Ice Lions Announce Roster, Schedule

Former Icer and USHLer Brandon Russo isn't done wrestling with Ohio just yet - he'll do so with the Ice Lions against the D2 Bobcats on November 16th and 17th.

Matt Morrow, the new head coach of the ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions, will pilot a 31-man roster through a 28-game regular season schedule, the team has announced.

Here's the roster:

Defensemen (9)     Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Forrest Dell       So.   5'10" 185   Arvada, CO
Chris Dinsmore     Jr.   6'3"  215   Sinking Spring, PA
Robert Fauth       Fr.   6'0"  185   Carmel, IN
Matt Knudson       Fr.   5'11" 198   Upper Arlington, OH
Max O'Malley       Jr.   5'10" 180   Aston, PA
Tyler Person       Fr.   6'1"  180   Brick, NJ
Brandon Russo      So.   5'7"  175   Fairfield, CT
Tyler Starn        Sr.   6'1"  170   Pittsburgh, PA
Mac Winchester     Sr.   6'2"  205   Newton Square, PA

Forwards (18)      Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Joseph Bonazelli   Fr.   5'11" 180   South Windsor, CT
Mike Broccolo      Sr.   6'2"  185   Webster, NY
Peter Daley        Jr.   5'7"  155   Hopewell, NJ
Neil Laessig       So.   5'9"  165   Lansdale, PA
Chris Lewis        So.   6'0"  215   Fort Covington, NY
Robert Liberge     Fr.   6'1"  195   Lynn, MA
Fredrik Linge      So.   5'10" 165   Porsgrunn, Norway
Austin Meehan      So.   6'0"  175   Yardley, PA
Chris Putsch       Sr.   6'1"  195   Media, PA
Brian Reed         Fr.   6'1"  195   Chester, NJ
Franky Reluzco     So.   5'9"  180   Fredrick, MD
Ben Snow           So.   5'8"  170   Webster, MA
Joe Spagnola       Fr.   5'11" 182   Mountain Lakes, NJ
Ryan Urban         So.   6'0"  170   Chester Springs, PA
Will Vaeth         Fr.   5'10" 175   Horsham, PA
Matt Venoit        So.   6'0"  195   Virginia Beach, VA
Taylor Vincent     Fr.   5'8"  175   Lafayette, LA
Joe Zitarelli      Sr.   5'11" 185   Center Valley, PA

Goaltenders (4)    Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Ryan Demuth        Sr.   6'1"  175   Yardley, PA
Martin Gudewicz    Jr.   5'9"  162   Pittsburgh, PA
Kevin Lowthert     Sr.   5'11" 190   Prospect Park, PA
Theodore Steinhart Fr.   5'9"  165   West Orange, NJ

To casual observers, the obvious focal point of the roster will be Dell and Russo, two members of the final ACHA Division 1 Icers team last season. They'll join 2010-2011 Icers Winchester and Zitarelli (who played for the Ice Lions last year), as well as Broccolo (who didn't) to form a significant part of the team's nucleus.

Taking things a little deeper reveals a team that, while suffering some significant losses from last season, still brings back plenty of firepower and adds quality players to complement the returners. The expression "reload, not rebuild," although a cliche, certainly applies here.

Lewis, last year's leading scorer (32 goals, 24 assists) and a second-team All-American, will be back, as will sniper Reluzco (15 goals) and four of the team's best defensemen, including Dinsmore and O'Malley. Demuth, who won seven games in goal a year ago, will get first crack at replacing Tom Badali, who posted a 1.45 goals against average while winning his first 20 decisions of the season. The newcomers include former Jr. Flyers Cleek and Vaeth, as well as Daley and Lowthert, who make the move to University Park after playing for the ACHA D3 team at the Brandywine campus.

Robert Liberge arrives at Penn State from Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, MA.

Penn State will attempt the tall order of topping 2011-2012's achievements - a 31-3-0 record that included a 25-game winning streak, MACHA regular season and playoff championships and an ACHA national championship tournament appearance - against a schedule that includes a nice mix of familiarity and novelty. The usual league opponents like Temple, Delaware and Virginia Tech are all there, but so is a series in the legendary environment (midnight starts, raucous crowds) of the Kentucky Wildcats, a pair of games each against D1 opponents Lebanon Valley College and Penn State-Berks (including November 11th at LVC's home, the venerable Hersheypark Arena), and mid-season tournaments in Washington, DC and Loudonville, NY.

By the way, the fact that two games are shown on November 11th is not an error - PSU is really going to attempt the day-night doubleheader with five hours of bus in between. If you're intrigued by that, and you should be, games are streamed on the team's UStream channel.

