UPDATED: Lost in the Flood

Josh Daley helped UW-Stevens Point to an upset of third-ranked UW-Eau Claire on December 1st.

UPDATED 12/23, 5:15 P.M.: The original version of this post did not include former Icer Dan Meiselman, now playing at NCAA Division III Connecticut College. Special thanks to Icers great Paul Daley for pointing out the omission.

Way back in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons, a favorite pastime of bored bloggers and their friends was guessing which Icers and Lady Icers would make the jump to the inaugural NCAA teams. There were consensus picks (Tommy Olczyk, Bryce Johnson, Nate Jensen, Taylor Holstrom and Justin Kirchhevel were generally stipulated on the men's side once they were on the team) and also plenty of disagreement. But regardless of the various player assessments thrown out there, everyone seemed to be on the same page in one significant way: there would be bloodshed. Probably lots of it, with only a tiny number of players moving up and many, many more being discarded.

It didn't really play out that way, at least not to the extent envisioned. A grand total of 35 players who played for the Icers or Lady Icers between the donation announcement and the opening of the NCAA era didn't make it to senior day as a member of the highest-level team at Penn State. There are 24 players on one of the NCAA teams who played for the Icers or Lady Icers. The nature of that reality depends heavily on perspective, but I don't think anyone on the outside expected anything close to a 40 percent keeper rate. A good number of tough conversations and hurt feelings along the way were inevitable, but I think both coaching staffs deserve to be commended on their handling of the transition from a numbers perspective.

In the interest of remembering the contributions of those 35 players who did not use up their eligibility due, at least in part, to the transition process (obviously, there are differing sets of individual circumstances in each case), let's put all of their names out there.

From 2010-2011 to 2011-2012

Men: Forwards Andrew Duval, Mike Broccolo, Joe Zitarelli and Alan Clark; defensemen Mac Winchester, Ryan Erbe and Kevin Miller; goaltender Dan Ivanir.

Women: Forwards Michelle Clarke and Lindsey Shuler.

From 2011-2012 to 2012-2013

Men: Forwards Tim Acker, Josh Daley and Dan Meiselman; defensemen Ryan Seibolt, Steve Edgeworth, Forrest Dell and Brandon Russo. Additionally, goaltender Tim Carr transferred from Penn State in the middle of the 2011-2012 season.

Women: Forwards Abbey Dufoe, Kirsten Evans, Katharine Gausseres, Denise Rohlik, Sydney Sherman, Carly Szyszko; defenders Lisa Frank, Paige Harrington, Julie Horn, Allie Rothman, Ashton Schaffer and goalies Katie Vaughan, Sarah Eisenhut and Mary Kate Tonetti. Forward Christina Hurle left the team right around the time Carr did on the men's side, with forwards Sam Summers and Alex Warren-Caldwell also appearing on the roster at the beginning of the season but not at the end.

So what became of them?

It might make this post a little anticlimactic, but the majority (19 of the 35) simply elected to retire - the word they like to use - and finish their Penn State degrees while still being invited to hockey parties. Not a bad way to go out.

Most of the remaining 16 are playing for PSU's ACHA Division 2 teams, the Ice Lions and the newly-formed Women's Ice Hockey Club. Since both teams receive regular coverage here and it would be at least partly redundant for me to talk about them in any great depth, I'll just list their stats so far this season.

First up, the women, who are 4-1-1 at winter break and ranked No. 5 in ACHA WD2.

No.	Name	GP	G	A	Pts.	PP	SH	PIM
14	Carly Szyszko	6	2	1	3	1	0	2
6	Mary Kate Tonetti	6	1	2	3	0	0	4
9	Ashton Schaffer	6	0	3	3	0	0	0
20	Allie Rothman	6	0	2	2	0	0	2
18	Alex Warren-Caldwell	2	0	0	0	0	0	0

No.	Name	GP	Rec.	Min.	GAA	SO	GA	Sht.	Svs.	Sv%
1	Katie Vaughan	5	3-1-1	238.17	0.86	1	4	98	94	0.959
31	Sarah Eisenhut	3	1-0-0	70.77	0.72	0	1	19	18	0.947

Now the men, who wrapped up their fall semester 13-4-1 (5-0-0 MACHA North) and ranked No. 4 in the Southeast Region of ACHA D2.

