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:

The View From Everyone Else

Surely by now, you've read and laughed at (I see you, Josh Weiner) the official TYT predictions for nationals (Part I, Part II, Part III). Before we crank things up tomorrow, I wanted to highlight some of the other great work done ahead of the show.

Every tournament game will be streamed on FastHockey.com. The site requires a free account, but the usual game credit fees will be waived for all ACHA tournament games.

2012 M1 National Tournament
(achahockey.org)

Let's start with the nuts and bolts - the ACHA site's tournament page, which includes a schedule [pdf], brackets [pdf] and a link to the tournament's official site (which includes ticket and hotel information).

Icers Primer: The ACHA Tournament (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

(Black Shoe Diaries)

IcersGuy always manages to say a couple things I wish I had said, whether about already-played games or now this. His read on the Icers is spot on, and he also hedges on predictions better than me.

Tournament Thoughts
(The View From the Booth)

Steve Penstone's entry, as usual, is packed with interviews - Guy Gadowsky and Dan Loucks are in the spotlight this time around, and the Joe Battista conversation from the second intermission of the Kent State game is included as well.

Icers Take Aim at One More National Title Before Going Division I
(statecollege.com)

Twitter god Ben Jones gets insightful quotes from Gadowsky, Kurt Collins and Dan Petrick here. The Collins/Petrick angle - local guys who have a history with the Icers and State College hockey prior to their freshman years - is a previously undertapped one.

Icers should win ACHA Title
(The Daily Collegian)

A bold call from Christine Newby, but then again...

2012 ACHA Tournament Preview: Round 1 and Quarterfinals
(pennstatehockey.com)

The official site takes a look at each of the four possible Icers opponents on Saturday and Sunday.

Perspectives from other teams: Illinois // Liberty // Oakland // Ohio // Robert Morris (IL)

M: Penn State 13 vs. Kent State 1

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

The last Icers game at the Ice Pavilion ended the same way as numerous others - with Penn State (27-3-1) on the right end of a lopsided score against an overmatched opponent. The victims this time around were the Kent State Golden Flashes, and it's probably fair to say that this affair was even less competitive than the score. PSU's 13 goals trumped KSU's 12 shots, with Justin Kirchhevel, Bryce Johnson and Tommy Olczyk each scoring twice. Kirchhevel and Mike McDonagh tied for the team lead with five points each and in all, 17 of the 19 dressed skaters notched points (only the defensive pairing of Rich O'Brien and Dan Loucks was shut out).

In 562 games at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion since its opening on January 16, 1981, the Icers went 466-65-18-13, a record that includes wins in the last 21 games. PSU will now hope that neutral ice is equally friendly, as the ACHA national championship tournament in Strongsville, OH March 2nd through 7th is all that remains of the season and the Icers era.

M: Penn State 6 vs. West Virginia 1

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

The Icers finished off West Virginia without a loss (this weekend or ever) Saturday afternoon. The following is from the Collegian. I'm ignoring the usual blockquote style due to length.

---

No. 1 Penn State (19-3-1) completed its sweep of No. 23 West Virginia (13-14-0) with a decisive 6-1 victory Friday evening.

It was the fifth straight win for the Icers and extended the team’s home win streak this season to 13 in-a-row.

After an impressive 8-0 win Friday night, he start of the game didn’t go according to plan. West Virginia’s Tod Camara scored on the first shot of the game for either team, beating Penn State goalie Matt Madrazo on a breakaway.

From that point on the Icers were in control. Penn State scored six straight goals and outshot West Virginia 36-20.

The Icers didn’t get out of the game unscathed with senior captain Dan Loucks suffering a hip contusion during the second period. Loucks skated back to the bench under his own power, but needed assistance getting back to the locker room for the intermission.

With the Icers top scoring line of Taylor Holstrom, Justin Kirchhevel and Tommy Olczyk, getting a day off, Penn State brought a balanced attack. Different players scored all six of Penn State’s goals.

On special teams the Icers dominated their opposition, killing the only penalty they faced and scoring on all three power play opportunities. Kurt Collins, Josh Daley and Dan Petrick all scored when the Icers had the man advantage.

Three Stars: September 19-25

3. Category:Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey players
(Wikipedia)

Curtiss Patrick and Alon Eizenman have Wikipedia entries. Cool.

2. Coach Gadowsky says practice will remain intense despite injuries
(The Daily Collegian)

The big blow: Senior defenseman Dan Petrick is out six to eight weeks with a broken wrist. Also bad: Nick Seravalli's groin is bothering him. Slightly better: Chris Cerutti's recovering well from the MCL sprain he suffered on the first day of practice.

1. The Long & Winding Road
(View From the Booth)

P.J. Musico and Guy Gadowsky were Steve Penstone's subjects this week. Neither seems to mind travel.

