Eight Icers Earn ACHA Honors

Tommy Olczyk is a finalist for the ACHA D1 Rookie-of-the-Year award.

With a large, talented and successful freshman class last season it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but the Icers were represented twice on the ACHA's all-rookie team in the form of goaltender P.J. Musico and forward Tommy Olczyk. Another first-year ACHA player, forward Justin Kirchhevel, was given third team ACHA All-American honors.

Olczyk was also named a finalist for the ACHA's Division 1 Rookie-of-the-Year award, along with Lindenwood's Steve Brancheau, Minot State's Michael Jordan and Oakland's Dustin Hopfner.

Olczyk, from Long Grove, IL and the son of former NHL player and coach Ed Olczyk, came to PSU from the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers this season and immediately emerged as a team leader and one of the team's best all-around players. His 24 goals led all Icers, and his four game-winners notably included an early third-period strike to help PSU to a 6-3 ACHA tournament win over Oklahoma in what turned out to be the final Icers win ever.

Musico, an athletic goaltender from Orange, CA, rotated with Matt Madrazo for most of the season, but ended with a spectacular 1.51 goals against average and 0.925 save percentage. He had a pair of shutouts, including a 17-save effort in an 8-0 win over West Virginia on January 20th. He also stopped 22 of 23 in a 5-1 win over eventual national champion Delaware on November 19th, 2011.

Kirchhevel, a Brookings, SD native who transferred from Alaska-Anchorage, was half of a dynamic tandem as one of Olczyk's linemates for most of the season. He led the Icers in assists (37) and points (56), and also impressed defensively and as a lethal penalty killer. Two of his 19 goals game in the last five minutes of the February 4th game against Oklahoma, as PSU rallied from a late 3-0 deficit to win in overtime.

Olczyk, Musico and Kirchhevel will all join Penn State's inaugural NCAA Division I team in the fall.

Additionally, forwards Dominic Morrone and Chris Cerutti, as well as defensemen Dan Petrick, Dan Loucks and Rich O'Brien were named ACHA Academic All-Americans. Academic All-Americans are required to be in their junior or senior year and have a 3.2 cumulative grade point average. O'Brien will join Olczyk, Musico and Kirchhevel as a member of the 2012-2013 Nittany Lions.

This latest batch of award winners joins Lady Icers Lindsay Reihl, Sara Chroman and Lydia Scott, who were named Academic All-Americans on the women's side on April 16th. Morrone was also named to the ACHA all-tournament second team, while senior forwards Kurt Collins and Paul Daley participated in the ACHA Division 1 All-Star Game on March 17th.

Here is the full list of the ACHA Men's Division 1 All-Americans:

M: Penn State 8 vs. Duquesne 1

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

My apologies once again for having to cancel the live blog for this senior night blowout of Duquesne that pumped the Icers' record to 26-3-1 (including 18 wins in a row at home). For those who don't know, as I was packing up after watching last Saturday's Ice Lions game, I tripped over my laptop's power cord, dragging it from one of the Ice Pavilion's bench seats to the floor. The result: a cracked hard drive. Since then, all TYT updates have been done from a computer lab at the University of Akron, where I attend graduate school. I should be back up and running in the next couple of days (definitely in time to do a live blog next Friday).

In any case, TYT extends its congratulations to seniors Dan Petrick, Dan Loucks, Nick Seravalli, Kurt Collins, Chris Cerutti and Paul Daley - a group of outstanding players. As usual when the live blog doesn't go off as planned, let's defer to IcersGuy from Black Shoe Diaries (linked above) for the rest of the story.

---

Much like the Mercyhurst games last weekend, the Dukes provided little in terms of a challenge for the Icers. The Icers would jump out to a quick 3-0 with goals from seniors Kurt Collins and Paul Daley, along with a goal from sophomore Bryce Johnson. The Dukes would counter with a power play goal, but George Saad would make it 4-1 after one period of play. Mike Longo, Dominic Morrone, and Chris Cerutti would add goals in the second to make it 7-1 through two periods. Cerutti would add a second goal in the third period, and the Icers would cruise to the easy 8-1 victory.

The weekend went as expected - domination from start to finish. Of the healthy senior players, only Dan Loucks was unable to get onto the scoresheet for this Senior Night (Petrick picked up 2 assists). However, Dan looked solid in his return to the ice from injury, and that's the more important piece for the night. Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see what lineup Coach Guy uses in next week's game versus Kent State. The Icers can cycle through 5-6 scoring lines and 4 defensive pairings, so there are reasons to both play and scratch any player. Guy has also sat entire lines on certain nights, but sitting a top line for two weeks might be too much rest. And at the very least, Kent State is ranked and tournament-bound (if based on the technicality that they're the host team). I'd expect players trying to return to game-speed to play, but the rest of the lineup is up in the air.