No.	Name	GP	G	A	Pts.	PP	SH	PIM
46	Joe Zitarelli	18	9	12	21	1	2	6
3	Brandon Russo	18	7	14	21	3	0	28
24	Mac Winchester	18	8	12	20	6	0	28
73	Mike Broccolo	18	6	13	19	1	0	4
77	Forrest Dell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

A very limited number, just four to be precise, sought to continue their hockey careers away from Penn State. Here's an update on how they're doing.

Josh Daley

Forward // 6'2", 185 pounds
Pittsburgh, PA

At Penn State: Daley looked to be one of the stars of the 2011 recruiting class, but never really got consistent ice time during his season with the Icers, playing in just 11 games (and often as a spare forward). He scored twice in a season-opening 12-1 rout of Lebanon Valley on October 7th, 2011, but was rarely heard from after that, putting up just four points over the rest of the season. When he was left off of this season's NCAA roster, he elected to transfer to NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

After Penn State: At UWSP this season, Daley has played in seven of 13 team games - although he's become a lineup regular of late by playing in the last six after participating just once in the first seven. He has a goal, two assists and ten penalty minutes in all, with the goal and one assist coming in the first period of an 8-0 rout of Wisconsin-Stout on December 7th. As a team, the Pointers are 7-5-1 (4-3-1 WIAC), with the undisputed season highlight coming on December 1st via a 4-3 overtime win against UW-Eau Claire, the third-ranked team in the nation.

Tim Carr

Goaltender // 5'10", 170 pounds
Pine Bush, NY

At Penn State: Along with Jake Friedman, Carr was considered one of the first two "NCAA" recruits, since the pair were the first to commit to play for PSU following the NCAA transition announcement - meaning, of course, that they were the first to come in specifically to take a shot at playing for the DI team. However, he quickly fell behind P.J. Musico and Matt Madrazo on the goaltending depth chart, and departed for NCAA DIII Western New England during the semester break of the 2011-2012 season. Carr played in just three games as an Icer - a 6-2 win at Rhode Island on October 28, 2011, a 9-0 blanking of Rutgers on December 3, 2011 and a 4-3 loss at Liberty on December 9, 2011.

After Penn State: At ECAC Northeast-leading WNE (4-1-0 conference record, part of a 6-5-0 overall mark), Carr has blossomed into a very solid goaltender and is one half of a 50-50 rotation the Golden Bears deploy, with Eric Sorenson picking up the remaining minutes. On the year, Carr is 4-2-0 with a 3.06 goals against average and a 0.915 save percentage. His save percentage ranks first among all ECAC Northeast goaltenders, while his goals against average is fourth. In Carr's two conference games so far, his numbers are even better: 1.50 and 0.958, both tops in the league. He was named the ECAC Northeast's goaltender of the week on November 20th after a 41-save effort in a 2-1 win over Salve Regina on November 17th.

Over the second half of last season after transferring, Carr posted a 2.49 goals against average in five starts and went 2-2-1 for a team that finished 14-12-1.

Tim Carr is now one of the DIII ECAC Northeast's best goaltenders at Western New England.

Paige Harrington

Defender // 5'11"
Mansfield, MA

At Penn State: Harrington was part of a huge 13-player freshman class for the Lady Icers last season, and unlike Daley and Carr, she was an every-game player at PSU, appearing in 26 contests. While the extremely well-liked and sturdy defender only scored one goal during the season, it was a spectacular end-to-end rush that stood up as the winner against Vermont on February 19th and helped clinch the ECWHL regular season championship. Despite those heroics, she was omitted from the inaugural NCAA women's roster and transferred back home to Massachusetts.

After Penn State: Now with ACHA Women's Division 1's UMass, a one-time ECWHL nemesis of the Lady Icers, Harrington has clicked to the tune of a goal and five assists in nine games. This time around, her goal was in defeat (5-4 at Liberty on November 9th), although Harrington hasn't done a ton of losing this season. UMass is ranked No. 7 in ACHA WD1, thanks to a 8-3-1 record that includes a pair of wins over the University of New England, a first-year NCAA DIII program. In the ACHA, UMass rallied from two goals down to tie No. 5 Northeastern 2-2 on November 30th. One week later, they beat No. 1 Rhode Island 2-0, with Harrington assisting on a shorthanded goal to open the scoring.