Steve had a busy week, also sneaking in a three-parter - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 is pending - with Joe Battista. In Part 2, Battista says he can't wait to share the plans for Pegula Ice Arena. Really? Then what's stopping you? Throw something out there on a site that probably gets more hits in five minutes than TYT does in a month, add the caveat that changes may still be made, and give people what they want. There is absolutely no harm whatsoever in doing that, and to claim otherwise - or to act like nobody's seen anything - is disingenuous.

OMG WHAT'S THAT?!? Surely decoy mock-ups that PSU administration commissioned Crawford to complete with some of that $88 million just to throw bloggers off the scent.

Best of the Rest

Western Michigan, St. Cloud accept NCHC invites; WCHA ‘disappointed’
(USCHO)

About freaking time.

St. Cloud State will say 'No' to "Super League"
(Husky Hockey Time)

Hey, remember that time that the SCSU president said that they wouldn't join the NCHC (despite not having been invited at that point)? Even more funny now.

According to the St. Cloud Times, St. Cloud State University will say 'No' to any offer to joining the new proposed "Super League". SCSU President Earl H. Potter III said today that, "We expected to be in conversations about being in a new league. But as we looked at it ... we intended to say ‘no.’ " Potter also stated, "We intend to stay in the WCHA and a take a leadership role to continue the legacy of the WCHA."

College Hockey's Latest Head Scratcher
(The United States of Hockey)

Five Questions on Realignment
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Two of my favorite hockey bloggers check in with some analysis. And believe it or not, Bowling Green has leapfrogged Notre Dame as the school everyone's watching right now. They have asked for and received an extension on the WCHA's deadline for accepting their invitation, which expired over the weekend. Will they (following Notre Dame's acceptance of an NCHC invite) take the 10th slot in the Axis of Evil? Will they take the WCHA invite after some deliberation? Will they, as WCHB suggests is a possibility, drop their program? Or...

Bowling Green Meets with AHA Schools, Buffalo
(The Ciskie Blog)

...will they go ahead and start their own conference with Canisius, Mercyhurst, Robert Morris and Niagara, Air Force and...Buffalo? Buffalo? The Buffalo we beat for the 1989 ICHL championship at the Ice Pavilion? That Buffalo?

Yeah, that Buffalo.

Oh, and guess what? This extended itself beyond the rumor stage Sunday when UB officials confirmed their interest. Get Buffalo on board, and the MAC is just two schools away (Kent State? Ohio?) from forming its own college hockey conference. Then Akron can elevate its ACHA D2 program. This is all part of my master plan.

An open letter to Terrence M. Pegula
(buffalo.com)

Speaking of Canisius and at the risk of sounding like a guy who doesn't know where his DI programs came from, someone from the Golden Griffs camp has shamelessly requested that The Namesake pay for their arena as well. Despite compelling arguments like "the entire city of Buffalo thinks you're swell" and "we're Jesuit, you're Jesuit, so basically, you owe this to God," Pegula has yet to park the Sabres practice facility on their campus (although they are in something resembling talks to do just that).

As much as I hated the letter, I do quite like the little guys playing baseball at the top of the page.

RIT picked to finish first in Atlantic Hockey poll
(USCHO)

Future opponent watch. Yep, they're still good. Oh and if you didn't click on the Buffalo thing above, they declined an invite to the meeting about that new conference.

New Icers coaches in process of transition
(The Daily Collegian)

I can't really explain why I like this story, but I do. Maybe it's the jumbo picture of Gadowsky in a PSU windsuit. Still hasn't gotten old.

Checking In: Former CCHA commissioner Bill Beagan
(USCHO)

Some interesting words from Beagan:

It was inevitable that the Big Ten would establish an autonomous NCAA D-I college hockey conference once a sixth team [Penn State] announced the creation of a D-I hockey program. I envision the Big Ten hockey conference expanding exponentially in what I envision another two, and perhaps four additional programs, possibly including Notre Dame, by the time they officially launch their Big Ten college hockey conference. Just makes sense.

The Big Ten television network will eventually outshine ESPN, in my opinion, in terms of college sports coverage on television, and being as we live in a money-driven culture, by Notre Dame joining the Big Ten Conference they [Notre Dame] reportedly would increase their annual television revenue three-fold to what it is presently.

Mortenson Construction Awarded New Sports Facility Work at Penn State
(mortenson.com)

Guess they're doing a good job so far with the PIA.

Mortenson Construction has been awarded its second project with The Pennsylvania State University with the $5 million upgrade of the Artificial Turf Field, home of the men and women's lacrosse teams. Penn State awarded Mortenson’s Sports Group the construction of its new $89 million Pegula Ice Arena earlier this year.

Work on the Field upgrade gets underway this month on the University Park campus in Pennsylvania. The scope of work includes excavating and lowering the existing natural grass turf field, addition of a new artificial turf field, sports lighting, sound system, scoreboard, fencing, playing field accessories and netting. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2011.

