in the semifinals on Friday in Minneapolis. The winner will battle the winner of the other semifinal, between Boston College and Minnesota, in Sunday's NCAA championship game.

On the men's side, PSU opponents Ohio State, Wisconsin, Union and Connecticut are still alive in their respective conference tournaments, which play their semifinals and finals (or Final Five, in the case of the WCHA and the Badgers) this weekend, ahead of the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday evening. Those four schools are the only opponents remaining with any chance of making NCAAs - OSU and UConn would have to win their conference tournaments to qualify, while Wisconsin and Union stand at least a chance of an at-large bid, depending on how things shake out with the always-fluid PairWise Rankings.

Part of me hopes Wisky makes it, part of me hopes Penn State ruined their season. Tough call.

@JHoldcroft
(Twitter)

Good news: Jill Holdcroft's broken wrist is progressing nicely.

Penn State goalie Nicole Paniccia, once upon a time

Heather Linstad Resigns As Women's Ice Hockey Coach
(uconnhuskies.com)

Someday, I'd love to hear the full story of what happened with UConn women's hockey. Here's what I do know: Heather Linstad, the only coach in program history, was generally successful since starting at the school in 2000. Then, rather suddenly, things veered downhill a couple years ago. Twenty-one wins in 2009-2010 became 13, then four, then just three this past season. Simultaneous to that slide, the Huskies were gutted by transfers, including Nicole Paniccia, Taylor Gross and Jenna Welch to Penn State of course, as well as Jocelyn Slattery, now of Lindenwood. Last week, Linstad resigned. I'm not sure I've ever seen a program take such a complete header in such a short period of time.

@B1GIceHockey
(Twitter)

Regarding a possible name for the Big Ten championship trophy...

Admittedly, I did not support the idea of Big Ten hockey initially. But the more it angers Minnesota and Wisconsin fans, the more I'm coming around on it.

D2 Nationals: Day 3 Roundup

Shortly before the Ice Lions closed out their Pool C schedule with a 6-1 win over Marist, Illinois State eliminated PSU and clinched advancement to the semifinals for themselves through a 3-3 tie with Weber State. WSU - just as in the Wildcats' other two nationals games - was careless with the lead, squandering an 2-0 first-period advantage, as well one of 3-2 in the third period. Allen Urbaniak tied the score on both occasions, first at 2-2 with a spectacular takeaway-snipe in the second period, then at 3-3 from Jeremy Gaddo's feed with 8:51 left in regulation. Josh Ambrosat opened the Redbirds' scoring.

The game did come fairly close to delivering the necessary help for Penn State, against long odds. Had Weber State scored in overtime, and had the Ice Lions not given up an otherwise-meaningless late power play goal in their game, PSU and ISU would have had identical records and goals for-goals against numbers - pushing the Pool C tiebreaker to fewest penalty minutes (the outcome of such a hypothetical is unknown, thanks to the ACHA's absolutely horrendous job communicating information regarding the tournament).

As it stands however, the Redbirds win the group and advance to Monday's semifinals, where they'll take on Pool A winner Grand Valley State at 5:30 p.m.

Other Sunday Scores

Pool A: Grand Valley State 6, Arizona State 0
Pool A: Northeastern 8, Maryland 0
Pool B: Michigan State 5, Miami 4 (OT)
Pool B: Connecticut 5, Colorado State 2
Pool D: Utah State 5, New Hampshire 3
Pool D: Saint Louis 7, Bowling Green 4

Final Standings
(x - team has been eliminated)

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Grand Valley State	2	1	0	9	2	+7	4
x - Northeastern	2	1	0	13	5	+8	4
x - Arizona State	2	1	0	7	11	-4	4
x - Maryland	0	3	0	2	13	-11	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Michigan State	3	0	0	13	10	+3	6
x - Connecticut	2	1	0	13	7	+6	4
x - Miami	1	2	0	8	12	-4	2
x - Colorado State	0	3	0	7	12	-5	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	2	0	1	13	6	+7	5
x - Penn State	2	1	0	13	8	+5	4
x - Weber State	1	1	1	13	16	-3	3
x - Marist	0	3	0	10	19	-9	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Utah State	2	1	0	15	13	+2	4
x - New Hampshire	2	1	0	15	11	+4	4
x - Saint Louis	1	2	0	13	13	0	2
x - Bowling Green	1	2	0	14	20	-6	2

Monday Tournament Schedule

Semifinals

Grand Valley State vs. Illinois State, 5:30 p.m.
Michigan State vs. Utah State, 8:15 p.m.

D2 Nationals: Day 2 Roundup

While the Ice Lions staved off elimination with a big 7-3 come-from-behind win over Weber State Saturday afternoon, they were hurt by Pool C's other result, which saw Illinois State complete a sweep of the group's top two seeds with a 6-3 win over now-eliminated Marist.