M: Penn State 9 vs. Rutgers 0

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

Black Shoe Diaries recap

A lackluster second period was sandwiched by first and third periods borrowed from Friday night as the Icers (13-1-0) rolled to a 9-0 win over No. 21 Rutgers to complete the weekend sweep/blasting.

In this affair, Tim Carr recorded his first Icers shutout with a 15-save effort. PSU once again received balanced offensive output, with seven different goal scorers headed by two each from Michael Longo and Chris Cerutti. The team flexed its depth muscle and received numerous contributions up and down the lineup with the entire Kurt Collins-Eric Steinour-George Saad line sitting this one out, as well as Nate Jensen and the injured Taylor Holstrom.

M: Penn State 6 at Rhode Island 2

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

View From the Booth recap/highlights

Chris Cerutti made his triumphant return to the lineup with a power play goal - and some prime minutes on the top scoring line after an apparent injury to Tommy Olczyk - in a solid Icers victory at the Brad Boss Ice Arena. Before leaving the game, Olczyk scored twice to bring his team-leading goals total to eight, and Eric Steinour (one goal), Kurt Collins (one goal, one assist) and George Saad (two assists) continued to provide fantastic play at both ends. Tim Carr got the win in his first start of the season.

The same two teams will get back after it tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. As usual, Steve Penstone will have the call on UStream and 3WZ.

Icers Announce 2011-2012 Roster

Following months of guessing, hand-wringing and projection by fans and observers (and more importantly last week's tryouts), the Icers have released the names of the players who will participate in the final season of ACHA competition.

Before we go any further, let's take a moment to acknowledge those Icers who were squeezed out by what's purely a numbers game brought about by a situation that couldn't have been foreseen by anyone not named Battista or Pegula at the time they decided on a college. They deserved a better fate than to have to light up Ice Lions tryouts next week to continue to play hockey at PSU. They are Mac Winchester, Andrew Duval, Ryan Erbe, Kevin Miller, Mike Broccolo, Joe Zitarelli, Alan Clark and Dan Ivanir. Some played a lot, some didn't, some left before tryouts, some simply didn't make the cut, but those things are beyond the point. They wore blue and white with distinction and honor. Mark Polidor is also on that list, although he's a little bit of a special case as someone who took his senior bow (a year early), then decided to come back, then changed his mind.

Credit is due the coaching staff as well. They didn't have to keep a 30-man roster, but to the benefit of a couple returning Icers, they did.

The other noteworthy, and perhaps more surprising, development is the exclusion of a couple of the players recruited for this season before Guy Gadowsky, Keith Fisher and Matt Lindsay came to town. Creek Lewis and Matt Venoit, we hardly knew you. We do know that Venoit was injured (I've heard with a broken leg) and never really had a chance. Lewis, presumably, was healthy and just didn't live up to the promise of his torrid numbers in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League.

The rest of the roster - which includes 12 freshmen, and six each of sophomores, juniors and seniors - features all of the recruited players and NCAA Division I transfers for 2011 other than the two mentioned above, as well as 15 returning Icers from last year, including Chris Cerutti, who was parked for tryouts with a wonky MCL.

Along with the roster from the Icers side, GoPSUSports.com put out sort of an oddly-timed release today referring to the four transfers as "the first members of the men's ice hockey team." If you're not familiar, it's standard fare for those sort of things. Biographicals, quote from the coach, et cetera. The interesting thing to me is the singling out of those four at this time, although it could be related to scholarship offers, which would make sense for established DI players.

In any case, this roster, combined with what we've already seen (and will see) from our 2012 and 2013 recruiting, really adds a lot of clarity to the direction of the program during the transition to NCAA status in that the guesswork of a major variable is now out of the picture. But that all still seems like a long way off - for now, we have a Blue-White Game 25 days from today, followed by the opener against Washington & Jefferson in 32.

Defensemen (9)     Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Brian Dolan        Jr.   6'1"  175   Havertown, PA
Steven Edgeworth   Fr.   6'0"  180   Phoenix, AZ
Nate Jensen        So.   6'0"  185   Shorewood, MN
Dan Loucks         Sr.   6'2"  205   Collegeville, PA
Rich O'Brien       Jr.   5'10" 180   Furlong, PA
Dan Petrick        Sr.   6'1"  180   State College, PA
Brandon Russo      Fr.   5'8"  163   Fairfield, CT
Ryan Seibolt       So.   6'3"  220   Westlake, OH
Peter Sweetland    Fr.   6'2"  205   Newtown, PA