Dan Meiselman

Forward // 6'2", 205 pounds
Winnetka, IL

At Penn State: The big forward was part of the gigantic 2011 recruiting class, via the EJHL's Capital District Selects. In 14 games as an Icer in 2011-2012, he put up six goals and six assists. Two of those goals were the first scores in a 3-0 win at Oklahoma on January 7th that was pretty important to getting the season back on track after PSU lost two in a row (the Citizens Bank Park game against NCAA DIII Neumann and a shootout stunner against Central Oklahoma) to begin the spring semester. He also had a pair in a 13-2 rout of Rutgers on December 2, 2011, and goal-assist efforts in a win over West Virginia on January 20th and a loss at Delaware on November 18, 2011. Like Daley and Carr, Meiselman took the DIII route after missing on a shot at playing DI, winding up at Connecticut College.

After Penn State: At the New London, CT school, Meiselman has appeared in just one game this season, a 3-2 overtime loss at Williams on December 1st. The Camels, clearly suffering the effects of not having former women's player Jess Desorcie (who, of course, pulled a reverse Meiselman, going from CC to PSU) around anymore, are just 2-5-1 (1-4-1 NESCAC), although they did manage a road tie with 12th-ranked Middlebury on November 30th.

2/11 Mercyhurst Postgame: Guy Gadowsky

How do you think [Dan] Meiselman played?

Pretty good, for being back. I thought he was fine. I thought everyone put in a pretty good effort, and no complaints.

Did you feel like he was rusty?

It was a tough game to really – sometimes the hardest part of a 9-1 game is keeping a mental focus. It’s not always the best evaluation, but I thought he looked fine.

How is his head? Did he say anything to you?

He’s fine. Obviously, we would never even chance playing him if he wasn’t 100 percent cleared. The doctors – with any injury really, but especially a head injury. That’s totally up to the doctors. We don’t even touch that.

Were you a little worried when the guy came at him from behind there, with him coming off a concussion?

If he wasn’t 100 percent, he wouldn’t have played, so he’s as fine as everybody else.

Can you say something about Bryce [Johnson] getting two today, since it’s been so long since he was on the ice?

What I really liked to see is, if you saw that 2-on-1 with him and [Taylor] Holstrom, it was a beautiful play. It looked like they had a lot of synergy; I really enjoyed watching that goal. That gives you optimism for how those guys are going to perform in the future.

That whole line did pretty good today, did you think so?

Absolutely. Two goals within [12 seconds], certainly they’re an explosive group, and I thought [Michael] Longo did a good job going to the net, he scored a nice goal. They looked like they’ve been playing together for a while.

You guys are [17-0] at home now, do you see that as a source of pride now, with only two games left?

I sure do. I know the team does. These are great fans, they’re tremendous fans. I think they definitely help us at home, not only playing for them, but I think they deserve a lot of the credit for that record. They pump us up, I think they make it a very difficult place to play, and they’re a big reason for that record.

Do you know what happened to Justin Kirchhevel?

Yeah, he got slashed on the back of the leg; it’s sore. There was no use at that time, it was 6-1 I think going into the third, and it [would have been] ridiculous for him to play. In 6-1 games, you certainly hate to see things like that happen.

You said earlier in the season that it’s hard to separate the Holstrom, [Tommy] Olczyk and Kirchhevel line, what made you do that this weekend?

We want to see if you can get two really high-tempo-powered lines. [Eric] Steinour’s line, in a different way, they have great identity and they’ve been very, very effective. I think the Holstrom-Olczyk-Kirchhevel line has been very effective too, but so has Bryce Johnson. He’s been able to score with everybody. I thought if he could find some synergy with a guy like Holstrom and Kirchhevel could still have that synergy with Olczyk, then you could really have three high-powered lines, and that’s what we’re trying to do.

