Ice Lions Announce Challenging 2013-14 Schedule

Taylor Vincent was PSU's second-leading goal scorer as a freshman last season

The ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions have posted the team's 2013-2014 schedule, notable as the lid lifter in Pegula Ice Arena. But it's also notable for its brutality. Consider:

• Two in-season tournaments are on tap, including the ACHA Showcase in October and Navy's storied Crab Pot in February. At the former, PSU will face Michigan State, the defending national champion, as well as Grand Valley State, the D2 runners-up in each of the last two seasons (GVSU ended the Ice Lions' season on the way to the 2012 finals). Penn State, in the form of the Icers, is a four-time Crab Pot champion (1982, 1985-1987).
• As in the case of the Women's Ice Hockey Club, which has to play a couple home games in Altoona this season, the Ice Lions were victimized by an ice time crunch at PIA and will only play 11 home games. Thought we were supposed to be done with that type of thing now.
• A reshuffled Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Hockey Association once again promises to provide some of the stiffest conference competition in the ACHA, with Maryland-Baltimore County, Virginia Tech and Rowan typically among the contenders.
• Out of the MACHA, one highlight is a November road trip to New York University and William Paterson, both perennially strong programs.
• Eight games against ACHA D1 competition are on the docket. Those opponents include Indiana (PA), Washington & Jefferson, Lehigh, Towson and Penn State Berks. Should PSU play host Navy on the Crab Pot's second day, the number will jump to nine.

Could that last bullet predict an eventual move to the top division? While the Ice Lions have always challenged themselves in scheduling, eight (or nine) is an abnormally high number of D1 games - over 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, Penn State played in a combined five such contests. Should a jump be in the cards, an ECHA that includes the Berks campus team as well 2013-2014 opponents Lehigh, Towson and Navy and 2011-2012 opponent Drexel would seem to be a logical conference fit.

Regardless of that blind speculation, D2 is the team's home this season as PSU attempts a first-ever national title by building off of appearances at the ACHA National Tournament in each of the last two seasons. With returning stars like Creek Lewis and Brandon Russo - both of whom have been named All-Americans before - leading the way, Penn State was 27-6-1 a year ago and won the MACHA North Division title. However, a loss to eventual semifinalist Illinois State during the group stage at nationals crippled the team's chances for advancement.

In addition to the schedule, the Ice Lions also announced tryout information, with off-ice meetings on August 27th (returning players) and 29th (new players) preceding the on-ice evaluation from September 3rd through 6th. The Ice Pavilion will host tryouts, as they take place before personnel officially moves in to Pegula Ice Arena.

Here's the full slate, with an asterisk marking MACHA games:

Date	Time	Opponent	Location
9/27	7:35 p.m.	Indiana (PA) (D1)	S&T Bank Arena // Indiana, PA
9/28	3:15 p.m.	Indiana (PA) (D1)	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/4	10:15 p.m.	St. Joseph's*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/5	3:15 p.m.	Temple*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
ACHA Showcase, October 11th-13th
10/11	9:30 p.m.	SIU-Edwardsville	Kalamazoo, MI
10/12	7:00 p.m.	Michigan State	Kalamazoo, MI
10/13	1:00 p.m.	Grand Valley State	Kalamazoo, MI
10/18	10:15 p.m.	Rider*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/26	10:15 p.m.	Monmouth*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
10/27	TBD	Wash. & Jeff. (D1)	Ice Mine // Connellsville, PA
11/2	4:45 p.m.	Delaware*	Rust Arena // Newark, DE
11/3	TBD	Temple*	Flyers Skate Zone NE // Philadelphia, PA
11/8	8:30 p.m.	New York	Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers // New York, NY
11/9	2:15 p.m.	William Paterson	Ice Vault Arena // Wayne, NJ
11/15	7:45 p.m.	Lehigh (D1)	Steel Ice Center // Bethlehem, PA
11/16	1:00 p.m.	Lehigh (D1)	Steel Ice Center // Bethlehem, PA
11/17	2:00 p.m.	Wash. & Jeff. (D1)	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/6	9:00 p.m.	Delaware*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/8	5:00 p.m.	UMBC*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
12/13	8:30 p.m.	Rider*	Loucks Ice Center // Lawrenceville, NJ
12/14	8:15 p.m.	Rowan*	Hollydell Ice Arena // Sewell, NJ
1/10	8:00 p.m.	Liberty*	LaHaye Ice Center // Lynchburg, VA
1/11	7:30 p.m.	Virginia Tech*	Roanoke Civic Center // Roanoke, VA
1/17	9:00 p.m.	Rowan*	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/18	2:00 p.m.	Boston Univ.	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/19	7:00 p.m.	Boston Univ.	Pegula Ice Arena // University Park, PA
1/25	TBD	Monmouth*	Jersey Shore Arena // Wall Twp., NJ
2/1	4:30 p.m.	UMBC*	Reisterstown Sportsplex // Reisterstown, MD
2/2	5:20 p.m.	St. Joseph's*	The Skatium // Havertown, PA
Navy Crab Pot Tournament, February 7th-8th
2/7	4:30 p.m.	Towson (D1)	McMullen Hockey Arena // Annapolis, MD
2/8	TBD	Navy (D1)/Maryland	McMullen Hockey Arena // Annapolis, MD
2/9	2:00 p.m.	PSU Berks (D1)	Body Zone // Wyomissing, PA
MACHA Playoffs, February 14th-16th
2/14	TBD	First Round	TBD
2/15	TBD	Semifinals	TBD
2/16	TBD	Finals	TBD
ACHA National Tournament, March 21st-25th
3/21	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/22	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/23	TBD	Round Robin	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/24	TBD	Semifinals	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA
3/25	TBD	Finals	New England Sports Ctr. // Marlborough, MA