Forwards (18)      Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Tim Acker          Fr.   6'0"  188   Apex, NC
Chris Cerutti      Sr.   5'10" 170   Export, PA
Kurt Collins       Sr.   6'2"  195   Port Matilda, PA
Paul Daley         Sr.   6'2"  190   Toms River, NJ
Josh Daley         Fr.   6'0"  185   Pittsburgh, PA
Forrest Dell       Fr.   5'11" 185   Evergreen, CO
Jacob Friedman     Fr.   5'10" 170   West Bloomfield, MI
Taylor Holstrom    So.   5'9"  165   Yorba Linda, CA
Bryce Johnson      Fr.   5'9"  165   Grimes, IA
Justin Kirchhevel  So.   5'10" 190   Brookings, SD
Michael Longo      Jr.   6'1"  180   Allison Park, PA
Michael McDonagh   So.   6'1"  180   Wilmington, MA
Dan Meiselman      Fr.   6'2"  205   Winnetka, IL
Dominic Morrone    Jr.   5'11" 195   Sewell, NJ
Tommy Olczyk       Fr.   5'8"  184   Long Grove, IL
George Saad        Jr.   6'2"  200   Gibsonia, PA
Nick Seravalli     Sr.   5'8"  175   Ivyland, PA
Eric Steinour      Jr.   6'3"  195   Carlisle, PA

Goaltenders (3)    Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Tim Carr           Fr.   5'10" 170   Pine Bush, NY
Matt Madrazo       So.   5'10" 165   Sea Cliff, NY
P.J. Musico        Fr.   6'2"  185   Orange, CA

Three Stars: August 22-28

3. Cerutti injured during first Icers practice
(The Daily Collegian)

It's pretty exciting to have updates on the Icers again, as opposed to the standard summer fare of recruiting and conference realignment. Well, unless it's someone tweaking their MCL.

Cerutti's situation is complicated by the fact that he's probably a week away from taking the ice and two more away from contract - and tryouts are this week. What, exactly, does that mean? While Guy Gadowsky has said that everyone's starting from zero with him, I don't believe for a second that the plug will be pulled on the leading returning goal scorer because of an injury.

2. Goalie Excited for New Journey
(Lions 247)

If you rely on Twitter for your news, you probably missed this one, since it came out right in the middle of last Tuesday's earthquake. Which is a shame, because this one deserved more spotlight based on P.J. Musico's commitment story alone.

“I got a call around 10:00 Pacific time [from Guy Gadowsky], so it was pretty late over on the east coast,” said Musico.

After speaking with the Penn State head man over the past few weeks, Gadowsky cut right to the chase on that particular night, leading to this exchange between the two.

“So do you want to do this?” asked Gadowsky.

“What?”

“Do you want to play for Penn State?”

“Absolutely!”

The netminder continued to speak with Gadowsky for a bit longer, and when they finished the call Musico was a bit taken aback.

“When I got off the phone I just looked at one of my friends and said to him, ‘I think I just committed.’” Musico joked. “Its almost like I blacked out because I was so excited.”

1. Penn State Icers Hockey Season Ticket Application
(Penn State Hockey)

Get to it.

Best of the Rest

Former Cobber Named Assistant Hockey Coach at Penn State
(cobbersportsinformation.areavoices.com)

Josh Hand's alma mater tosses out some recognition...wait, "Cobbers?"

Source: Winter Classic announcement delayed
(CSNPhilly.com)

...which is sort of a problem when you're trying to take advantage of the situation by playing Neumann University at Citizens Bank Park. Figure it out, guys.

The Dunk is wooing collegiate tourneys
(Providence Journal)

The Dunkin Donuts Center, home to the AHL's Providence Bruins (but not the Providence College pucksters) is bidding for the 2014 season-opening Ice Breaker tournament, and...

[Rhode Island Convention Center chairman Jim] Bennett said that if the Ice Breaker is awarded to The Dunk, other schools under consideration besides host PC will be Boston University, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Penn State and Michigan, where Bennett’s son, Mac, will be a sophomore defenseman this season.

Bennett went on to add that BU would definitely join PC as a participant, and as mentioned, he has a connection with Michigan. Notre Dame and Wisconsin wouldn't be in their third season as an NCAA program. So yeah, PSU might be a longshot for one of the last two spots, but here's hoping. I've said before that I think we'd be well-served by maintaining a strong eastern presence, and this is one way to do it.

Penn State coaches make headlines
(The Daily Collegian)

In a summer review of PSU's coaching changes, Josh Brandwene got a few words.

Brandwene, a former Penn State Icer, was announced as the first head coach of the Penn State women’s ice hockey team on June 1. With strong ties to Penn State, Brandwene is ready to get to work building the program.

“This is just so the right fit for me in every way,” Brandwene said in June. “I’m thrilled to be here, I’m looking forward to the challenge."

Maine lands another recruit
(Maine Hockey Journal)

One thing that's kind of nice about college hockey recruiting: unless you're ridiculously plugged in, you generally don't know about the ones you lose until after the fact. This would be one example of that. Canadian center (or centre to him) B.J. Salerno is Maine-bound in 2013 or 2014, spurning Penn State, along with North Dakota and Bowling Green.