What made you put [Mike] McDonagh with Olczyk and Kirchhevel compared to everyone else?

There’s a couple things. One is that Olczyk and Kirchhevel seem to have a synergy together and they were both playing the wing. So we wanted someone to play the middle, and McDonagh does a great job going to the net. And when you can go to the net well, it often opens up space for the other guys. As far as centermen go, he’s probably our best going to the net and he’s been very consistent all year, so I thought that’s why he would fit well there.

For the past couple [Friday] games, you’ve made P.J. [Musico] the starter. What made that decision?

A couple of the times, it was performance. And actually a couple of times, we honestly didn’t know who we would start, and we basically had a competition on Thursday. The winner of the competition got to choose which game they started.

Was that this Thursday?

We thought through performance last weekend [against Oklahoma], we committed to starting him Friday. Two of the past weeks was because there was a competition on Thursday and the winner of the competition got to choose, so we’ve done it a couple different ways.

Have you seen [Musico] grow as a goalie over the season?

Yeah. His practice habits – he’s a California guy, and sometimes he can be perceived as a little loose out there. I understand that, but I think his practice habits have gotten a lot better and he’s working really hard at practice. And I think in that sense, he has grown.

Do you think not having a definitive starting goalie has any effect on the team?

I think it’s a positive effect right now because I know for a fact that [the team has] great confidence in both goalies. I think that’s really good to have. If you get into a situation where you have a must game and for some reason one guy gets hurt or he is not playing well, and the other guy has to come in, if your team has great confidence in both goaltenders, I think you’re ahead of the game.

Is there a specific play or anything like that you like to set up after giving up a goal? It seems like you guys are always able to answer on the next shift.

No, it isn’t. That’s basically just credit for the guys digging down and making sure that they answer, it’s not a specific set play.

Good to get one on the power play early today?

I know George [Saad] got one yesterday too on the power play. I mean, yeah, I don’t know what the final numbers were, but I thought it looked good and it’s nice to see. I thought we had good net presence today, so what we worked on, I think we accomplished that today.

What do you feel was the turning point in this game?

Whatever the third goal was. Which one was it?

Olczyk. His second goal.

Was it the one off of the very start of the second period?

Yes.

That one. I thought we were playing well, I think the shots at the end of the first were maybe 21-3, but it was a 2-0 game. And in a two-goal game, anything can happen, but I thought we were playing well. But if we relax and they come out and they get one, then it’s a totally different game. That goal with seven seconds [gone], that’s the turning point, that really solidified the direction the game was going to go.

How is Dan Loucks?

He skated a lot better on Thursday. He looked better to me on Thursday than he has in a while. I don’t know if he’ll be ready or not for Friday, I’d love to get him in another game before nationals, but we’re not going to take any chances. I thought he looked much better Thursday than he has in the past practices.

2/10 Mercyhurst Postgame: Guy Gadowsky

Can you say anything about Bryce [Johnson] in his first game back? How do you think he looked out there?

His speed hasn’t changed. I think if you asked him - I don’t want to speak for him, but if you asked him, his timing might be a slight bit off, but he sure hasn’t lost any speed, and that’s tough to stop. I thought he played well.

And how do you think that line played? Was it the way you were expecting out there?

Not yet, but I think it will be. I think you can see that, even [Michael] Longo on that line, he had speed and was also really tough to the net. When you have Longo doing his job and going to the net and those two [Johnson and Taylor Holstrom] flying around, I think they’re a pretty tough line to stop.

How do you think Mike [McDonagh] fit in with Tommy [Olczyk] and Justin Kirchhevel?

Really well. It’s the same deal. He goes to the net, he’s tough to contain, and it sort of allows them to pick up space. I mean, it’s just one game, but I’m encouraged at what I saw with those two lines.

You mentioned yesterday that you weren’t sure if you were going to be starting Matt [Madrazo] tomorrow...

I am.

Were you impressed with P.J. [Musico]’s play today?

Even though [the Mercyhurst goal] was a breakaway, I think he wants that one back. I’m sure if you asked him, he’d say that. But yeah, he only had I think it was 16 [shots against him]? If you give up one, you can’t be upset with that. But he’d want that one back.