D2 Nationals: Day 3 Roundup

Shortly before the Ice Lions closed out their Pool C schedule with a 6-1 win over Marist, Illinois State eliminated PSU and clinched advancement to the semifinals for themselves through a 3-3 tie with Weber State. WSU - just as in the Wildcats' other two nationals games - was careless with the lead, squandering an 2-0 first-period advantage, as well one of 3-2 in the third period. Allen Urbaniak tied the score on both occasions, first at 2-2 with a spectacular takeaway-snipe in the second period, then at 3-3 from Jeremy Gaddo's feed with 8:51 left in regulation. Josh Ambrosat opened the Redbirds' scoring.

The game did come fairly close to delivering the necessary help for Penn State, against long odds. Had Weber State scored in overtime, and had the Ice Lions not given up an otherwise-meaningless late power play goal in their game, PSU and ISU would have had identical records and goals for-goals against numbers - pushing the Pool C tiebreaker to fewest penalty minutes (the outcome of such a hypothetical is unknown, thanks to the ACHA's absolutely horrendous job communicating information regarding the tournament).

As it stands however, the Redbirds win the group and advance to Monday's semifinals, where they'll take on Pool A winner Grand Valley State at 5:30 p.m.

Other Sunday Scores

Pool A: Grand Valley State 6, Arizona State 0
Pool A: Northeastern 8, Maryland 0
Pool B: Michigan State 5, Miami 4 (OT)
Pool B: Connecticut 5, Colorado State 2
Pool D: Utah State 5, New Hampshire 3
Pool D: Saint Louis 7, Bowling Green 4

Final Standings
(x - team has been eliminated)

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Grand Valley State	2	1	0	9	2	+7	4
x - Northeastern	2	1	0	13	5	+8	4
x - Arizona State	2	1	0	7	11	-4	4
x - Maryland	0	3	0	2	13	-11	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Michigan State	3	0	0	13	10	+3	6
x - Connecticut	2	1	0	13	7	+6	4
x - Miami	1	2	0	8	12	-4	2
x - Colorado State	0	3	0	7	12	-5	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	2	0	1	13	6	+7	5
x - Penn State	2	1	0	13	8	+5	4
x - Weber State	1	1	1	13	16	-3	3
x - Marist	0	3	0	10	19	-9	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Utah State	2	1	0	15	13	+2	4
x - New Hampshire	2	1	0	15	11	+4	4
x - Saint Louis	1	2	0	13	13	0	2
x - Bowling Green	1	2	0	14	20	-6	2

Monday Tournament Schedule

Semifinals

Grand Valley State vs. Illinois State, 5:30 p.m.
Michigan State vs. Utah State, 8:15 p.m.

D2 Nationals: Day 2 Roundup

While the Ice Lions staved off elimination with a big 7-3 come-from-behind win over Weber State Saturday afternoon, they were hurt by Pool C's other result, which saw Illinois State complete a sweep of the group's top two seeds with a 6-3 win over now-eliminated Marist.

Had Marist won, each Pool C team would have been 1-1-0 entering the final day of the round robin Sunday, obviously setting up a wide-open situation that may have proven advantageous to a PSU team trying to claw back from an opening loss to the Redbirds. As things stand though, ISU is 2-0-0 and also owns a sizable advantage in the goals against tiebreaker. Essentially, Penn State's best hope is a win over Marist tomorrow morning at 11:30 a.m., coupled with a Weber State win over Illinois State in a game beginning at 11:00 a.m. Additionally, PSU will need to allow at least four fewer goals than ISU over the course of those two games.

It's a longshot, but an explosive WSU team can score in bunches, while Marist has only pride left as motivation. It may not be enough at this point, but it's something. And hey, it beats the only alternative that was on the table after day one.