Had Marist won, each Pool C team would have been 1-1-0 entering the final day of the round robin Sunday, obviously setting up a wide-open situation that may have proven advantageous to a PSU team trying to claw back from an opening loss to the Redbirds. As things stand though, ISU is 2-0-0 and also owns a sizable advantage in the goals against tiebreaker. Essentially, Penn State's best hope is a win over Marist tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m., coupled with a Weber State win over Illinois State in a game beginning at 11:00 a.m. Additionally, PSU will need to allow at least four fewer goals than ISU over the course of those two games.

It's a longshot, but an explosive WSU team can score in bunches, while Marist has only pride left as motivation. It may not be enough at this point, but it's something. And hey, it beats the only alternative that was on the table after day one.

Other Saturday Scores

Pool A: Northeastern 2, Grand Valley State 1
Pool A: Arizona State 3, Maryland 2
Pool B: Michigan State 5, Connecticut 4
Pool B: Miami 4, Colorado State 3 (OT)
Pool D: Bowling Green 6, Utah State 5
Pool D: New Hampshire 4, Saint Louis 2

Current Standings
(x - team has been eliminated)

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Arizona State	2	0	0	7	5	+2	4
Grand Valley State	1	1	0	3	2	+1	2
Northeastern	1	1	0	5	5	0	2
x - Maryland	0	2	0	2	5	-3	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Michigan State	2	0	0	8	6	+2	4
Connecticut	1	1	0	8	5	+3	2
Miami	1	1	0	4	7	-3	2
x - Colorado State	0	2	0	5	7	-2	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	2	0	0	10	3	+7	4
Penn State	1	1	0	7	7	0	2
Weber State	1	1	0	10	13	-3	2
x - Marist	0	2	0	9	13	-4	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
New Hampshire	2	0	0	12	6	+6	4
Utah State	1	1	0	10	10	0	2
Bowling Green	1	1	0	10	13	-3	2
x - Saint Louis	0	2	0	6	9	-3	0

Sunday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

Grand Valley State vs. Arizona State, 2:15 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Maryland, 4:45 p.m.

Pool B

Colorado State vs. Connecticut, 11:15 a.m.
Miami vs. Michigan State, 1:45 p.m.

Pool C

Illinois State vs. Weber State, 11:00 a.m.
Marist vs. Penn State, 11:30 a.m.

Pool D

Bowling Green vs. Saint Louis, 2:00 p.m.
Utah State vs. New Hampshire, 4:30 p.m.

D2 Nationals: Day 1 Roundup

In the Pool C game outside of the Ice Lions' shutout loss to Illinois State, potent Weber State shocked Marist, the group's top seed, 7-6 in overtime. Senior defenseman Reid Mayer ended a wild extra period (and game, for that matter) by intercepting in the Foxes' zone and lasering home the winner. Marist had stormed back from a three-goal deficit late in the second period - including the OT-forcing tally with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

The result gives PSU a mild boost because, at minimum, the Ice Lions winning their last two pool games (which they'll need to do anyway) would ensure a second loss for Marist. Sure, the team will still need help against Illinois State and possibly against WSU as well, but all things considered, needing help on the third or fourth seed is still better than needing help on the first seed.

Other Friday Scores

Pool A: Grand Valley State 2, Maryland 0
Pool A: Arizona State 4, Northeastern 3
Pool B: Michigan State 3, Colorado State 2 (OT)
Pool B: Connecticut 4, Miami 0
Pool D: New Hampshire 8, Bowling Green 4
Pool D: Utah State 5, Saint Louis 4 (OT)

Current Standings

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Grand Valley State	1	0	0	2	0	+2	2
Arizona State	1	0	0	4	3	+1	2
Maryland	0	1	0	0	2	-2	0
Northeastern	0	1	0	3	4	-1	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Connecticut	1	0	0	4	0	+4	2
Michigan State	1	0	0	3	2	+1	2
Colorado State	0	1	0	2	3	-1	0
Miami	0	1	0	0	4	-4	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	1	0	0	4	0	+4	2
Weber State	1	0	0	7	6	+1	2
Penn State	0	1	0	0	4	-4	0
Marist	0	1	0	6	7	-1	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
New Hampshire	1	0	0	8	4	+4	2
Utah State	1	0	0	5	4	+1	2
Saint Louis	0	1	0	4	5	-1	0
Bowling Green	0	1	0	4	8	-4	0

Saturday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

Grand Valley State vs. Northeastern, 4:00 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Maryland, 4:15 p.m.

Pool B

Michigan State vs. Connecticut, 1:30 p.m.
Miami vs. Colorado State, 3:45 p.m.

Pool C

Marist vs. Illinois State, 1:00 p.m.
Penn State vs. Weber State, 1:15 p.m.

Pool D

Saint Louis vs. New Hampshire, 6:45 p.m.
Utah State vs. Bowling Green, 7:00 p.m.