Mike Sisti picked up a new neighbor behind the bench this week.

MacKenzie resigns at NU
(Niagara Gazette)

Collins hired as new Mercyhurst women’s assistant
(USCHO)

A pair of coaching moves in College Hockey America this week - former Canadian National Team member Delaney Collins joins Mike Sisti's staff, while Chris MacKenzie has resigned at Niagara, leaving Josh Sciba to serve as interim coach. The extra spot on the Lakers' coaching staff was created when former assistant Paul Colontino left in June to become the head coach at Robert Morris, yet another CHA team.

Remaining CCHA teams will move to WCHA
(College Hockey News)

The "leftover" CCHA and WCHA schools met for a second time this week, and in short order the remaining CCHA schools (other than Notre Dame, which is a "remaining CCHA school" in name only) were invited to join the WCHA. Alaska, Lake Superior State and Ferris State have already accepted, while Bowling Green and Western Michigan are keeping their options open for the time being.

I'll save the full editorial for some other time, but I think it's now pretty fair to call the conference shakeup a horrible development if you're a small school, in spite of all the tired rhetoric from those external to the problem (particularly in the Big Ten and NCHC). Their drumbeat of "there will be more NCAA bids for small schools" kind of blew up on them with this news, so now they're latching on to things like "the Upper Peninsula schools are back together." Please. Anyone familiar with college football and basketball can see what's coming. Hockey's been (mostly) immune to it without big television money, but with the entry of Big Ten Network, NBC Sports, etc. class stratification is coming. This season, there will be 45 programs that can call themselves "major conference." In 2013, that number will be between 35 and 37. And the gaps within that 35-37 will be larger as well.

Bottom line, here's what we're looking at in 2013-2014 right now.

Big Ten: Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin.
NCHC: Colorado College, Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Nebraska-Omaha, North Dakota, Miami.
WCHA: Alaska, Alaska-Anchorage, Bemidji State, Ferris State, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Minnesota State, Northern Michigan, St. Cloud State.
Free Agents: Alabama-Huntsville, Bowling Green, Notre Dame, Western Michigan.
Atlantic Hockey, ECAC, Hockey East: Status quo. Try harder if you need me to list all of them.

Notre Dame will choose between the NCHC and Hockey East at some point hopefully soon. BG's and WMU's directions depend largely on the Irish. UAH...well, let's not talk about that.

Quick bonus link. In an interview, Bowling Green AD Greg Christopher and coach Chris Bergeron had some pointed comments related to how this whole situation played out.

Bergeron:

"My reaction today is, 'It is what it is.' College hockey is a small world, and I think it has been fractured. College hockey has prided itself on its personal relationships, and I think they have been affected. Make no mistake about this: At a time where adding a team might add to college hockey, adding a team [Penn State] has fractured us to the core. It is a tight-knit group, and I think there has been some damage done to that."

Christopher:

"I think history will tell us if there has been any damage. Some people [in the sport] have been great and have been above-board, and other have been a little disingenuous, and that's as far as I will go with that."

NCHC headquarters to be housed in Colorado Springs
(fightingsioux.com)

Stunningly, it's not in Grand Forks, ND.

"I Like Pegula" Tee
(store716.com)

Sabres fans are crazy, in a good way. Has there ever been a t-shirt honoring a sports franchise owner (strictly in an ownership role...Mario Lemieux the player doesn't count)? Well, Buffalo can give you about 100 of them, including this one, which also conveniently matches PSU's color scheme.

Nationals Day 1/Rhode Island 2, Penn State 0

Collegian summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // VFTB recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap
Team press release // Box score

This will be a pretty short post, just because I'm completely out of gas after a day full of watching hockey, I'm still upset about the game, and the internet in my hotel is slower than a health bomb on a D3 team. You don't want to read that much about it, I'm sure. Besides, what am I supposed to say? "Boy, I hope we get that power play straightened out for next week!"

I've been following Penn State hockey for quite a while, but one thing I've never gotten used to is the finality of the ACHA national tournament. We start in October and plow through 30 to 35 games until the end of February. There's an ebb and flow to each game, groups of games, and the season itself. Sometimes it all goes by quickly, sometimes not, but either way, one quick game ends all of it once the calendar turns to March. Sometimes, it's sudden death, like last year against Central Oklahoma. Sometimes it's a slow bleed, like the championship game against Oakland in 2007. But either way, it's one game that lays waste to months of work.

Any time you lose a close game, you always think back to the missed opportunities, but this game featured missed opportunities of a particularly excruciating variety.