Other Saturday Scores

Pool A: Northeastern 2, Grand Valley State 1
Pool A: Arizona State 3, Maryland 2
Pool B: Michigan State 5, Connecticut 4
Pool B: Miami 4, Colorado State 3 (OT)
Pool D: Bowling Green 6, Utah State 5
Pool D: New Hampshire 4, Saint Louis 2

Current Standings
(x - team has been eliminated)

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Arizona State	2	0	0	7	5	+2	4
Grand Valley State	1	1	0	3	2	+1	2
Northeastern	1	1	0	5	5	0	2
x - Maryland	0	2	0	2	5	-3	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Michigan State	2	0	0	8	6	+2	4
Connecticut	1	1	0	8	5	+3	2
Miami	1	1	0	4	7	-3	2
x - Colorado State	0	2	0	5	7	-2	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	2	0	0	10	3	+7	4
Penn State	1	1	0	7	7	0	2
Weber State	1	1	0	10	13	-3	2
x - Marist	0	2	0	9	13	-4	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
New Hampshire	2	0	0	12	6	+6	4
Utah State	1	1	0	10	10	0	2
Bowling Green	1	1	0	10	13	-3	2
x - Saint Louis	0	2	0	6	9	-3	0

Sunday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

Grand Valley State vs. Arizona State, 2:15 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Maryland, 4:45 p.m.

Pool B

Colorado State vs. Connecticut, 11:15 a.m.
Miami vs. Michigan State, 1:45 p.m.

Pool C

Illinois State vs. Weber State, 11:00 a.m.
Marist vs. Penn State, 11:30 a.m.

Pool D

Bowling Green vs. Saint Louis, 2:00 p.m.
Utah State vs. New Hampshire, 4:30 p.m.

D2 Nationals: Day 1 Roundup

In the Pool C game outside of the Ice Lions' shutout loss to Illinois State, potent Weber State shocked Marist, the group's top seed, 7-6 in overtime. Senior defenseman Reid Mayer ended a wild extra period (and game, for that matter) by intercepting in the Foxes' zone and lasering home the winner. Marist had stormed back from a three-goal deficit late in the second period - including the OT-forcing tally with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

The result gives PSU a mild boost because, at minimum, the Ice Lions winning their last two pool games (which they'll need to do anyway) would ensure a second loss for Marist. Sure, the team will still need help against Illinois State and possibly against WSU as well, but all things considered, needing help on the third or fourth seed is still better than needing help on the first seed.

Other Friday Scores

Pool A: Grand Valley State 2, Maryland 0
Pool A: Arizona State 4, Northeastern 3
Pool B: Michigan State 3, Colorado State 2 (OT)
Pool B: Connecticut 4, Miami 0
Pool D: New Hampshire 8, Bowling Green 4
Pool D: Utah State 5, Saint Louis 4 (OT)

Current Standings

Pool A	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Grand Valley State	1	0	0	2	0	+2	2
Arizona State	1	0	0	4	3	+1	2
Maryland	0	1	0	0	2	-2	0
Northeastern	0	1	0	3	4	-1	0
Pool B	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Connecticut	1	0	0	4	0	+4	2
Michigan State	1	0	0	3	2	+1	2
Colorado State	0	1	0	2	3	-1	0
Miami	0	1	0	0	4	-4	0
Pool C	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
Illinois State	1	0	0	4	0	+4	2
Weber State	1	0	0	7	6	+1	2
Penn State	0	1	0	0	4	-4	0
Marist	0	1	0	6	7	-1	0
Pool D	W	L	T	GF	GA	+/-	Pts.
New Hampshire	1	0	0	8	4	+4	2
Utah State	1	0	0	5	4	+1	2
Saint Louis	0	1	0	4	5	-1	0
Bowling Green	0	1	0	4	8	-4	0

Saturday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

Grand Valley State vs. Northeastern, 4:00 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Maryland, 4:15 p.m.

Pool B

Michigan State vs. Connecticut, 1:30 p.m.
Miami vs. Colorado State, 3:45 p.m.

Pool C

Marist vs. Illinois State, 1:00 p.m.
Penn State vs. Weber State, 1:15 p.m.

Pool D

Saint Louis vs. New Hampshire, 6:45 p.m.
Utah State vs. Bowling Green, 7:00 p.m.

Ice Lions Seek Golden Arches in Gateway City

The Ice Lions went sightseeing in St. Louis on Thursday, but get down to business Friday afternoon

A redemption-driven Ice Lions squad that fell just short during an otherwise spectacular 2011-2012 will now try to close this season on a five-game winning streak and a title at the 2013 ACHA Division 2 National Championships, running Friday through Tuesday at the Hardee's IcePlex in Chesterfield, MO.

Penn State, despite going to the 1997 title game and having several other tournament appearances to its credit, has never won an ACHA D2 championship. Last year's 29-3-0 outfit, coached by Josh Hand, looked primed to deliver one until seeing its season end with a loss (snapping a 24-game winning streak) to Grand Valley State in the final game of pool play in Fort Myers, FL. While that group did see a few senior departures - captain Jim Recupero and star goalie Tom Badali to name a couple - much of the team's core returned this year to try again. Under new coach Matt Morrow, the Ice Lions went 25-5-1 and won the MACHA regular season crown, but saw a 16-game winning streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to Virginia Tech in the league tournament's championship game.