Ice Lions Seek Golden Arches in Gateway City

The Ice Lions went sightseeing in St. Louis on Thursday, but get down to business Friday afternoon

A redemption-driven Ice Lions squad that fell just short during an otherwise spectacular 2011-2012 will now try to close this season on a five-game winning streak and a title at the 2013 ACHA Division 2 National Championships, running Friday through Tuesday at the Hardee's IcePlex in Chesterfield, MO.

Penn State, despite going to the 1997 title game and having several other tournament appearances to its credit, has never won an ACHA D2 championship. Last year's 29-3-0 outfit, coached by Josh Hand, looked primed to deliver one until seeing its season end with a loss (snapping a 24-game winning streak) to Grand Valley State in the final game of pool play in Fort Myers, FL. While that group did see a few senior departures - captain Jim Recupero and star goalie Tom Badali to name a couple - much of the team's core returned this year to try again. Under new coach Matt Morrow, the Ice Lions went 25-5-1 and won the MACHA regular season crown, but saw a 16-game winning streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to Virginia Tech in the league tournament's championship game.

As with last year, PSU's strength rests in a deep and talented group up front, led by power forward Chris Lewis, PSU's leading goal scorer, as well as Franky Reluzco, Taylor Vincent, Joe Zitarelli and Mike Broccolo. Brandon Russo, Mac Winchester, Max O'Malley and Chris Dinsmore anchor the defense, while the goal crease has been more of a group effort this campaign - Kevin Lowthert and Ryan Demuth have split things fairly evenly, with Teddy Steinhart also working in a few games.

For those who don't know, the 16-team tournament is divided into four pools of four teams. Each pool contains one team from each of D2's four regions. Here's how they'll be grouped, including their regional designation (W = West, C = Central, NE = Northeast, SE = Southeast) and rank within that region. The top two teams in each region (based on polls) earned autobids to the tournament, while the other two had to navigate tournaments involving the teams ranked third through tenth in each region on February 23rd and 24th to qualify.

Pool A
Grand Valley State (C1), Arizona State (W2), Northeastern (NE3), Maryland (SE4)

Pool B
Miami (SE1), Michigan State (C2), Colorado State (W3), Connecticut (NE4)

Pool C
Marist (NE1), Penn State (SE2), Illinois State (C3), Weber State (W4)

Pool D
Utah State (W1), New Hampshire (NE2), Bowling Green (SE3), Saint Louis (C4)

Following a set of round-robin games that begin Friday and conclude Sunday, each pool winner will advance to the semifinals on Monday and (if they win there) the championship game on Tuesday. Here's a quick look at the teams PSU will need to beat to make it through the weekend.

Marist College

2012-13 Record: 18-4-4
Coach: Bob Simmons
National Championships: None
Last Season: Eliminated at Northeast Regionals
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY

vs. Penn State: Sunday, March 17th, 11:30 a.m.

Pool C's top seed, Marist, is surprisingly not considered by most to be one of the leading national championship favorites. Grand Valley State, Miami and Michigan State, among a couple others, are all receiving more advance hype, thanks in part to the Red Foxes' reputation as tournament chokers and the fact that it's their first-ever appearance at the biggest tournament in ACHA D2. So I suppose it can be said that PSU received a solid draw into a more wide-open pool than last year, when the Ice Lions were stuck with GVSU, then the defending national champs.

Still, the Red Foxes have earned the right to be called a top team, thanks to their winning the regular-season title of the always-brutal Super East Collegiate Hockey League, which includes fellow nationals team New Hampshire as well as annual contenders like Siena, William Paterson (which went on to win the SECHL tournament for a fourth straight year) and New York University.

The team is fueled by four 20-goal scorers, including Chris Cerbino, Mike Chiacchia, Patrick Erstling and Steve Milanesi, and their reliance on those guys to win games has often resulted in Marist's involvement in high scoring games - the Red Foxes score more than 5.5 times per game on average, yet don't have a goalie that has a goals against average under 3.5, with Zach Gomiela leading a three-headed monster in net.

Illinois State

2012-13 Record: 28-6-2
Coach: Brian Corley
National Championships: None
Last Season: Eliminated at Central Regionals
Location: Normal, IL

vs. Penn State: Friday, March 15th, 3:15 p.m.

The Redbirds, interestingly enough, join Marist as the only teams making their first nationals appearance in the entire field, a reality that might play well for a more seasoned PSU squad. ISU earned their way in following a stirring 3-2 win over powerful Lindenwood at the Central Region tournament thanks to Carter Kernbauer's third-period takeaway-and-bury winner.

Climbing past that threshold for the first time ever was just the most recent in a string of accomplishments that has seen Illinois State take the regular season title in the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association's (not to be confused with Penn State's Mid-Atlantic MACHA) Gold Division, although they fell short in the league playoffs before recovering for regionals. With a robust schedule that includes a season-opening sweep of nationals participant Saint Louis and wins over strong teams like SIU-Edwardsville, DePaul, Missouri, and of course, Lindenwood, it's easy to see how the Redbirds may be a dark horse candidate to emerge from the pool.