[Jake] Friedman hadn’t scored since December 3rd. Have you talked to him about this?

No, the thing is, and you do watch our practices, I think he’s consistently one of our hardest workers. He probably scores as much as anybody in practice. He works really hard at it, he shows us a lot, he’s got a great attitude, and he’s one of the guys that you just hope that it’s going to come. It certainly wasn’t from lack of effort. He puts the work in in practice. I’m very happy to see it, but hopefully this will open the floodgates for him a little bit.

How big was it to answer that shorthanded goal quickly?

Yeah, you know what? I don’t know, because at the time, I think shots might have been 10-1 or 9-0, and I thought we were playing really well. I thought we were changing quickly, I thought we got everybody involved, and I felt good. And then we give up that goal, but I didn’t feel like ‘oh no,’ if that makes any sense, but certainly, by responding that quickly I think it gave everybody a pretty confident feeling.

Doing anything differently for tomorrow with how Saturdays have gone?

I thought tonight [Eric] Steinour’s line was excellent and we’re going to give them the night off tomorrow.

Who is going to replace them?

We’re taking [Ryan] Seibolt out as well, so replacing those four guys is going to be [Dan] Meiselman, who is cleared to play as of yesterday, [Forrest] Dell, Dom [Morrone] and [Tim] Acker.

Can we put it on the record that [Meiselman] had a concussion?

Yeah, I guess so. Head injury.

Upper-body injury? [laughter]

Upper-neck injury. Yeah, that’s fine. He was cleared. He had a concussion, he was cleared.

This is your first alumni weekend here. What does it mean to you to have all those guys back in and learn a little bit about the history and things like that?

I know a lot about the history, but I haven’t met a lot of the faces. So I’m really looking forward to meeting the guys and certainly through their success and effort is why this coaching staff, why we have this great opportunity to come here, so I really want to meet them.

Feel any pressure this weekend to put on a good show for the alumni?

I think we definitely want to play well, but I have confidence in our team. I don’t think we feel extra pressure, I think the guys are pretty internally motivated. Certainly they want to put on a good show for them, but any time we play here, we have pressure on ourselves to perform.

Will you be involved in the alumni game in any way?

Do you mean ‘will I be playing?’ [laughter]

Or coaching, or on the bench...

I will be a spectator. [laughter]

Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

I don’t like looking the goalies in the eyes before or during. I don’t know why. I don’t like looking the goalies in their eyes.

How long have you been doing that for?

Forever. Even as a player. The starting goaltender, I don’t like to look him in the eyes. I don’t know why. And he doesn’t like to look at me.

Goalies are weird like that, they probably don’t want that either.

I actually think they don’t want to look at me, so I figure it’s only fair to be reciprocal.

In the locker room and stuff?

Anywhere. Before the game, the starting goaltender, I don’t like looking at him.

M: Penn State 3 at Oklahoma 0

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

The Icers (15-3-1, 14-2-1 ACHA), behind a big-time shutout from Matt Madrazo, put together a nice bounceback effort in a 3-0 win over No. 8 Oklahoma (17-9-1). After an uneven first period, Dan Meiselman walked out front and scored what would hold up as the game winner 4:41 into the second. Any Sooner notion of duplicating UCO's Friday night comeback was smashed by Chris Cerutti and Taylor Holstrom goals early in the third, as the Icers - contrary to what one would expect playing a third game in four nights - seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Paul Daley recorded his 98th and 99th PSU points in the win.

M: Penn State 13 vs. Rutgers 2

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

Fresh off of retaining their No. 1 ranking in the latest ACHA poll, the Icers (12-1-0) dismantled No. 21 Rutgers 13-2 in a game that was about as competitive as that score makes it sound.

There are a lot of impressive-sounding ways to slice up a 13-goal output, but perhaps the most telling is this: nine of the 12 dressed forwards scored a goal, including Tommy Olczyk's hat trick and Dan Meiselman's pair. Toss in assists - Justin Kirchhevel had four of those to go with his goal - and the number with points jumps to 11 of 12, along with four of the seven defensemen and goalie P.J. Musico. Another statistical snapshot that effectively captures the spirit of the thing is that Rutgers only managed three more shots than the Icers' goal number. Stated another way, a 25 percent save percentage would have been enough to win the game. However one chooses to break it down, the math works out to one of PSU's most impressive wins of the season, and against a solid club that will appear at nationals.