As with last year, PSU's strength rests in a deep and talented group up front, led by power forward Chris Lewis, PSU's leading goal scorer, as well as Franky Reluzco, Taylor Vincent, Joe Zitarelli and Mike Broccolo. Brandon Russo, Mac Winchester, Max O'Malley and Chris Dinsmore anchor the defense, while the goal crease has been more of a group effort this campaign - Kevin Lowthert and Ryan Demuth have split things fairly evenly, with Teddy Steinhart also working in a few games.

For those who don't know, the 16-team tournament is divided into four pools of four teams. Each pool contains one team from each of D2's four regions. Here's how they'll be grouped, including their regional designation (W = West, C = Central, NE = Northeast, SE = Southeast) and rank within that region. The top two teams in each region (based on polls) earned autobids to the tournament, while the other two had to navigate tournaments involving the teams ranked third through tenth in each region on February 23rd and 24th to qualify.

Pool A
Grand Valley State (C1), Arizona State (W2), Northeastern (NE3), Maryland (SE4)

Pool B
Miami (SE1), Michigan State (C2), Colorado State (W3), Connecticut (NE4)

Pool C
Marist (NE1), Penn State (SE2), Illinois State (C3), Weber State (W4)

Pool D
Utah State (W1), New Hampshire (NE2), Bowling Green (SE3), Saint Louis (C4)

Following a set of round-robin games that begin Friday and conclude Sunday, each pool winner will advance to the semifinals on Monday and (if they win there) the championship game on Tuesday. Here's a quick look at the teams PSU will need to beat to make it through the weekend.

Marist College

2012-13 Record: 18-4-4
Coach: Bob Simmons
National Championships: None
Last Season: Eliminated at Northeast Regionals
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY

vs. Penn State: Sunday, March 17th, 11:30 a.m.

Pool C's top seed, Marist, is surprisingly not considered by most to be one of the leading national championship favorites. Grand Valley State, Miami and Michigan State, among a couple others, are all receiving more advance hype, thanks in part to the Red Foxes' reputation as tournament chokers and the fact that it's their first-ever appearance at the biggest tournament in ACHA D2. So I suppose it can be said that PSU received a solid draw into a more wide-open pool than last year, when the Ice Lions were stuck with GVSU, then the defending national champs.

Still, the Red Foxes have earned the right to be called a top team, thanks to their winning the regular-season title of the always-brutal Super East Collegiate Hockey League, which includes fellow nationals team New Hampshire as well as annual contenders like Siena, William Paterson (which went on to win the SECHL tournament for a fourth straight year) and New York University.

The team is fueled by four 20-goal scorers, including Chris Cerbino, Mike Chiacchia, Patrick Erstling and Steve Milanesi, and their reliance on those guys to win games has often resulted in Marist's involvement in high scoring games - the Red Foxes score more than 5.5 times per game on average, yet don't have a goalie that has a goals against average under 3.5, with Zach Gomiela leading a three-headed monster in net.

Illinois State

2012-13 Record: 28-6-2
Coach: Brian Corley
National Championships: None
Last Season: Eliminated at Central Regionals
Location: Normal, IL

vs. Penn State: Friday, March 15th, 3:15 p.m.

The Redbirds, interestingly enough, join Marist as the only teams making their first nationals appearance in the entire field, a reality that might play well for a more seasoned PSU squad. ISU earned their way in following a stirring 3-2 win over powerful Lindenwood at the Central Region tournament thanks to Carter Kernbauer's third-period takeaway-and-bury winner.

Climbing past that threshold for the first time ever was just the most recent in a string of accomplishments that has seen Illinois State take the regular season title in the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association's (not to be confused with Penn State's Mid-Atlantic MACHA) Gold Division, although they fell short in the league playoffs before recovering for regionals. With a robust schedule that includes a season-opening sweep of nationals participant Saint Louis and wins over strong teams like SIU-Edwardsville, DePaul, Missouri, and of course, Lindenwood, it's easy to see how the Redbirds may be a dark horse candidate to emerge from the pool.

Solid goalies Ryan Siuzdak and Scott Czarnik sit at the back of a very balanced team that, in addition to Kernbauer, can roll six other 15-goal scorers. Eric Brown, Brian Reimel and Josh Ambrosat are among this group. Former NAHLer Ryan Dunne is not, which tells you something about their depth.

Weber State

2012-13 Record: 27-10-3
Coach: Joe Pfleegor
National Championships: None
Last Season: Did not qualify for regionals
Location: Ogden, UT

vs. Penn State: Saturday, March 16th, 1:15 p.m.

The Wildcats come in as decided underdogs in Pool C given the balanced strength in the other three teams, although they're more than capable of playing spoiler - witness a road win and tie against tournament team Colorado State back in November that stands out as WSU's regular season highlight.

