Three Stars: July 30-August 5

3. 'PegulaVille' to offer campout for hockey games
(The Daily Collegian)

Of course, the Collegian runs something on PegulaVille - the new, hockey version of Nittanyville - right after I put up last week's Three Stars. So this is old news for many of you, but I'm not being thorough if I don't include it. Oh hey, Connor Varley quote:

“This would be another way that we can come together as a university, and this would benefit the entire school,” said Varley. “We as a team see that support will really motivate us to do well for the fans.”

This is a worthy effort that I hope all of you students get behind. I've said all along that I feel like our student section will immediately be one of the finest in the nation (I am admittedly worried about the 5,000 grown-up seats at the PIA), so get out there and do it.

2. Several rules proposals gain approval
(ncaa.com)

Not much to see here, as the Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved everything the Ice Hockey Rules Committee proposed back in June. Among the changes: hand passes in all zones are now outlawed, and "distinct kicking motion" and "net off the pegs" rules when making a goal/no goal determination will more closely follow the NHL after being much more limiting before (just ask Michigan State). I ran everything down in more detail when the proposals were first released, so I'll pass on doing it again here.

1. David Goodwin Still Solid On Penn State Hockey Program
(Creve Coeur Patch)

To me, this is less about the headline - there was no reason to think that wasn't the case - and more about the quick glimpse into how the staff is working on the current commits (and probably the potential ones as well).

After the sanctions were handed down, Goodwin said he was assured by Penn State Hockey Head Coach Guy Gadowsky that the sanctions would be limited "in finances and support," to the football program.

Along the lines of support, Goodwin said he was also assured that the hockey program's chief benefactor, Terry Pegula, owner of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and a Penn State alum, was still on board.

Best of the Rest

More from Sunday's Hockey Game
(Seldom Seen)

I stumbled on this blog last week, which contains amazing photography, including some of the Icers last season. Here are the other posts with hockey stuff:

Sunday's Hockey Game #1
Pre-game Warm-ups
Action Shot
Crowd and Player
Hockey Faces

Seldom Seen is definitely worth looking over for its other content as well, though. I highly recommend the "Penn State" tag.

Leagues of Their Own: Nick Ellis (Providence)
(Over The Boards)

There's not a direct PSU connection here, but hey, interesting stuff is interesting stuff. Make sure you bookmark OTB, as they're looking to close a few of the light-years* between football/basketball recruiting media and hockey recruiting media.

Also, because I'm never one to pass on a compliment:

On a side-note, isn’t it awesome that Penn State already has such a thorough and dedicated blogging staff before their first season? Things like that are what make me love college hockey.

Yeah, "staff." I'll be sure to pass that along to "them." But in all seriousness, thank you!

* One light-year is 5,865,696,000,000 miles. That's like 1500 miles for every single dollar to Terry Pegula's name. Hockey recruiting media isn't that far behind football and basketball. I will no longer be so flippant in using the term "light-years."

Kevin Roy commits to Northeastern
(The Mack Report)

A few weeks ago, I called Vermont the definitive low-hanging fruit, in terms of Penn State pulling off a major conference win this year. One thing that could have changed that? If recent Brown decommit Kevin Roy, who shredded the USHL for 54 goals last year became a Catamount (along with brother Derick, who also decommitted from Brown), that would have added some instant cred to UVM. But hey, good news, he's going to a school we're not playing.

It really has not been a very good offseason for Vermont. And I represent Penn State, which I think gives that statement a decent amount of credibility.

Simon Fraser, ironically, doesn't have varsity hockey. But their non-varsity team has
won the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League in three of the six seasons
it has been around. Ben Van Lare (pictured) is a Texas native and former Des Moines
Buccaneer who will help lead the Clan into 2012-2013.

NCAA opens door for Canadian school to be member
(Yahoo!)

In a move that could certainly impact hockey down the road, Burnaby, BC's Simon Fraser University is a President's Council vote away from joining NCAA Division II as a full member (they were already a provisional member). We're still a long, long, long way off from a flood of schools now in the CIS starting NCAA Division I hockey programs, but it's still interesting to think about. And hey, maybe it'll force a rules change that would allow the scheduling of ACHA teams as exhibitions.

Dallas to Host U.S. Hockey Hall Induction
(usahockey.com)

Eddie Olczyk, already announced as a 2012 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, will be formally enshrined in Dallas on October 15th. Tommy, presumably, will make the trip down after playing in PSU's first two NCAA games on the 12th and 13th, before coming back up for a road trip to Buffalo and Rochester, NY on the 19th and 20th. Busy week.

Colgate adds former Niagara coach Sciba as new assistant coach
(USCHO)

It's always good to see a coach who had his program chopped land on his feet.

A DI Diary

As some of you may know, I've spent most of the last couple weeks grinding through the all-time schedule and results for the men's program(s). Today, I'm happy to report that the hard part of the project is complete and that I believe I've put together the most complete historical score record of Penn State hockey in existence:

M Results/Season: 1909-present

I won't bore you with my methodology (it's on the page I just linked if you really, really need it), but I will share something that I believe is of general interest - PSU's all time record against current NCAA Division I programs.

The varsity team of the 1940s, as most of you probably already know, played three different teams presently competing at the DI level a total of four times. The fact that they were all road games should be about the least surprising thing ever to anyone familiar with that team.

2/5/1944 @ Cornell, L 1-8
2/26/1944 @ Army, L 3-18
1/18/1947 @ Colgate, L 0-14
2/12/1947 @ Army, L 3-12

The Icers also played Army twice, once in West Point, once in a tournament at Kent State (Army's records omit the first of these two as an exhibition):

11/21/1980 @ Army, L 4-6
3/6/1982 vs. Army (at Kent, OH), L 3-10

The Black Knights, of course, appear on the coming season's schedule, October 26th to be precise.

