M: Penn State 4 vs. Vermont 2

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // UVMathletics.com recap

PhillyBurbs.com recap // Burlington Free Press recap
UVMathletics.com highlights

In front of an electric sellout crowd of 19,529 at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and a sizable television audience on The Comcast Network, Penn State notched yet another landmark win in its early NCAA history, 4-2 over Vermont (6-12-4, 3-8-4 Hockey East) Saturday night.

The Nittany Lions now have an official NCAA record of 9-12-0, while improving to 11-14-0 in all games and 7-10-0 against NCAA Division I teams. Notably, PSU is 2-2-0 against major-conference teams, losing twice at Union on November 24th and 25th before topping Ohio State and now UVM in NHL arenas.

That Matt Skoff was central to this victory should be of little surprise. Since a jittery first two collegiate starts, the McKees Rocks, PA native has been exactly as advertised: a steady, consistently excellent goaltender that gives a first-year NCAA program a chance in every game he plays. Against the Catamounts, Skoff saved 34 of 36, many in truly spectacular, game-altering fashion. UVM freshman forward Robert Polesello, in particular, was robbed several times on his six shots.

Still, offense is needed to win games, and Penn State received plenty of it, from most of the usual sources.

After a quick start to the game with a healthy share of chances each way, Taylor Holstrom dented the scoreboard first 3:11 in, when he took a feed from Connor Varley and streaked down the ice before finishing the play by wristing through Brody Hoffman's five hole.

Scoring first is always important, of course, but especially so in PSU's case. The Nittany Lions are now 6-1-0 when scoring the first goal of the game, versus 3-11-0 when allowing the first goal. A more unusual trend was continued as well: (probably) the team's three biggest wins this season - at RIT on October 20th, versus Ohio State in Pittsburgh on December 29th and against Vermont on Saturday night - have all come in front of five-figure crowds in professional arenas and immediately following extremely ugly losses. The UVM triumph followed Tuesday's overtime defeat to NCAA Division III Neumann at the Ice Pavilion, just as RIT followed a shutout at the hands of DIII Buffalo State and Ohio State followed a 6-0 clunker against Robert Morris.

Following Holstrom's goal, Penn State also scored second, and third, just to be safe. Late in the first period, David Glen put his team up 2-0 after Justin Kirchhevel made a spectacular back-to-the-play pass from behind the goalline to the slot for a hard-charging Glen. Kirchhevel, in his second game back from a concussion, did the honors himself on the 3-0 goal, a wraparound effort from Tommy Olczyk that needed a review to ensure that the South Dakotan was able to stuff the puck all the way past the red.



Polesello did win one battle against Skoff during the contest, when he finished a pretty lateral passing play with a one-timer from between the circles while George Saad occupied the penalty box for a high sticking infraction. Brett Bruneteau swung the puck cross ice to defenseman Nick Luukko, who found Polesello from Skoff's right. Despite that blemish, the Nittany Lions' penalty kill had a good night, going 5-for-6, notably including the survival of consecutive penalties to Brian Dolan and Glen bridging the first intermission and overlapping by 17 seconds.

The Catamounts would get no closer than 3-1. Penn State successfully attacked and protected its lead for much of the third period, then added to it with 4:42 left. Dolan - a native of nearby Havertown, PA who came to Happy Valley before the NCAA announcement - got a shot from right point on net. It was saved, as was Holstrom's follow-up attempt, but Casey Bailey buried the play's second rebound. That goal rendered Kyle Mountain's reply snipe with 11 seconds remaining meaningless.

Guy Gadowsky, who now has more wins in his first NCAA season at Penn State than he did in his first seasons at Alaska and Princeton, will next lead his team into East Lansing, MI for a pair of games against future Big Ten rival Michigan State January 25th and 26th.

Here's the live blog from the historic win - unfortunately, my participation over much of the first half of the game was rather spotty due to internet issues, but my sincerest thanks are due to the commenters who picked up the torch while I was out of commission.