• At the ten-minute mark of the second period, Marek Polidor won a battle on the boards to spring Mike Broccolo. Broccolo came in one-on-one and made a fantastic move to burn Dan Lassik (one of the ACHA's best defensemen), but shot it wide.
• With about a minute left in that second period and the Icers on the penalty kill, Dom Morrone hustled and won a race to the the puck in the offensive corner after it had been cleared. He got it to Paul Daley in front of the net, but Daley's turnaround attempt hit the inside of the post and got behind Rhody goalie Paul Kenny - all without fully crossing the goalline.
• Chris Cerutti put the puck in the net with 15:50 left in the game, but after he had quite literally crashed the net and taken it off its moorings.
• With 8:22 left, and at the tail end of a Penn State power play, Cerutti's one-timer was denied by Kenny's best save of the game, as he moved left to right to deny the sniper.

I haven't even fully discussed the Icers' three consecutive power play attempts in the first half of the third period, and I won't. It all adds up to mean that Shawn Tingley's second period rebound goal held up as the the winner in what was effectively a 1-0 game. He's a great player and Rhode Island has a great defense and great goaltending - I guess ultimately you'd rather lose to a good team than get shocked by scrubs.

Epitome of my day as a Penn Stater - this conversation between me and some random guy during the second intermission of the Delaware-Robert Morris (IL) game.

Him: HEY! PENN STATE! I GO TO PENN STATE!

Me: Shitty game, eh?

Him: I don't know man, I think we can take the whole thing! Are you a coach?

Me: No, it's just a sick jacket.

Him: I don't know man, you look like a coach.

Me: I'll send in my resume.

Then he started talking about wrestling, how good Penn State is at it, and how he would've wrestled at Delaware if they hadn't dropped the sport. I can't stand wrestling, no matter how good we are at it, so I pretended to get a text message and left.

Anyway, Robert Morris (IL) looms in the 11th place game tomorrow at 5:00, and while the game is purely for pride, here's hoping we send out this season and these seniors with a win against a quality team.

Other Games



I'm going to start with the other games in the better of the two rinks. Yes, I'm talking about Gold. Better hockey games, better cell reception. Those two things make me happy.

Oakland press release // Box score

Amazingly, the only overtime game of the tournament so far, after last year's OT fest. Here's the Oakland side of things:

The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies hockey team has advanced to the second round of the 2011 ACHA Men's Division 1 Championships with a 3-2 victory over the #6 Minot State Beavers. Junior forward Jordan MacDonald sent the Beavers home when his deflection from in front of the goal beat goaltender Wyatt Waselenchuk. MacDonald deflected a shot from defenseman Jacob DeSano after he walked the blue line after receiving a pass from Kevin Kranker.

The Grizzly offense came to life finally in the third period when MacDonald's shot from the top of the circles found the back of the net. Kevin Kranker and Adam Novack were credited with the assists. Then with just over four minutes to go Novack fired a bomb that Waselenchuk only got a piece of to give Oakland a late 2-1 lead. DeSano and MacDonald netted the assists. Minot State refused to give in however, as Kale Dolinski's second goal of the game with just 64 seconds left tied the game at two.

Box score

I didn't see a second of this one, because it wasn't on TV at the California Tortilla, which needs to get in Ohio ASAP. Sue me for not eating rink hot dogs for dinner. And it figures that the game I miss ends up being a pretty good game, and with no outside account of the events.

Me discovering the place that's apparently called Cal Tort for short > you knowing about this game. Sorry, it's pretty good.

Adrian press release // Box score

People are probably going to roll their eyes at this score and write it off to your typical autobid game, but that wasn't the case at all to me. A game Stony Brook, behind the goaltending of Josh Brand (no relation to Icers assistant Josh Hand) and Wesley Hawkins' power play goal 23 seconds into the third period, cut the lead of the heavy favorites to 3-2 before the roof caved in on them. History, however, is written by the winners, so...

The Adrian College ACHA DI team advanced in the National Tournament with a 7-2 win over Stony Brook. The Bulldogs are now 30-8 on the season.

Adrian's Jared Semple got the scoring started early netting a goal at 16:33 of the first period. Stony Brook would add a power play goal with just over two minutes left in the period as the two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of the first period.

The second period belonged to the Bulldogs as goals by Cody King and Shamus Finnerty put Adrian in the lead 3-1 going into the final period.

The Seawolves scored their second power play goal of the game just 23 seconds into the third period to pull within a goal. The Bulldogs refused to let Stony Brook get any closer as they held Stony Brook scoreless the rest of the period while netting four of their own. Kevin Sunde netted Adrian's fourth goal midway through the period before Alex Norman scored the Bulldogs first power play goal of the game at 6:47 of the third. Jack Goodell added a goal 1:10 later before Semple netted another goal to finish off the scoring for the game.