WSU, which once famously boasted Aaron Dufford - PSU legend John's great grandson - on their roster, struggled mightily with West top seed Utah State, to the tune of an 0-5-0 record in the season series, including 10-1 and 8-2 decisions. Sure, USU is one of a handful of the top national championship contenders, but then again, this is the national championship tournament and the Wildcats are going to have to play and beat teams of that caliber to be successful. In Weber's defense, they did have to take out a tough Utah team at regionals to earn their bid after splitting a regular season series with the Utes.

Count on Dax Hobbs (47 goals - the most in D2 - and 74 points) to do a disproportionate amount of the team's scoring, although things drop off rather quickly after Hobbs, Braxton Green (36 goals, 72 points), Jeremiah Holmes (25 goals, 63 points) and Josh Giudice (21 goals, 33 points). Ian Franke and Craig Peterson both play significantly and capably in goal, while Jacob Holmes and his team-high plus-57 rating will regulate things from the blue line.

The Other Pools

Pool A: Pool A is of special interest to the Ice Lions because, should Penn State advance out of the group stage, the Ice Lions will play its winner in the semifinals. The obvious headliner is Grand Valley State, the 2011 national champs who, as mentioned, eliminated PSU last season before losing to Florida Gulf Coast in the title game. While the Lakers are heavy favorites to emerge from the group, second seed Arizona State has proven their worth through an extremely dense schedule, particularly for a western team. The Sun Devils bombed Weber State twice back in December, went 4-0-4 against a very good Northern Arizona team, and played two tight losses against national title contender Utah State.

Crazy but true: UConn has three players formerly of their school's NCAA team, including Rui Encarnacao

Pool B: Miami, which thumped the Ice Lions 7-3 at the ACHA Showcase on October 6th in PSU's only game against another tournament team, leads what most consider the tournament's strongest pool - Sunday's possible semifinalist-determining game between MU and Michigan State is expected to be one of the best games of nationals, pitting two of the four national championship winning programs (Miami in 2000, MSU in 2005 and 2007) in St. Louis against each other. Still, don't count out Connecticut, in spite of their low seed. The Huskies have three upperclass forwards, Paul Cinquegrana, Rui Encarnacao and Miles Winter, who have played a combined 110 games with the school's NCAA team, and with more success than the typical NCAA-to-ACHA player. Winter had 36 points in 66 career NCAA games, while Encarnacao had 22 in 44.

Pool D: This will be still another top-heavy pool, paced by Utah State and New Hampshire. Both of those teams know where the net is located - the always-potent Aggies, featuring Brian Gibbons, D2's leading scorer last year, pot 5.5 goals per game, while UNH is even better at 5.64 per contest. Their matchup, scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., will join that Miami-Michigan State game to be arguably the two marquee contests of the group stage. As in Pool B, lower seeds Bowling Green and Saint Louis have an extremely difficult road to the semifinals, but the Billikens, coached by former NHLer Todd Ewen, should be a tough out.

Complete Tournament Schedule

All games available on FastHockey.com ($)

Pool A

Friday, March 15th:
Grand Valley State vs. Maryland, 5:30 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Northeastern, 5:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Grand Valley State vs. Northeastern, 4:00 p.m.
Arizona State vs. Maryland, 4:15 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Grand Valley State vs. Arizona State, 2:15 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Maryland, 4:45 p.m.

Pool B

Friday, March 15th:
Michigan State vs. Colorado State, 8:15 p.m.
Miami vs. Connecticut, 8:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Michigan State vs. Connecticut, 1:30 p.m.
Miami vs. Colorado State, 3:45 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Colorado State vs. Connecticut, 11:15 a.m.
Miami vs. Michigan State, 1:45 p.m.

Pool C

Friday, March 15th:
Penn State vs. Illinois State, 3:15 p.m.
Marist vs. Weber State, 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Marist vs. Illinois State, 1:00 p.m.
Penn State vs. Weber State, 1:15 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Illinois State vs. Weber State, 11:00 a.m.
Marist vs. Penn State, 11:30 a.m.

Pool D

Friday, March 15th:
New Hampshire vs. Bowling Green, 3:00 p.m.
Saint Louis vs. Utah State, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 16th:
Saint Louis vs. New Hampshire, 6:45 p.m.
Utah State vs. Bowling Green, 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 17th:
Bowling Green vs. Saint Louis, 2:00 p.m.
Utah State vs. New Hampshire, 4:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Monday, March 18th:
Pool A Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 5:30 p.m.
Pool B Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 8:15 p.m.

Final

Tuesday, March 19th:
Semifinal 1 Winner vs. Semifinal 2 Winner, 7:00 p.m.

FGCU Wins ACHA D2 Title

HockeyYall.com recap // Box score [PDF]

Behind third-period power play goals from Evan Goetz and Dan Echeverri, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles dethroned Grand Valley State 4-2 for the ACHA D2 crown on their home ice Tuesday afternoon.

GVSU - the team that advanced from the tournament's Pool D with a 4-2 win over the Ice Lions Sunday - turned a 1-0 deficit after the first period into a 2-1 lead entering the third, only to subquently see the the result flipped back the other way. The Brothers Wilhelm, Brad and Chad (aside: their parents may be pure evil) provided the goal scoring for the Lakers, who won the 2011 national championship with a win over Michigan State.