Solid goalies Ryan Siuzdak and Scott Czarnik sit at the back of a very balanced team that, in addition to Kernbauer, can roll six other 15-goal scorers. Eric Brown, Brian Reimel and Josh Ambrosat are among this group. Former NAHLer Ryan Dunne is not, which tells you something about their depth.

Weber State

2012-13 Record: 27-10-3
Coach: Joe Pfleegor
National Championships: None
Last Season: Did not qualify for regionals
Location: Ogden, UT

vs. Penn State: Saturday, March 16th, 1:15 p.m.

The Wildcats come in as decided underdogs in Pool C given the balanced strength in the other three teams, although they're more than capable of playing spoiler - witness a road win and tie against tournament team Colorado State back in November that stands out as WSU's regular season highlight.

WSU, which once famously boasted Aaron Dufford - PSU legend John's great grandson - on their roster, struggled mightily with West top seed Utah State, to the tune of an 0-5-0 record in the season series, including 10-1 and 8-2 decisions. Sure, USU is one of a handful of the top national championship contenders, but then again, this is the national championship tournament and the Wildcats are going to have to play and beat teams of that caliber to be successful. In Weber's defense, they did have to take out a tough Utah team at regionals to earn their bid after splitting a regular season series with the Utes.

Count on Dax Hobbs (47 goals - the most in D2 - and 74 points) to do a disproportionate amount of the team's scoring, although things drop off rather quickly after Hobbs, Braxton Green (36 goals, 72 points), Jeremiah Holmes (25 goals, 63 points) and Josh Giudice (21 goals, 33 points). Ian Franke and Craig Peterson both play significantly and capably in goal, while Jacob Holmes and his team-high plus-57 rating will regulate things from the blue line.

The Other Pools

Pool A: Pool A is of special interest to the Ice Lions because, should Penn State advance out of the group stage, the Ice Lions will play its winner in the semifinals. The obvious headliner is Grand Valley State, the 2011 national champs who, as mentioned, eliminated PSU last season before losing to Florida Gulf Coast in the title game. While the Lakers are heavy favorites to emerge from the group, second seed Arizona State has proven their worth through an extremely dense schedule, particularly for a western team. The Sun Devils bombed Weber State twice back in December, went 4-0-4 against a very good Northern Arizona team, and played two tight losses against national title contender Utah State.

Crazy but true: UConn has three players formerly of their school's NCAA team, including Rui Encarnacao

Pool B: Miami, which thumped the Ice Lions 7-3 at the ACHA Showcase on October 6th in PSU's only game against another tournament team, leads what most consider the tournament's strongest pool - Sunday's possible semifinalist-determining game between MU and Michigan State is expected to be one of the best games of nationals, pitting two of the four national championship winning programs (Miami in 2000, MSU in 2005 and 2007) in St. Louis against each other. Still, don't count out Connecticut, in spite of their low seed. The Huskies have three upperclass forwards, Paul Cinquegrana, Rui Encarnacao and Miles Winter, who have played a combined 110 games with the school's NCAA team, and with more success than the typical NCAA-to-ACHA player. Winter had 36 points in 66 career NCAA games, while Encarnacao had 22 in 44.

Pool D: This will be still another top-heavy pool, paced by Utah State and New Hampshire. Both of those teams know where the net is located - the always-potent Aggies, featuring Brian Gibbons, D2's leading scorer last year, pot 5.5 goals per game, while UNH is even better at 5.64 per contest. Their matchup, scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., will join that Miami-Michigan State game to be arguably the two marquee contests of the group stage. As in Pool B, lower seeds Bowling Green and Saint Louis have an extremely difficult road to the semifinals, but the Billikens, coached by former NHLer Todd Ewen, should be a tough out.

Complete Tournament Schedule

All games available on FastHockey.com ($)

Pool A

Friday, March 15th:
Grand Valley State vs. Maryland, 5:30 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Northeastern, 5:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Grand Valley State vs. Northeastern, 4:00 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Maryland, 4:15 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Grand Valley State vs. Arizona State, 2:15 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Maryland, 4:45 p.m.

Pool B

Friday, March 15th:
Michigan State vs. Colorado State, 8:15 p.m.
Miami vs. Connecticut, 8:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Michigan State vs. Connecticut, 1:30 p.m.
Miami vs. Colorado State, 3:45 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Colorado State vs. Connecticut, 11:15 a.m.
Miami vs. Michigan State, 1:45 p.m.

Pool C

Friday, March 15th:
Penn State vs. Illinois State, 3:15 p.m.
Marist vs. Weber State, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Marist vs. Illinois State, 1:00 p.m.
Penn State vs. Weber State, 1:15 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Illinois State vs. Weber State, 11:00 a.m.
Marist vs. Penn State, 11:30 a.m.