Ohio press release // Canton press release // Box score

Admittedly, I didn't see a ton of this one, but the parts I did see didn't leave me feeling very good about picking the Bobcats to win the whole thing. While OU didn't exactly steal it, they were by far the better team, Canton was able to counterpunch on occasion, they drew penalties, and of course got some great goaltending. Here's how the Canton people saw it:

Senior Jimmy Merrow (Plainsboro, N.Y.), an all-ECHL First Team selection, had another stellar outing between the pipes in the national tournament as he stopped 48 of 51 shots against the Bobcats, who entered the tournament averaging 5.4 goals per game.  Merrow turned aside 51 shots in last year’s opening round game against Penn State.

The Roos, who surrendered a goal in each period, had several terrific chances to get on the board with the man advantage as Ohio was whistled for nine penalties.  The Roos have converted 23.5 percent of their power play chances this season but were denied on Saturday by a strong Bobcats defense.  The Roos had one five-on-three advantage in the second period and one more in the third, but couldn’t solve Bobcats’ goalie Blake MacNicol, who recorded his nation-leading fifth shutout of the season.

Davenport press release // Box score

All that needs to be said:

Rutgers is under there somewhere.

Lindenwood press release // Box score

I didn't get a picture of the Lindenwood team bus, sorry about that.



Delaware press release // Box score

Just to get this out in the open, with Penn State eliminated, I'm taking up for the Blue Hens. I've never been one to buy into the whole "root for your conference" thing, but I can't see an all-ESCHL final as a bad thing. Who are you rooting for now? OU? Lindenwood? That's what I thought.

So with that in mind, I liked what I saw from UD tonight. They have that definite home-ice swagger going for them, and for the vast majority of the game, they took it to a pretty decent Robert Morris (IL) team. But then they got in some penalty trouble, with calls to Brandon Weiner and Zack Reubel giving the Eagles a long 5-on-3, where Nick Fina capitalized.

It could have been a backbreaking goal, as just before the penalties, Delaware had more close calls on the other end than I can count. If RMU carried that lead into the second intermission, it might have been disastrous, momentum-wise. Dave Lombardi singlehandedly put an end to all of that crazy talk with the best goal I saw today. While killing another penalty, he came hard on the forecheck, created a turnover, passed it out to Nick LePore, got it back in front of the net, and finished with a twisting put-away that I can't accurately describe.

Anything to add, Delaware website?

Freshman Mike Piet (Robbinsville, NJ) was able to crack the deadlock with just 4:23 left to play as he snuck a quick wrist shot between the pads of Venet giving the Hens a lead they would not relinquish. Freshman Christian Tasker (Wilmington, DE) iced the victory for Delaware, putting an empty net goal away after an unselfish pass by fellow freshman Mark Zeszut (Wilmington, DE).

Oh right, they needed those goals too.

Down in front.

Sunday Tournament Schedule

Quarterfinals:

3. Ohio vs. 11. Oakland, 10:00 a.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

2. Davenport vs. 7. Rhode Island, 1:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

1. Lindenwood vs. 9. Oklahoma, 4:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

4. Adrian vs. 5. Delaware, 7:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

15th place game:

15. Rutgers vs. 16. Slippery Rock, 11:00 a.m., Gold Ice Arena

9th place game:

6. Minot State vs. 8. Arizona State, 2:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena

11th place game:

11. Penn State vs. 12. Robert Morris (IL), 5:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena

13th place game:

13. Stony Brook vs. 14. Canton, 8:00 p.m., Gold Ice Arena

ESCHL Semifinals: Delaware 3, Penn State 1/Rhode Island 5, West Chester 4

Collegian summary // Collegian recap // Onward State recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

VFTB highlights // PSU press release // UD press release // Box score

Well, that sucked.

I don't know of a nice way to describe what happened Saturday afternoon, so I'll just get straight to the point: the Icers were outworked, out-talented, out-coached and pretty much out-everythinged today by Delaware. We didn't look like a team that was the least bit interested in building on some of the successes of this semester, and unless something changes drastically in the next two weeks, the trip to nationals is going to be just as quick as the one to the ESCHL playoffs. As it stands, I'm not the least bit worried about missing a Penn State game as a result of my having to come home from Delaware on Travel Monday to take a midterm.

It wasn't always this ugly. Just 4:02 into the game, Dan Loucks took out Connor Moore behind the Penn State net. Marek Polidor then collected the loose puck and fired possibly the only stretch pass all afternoon that worked from his own goalline. After deflecting off the Delaware defense at center, it found a somehow-onside Chris Cerutti behind everyone, and Cerutti finished like he's been known to do from time to time. Good to have you back, Chris.

This concludes your summary of the Icers' offensive effort Saturday. Following the goal, the game looked a lot like the beginning of the Robert Morris-West Chester first-round game where the dominant team, inexplicably, was trailing. That fun only lasted until 7:41 of the second period, when a Zack Reubel dump-in took a strange bounce and was misplayed by Matt Madrazo. Thus ended the Icers only chance of winning the game, which more or less amounted to hoping Madrazo - who was outstanding otherwise - somehow made that paper-thin lead hold up.