A repeat was not to be, however. The Eagles needed only 61 total seconds on the two third-period GVSU penalties to swing the score in their favor. Goalie Ryan Lynch made sure it held up, as he turned aside 47 of 49 shots. That Lakers' Josh LaVigne was also stellar in defeat, making 36 saves before FGCU's 40th shot found a vacated cage to seal the win.

The two teams advanced to the championship game with decisive semifinal wins on Monday. Pool C winner Florida Gulf Coast topped Pool A victor Michigan State 5-2, while Grand Valley State thumped Pool B's William Paterson 7-2.

M2: Penn State 2 vs. Grand Valley State 4

HockeyYall.com recap // Box score [PDF]

Penn State's season came to an abrupt and unfortunate end Sunday afternoon in a loss to Grand Valley State that decided Pool D's semifinalist at the ACHA National Championships. GVSU will now advance to play William Paterson in the D2 Frozen Four.

Matt Smart's rebound goal with 2:54 left in the opening period held as the only scoring of an intense 40 minutes that saw both goalies - Tom Badali and GVSU's Josh Lavigne - turn aside their share of scoring opportunities in a game that often vacillated between tight checking and wide open. The sequence that ultimately decided the game came when Lakers Eric Beaupre and Brad Keough scored in the first 2:17 of the third period. Beaupre's goal, it should be noted, came with Badali tossed aside in what may have been a missed goaltender interference call.

Just when PSU looked buried, down 3-0 late in the third period, they found a spark and demonstrated their guts. First, on the second of just three total power plays in the game, Ryan Gannon got the Ice Lions on the board on a rebound goal with 4:07 left. Just 2:09 later, with 118 seconds remaining, Ben Snow cut the lead to 3-2 on a similar-looking goal to swing the match's outcome back into flux. The rally, however, was cut short when T.J. Laessig was forced to take a penalty to prevent a back-breaking empty net goal shortly after. GVSU added one later anyway to make the outcome academic.

The Ice Lions finish the season 30-3-0 and with a MACHA championship and a nationals appearance in hand. They are also owners of a now-snapped 25-game winning streak that they would have preferred to last until 28. Seven seniors - Badali, Gannon, Laessig, Ryan Seifert, captain Jim Recupero, Albert Juliano and Sean Davis - depart. While that represents a fantastic group of players that will be impossible to truly replace, between the coaching staff, returning players and possible newcomers, it's also hard to deny that the best may yet be ahead of this program.

D2 Nationals: Day 2 Roundup

A few hours before the Ice Lions dispatched Northern Arizona, Grand Valley State eliminated Siena with a 2-1 win in Pool D's other Saturday game. John Schlegel was outstanding in net for the out-manned Saints, but the Lakers' power play proved worth the narrow difference. It first solved Schlegel on a point shot deflection with 2:52 left in the second period, then added another midway through the third (which proved vital when Siena got one back late).

In noteworthy results from other games, William Paterson became the first team to clinch first place in their pool, thanks to the tournament's first tie, between Utah State and Virginia Tech. In the final game of the day, Florida Gulf Coast joined WPU in the semis and clinched first place in Pool C.

These results mean that only two games of tomorrow's eight will be of any significant consequence, with 10 of the tournament's 16 teams now eliminated. Penn State and Grand Valley State will play for Pool D and the right to face William Paterson Monday. FGCU similarly awaits Pool A's winner, to be determined by the Michigan State-Arizona State game. Ties in those games will lead to the advancement of Penn State and Michigan State, respectively.

Other Saturday Scores

Pool B: William Paterson 5, Lindenwood 2
Pool A: Arizona State 5, UMBC 4 (OT)
Pool B: Utah State 3, Virginia Tech 3 (OT)
Pool A: Michigan State 4, New Hampshire 1
Pool C: Michigan 5, Northeastern 2
Pool C: Florida Gulf Coast 2, Colorado State 1

Current Standings
(x denotes eliminated teams)

Pool A

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Michigan State      2    0    0    7    3   +4    4
Arizona State       2    0    0   12    5   +7    4
x MD-Baltimore Cty. 0    2    0    6    8   -2    0
x New Hampshire     0    2    0    2   11   -9    0

Pool B

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
William Paterson    2    0    0    8    3   +5    4
x Lindenwood        1    1    0    7    5   +2    2
x Virginia Tech     0    1    1    4    6   -2    1
x Utah State        0    1    1    3    8   -5    1

Pool C

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Florida Gulf Coast  2    0    0    9    4   +5    4
x Colorado State    1    1    0    7    7    0    2
x Michigan          1    1    0    8    9   -1    2
x Northeastern      0    2    0    7   11   -4    0

Pool D

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Penn State          2    0    0   14    0  +14    4
Grand Valley State  2    0    0   10    3   +7    4
x Siena             0    2    0    1    7   -6    0
x Northern Arizona  0    2    0    2   17  -15    0

Sunday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

New Hampshire vs. UMBC, 9:00 a.m.
Michigan State vs. Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.