Pool D

Friday, March 15th:
New Hampshire vs. Bowling Green, 3:00 p.m.
Saint Louis vs. Utah State, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Saint Louis vs. New Hampshire, 6:45 p.m.
Utah State vs. Bowling Green, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Bowling Green vs. Saint Louis, 2:00 p.m.
Utah State vs. New Hampshire, 4:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Monday, March 18th:
Pool A Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 5:30 p.m.
Pool B Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 8:15 p.m.

Final

Tuesday, March 19th:
Semifinal 1 Winner vs. Semifinal 2 Winner, 7:00 p.m.

Three Stars: December 24-30

3. Penn State Hockey Tailgate
(psu.edu)

College of Communications alumnus/alumna? Planning on going to the Penn State-Vermont game in Philadelphia on January 19th? Good news: you have a place to pregame.

2. How Stuff Works - College Hockey Edition, Part 3: NCAA and Junior Hockey
(Black Shoe Diaries)

IcersGuy continued his outstanding series explaining college hockey to the masses last week with a tutorial on the junior hockey system.

If you missed it, Part 1 outlined the differences between club and varsity hockey, while Part 2 discussed college hockey's ever-changing conference alignment.

1. PSU Moves Up in Season's Second Poll
(psuwihc.com)

The PSU Women's Ice Hockey Club finally has a website. It might look a little familiar, but hopefully the webmaster's grind can make up for it. Also, the team has a new Facebook page, and their not-new Twitter account is still there, so get after that.

Captain Carly Szyszko (pictured) and the fourth-ranked team are back in action on January 13th at Navy for a Sunday afternoon tilt.

Best of the Rest

@Cmen12
(Twitter)

Because the men's team didn't use their allotted morning skate time on the second day of the Three Rivers Classic, women's players Cara Mendelson and Katie Murphy did. Well played.

Penn State Smaller Sports Weekly Roundup
(Black Shoe Diaries)

It's a good thing that IcersGuy dropped the second-star post this week, because BSD needed to win some karma points back after this steaming pile. Not only is men's hockey a "smaller sport" in BSD's estimation (I mean, it's no wrestling, after all), but it gets treatment like:

Because the NHL is still locked out (LULZ @ U HOCKEY FANZ)...

...and proceeds from there with some lazy, predictable trolling of both Penguins and Flyers fans. Didja know, for example, that PSU has more wins than the Flyers this year?!?! Because they're locked out!!!! Get it?!??!?!?

Jenna Hendrikx Takes Time from NCAA Season to Attend Do It for Daron Event
(Bleacher Report)

As much (deserved, mostly) criticism as Bleacher Report takes, it actually does deliver pretty good women's hockey stuff, including this quick feature on Mercyhurst's Jenna Hendrikx. Hendrikx attended a Provincial Women's Hockey League game over the holiday break to benefit Do it for Daron, a foundation created to honor the life of Daron Richardson, the daughter of then-Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson (and a PWHL player herself) who tragically took her own life in 2010. Do it for Daron supports teen suicide and depression awareness and causes.

NCAA 2012-13 Women's Hockey Midseason Report Card
(Bleacher Report)

Mercyhurst's Christine Bestland gets tabbed as college hockey's midseason MVP in this slideshow, while Rebecca Vint of Robert Morris scoring five goals against Penn State on November 10th is given best single-game performance so far. Someday we'll be on the other end of things like that, I promise.

Colonials Ink Seven for 2013-14 Season
(rmucolonials.com)

As long as we're on the CHA, Robert Morris released the names of a pretty strong group of signees for next season. Over one month after the early signing period closed, but hey, better late than never.

Kale Dolinski and his ASU teammates went 1-1 in British Columbia over the weekend, losing to UBC but beating Simon Fraser. Photo: Allyson Cummings/House of Sparky.

Sun Devils Get Big 5-3 Win, Split Canadian Series
(House of Sparky)

While Arizona State's SB Nation blog tends to be a little... uhhh... homertastic concerning the school's ACHA team, it does provide very good coverage, including of the Great Northwest Showcase over the weekend. The Burnaby, BC event involved games between ACHAers (and Penn State opponents) ASU and Oklahoma, and Canadian non-varsity power Simon Fraser as well as the CIS program from the University of British Columbia.

Long story short, the ACHA representatives were blasted by the Canadians to the tune of a combined 12-2 count on the showcase's first day. However, the Sun Devils bounced back with a win over Simon Fraser on Saturday after losing to UBC, while Oklahoma extended the Thunderbirds to overtime to follow up their loss to SFU.

MSU salvages 1-1 tie against WMU But Falls in Shootout
Spartans drop 3rd place game to Michigan 5-2
(The Munn Minute)

In another holiday tournament involving a future PSU opponent, Michigan State settled for a fourth-place finish at the Great Lakes Invitational after a third-period barrage boosted archrival Michigan to a 5-2 win in the GLI consolation game. On the first day of the tournament, Western Michigan and Michigan Tech (the eventual champion, for the first time since 1980) ousted the two Big Tenners from title consideration.