Weekend Observations: Delaware

Collegian weekend recap // Friday box score // Saturday box score

I think more that anything else, my No. 1 observation this weekend was the way hockey can get you riding the emotional roller coaster.

Circa Friday night, I was pretty upset. I was ready to tee off on a lot of things, both specific and general. A 2-7-0 record against the top ten this year (at that point) will do that to you, especially when your introduction to Penn State hockey was sometime during the whole ten championship games in a row thing.

Now, all of a sudden, I feel mostly okay. We survived a very good Delaware team with a split. Next week's opponent, the last in the gauntlet, hasn't exactly looked like world beaters without their World University Games players. Nor has Iowa State, one of the teams chasing the Icers for positions in the rankings, who managed two tight wins against ACHA D2 Colorado State over the weekend. In short, I'm no longer legitimately worried about Penn State needing one of these for their next trip to Newark.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all sunshine and puppies. I'm still not convinced that we're able to compete with the top of the ACHA when the stakes are equal for both sides. I'm disappointed that we're treating squeaking out a win to possibly save a nationals bid after being outplayed for the majority of the weekend as some kind of epic victory. I despise that we let the Blue Hens get in our heads and spent much of the two games tossing cheap verbal barbs their way. Or something a little more than a barb, like Marek Polidor at the end of the second period Saturday.

That's not the Penn State I know. But for this week at least, the full rant was postponed.

Okay, on to the actual game stuff...

Much like last week, the unheralded guys really stepped up for the Icers - go no further than the bookend goals on Saturday for evidence of that one.

First was Mike McDonagh, one of last weekend's heroes. He pounced on a neutral zone turnover, came in alone, was denied by goalie Nick Casella, then scored following up. Casella thought it was kicked in - don't ask me to judge things like that watching over the internet - but the officials disagreed. The game winner came off the stick of Mike Broccolo, who had a great weekend against West Chester too, just without the scoresheet cred, at the end of a tremendous shift by he and linemates Joe Zitarelli and Nick Seravalli. Broccolo actually came hard on the forecheck and made an interception to start that entire sequence. Well earned.

Much credit is also due Paul Daley. The guy found himself in the middle of a firestorm this week, but responded with a good weekend, particularly on Friday, when he had a hand in both Icers goals, including his score in the second period that tied the game, briefly, at one. And much like Broccolo last weekend, his efforts went beyond his point total. He's just one of those guys who plays well with a chip on his shoulder, clearly not for everyone, but it works for him.

Dan Petrick had an interesting weekend, to say the least. On Friday, Peter Crampton's eventual game winner bounced in off his body. Then on Saturday, he was victimized on Delaware's first goal when he lost track of David Conte. He counterbalanced this with saving a goal off of the goalline in the first period Saturday and by his generally steady play that makes him a personal favorite.

Matt Madrazo? Do I even need to talk about him anymore? Kid's a flat out stud. 79 of 85 for the weekend.

One major minus on Friday goes to Dominic Morrone for his senseless late-game penalty. How bad was it? Well, let me put it this way. Official write-ups are always dry and facts-only, right? Well, not in this case - the Delaware site's official write-up took the time to rip him.

In the games critical minutes Tasker continued his superb play, getting physical with Penn State forward Dominic Morrone. Morrone, a well-known hot head, took a terrible retaliation penalty giving the Hens a powerplay with just over five minutes remaining. Tasker buried a rebound off a one-timer blast from the point by junior Jason Michaud (Kennebunk, ME) just after the man-advantage had expired, locking up the 4-2 win for the home team.

The timing of the penalty was an absolute back-breaker to begin with - Penn State had cut the deficit back to one and was pushing for the tie. Then the Blue Hens compounded the error by scoring four seconds after the penalty expired in what I like to call "bonus time," those few seconds between the end of the penalty and the man getting back into the play. Steve Penstone said on the broadcast that a penalty should have been called on the initial coming together to which Morrone was responding. I didn't see it well enough to comment, and I'm okay taking his word for it, but you still need to keep your head.

To me, one final storyline for Friday's game was second chance opportunities. The stats say that Delaware outshot Penn State 40-27, and that advantage came in part because their attempts came in twos and ours came in ones. A lot of that is a credit to Delaware goalie SJ Broadt, I thought he was a vacuum cleaner on Friday, and what rebounds he did give up were quickly cleared. As a big believer in the value of getting to the front of the net, I'm also a big believer in the idea that the quickest way to shut down an offense is to not give them a reason to go there.

The Icers now go back home for two - it's been a while, the home games against Delaware were our last full home weekend - against Rhode Island for alumni weekend. I'll get a little bit into the Rams, both in the World University Games and not, as the week goes on, but the initial impression based on their games without the four players in Turkey? We can beat them, twice.