M: Penn State 2 vs. Robert Morris 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // RMUColonials.com recap

TribLive.com recap // USCHO recap

Guy Gadowsky postgame video

Curtis Loik and Tommy Olczyk postgame video

I realize that I've done an atrocious job on this blog over the last two weeks, and I'm truly sorry about that. The good news is that my grad school finals are now all complete, as is my only family Christmas party that will conflict with hockey. So hopefully, this will be my last mailed-in (or skipped altogether) post, as the Nittany Lions fell to 7-8-0 according to the completely substance-free official tabulation, but 8-9-0 in all games and 5-7-0 against NCAA Division I competition.

Victor, meet spoils. Here's the Robert Morris release. Well, mostly. I inserted the PSU goal descriptions from GoPSUSports.com.

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University Park, Pa. - The Robert Morris University men's ice hockey team took to the ice for their only contest of the weekend as the Colonials travelled to Penn State for the first-ever meeting between the two teams. In a hard-hitting match that pitted the two newest NCAA Division I programs, RMU would prevail by a score of 3-2.

At 12:07 of the first period, the Colonials would net the first goal of the game. After cycling the puck down low in the offensive zone, sophomore Jeff Jones (Revelstoke, British Columbia / Merritt Centennials) would gather the loose puck behind the net and send a pass to the slot. Waiting in the slot was freshman defenseman Chase Golightly (Temecula, Calif. / Prince George Spruce Kings) would slap home his second goal of the season. Also assisting on the play would be freshman Zac Lynch (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) who picked up his third assist of the season.

In the second period, the Nittany Lions scored twice in a 1:52 span as they took a 2-1 lead. Olczyk tied the game at 1-1 when he tipped defenseman Luke Juha's (Mississauga, Ont.) point shot at 1:33 of the stanza. Senior defenseman Brian Dolan (Havertown, Pa.) tallied his first point as a Nittany Lion on the play.

With 16:35 left in the frame, Loik scored on the rebound for his fourth goal of the season. Freshman forward David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) took a low shot from the left circle that was stopped, but Loik found the loose puck and slipped it through the five-hole.

After killing off a Penn State power play, Robert Morris would go on the offensive and tie the game, 2-2. A pass coming from behind the net by junior Colin South (Sewickley, Pa. / Bay State Breakers) would find the stick of senior captain Brendan Jamison (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Jersey Hitmen) as he would walk in to a wrist shot from the top of the circle. While the initial shot would be saved, Jones would corral the rebound and flick the loose puck past the goaltender for his second goal of the season.

With 8:11 remaining in the third period, Robert Morris would regain the lead as assistant captain Tyler Hinds (Orleans, Ontario / Nepean Raiders) would fire home his first goal of the season. After battling along the boards in the defensive zone, Hinds would pick up the puck after it was chipped out of the zone by Matt Cope (Lakewood, Colo. / Wenatchee Wild) and carried it in to the offensive zone for the game-winning goal. The Colonials would withstand a late Penn State surge as the team held on for the 3-2 victory.

Senior Eric Levine (Wheeling, Ill. / Pembroke Lumber Kings) picked up the win while making 38 saves. Over the past six games in which Levine has started, the goaltender holds a record of 4-0-2 and has made at least 30 saves in five of those six contests. With two points in the game, Jones recorded his fourth multi-point game of his career and second of the season. Hinds’game-winning goal was the first goal for the defenseman since the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals against Niagara on March 10, 2012.

The Colonials will have the next week off before returning to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take part in the first-ever Three Rivers Classic. The two-day event will see RMU take on Penn State for the second-consecutive game at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 28. Following that will be a match-up of Ohio State and #5 Miami. On Saturday, Dec. 29, the consolation game will be played at 4:30 p.m. and the first-ever champion of the Three Rivers Classic will be crowned that night which a championship game faceoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for either day are available at ticketmaster.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Box Office at CONSOL Energy Center and charge by phone at 800-745-3000.