That's not to say there weren't chances, although they were few and far between. On one such chance with 2:25 left in the second, Kurt Collins and Chris Pronchik used a blue line turnover to start a 2-on-1. Reubel hustled back from the opposite side and a combination of his nice play and some of the opposite from the Penn Staters foiled that effort. Just 25 seconds later, a deflected David Conte shot found the stick of Kevin Miller (the Delaware one), and Miller beat Madrazo with what would prove to be the game winner.

The Icers' last best chance to tie it up came with 8:55 left when Tim O'Brien took a pass just to the side of the net and attempted to stuff it in. O'Brien and several teammates thought he had scored, but it was immediately ruled that the puck had not crossed the line before coming to rest underneath Blue Hens goalie SJ Broadt. A power play with 1:44 left, combined with Madrazo being pulled, added some late drama, but ultimately it only led to an empty netter to supply the final margin.

So what's wrong with the Icers? In the chat room that's part of the UStream broadcasts, a couple of long-time fans hit on a couple problems today that I probably haven't examined here enough.

5:21 icersfan: sad that they don't seem to be communicating on the ice, this is what happens
5:22 icersfan: and if they play like this at natty's it will be one and done
5:23 sox88: you're right fan i attribute it to coaching though, you mix up pairings if somethings not working or change a d system that and where's the captain's putting fire into the players
5:24 icersfan: I agree soxs, but this has been a season long issue, it should have been fixed by now
5:25 edhume3: They lost some good coaching when Bill Downey left.
5:25 icersfan: mind you it is getting worse, ya gotta wonder if the NCAA move has something to do with it
5:25 icersfan: I hate to see them go out like this
5:27 icersfan: ed your right the loss of Downey was not good
5:27 sox88: agreed on both accounts, plus i seem to recall we had alot more asst vol coaches around too, i certainly miss Doc and Darren's help
5:30 sox88: and btw if it is a season long problem which it is makes it even more a coaching issure
5:30 sox88: issue sorry
5:31 icersfan: I think it has been a season long issue sox
5:32 sox88: agreed
5:33 icersfan: not sure what happened with coaching this year, not as good as in the past
5:35 sox88: you brought up the whole DI thing as a distraction and that could be the case to an extent with everyone wondering whats going to happen to the team
5:37 icersfan: True, maybe I am more correct than I thought

The volunteer assistant thing is something that had never even crossed my mind before, but it strikes me as a valid point - the numbers and quality probably aren't where they have been in the past. Probably more a testament to Joe Battista's magnetism than anything else. I like what I've seen from Josh Hand, so I'm not ready to say that Downey's departure caused all of this inconsistency. The NCAA transition has undoubtedly given us a giant bullseye and probably has created some tension with the underclassmen.

It's probably not a simple answer, and that answer may include all or none of those things. As of right now though, it looks like we'll have a nice, long offseason to figure it out.

Are there any positives? Well Madrazo, as mentioned. Although I once doubted it, I think he can be an equalizer at nationals against teams that, quite frankly, are better than us. The fact that this game wasn't 5-1 or 6-1 is entirely attributable to him. Also, both Cerutti and Taylor Cera returned from injuries - let's hope that some of the awfulness was due to the slightly reshuffled lines that resulted, which of course is something that can be fixed over the next couple weeks. Until we know one way or another, 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.

Speaking of, there was another ESCHL semifinal played Saturday...

Rhode Island's explosive second period that featured goals from four different players over a span of 10:02 helped the Rams survive a late West Chester rally and win 5-4. With the victory, Rhody advances to face Delaware for the ESCHL playoff championship at 1:00 p.m. Sunday.

Those four goals, from Kyle Krannich, Jaryd Coleman, David Macalino and Justin Krute came after West Chester took a surprising 1-0 lead into the first intermission despite being outshot 16-6. And they, together with a Robert Beggi tally early in the third, were enough to counter three Golden Rams ginos in the last 20:07 of the game.

Weekend Observations: Towson

Collegian Friday recap, Collegian Saturday recap, Friday box score, Saturday box score

Old school opponent, old school stomping. There's your one-line recap for the two games.

I'm struggling, because I want to say something bad about Friday's game, if for no reason other than to be balanced. I guess if I have to pick something, it would be the early penalties. Taking two in the first 10 minutes of a game can be a nice way to get behind the 8-ball against a quality team, but in a mismatch of epic proportions like this one? Quite the opposite.