Pool B

Virginia Tech vs. Lindenwood, 9:15 a.m.
Utah State vs. William Paterson, 2:45 p.m.

Pool C

Michigan vs. Colorado State, 12:00 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 5:15 p.m.

Pool D

Northern Arizona vs. Siena, 11:45 a.m.
Penn State vs. Grand Valley State, 2:30 p.m.

D2 Nationals: Day 1 Roundup

Box score [PDF]

In the Pool D game opposite the Ice Lions' defeat of Siena, top-seeded Grand Valley State jumped all over Northern Arizona early with first-period goals from Jake Endicott, Tim Marney, Brad Wilhelm and Chad Wilhelm and didn't look back en route to a decisive win. Brad Wilhelm later finished off a hat trick with both of his team's second-period goals.

In the expected romp though, there may be some good news for Penn State: those two goals against tagged to the Lakers, combined with the Ice Lions' shutout of Siena. Should PSU turn in a sound enough defensive effort versus NAU on Saturday afternoon (0 or 1 goal(s) against, possibly more as dictated by the result of the GVSU-Siena game), the Ice Lions will win the goals allowed tiebreaker - the second in the hierarchy after head-to-head - against the Lakers. This means, of course, that should PSU and GVSU both enter Sunday 2-0 and tie each other, PSU would advance to the semifinals.

Other Friday Scores

Pool B: William Paterson 3, Virginia Tech 1
Pool B: Lindenwood 5, Utah State 0
Pool A: Michigan State 3, UMBC 2 (OT)
Pool C: Colorado State 6, Northeastern 5 (OT)
Pool C: Florida Gulf Coast 7, Michigan 3
Pool A: Arizona State 7, New Hampshire 1

Current Standings

Pool A

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Arizona State       1    0    0    7    1   +6    2
Michigan State      1    0    0    3    2   +1    2
MD-Baltimore County 0    1    0    2    3   -1    0
New Hampshire       0    1    0    1    7   -6    0

Pool B

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Lindenwood          1    0    0    5    0   +5    2
William Paterson    1    0    0    3    1   +2    2
Virginia Tech       0    1    0    1    3   -2    0
Utah State          0    1    0    0    5   -5    0

Pool C

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Florida Gulf Coast  1    0    0    7    3   +4    2
Colorado State      1    0    0    6    5   +1    2
Northeastern        0    1    0    5    6   -1    0
Michigan            0    1    0    3    7   -4    0

Pool D

                    W    L    T   GF   GA  +/-  Pts.
Penn State          1    0    0    5    0   +5    2
Grand Valley State  1    0    0    8    2   +6    2
Siena               0    1    0    0    5   -5    0
Northern Arizona    0    1    0    2    8   -6    0

Saturday Tournament Schedule

Pool A

UMBC vs. Arizona State, 11:45 a.m.
New Hampshire vs. Michigan State, 2:30 p.m.

Pool B

Lindenwood vs. William Paterson, 9:15 a.m.
Virginia Tech vs. Utah State 12:00 p.m.

Pool C

Michigan vs. Northeastern, 5:15 p.m.
Colorado State vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 5:30 p.m.

Pool D

Siena vs. Grand Valley State, 9:00 a.m.
Northern Arizona vs. Penn State, 2:45 p.m.

Sunshine State Showdown

The Ice Lions have had a lot of success in their history. Former coach Mo Stroemel, now an assistant with the NCAA women's program, led the team to the 1997 ACHA Division 2 national championship game as well as three other appearances at nationals in his eight seasons at the helm. Pat Fung then kept it going with trips in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Still, the big prize has eluded the program to this point. In two days, just outside of Fort Myers, FL, first-year head coach Josh Hand and his squad will begin their attempt to rectify that.

What are their chances? Pretty good...I think. One of the things that makes D2 nationals compelling is that there is very little crossover between conferences and regions during the season, so projecting how things will play out once everyone is thrown together is pretty difficult. Penn State, for example, has only played two other tournament teams this season while the D1 Icers (for example) played 10 of the other 19 teams at D1 nationals during the regular season.

What we do know: the 16-team tournament is divided into four pools of four teams. Each pool contains one team from each of D2's four regions. Here's how they'll be grouped, including their regional designation (W = West, C = Central, NE = Northeast, SE = Southeast) and rank within that region. The top two teams in each region (based on polls) earned autobids to the tournament, while the other two had to navigate tournaments involving the teams ranked third through tenth in each region on February 25th and 26th to qualify.