September 2012

Fri. 28 vs. Penn State-Berks (ACHA D1), 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 29 vs. Rider, 8:00 p.m.
Sun. 30 at Temple, TBD

October 2012

Fri. 5 vs. Lebanon Valley College (ACHA D1), 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 6 at ACHA Showcase (Washington, DC), TBD
Sun. 7 at ACHA Showcase (Washington, DC), TBD

Sat. 13 at Delaware, 5:15 p.m.

Sat. 20 vs. Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m.

Sat. 27 vs. St. Joseph's, 1:00 p.m.

November 2012

Fri. 2 at Monmouth, TBD
Sun. 4 at Rider, 2:15 p.m.

Fri. 9 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sat. 10 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sun. 11 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sun. 11 at Lebanon Valley College (ACHA D1), TBD

Fri. 16 vs. Ohio, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 17 vs. Ohio, 7:30 p.m.

December 2012

Fri. 7 vs. Delaware, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 8 vs. Temple, 7:30 p.m.

Fri. 14 at Penn State-Berks, 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 15 at Rowan, 8:15 p.m.

January 2013

Fri. 11 at Liberty, TBD
Sat. 12 at Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m.

Fri. 18 at Kentucky, 11:55 p.m.
Sat. 19 at Kentucky, 11:55 p.m.

Fri. 25 vs. Monmouth, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 26 vs. Rowan, 7:30 p.m.

February 2013

Sat. 2 at St. Joseph's, 5:30 p.m.
Sun. 3 at Maryland-Baltimore County, TBD

Fri. 15 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD
Sat. 16 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD
Sun. 17 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD

Sat. 23 at ACHA D2 Southeast Regionals (Location TBD), TBD
Sun. 24 at ACHA D2 Southeast Regionals (Location TBD), TBD

March 2013

Fri. 15 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Sat. 16 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Sun. 17 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Mon. 18 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Tue. 19 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD

M: Penn State 3 vs. Neumann (NCAA DIII) 6

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap // StateCollege.com recap

Examiner.com recap // Examiner.com photos // GoPSUSports.com photos
USCHO recap // Onward State recap // Delaware County Times recap

Official site recap // Neumann site recap // Box score

Two Jordan Zalba power play goals, the first with 10 seconds left in the opening period, helped drive Neumann to a 6-3 win over Penn State at Citizens Bank Park Wednesday night in front of nearly 5,000 fans.

After Zalba's first goal gave the Knights a 2-0 lead at the first intermission, Taylor Holstrom's deflection of a Peter Sweetland shot got the Icers back within one early in the second period. However, Cory Park's finishing of a 2-on-0 situation off of a turnover less than four minutes later helped ensure that PSU wouldn't get that close again. The teams traded goals from that point on, finishing with an Andrew Love empty-netter. Holstrom's linemates, Tommy Olczyk and Justin Kirchhevel, also scored for Penn State.

The live blog from the game is below.

M: Penn State 5 vs. Pittsburgh 1

Collegian weekend recap // Collegian Sunday recap // Official site recap

Box score // View From the Booth recap/highlights

The Icers (9-0-0) avoided a letdown on Sunday afternoon against Pittsburgh after the riveting come-from-behind win against Fredonia State on Saturday night. With the top line of Taylor Holstrom, Tommy Olczyk and Justin Kirchhevel sitting this one out, the speed line of Bryce Johnson (2 goals), Dominic Morrone (1 goal, 1 assist) and Jake Friedman (2 assists) picked up the scoring slack. P.J. Musico made several large, timely saves to keep the Panthers at arm's length throughout the game, while Pitt goalie Rob Behling stopped 50 of 55 to prevent the Icers from blowing the Panthers' doors off.

M: Penn State 4 at Rhode Island 2

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

View From the Booth recap/highlights

The top-ranked and 7-0-0 Icers completed a gritty sweep over Rhode Island with a 4-2 win on Saturday. Although Bryce Johnson, Michael Longo, Jake Friedman and Taylor Holstom scored and twelve Penn Staters in all registered a point, the true star of the game was PSU's penalty kill. The Rams were 0-for-7 on the power play, including an empty 5:41 stretch late in the third period, 1:38 of which was a two-man URI advantage. Penn State needed every ounce of that effort to overcome notorious Icers killer David Macalino's pair of goals.

PSU is back at the Ice Pavilion Saturday, November 5th at 7:00 p.m. against NCAA Division III SUNY-Fredonia.

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.

M: Penn State 5 at Illinois 2

Collegian recap // IlliniHockey.com recap // Box score

View From the Booth recap/highlights 

Behind a much more balanced effort - which featured goals from five different scorers, including Forrest Dell's first as an Icer - Penn State defeated Illinois to sweep the weekend series. PSU overcame a much better outing from the Illini and goalie Nick Clarke, as well as eight minor penalties.

Click the play button on the Cover it Live box below to read the TYT live chat.

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.