The two teams are back at it tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m., Penn State's final home game of the semester.

M: Penn State 3 at Delaware 4

Collegian recap // Official site recap // UD Review recap // Box score

Round 1 of a season-defining showdown went to the newly-minted No. 2 Blue Hens, who used a tenacious, opportunistic effort to take advantage of several defensive mishaps in beating Penn State 4-3 on Friday night in Newark, DE's Fred Rust Ice Arena. The Icers are now 10-1-0 this year.

It was a game of rapid momentum swings, occasionally involving the same players on both the positive and negative sides. Shortly after Dan Meiselman put back a rebound to tie the game at one, he turned it over just inside the UD blue line and the error resulted in a Kevin Miller goal on the other end to get the lead back. In the third period, Mark Zeszut and Mike Piet staked the Hens out to a 4-2 advantage off of a pair of turnovers. Just when Delaware looked to coast to the finish line from that point, Rich O'Brien's deflected shot found its way behind S.J. Broadt with 20 seconds left, and the Icers very nearly forced overtime in a game that was frustrating to watch on just about every level (including the watching itself, if you didn't read the Cover It Live below).

While it wasn't necessarily a game the Icers deserved to win, it was a particularly tough pill to swallow beyond the simple destruction of PSU's unblemished record. A Tim Acker blast from the circle appeared to tie the game at three in the third period, but after a brief conference, it was ruled that the net came off prior to the goal. Shortly after that, Piet scored to expand the UD lead. Following an icing call with 1.7 seconds left in the game, the Icers got an offensive faceoff and O'Brien quickly scored, but not quite quickly enough. The game was also notable for the absences of Brian Dolan, Justin Kirchhevel, Taylor Holstrom, Forrest Dell, Paul Daley and Dom Morrone for various reasons.

Regardless, the same two teams will travel to University Park for a Saturday night rematch.

Four Aces

Penn State has announced that four new recruits have joined Jake Friedman and Tim Carr in the class of 2011: forwards Chris "Creek" Lewis, Forrest Dell and Dan Meiselman, as well as defenseman Peter Sweetland.

Since I haven't figured out the best way to cover recruiting yet, let's just stick with the "toss everything I can find against a wall" approach, first used with Carr and Friedman. No YouTube this time, which I suppose means that these four all have well-adjusted parents. Take the good with the bad.

Peter
Sweetland

Defenseman
Green Mountain Glades (EJHL)
6'2", 205 pounds
Newtown, PA

EJHL Player Page

Sweetland's 24 points (3-21), were tops among Glades defensemen as the team advanced to the EJHL playoffs, where they fell in the first round to Friedman's South Shore Kings. On December 9th, he had a season-high three points (1-2) in a 4-3 defeat at the hands of those same Kings. We probably could have used him on the power play last season, as exactly half of his points (1-11) came with the man advantage.

Back in October 2009, Sweetland was named EJHL rookie of the week by HockeyBarn.com. Here's what his blurb says:

Pete had back to back two-assist games for the Stars this past weekend in their split with Apple Core. After being All-League last year in the Empire League, Pete is starting to really understand the intricacies of the game at the EJHL level. Three of his assists this weekend were highlight-reel back door feeds. Pete is a solid student with a 3.5 GPA and continues to get better every week. His grades and upside are attracting significant interest from Division One schools.

Can't wait to see how he's developed since then.

Dan
Meiselman

Forward
Capital District Selects (EJHL)
6'2", 205 pounds
Winnetka, IL

EJHL Player Page

Meiselman was the Selects' leading scorer this season, with 36 points (23-13). What makes this especially impressive is that he did it in 34 games with the team after starting the season with the New York Apple Core. The Illinois native also knows a thing or two about how to finish a season, as he scored in 12 of CD's last 14 games (14 total goals), despite the fact that the team had little to play for, missing the playoffs with a last-place 6-36-2-1 record. And he has a pretty flattering write-up from USA Junior Hockey Magazine to his credit:

Meiselman started the year with the New York Apple Core, scoring two points in six games for Henry Lazar’s crew.