Alabama-Huntsville claims the first three club national titles ever, in 1982, 1983 and 1984. The Chargers beat PSU in the championship tournament en route to the first two, then three times in the regular season leading to the third.

Another team on this year's schedule is Alabama-Huntsville. The Chargers, much like Penn State, transitioned to NCAA status from a highly-successful club program. While the two have not met since UAH's permanent move to DI, from Huntsville's 1979 formation until their elevation to Division II in 1985, PSU-UAH games were season-defining tilts.

3/12/1982 vs. Alabama-Huntsville (at Boulder, CO), L 3-4
3/5/1983 vs. Alabama-Huntsville (at Huntsville, AL), L 3-4
11/18/1983 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 3-6
11/19/1983 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 3-4 (OT)
12/9/1983 vs. Alabama-Huntsville (at Johnstown, PA), L 3-9
12/10/1983 vs. Alabama-Huntsville (at Johnstown, PA), W 5-4
11/16/1984 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 3-6
11/17/1984 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 2-4

The first two games on that list took place at the U.S. National Collegiate Club Hockey Championships, and UAH went on to take the title in both 1982 and 1983. The Chargers also claim a 1984 title. Penn State does as well, a reality made possible by the existence of two separate national championship tournaments in 1984 (and 1985 as well). UAH and PSU did meet four times during the 1983-1984 regular season, with three of four meetings going to the boys in (lighter) blue. I'm not giving up our stake in 1984 though, don't worry.

Huntsville went on to become quite successful in DII, taking the 1996 and 1998 national championships. After the first of those, they handed the Icers their worst-ever loss (tied with a 15-0 defeat by Princeton's freshman team in their second year of existence).

10/25/1996 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 0-15
10/26/1996 @ Alabama-Huntsville, L 1-3

Joe Battista's ninth game as Icers coach was against Holy Cross, a PSU opponent on December 7th and 8th this year.

11/21/1987 @ Holy Cross, L 1-7

One final team on the Nittany Lions' inaugural NCAA schedule is Robert Morris. During RMU's formative years, the Icers earned a split in two games. The win is PSU's only one against a current DI team that came while that team was competing in DI.

10/8/2005 @ Robert Morris, W 3-2
10/8/2006 @ Robert Morris, L 0-6

Legendary Notre Dame coach Lefty Smith - who now has his name on the rink at the new Compton Family Ice Arena - coached against PSU four times.

Notre Dame dropped from NCAA Division I to the non-varsity ranks for a single season, 1983-1984, before bumping back up for 1984-1985. The Irish played PSU twice in each of those years.

2/10/1984 vs. Notre Dame (at Johnstown, PA), T 4-4
2/11/1984 vs. Notre Dame (at Johnstown, PA), L 1-6
11/2/1984 @ Notre Dame, L 2-8
11/3/1984 @ Notre Dame, L 3-10

Northern Arizona was a DI program from 1981 until 1986. It's a little suspect that they would play in the club national championship during that time (the source of the one PSU-NAU meeting), but hey, they were a year away from having 17-year NHL vet Greg Adams on their roster, so whatever. Kent State was a frequent Icers opponent both before and after their DI run from 1986 through 1994, but the teams only met twice during KSU's varsity era. Findlay and Wayne State round out the collection of now-defunct DI-ers (of note: PSU split a pair of games with Findlay during their time in DII immediately before moving up).

3/14/1982 vs. Northern Arizona (at Boulder, CO), W 5-4 (OT)
2/13/1987 @ Kent State, L 2-9
2/14/1987 @ Kent State, L 2-8
11/26/1999 @ Findlay, L 2-6
11/27/1999 vs. Wayne State (at Findlay, OH), W 5-2

Finally, a one-off game with no obvious segue.

10/17/1993 @ Massachusetts, L 2-7

In all (and excluding the UAH games along with the first two Notre Dame games), the Icers were 3-10-0 against DI teams, with a goals for-goals against of 34-85, or 2.6-6.5 per game. Certainly not pretty, but then again, not terrible either, all things considered. I should point out that I've excluded Villanova from that record (and indeed this entire post until now). For what it's worth, the Icers were 6-1-1 with a 49-18 GF-GA against the Wildcats from 1982 through 1998, the span VU was listed as an NCAA Division I program. I think Nova was about as DI as I am a Pulitzer Prize candidate though.

Mercyhurst and Canisius are now Atlantic Hockey rivals, but in another day and another division, they often opposed the Icers.

Before I exit this post, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that some of PSU's most extensive history with current DI programs actually comes via Atlantic Hockey's Canisius and Mercyhurst. The Lakers were DIII from 1987 through 1992, then DII from 1992 through 2000, before finally hitting DI. The Golden Griffins were a DIII program from 1980 until 1998, then jumped straight to DI at that point.

11/14/1981 @ Canisius, L 4-8
1/16/1982 vs. Canisius, W 6-4
1/29/1983 vs. Canisius (at Annapolis, MD), W 7-4
2/22/1985 @ Canisius, L 6-12
11/7/1986 vs. Canisius (at Allegany, NY), L 3-5
11/4/1988 vs. Canisius (at Geneseo, NY), L 2-6
10/26/1991 @ Canisius, L 4-5
2/19/1995 @ Canisius, L 1-8

1/31/1988 vs. Mercyhurst (at Geneseo, NY), W 6-3
11/5/1988 vs. Mercyhurst, L 2-6
12/18/1988 vs. Mercyhurst, L 3-5
1/14/1989 vs. Mercyhurst, L 2-9
1/6/1995 @ Mercyhurst, L 4-5
1/7/1996 @ Mercyhurst, L 4-13