I guess I should point out that the GLI was originally scheduled for the Detroit Tigers' Comerica Park this year before being moved back to its customary Joe Louis Arena home. Thanks so much, NHL players and owners.

Three Stars: December 17-23

3. 2012-2013 ACHA Division 2 Rankings
2012-2013 ACHA Women's Division 2 Rankings
(achahockey.org)

Awkwardly, the semester-end rankings for both the men's and women's ACHA teams were released after this past week's Club Sandwich post, so I'll address them briefly here.

Men: The Ice Lions, thanks largely to a win over then-Southeast No. 2 Rowan on December 15, moved from fourth to second in the region. While just two spots, the significance is much larger than that: the top two teams in each region earn autobids to the ACHA national championships, bypassing the regional playoffs. The trick now, of course, is to stay there until the end of the regular season.

Women: Pat Fung's crew also moved up, from fifth overall (fourth in the East Region) to fourth overall (third in the East Region). Like the men, the team's current position would qualify them for a nationals bid - which would be quite the story as a first-year organization built largely through the hard work of student leaders.

2. How Stuff Works - Part 1: Varsity vs. Club Hockey
How Stuff Works - Part 2: NCAA D1 Conference Breakdown
(Black Shoe Diaries)

IcersGuy at BSD is putting together a series of primers for those new to this whole NCAA hockey thing - and the comments are proof that he's doing an excellent job of it. If you want to be into Penn State hockey and don't know what any of us are talking about, this would be my recommended place to start.

1. BIG TEN Men's Hockey Promo
(YouTube)

Is this the first official nod to the fact that there will be Big Ten hockey next year? No, but it kind of feels like it.

Best of the Rest

Scheid making most of return to Lincoln Stars
(Lincoln Journal-Star)

This story was worth dropping here, where it will presumably get more attention than in Commit Cycle, which generates about 30 pageviews each time out (seriously... and it's easily the most time-consuming thing I do on a regular basis). So, PSU signee Eric Scheid, where did you consider going after leaving Alaska-Anchorage?

Scheid quickly received recruiting interest from several top college programs. Before committing to Penn State last month, he was choosing between Northeastern, Nebraska-Omaha, Penn State and Minnesota State-Mankato.

And, of course, there's the obligatory "why did you pick Penn State" quote:

Scheid visited State College, Pa., before committing to Penn State. He’ll be the first former Star to play there.

"I had it narrowed down to a few schools that were interested, and the Penn State campus was the one that really stuck out to me the most," he said. "It had everything I was looking for as the Big Ten atmosphere with all the sports and a lot of students. They offered the playing time I was looking for going right in, instead of having to sit."

Podcast: Gadowsky on Recruiting
(College Hockey Inc.)

Listen and appreciate.

AHA Possible Expansion: Rhode Island
(Excalibur Sports)

Thanks to recent rumors, there's been a renewed push to get NCAA hockey to URI, complete with a Twitter account. Here's a blog post looking at the possibility.

I happen to think that Rhody represents one of the more credible rumors out there, but Penn State was a pretty credible rumor for quite a while too. We shall see.

OSU (and possibly PSU as well) gets to duck Miami leading scorer Riley Barber this weekend.

2013 U.S. National Junior Team Roster Nears Completion
(USA Hockey)

From purely a Penn State perspective (disregarding general hockey interest, et cetera), there really isn't much reason to care about the World Junior Championships yet, beyond how it affects other teams. Good news: it does. Highly-regarded Miami forwards/NHL draft picks Sean Kuraly and Riley Barber will miss the Three Rivers Classic, as will Ohio State coach Mark Osiecki, due to their participation in the WJC.

Calling my shot right now: PSU gets revenge on Robert Morris, while the missing firepower for the RedHawks costs them against the Buckeyes. All-Big Ten championship.

2012 Great Northwest Showcase
(greatnorthwestshowcase.com)

Speaking of holiday tournaments, the one outside of Pittsburgh I'll be keeping my eye on is the Great Northwest Showcase in Burnaby, BC. It involves ACHA teams Arizona State and Oklahoma (both PSU opponents this year) as well as Simon Fraser, probably Canada's best non-varsity program and UBC, a CIS school that frequently plays exhibitions against NCAA teams - this year, the Thunderbirds went 1-1-1 against Air Force, Denver and Colorado College.

If you're not a fan of throwing teams at different levels and under different sanctioning organizations together to see what happens, I don't get you.



Penn State Hockey Jerseys
(YouTube)

Let it be known that there are hockey jerseys available at Lions Pride, the official PSU merchandise store of TYT.