On the second penalty, a slow start sped up in a hurry. Dominic Morrone and Chris Cerutti were relentless on the forecheck. Morrone created a turnover that Cerutti pounced on and gave back to Morrone, who would've had a goal had he not tried to force an extra pass. No matter. Moments later, Towson's Brian Furlong tripped over the neutral zone chasing an errant pass, Morrone hustled to the loose puck, swooped in alone, and scored. Tim O'Brien got in on the shorthanded fun when Towson goalie Stephen Kelly's pass took a funny bounce off the boards and found his stick.

I always try and talk a little bit more about what I considered the key goals in the game, and for Friday, I'm going with the first two, unless someone can name a time a team has scored twice on the same PK and lost. I'm sure now that I said that, someone will tell me that Mike Richards did that at some point in a game the Flyers lost.

On Saturday, you can probably go right back to the beginning of the game. O'Brien in the first minute of the game off a turnover, Cerutti to Morrone on a phenomenal pass just two minutes later, then O'Brien with another goal off another Tigers turnover. We're just 7:56 into the game at this point, but we've clearly seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well for Towson.

Obviously there were a staggering 20 goals scored besides the ones I've already mentioned, and of those, it's worth congratulating Michael Longo on his first Icers goal Friday. And his second. He was in no mood to wait as long for that one as he did for his first, picking Brandon Stroup's pocket right off the draw and scoring nine seconds later (Steve Penstone talked to Longo afterwards here). Also good to see Nick Seravalli on the scoresheet as he continues to get back up to speed. Paul Daley had a hat trick Friday but doesn't get a mention until now - those things happen when there's enough credit to go around. Same goes for Dan Petrick and his hat trick Saturday, or Brian Dolan, who joined Longo in scoring his first Icers goal on Saturday.

Incidentally, rough go for Kelly, as Towson coach Mario Tremblay...errr...Ed Slusher left him in the game for all 25 Penn State goals. I genuinely feel bad for the kid, he deserved better, especially on Saturday when he played better than his stats.

Morrone and Cerutti were reunited on a line, with Kurt Collins on the other wing. I said before that I like the Morrone-Cerutti combo, so I'm hoping it sticks this time. Collins certainly wasn't out of place there either. Exhibits A, B and C in my argument might be goals 2, 7 and 9 on Saturday, all of which were beautiful passing plays involving at least two of them. It wasn't just the goals though, it was the way they carried the play between the goals as well.

I think going with that and Eric Steinour-O'Brien-Daley as your top two is really more like a 1A and 1B (or 1B and 1A, tough to tell), as opposed to the first line/fourth line/who knows what in the middle setup we've been seeing. I think you have to keep Mark Polidor and Chris Pronchik together, and Longo obviously worked well with them - Polidor created the turnover that led to Longo's first.

Yeah, more of these lines, please. Easy for me to say over a weekend in which pretty much everyone who dressed ended up with points I realize, but hey, it's not like I didn't already have pieces of this opinion before these games.

It's always kind of tough to evaluate what you saw in a 13-0 game (or a 12-3 one), and goaltending might be the best example of that. At some point during the third period Friday, Matt Madrazo made two nice saves in a row. I tweeted that he just faced his two toughest challenges of the night, and got this in reply. Yeah, that too. Back in my undergrad days, in a similar type of game, I remember someone from Section E asking Mark Scally if he wanted to borrow his Game Boy. Still ranks as one of the funniest things I've heard. I think Scally cracked up too.

I think the fair assessment is this: Madrazo was barely tested in the first two periods. He saw more action in the third (yes, beyond those two saves I just referenced) and played well. His aggressive style does take him out of position on second chances sometimes, and he needed a great save from Petrick to preserve the shutout on one of those - but all in all, a great game from the freshman. And a great weekend for Petrick - saving shutouts, bagging a hatty, playing up front late on Saturday. Not too shabby.

Teddy Hume, on the other hand, still looks off. He got the start Saturday, and while the stats say three goals in 25 shots, it goes beyond that for me. He still looks like his confidence is shot, playing a little tentatively and giving up juicy rebounds. The first goal was particularly brutal, as it deflected in off his blocker. He was even perforated for four goals by the peewees during the second intermission! Just kidding, he was letting them score. I think.

Possibly the most unfortunate thing in all of this - the motivation of the Icers' record-low No. 11 ranking had to be wasted on Towson. With next weekend off, another ranking will be in the books by the time Penn State takes on Delaware, and I have to think we'll move up a spot or two on the back of these games. However, Kevin Miller is one guy who understands the situation too well to need rankings for motivation, or so he said during the second intermission of Saturday's game (1:24:05 in):

"[We were] a little bit down, and we just had to come out here and work hard and get two wins before the break, kind of get our season back on track...we just want to get some confidence going, we come back after the Thanksgiving break, have a week of practice, and then we have Delaware here. It's going to be a big weekend for us because we dropped two to Rhode Island last weekend, so we gotta get some ESCHL wins here."

My thoughts exactly. No wonder you're a personal favorite of mine.