Penn State-Buffalo State Photo Gallery

Since I didn't produce a live blog or have access to postgame comments (due to a lack of wifi at the rink and going credential-free for this tilt), I figured the least I could do was take a few photos. Click any of them to enlarge.

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First up is Rockwell Hall, home to BSC's School of Arts and Humanities and by far the nicest building on a pretty utilitarian campus.

This is the exterior to the Buffalo State Ice Arena, which is actually part of a larger sports arena complex that also includes BSC's basketball gym.

The game was the season opener for the Bengals, and they were pretty excited about that fact.

Here's Matt Skoff making a save during warmups.

And another of Skoff...turns out goalies are easier to photograph than most players.

I made a few attempts at skaters anyway - this is Tommy Olczyk (carrying puck) during warmups, along with Nate Jensen (24), Taylor Holstrom (28) and Brian Dolan (25).

Here are the Nittany Lions emerge from the locker room before the start of the first period. The nice thing about small rinks is that they let you go almost anywhere. I probably could have walked back into the room if I wanted.

Shortly after that, the team lined up for the starters and national anthem...

...followed by the opening faceoff. As far as I could tell, everything was still going well at this point.

Buff State brought a large and enthusiastic crowd, but one that also came with several Jerry Sandusky-related signs, at least one of which was confiscated by police.

Here's what was a fairly common sight during the game - discussion of a penalty call. The PSU players are George Saad (left) and David Glen (right).

The Penn State bench. P.J. Musico (1) and Mark Yanis (5) are in the foreground while coaches Guy Gadowsky and Matt Lindsay study the action.

Because faceoffs are the goalies of game action, here's another one. David Glen (11) and Curtis Loik (15) are the two Nittany Lions, while Buffalo State goalie Kevin Carr ended up with a 35-save shutout.

Men's Media Day: Gardiner, Dolan, Steinour, Yanis

Interviews with sophomore forward Max Gardiner, senior defenseman Brian Dolan, senior forward Eric Steinour and freshman defenseman Mark Yanis at men's media day Monday afternoon.

M: Penn State 9 vs. Rhode Island 3

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

Paul Daley got his 100th career point out of the way on an assist 10:58 into the game, and the Icers cracked open a deceptively close affair with a five-goal second period in a 9-3 win. As usual, it was the line of Justin Kirchhevel (2 goals, 2 assists), Tommy Olczyk (1 goal, 2 assists) and Taylor Holstrom (1 goal, 1 assist) that got things going in full force. Eric Steinour (2 goals, 1 assist) made a strong return to the lineup after missing last Saturday's win over Oklahoma. A sturdy defensive effort limited the Rams to just 16 shots on Matt Madrazo, compared to 58 PSU attempts on URI goalie Andrew Sherman.

Penn State (now 16-3-1) and Rhode Island (15-13-0) will rematch Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

Weekend Observations: Rutgers

Collegian Friday summary // Collegian Saturday summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // Friday VFTB highlights // Saturday VFTB highlights
Black Shoe Diaries recap // Friday team press release // Saturday team press release
Friday box score // Saturday box score

Me, last weekend:

I foresee a whole bunch of taking anything good that happens against Rutgers next weekend and guessing whether it would've happened against Rhode Island.

Given the distinct lack of big-picture meaning to these games, let's start there. Two basic ways to look at it.

1. Rutgers is a crap team who plowed an even worse conference and used the disgraceful autobid to bump poor Illinois from nationals. They weren't even ranked! I just wish the ACHA had actually followed those rankings with the seeding so they could lose by 15 to Lindenwood instead of by 10 to Davenport.
2. Rutgers isn't as bad as you say, Mr. 1. They beat West Chester worse than we did half the time and scored some goals against Rhode Island. On paper and beyond the first couple guys, they look better than the Robert Morris team that beat us a couple weeks back. And they didn't just "win" that conference, they dominated it.