The End Is Nigh
(Fear the Triangle)

Finally, shoutout to FTT - my go-to for all things UMass hockey and beer - which is shutting down at the end of the season, due largely to the life circumstances that inevitably catch us all at some point (there aren't a ton of unpaid bloggers who are over 30, with kids and a successful career if you haven't noticed).

Not to get too personal, but there was a lot in this post that resonated with me, in terms of the blog's backstory and having "that moment" when you fully realize your limitations (living in Ohio, I have realizations of a smaller magnitude quite frequently). I was fairly late in learning about FTT, but look forward to reading the rest of the way, especially since we have more in common than I realized.

Three Stars: November 26-December 2

3. Penn State at Mercyhurst // Exhibition Game
(collegehockeystats.net)

Something I learned this past weekend: the first game in the history of Mercyhurst women's hockey was played against the Lady Icers on October 9, 1999. Unfortunately, I think the Collegian passed on covering it to run one of 38,000 PSU-Iowa football articles that week (fall break didn't help either), so this box score might be the only online trace of it. That's just as well - it wasn't really a pretty result for us.

By the way, that's two consecutive women's opponents mentioning their history with the Lady Icers in their game notes, if you're scoring at home. Just saying.

2. Ice Hockey Recap: The First Ranked Opponent
(Black Shoe Diaries)

Penn State Hockey: Weekend Roundup #4
(Victory Bell Rings)

Because of the out-of-sync timing between my posts and theirs, I never get enough of a chance to toss some love to the other great PSU hockey bloggers out there, including IcersGuy and Mary Clarke of BSD and VBR, respectively. Because of the aforementioned timing issue (their recaps go up later in the week), these posts are actually their thoughts on the Nittany Lions' weekend at then-No. 8 Union November 24th and 25th. Know what though? That one was better anyway.

Get to know their stuff, and follow them on Twitter too (@hey_pono for IcersGuy, @marycclarke for Mary Clarke). Because you're not a fully-informed fan if you're only listening to one voice.

1. Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff Promo
(YouTube)

Yep, it's a commercial for Penn State's game with Vermont in Philly on January 19th. Cheeseball? Sure. But in a fun way. And the Nittany Lion does the ear thing he does right at the end, so it's all good.

Best of the Rest

Welsh Signs with the Mississauga Steelheads of the OHL
(The Hockey Writers)

Even though he didn't move directly from Penn State's commit list to major junior, I suppose Thomas Welsh can be considered our first CHL defection. I've largely gotten over his decommitment after he wasn't able to "come to terms" (his awkward choice of words that may or may not indicate that he wasn't looking at PSU for the 'right' reasons) with the school. I fully expect this to be the last time I ever mention him now that he's officially gone for good. However, because Welsh's relatives continue to email me articles, as if I have any interest whatsoever in promoting him at this point...

...here's a photo of Welsh getting scored on by Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge last month. I'm not sure which of the nine goals scored by Eamon McAdam's teammates in the game is represented here, sorry.

Sooners face big second half of the season
(Hockey in the Heartland)

Now that the ACHA has our attention, here's how future opponent Oklahoma (February 15th and 16th) is looking for the spring semester. The Sooners' trip to the Ice Pavilion will actually be their second NCAA DI series of the season, as they play Alabama-Huntsville on January 11th and 12th. So basically, the Icers could never get any DI games, and as soon as they depart the ACHA, teams start getting four per season.

David Glen records a hat trick in Penn State's big win Friday night but Joe D'Elia and ASU get revenge on Saturday
(Stack the Pads)

Remember when PSU was unbeaten against the ACHA as an NCAA program? Those were good times. StP has some evidence in support of that, including video of four of the Nittany Lions' eight goals Friday night.

Women's Ice Hockey Signs Seven to Letters of Intent
(quinnipiacbobcats.com)

Former PSU women's target Mika Nervick, a Minnesota high schooler - man, do we hit Minnesota hard on the women's side - signed with Quinnipiac.

Allentown Arena - yeah, that name will stick here in the 21st century - will host the AHL in 2014.

Ground breaks on new Allentown arena, expected to be Phantoms home in 2014
(Broad Street Hockey)

Yay, Pennsylvania hockey!

I do have to say that it's a great testament to the hockey fans of Glens Falls, NY that the team draws more than six people per game (3,514 so far this year, well below the AHL average of 5,313), given that they've basically been used as a place to stash the team for five years while this project gets done.

HockeyTown: Princeton, New Jersey
(New York Hockey Journal)

Guy Gadowsky is quoted heavily in this article, mostly dealing with the development of minor hockey in his former location. Undoubtedly, he's trying to build the same sort of depth of organization in Central PA.

Picture Gary Bettman on the couch of a fighter/shrink...
(Toronto Globe and Mail)

Speaking of Princeton-era Gadowsky, here's a great feature on Kings enforcer Kevin Westgarth, one of the players he coached at PU. It's so bizarre to me that between Westgarth and George Parros (who was a Tiger pre-Gadowsky), Princeton generates not only a couple of the NHL's most intelligent players, but guys who also happen to be able to throw hands.