“They had just too many players there, and Danny came up and scored six points in nine games,” said Salfi.

Meiselman, a 1990-born forward from Winnetka, Ill., is a good student, scoring over 2000 on his SAT.

“I’m not sure what he wants to be, but at one time I thought it was an engineer,” said Salfi. “He was out visiting Penn State, which will be Division 1 in the future, but regardless it’s a great school, academically. Dan is one of those kids where you look at the scoresheet after the game and there’s his name [for a goal or assist].”

Offense is certainly the name of the game where Meiselman is concerned.

“He’s always been a guy who can find the net,” said Salfi. “He likes to shoot the puck, and that’s one of the hardest things to do today – to get kids to shoot the puck. He’s not a smooth skater. I believe he started hockey later [than most of his teammates], but he works all summer on it.”

Guess I should have known about him back in December, when that was published. Time to tweak the Google Alerts.

Forrest
Dell

Forward
New York Apple Core (EJHL)
5'11", 185 pounds
Evergreen, CO

EJHL Player Page

Between Friedman, Meiselman and Dell, Penn State has recruited three of the top 50 EJHL scorers from this past season. Dell held up his part of that statement with his 39 points (17-22) in 36 games, good for second on the Apple Core. Prior to his EJHL career, Dell played some Canadian Junior A, spending time in both the Saskatchewan and Manitoba Junior Hockey Leagues.

Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
2008-09  Weyburn Red Wings      SJHL    5    0    4    4    2
2008-09  Winkler Flyers         MJHL   31    8    7   15   16
2009-10  Weyburn Red Wings      SJHL   58   14   21   35   61

I did a Google Image search for each of these players, hoping for a solid action shot. Instead, I got an invite to the gun show.

It's not stalking if you get it from Google - standard operating procedure for these posts - and not straight from his Facebook page. That's the rule that I just made up. Wait, is that even him?

Also, you don't run in hockey, you skate. First person to drop a "Run Forrest!" is persona non grata with me.

Chris "Creek"
Lewis

Forward
Boston Bulldogs (AtlJHL)
6'0", 215 pounds
Fort Covington, NY

AtlJHL Player Page

I think there's one question on everyone's mind here: is "Creek" one of those nicknames to be used in place of his first name, or is it just sort of a second-option type of thing? If I was a legitimate member of the media, that would be my first question for him. Whatever you want to call him, Lewis just finished a second straight stellar season with the Bulldogs, posting 92 (34-58) points in 44 games to follow up his 82 (32-50) in 2009-2010. His second-in-the-league 2010-2011 point total included back-to-back five-point games against the Laconia Leafs on December 19th and January 9th.

The Icers have a pretty extensive relationship with both the Bulldogs and the Atlantic League - Eric Steinour and Josh Hand both played for highly-respected coach Mike Addesa. In fact, Steinour captained the 2008-2009 Bulldogs, while Lewis played 37 games for the team that season.

A couple thoughts on a big-picture level are in order. First of all, I like the fact that we've taken the "eastern" recruiting approach so far, although I'm sure it's just a result of Scott Balboni and Josh Hand both being eastern guys - the to-be-determined head coach will ultimately take things in his direction, of course. Regardless, I hope we can maintain a strong presence in the east to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the Big Ten, which slants towards the setting sun (in hockey terms). Turns out, the whole "we're on the Big Ten Network" thing isn't a valid recruiting pitch against Wisconsin.

Also, while a lot is made of the potential of current Icers to make the NCAA team, here's something a little more immediate to keep in mind: Penn State's departures following this past season were four forwards (Tim O'Brien, Marek Polidor, Chris Pronchik, Taylor Cera), a defenseman (Carey Bell) and two goalies (Teddy Hume and John Jay). In this 2011 class, we've now recruited four forwards (Friedman, Dell, Lewis, Meiselman), a defenseman (Sweetland) and a goalie (Carr). You don't have to be an RPI grad to do that math - there's going to be a squeeze on roster and lineup spots for 2011-2012 if we get any more recruits, and we probably will.