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.

Weekend-ish Observations: Liberty

Collegian Thursday recap
Collegian Friday recap
Thursday box score (Penn State 7, Liberty 3)
Friday box score (Liberty 3, Penn State 2)

Now that it's over, possibly forever unless we schedule them again next season, I'll come clean on one thing, then move on: I have about as much tolerance for Liberty University as LU has for homosexuality. I'm a little bothered that we even play them, given some of the backwards thinking that's a part of the culture there. I'd prefer to see their program shrivel up and die because no respectable opponents were willing to give them the time of day. And yes, I do take it a little personally that we didn't carry our Thursday momentum through to a sweep. I wish nothing but bad things for that program and school.

I needed to say that, thanks for indulging me. Anyway...

I'll start with Thursday and sort of blend into Friday as I go. First off, I actually have to give head coach Scott Balboni a ton of credit for the win in game one. As part of the answer to what was considered a sluggish weekend by most against Ohio, Balboni shook up the forward lines and ended up arranging them this way:

Polidor-O'Brien-Daley
Steinour-Pronchik-Cera
Cerutti-Morrone-Collins
Longo-Zitarelli-McDonagh
Broccolo

There was an immediate payoff, as Pronchik scored on a breakaway 3:22 into the game, then drew a penalty a few minutes later, which led to a power play goal and a 2-1 lead. However, things went a little differently for the next half of a game - sure, the defense was putrid (more on that in a minute), but the offense disappeared as well into a cloud of too much individualism and not enough patience. A lesser coach might have been tempted to tweak the lines again to get something going, but Balboni stood pat and the result was the Icers' best period of the season - driven in large part by the O'Brien and Morrone lines. In fact, each of the top three lines generated at least one even-strength goal Thursday night.

At some point during the first period Thursday, I considered writing something in this post about the improved play of defenseman Dan Loucks. After all, it was Loucks with the beautiful stretch pass to spring Pronchik for that first goal, and I thought he had gradually gotten better since a rough start to the season at Pitt. Then he put an outlet pass right on the stick of Liberty's Rick Turner, who turned it around to beat Teddy Hume for a 3-2 Flames lead, chasing Hume from the game.

Loucks wasn't the only Penn State defensemen guilty of careless play. Liberty's first goal came directly after Rich O'Brien couldn't control a pass around the boards, and the second one, while more directly connected to a Daley-Polidor miscommunication at the blue line, actually began when O'Brien flubbed a point shot. That turnover led to a Turner breakaway, which led to that other error.

Credit? How about Dan Petrick for understanding the defense's shortcomings, then helping to lead a turnaround with his play? He had this to say after the second period (starts at 1:31:11):

"Really it just [came] down to us playing with a nice balance of effort and discipline, and there were times in that period where we had the effort, we were running around and we gave up plays. There were other times we had discipline, we didn't have the effort, we were getting beat to the puck."

From that point forward, the Icers checked in with their most dominant effort against a good team in quite a while - and that included the defense corps, as goalie Dan Ivanir was barely challenged (6 shots in 35:17) after relieving Hume.

I'd love to say that the high of that third period carried over into Friday night, but it simply did not. Special teams were the key early on, as the Icers managed to kill a five-minute major for boarding to Cera - Rich O'Brien stood out as particularly effective on that one - then scored on both ends of a 5-on-3 to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. After Brent Boschman tied the game up early in the second, what had been a well-played game slowly dialed the intensity back to zero.

The Icers' penalty kill came up huge again late in the game when Carey Bell went off for slashing at 15:40 of the third period, but what looked like a game-deciding penalty passed uneventfully. That turned out to not matter shortly after when Jonathan Chung found Stephen Moller, who fired a game-winner home from the top of the circle with 1:45 left. Still, special teams clearly stands out as the biggest positive from Friday night.

By the way, yes, I'm fully aware that Hume has been pulled in his last two starts. I didn't even mention it in my Ohio Weekend Observations, nor did I mention it until now in this post, because I really don't consider it an issue. Hume is a great goalie who was largely victimized by bad play in front of him. Period. I only mention it as a segue into the play of freshman Mathew Madrazo Friday night, in his first start for the blue and white. Despite the loss, I thought he played tremendously, showing great poise in the crease, challenging shooters, not giving up rebounds...basically everything you look for in a goalie. He finished with 31 stops on 34 shots. I don't think it's any great insight on my part to say that Penn State's goaltending is in great hands once Hume's career wraps up.

I started this post talking about forward lines, I might as well close it the same way. Given that the last two periods Friday night looked pretty similar to most of the Ohio series, are we primed for another shakeup, or will Balboni leave them alone and let some chemistry develop? What about George Saad and his bruised knee? Will he be back, and if so, where does he fit? We'll find out next Friday at 9, when West Chester comes in for the front end of a home-and-home.