Bockmann's overtime-winner hands league-leader first loss
(uwsp.edu)

Former Icer Josh Daley and his teammates at UW-Stevens Point took down UW-Eau Claire, the third-ranked team in NCAA Division III, in overtime Saturday night. The Pointers are 5-5-1 so far, with Daley playing in five of those games and posting an assist.

Lebanon Valley College Moving to ESCHL IN 2013-2014
(achahockey.org)

Next season, the Icers' old conference will feature Delaware, Rhode Island, Rutgers, Stony Brook, West Chester, and now LVC. It's great to see the league develop a little bit of depth after PSU's final ESCHL season (2010-2011) saw only UD and URI join the Icers as solid programs, with complete wastes of ACHA D1 status Robert Morris and WCU holding down the other two spots (but not doing much else of value).

M: Penn State 1 vs. Arizona State (ACHA) 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // USCHO recap

House of Sparky recap // WCSN recap

Postgame press conference video

So...that happened.

After a couple hours of reflection, I think the most painful thing about the Nittany Lions' (7-6-0, 5-4-0 NCAA DI) 3-1 loss to ACHA frontrunner Arizona State (19-1-0, 18-0-0 ACHA D1) is that it was completely deserved. In defeat, there's always some degree of comfort in cliched excuses like "we let them hang around too long" and the old standby "we dominated, they just had a hot goalie." None of those really apply here.

The Sun Devils came into the Ice Pavilion and outplayed Penn State, period. Every bit of the program history they gained Saturday night was well earned.

It needs to remembered, after all, that they play some very good hockey in the ACHA, and top-ranked Arizona State is likely the best the association's top division has to offer this year. Just recently, in fact, I posted about how the talent level on the Icers eased our transition to NCAA Division I. It would be pretty hypocritical of me to turn around and deny the talent level at a school fate didn't deem fortunate enough to be making its own transition right now. And hey, remember that time that an Icers team featuring the coaching staff and 16 of the 27 players from this year's Nittany Lions didn't lose fewer than four times against ACHA teams and/or win the ACHA national championship?

On the other side, it wasn't PSU's best game, not by a long shot. Just as on Friday night, turnovers plagued the Nittany Lions, with a major difference this time around being that Guy Gadowsky's power play wasn't clicking on a level capable of outscoring those mistakes. On several occasions, chances were destroyed with an errant pass, and it's fair to say that the effort wasn't at the level it was last weekend at Union.

The earliest indication that Penn State's power play would be far off of its 100 percent rate in the series-opening win began 9:28 into the first period, when Danny McAuliffe was called for elbowing. A hitting from behind whistle against Jordan Young followed in short order, but the Nittany Lions fired a dud over 3:14 of advantage time, including 46 seconds with a 5-on-3. PSU had actually started the game in good form, but counterintuitively, the long power play seemed to deflate things for the remainder of the first period.

Just 38 seconds into the middle period and following an offensive zone turnover, Dan Styrna blew by Peter Sweetland down right wing. Nate Jensen attempted to get across to help on the sudden odd-man rush, but that backfired when Styrna found an unattended Faiz Khan in the middle of the ice. Khan pumped one past P.J. Musico for a 1-0 Sun Devils lead that lasted through the second intermission. Kale Dolinski, a Minot State transfer, gave ASU a 2-0 lead 2:40 into the third period by sniping from the high slot after pouncing an unattended loose puck left by Tommy Olczyk.

While PSU's power play ended 0-for-5, the Nittany Lions' shorthanded unit was much more efficient. Four minutes after Dolinski's goal, and with Taylor Holstrom in the box for tripping, Olczyk's nifty dangle and pass in front found Curtis Loik for a goal to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 13:32 left. Instantly and finally, Penn State snapped to life and an equalizer seemed a formality for the next several minutes - for a split second, it appeared to happen via Dom Morrone's deflection of a Luke Juha's bomb through traffic, but the goal was waved off due to the puck being gloved in by Morrone (don't ask me to make a judgment call on that after watching via a blurry and yellow streaming video).

Dolinski instantly killed Penn State's momentum and any realistic chance of a comeback with his second unassisted goal, and once again, he made one of PSU's high-profile forwards - Max Gardiner - pay for a miscue. The tally off of a partial breakaway came with 6:25 remaining, but with the Nittany Lions re-entering their previous lifeless state, with an assist to ASU's stifling forecheck, 16:25 probably wouldn't have been enough.

Joe D'Elia was outstanding in goal for the Sun Devils, stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced. P.J. Musico made 27 saves in the opposite crease.

The Nittany Lions will need a quick bounceback, as Holy Cross awaits in Worcester, MA next weekend. The Crusaders have emerged as one of the tougher opponents on Penn State's schedule, as their 6-3-2 mark in Atlantic Hockey (7-4-2 overall) is good for second place in the league behind Niagara.