As you can probably tell from the more rational tone I gave the second point of view, I still kind of lean that way in spite of the two thrashings the Icers gave them. Please don't take this to mean that I'm calling them the 2002 Red Wings, but they are on par with teams PSU has struggled with this year, yet the Icers obviously didn't this weekend.

I may or may not be schizophrenic. Depends who you ask. Mr. 1 says no, Mr. 2 says yes.

(Over)simplified way to look at it: outside of Rutgers, the Icers have played 14 games against teams ranked from 15th through 31st in the most recent poll (including six against West Chester and Pitt, who are below Rutgers). In those games, PSU is 12-2-0 and averaging 5.64 goals per game while giving up an even 3.00. Rutgers is 26th in the poll, and we averaged 9.50 goals for, 2.00 goals against. Basically, PSU beat Rutgers worse than other teams similarly rated by the coaches.

Faulty reasoning? You may think so. But either way, I'm going to feel good this week, and you should too. Let's get into the reasons why - lots of credit to go around.

In a weekend of milestones like Tim O'Brien's becoming the 15th Icer ever with 200 points and marking the last home games of him and the other seniors, it was the so-called fourth line of Chris Pronchik (1 goal, 5 assists), Joe Zitarelli (2, 4) and Mike Broccolo (2, 2) that stole the show. Picking a favorite one of their goals is a little like picking a favorite jersey, but if I have to, I'll go with 5:43 of the second Friday. After a dump-in, all three gave the Rutgers D zero room to breathe and did a great job maintaining the zone - this is an effort goal. The eventual payoff came when Zitarelli won a battle behind the net with three Scarlet Knights converging, got the puck to Pronchik out front, who quickly moved it to all-alone Broccolo.

It feels like crediting the bottom six has become kind of a cliche in my write-ups, but hey, the shoe fits. Whatever problems may exist with the team, forward depth is not one of them. I thought the other half of the bottom six (Taylor Cera, Nick Seravalli and George Saad) had a pretty good, although overshadowed, weekend themselves.

Another possible cliche: saying nice things about the Carey Bell-Brian Dolan defense pairing, although I'm going to go about it a little differently this time. Rutgers' first goal Friday was not a shining moment for either of them. Bell got caught on a bad pinch, and Dolan, back by himself, fell trying to defend goal scorer John Beatrice. But each of them dusted themselves off like champs, and in fact, each had the chance to double their season goal output after that. Dolan's in particular was a beauty, because it came less than a period later and involved him driving the net, which of course involves a degree of risk assessment if you're a defenseman. Nicely done.

Speaking of defensemen, a nod to Dan Loucks is in order. The power play was 3-for-11 on the weekend (hey, we've done worse about other bad PK units), and he was a big reason why. I like the way he managed the point, and he seems to have a pretty heavy shot that he keeps low.

Chris Cerutti had a great weekend including a hat trick Friday, and doesn't get a mention until now. Ouch. He and his centerman (O'Brien) will obviously go a long way in deciding how the Icers fare next weekend.

Finally, how about senior goaltenders Teddy Hume and John Jay? Both were great in their likely last starts at Penn State. You can play the "easy win" card if you want, but it would mean that you didn't watch Jay's save with about 8:57 left in the first period Friday, or Hume's with 1:46 left in the first and 4:27 left in the third Saturday. Hume showed the form that got him to third on the all-time Icers wins list, and Jay made you wonder why he didn't get more of a look this year with some of the goaltending uncertainty.

Actually, that's not finally. Finally is once again offering my sincerest thank you to Steve and Barb Penstone for their work on the UStream broadcasts, as Saturday's was this season's last. Believe me, I've often considered the alternate reality where they don't exist. I probably don't even start TYT without the ability to watch the games, and I probably get frustrated and quit with a poor production (or one you have to pay for - twice if you need to re-watch it). Even if I do give it a go under those circumstances, it wouldn't be nearly as good, for obvious reasons. Great work this season, hope to say hi in Delaware!