Pool A
Arizona State (W1), Michigan State (C2), UMBC (SE3), New Hampshire (NE4)

Pool B
William Patterson (NE1), Utah State (W2), Lindenwood (C3), Virginia Tech (SE4)

Pool C
Florida Gulf Coast (SE1), Northeastern (NE2), Colorado State (W3), Michigan (C4)

Pool D
Grand Valley State (C1), Penn State (SE2), Siena (NE3), Northern Arizona (W4)

Following a set of round-robin games that begin Friday morning and conclude on Sunday, each pool winner will advance to the semifinals on Monday and (if they win there) the championship game on Tuesday. Here's a quick look at the teams PSU will need to beat to make it through the weekend.

Grand Valley State University

2011-12 Record: 29-5-1
Coach: Mike Forbes
National Championships: 2011
Last Season: Finished 1st at Nationals
Location: Allendale, MI

vs. Penn State: Sunday March 18th, 2:30 p.m.

GVSU - the defending national champs - presents as a team eerily similar to the Ice Lions. Stop me if you've heard any of this before.

• In their last game, they won their conference's (the Great Midwest Hockey League) tournament championship over another team at nationals (Michigan State).
• The Lakers boast a 23-game winning streak this season.
• During that streak, they proved more than adequate against Division 1, topping Oakland and Davenport to go with five other wins against teams at D2 nationals (that five number is also equal to PSU's number during their still-active streak).

Unexpectedly, and unlike Penn State, GVSU struggled both before and after the streak. A 1-2-1 start bookended a 3-3-0 finish to the regular season.

"We struggled during the last couple of games," [junior defenseman Craig] Marrett said. "Every team will have some sort of slump, it just happens no matter what sport or level of play. If there's one thing we have to be concerned about, it's that we have that hanging over our heads still. We can't go into Nationals in a slump; we have an opportunity this weekend to get rid of all that by winning two really good games, which will really boost our confidence."

The Lakers, of course, did find their form in wins over Ferris State and MSU to take the GMHL crown.

The stats are just as eye-popping as the wins - and even there, they track pretty closely with PSU. Leading goalie Josh LaVigne has a 2.20 goals against average, which trails very few starting goalies, although Tom Badali (1.37) is one of them. Ryan Welch's 29 goals rank 22nd in D2, while Ice Lion Chris Lewis is just ahead with 30 (Welch also starred alongside Jim Recupero on the D2 Select Team earlier this season, but hey, one comparison at a time). The guy setting Welch up tends to be Eric Beaupre and his team-high 36 assists, while PSU's leader in that category, Recupero, has 28 apples.

If you only watch one game during the Ice Lions' run through the round robin portion of the tournament, make it this one. Not only is it likely to determine Pool D's semifinal representative, but the winner may very well take the whole thing.

Siena College

2011-12 Record: 25-5-5
Coach: Sean Williams
National Championships: None
Last Season: Finished 8th at Nationals
Location: Loudonville, NY

vs. Penn State: Friday March 16th, 9:15 a.m.

First off, the Saints are an exception to something I said at the top of the post, as they have quite a few opponents in common with the Ice Lions. They opened the season with a tie and a win against UMBC. The next weekend, they swept Temple. SC also beat Liberty 4-2 on November 12th and Virginia Tech 3-1 on February 11th. Penn State was 9-0-0 against those teams, although the Hokies pushed PSU to a shootout on January 14th.

Most of the rest of Siena's record was built in the ultra-tough SECHL, where they tied with William Patterson (the top seed in Pool B if you glossed over that) for the regular season title at 10-2-2, but then fell to the Pioneers 3-2 in the league championship game. To be sure, Siena is a dark horse in the group behind GVSU and PSU, but they're certainly a quality team that can sneak up on people and win their way to the semis.

Former SUNY-Cortland (NCAA Division III) Red Dragon Sean Williams is now in his sixth year at the helm of the Saints and with four nationals appearances in that time, SC can fairly call themselves one of the best programs in D2. A highly defensive team that surrenders fewer than two goals per game (backed by junior goalie John Schlegel and his 1.91 goals against average) will help see to it that Siena is a tough out. Up front, Chris Harjung (16 goals and 22 assists) and Randy Ciciola (15 and 22) provide enough offense to get the W on most occasions.

Northern Arizona University

2011-12 Record: 18-12-1
Coach: Keith Johanson
National Championships: None
Last Season: Finished 8th in West Region
Location: Flagstaff, AZ

vs. Penn State: Saturday March 17th, 2:45 p.m.

The IceJacks are heavy underdogs to make it out of the group. In fact, in a Hockey 101 tournament pool, 12 of 36 entries (at the time I checked) tabbed NAU as the most likely team in the entire tournament to head home at 0-3. So why the disrespect?

One place to start is their fairly unimpressive 18-12-1 record, which includes just 7-9-1 in games played away from home. NAU was 1-6-1 against teams in this tournament, winning at Arizona State on October 7th and drawing with Utah State on February 4th in a wild 8-8 game. Also, while the school has quite an interesting hockey history - including a brief time in NCAA Division I that produced NHLers Greg Adams and Bob Beers - success in the program's current incarnation is much more recent. The IceJacks went to nationals in three consecutive years in ACHA Division 3 (2007-2009), but this is their first appearance at the D2 level after moving up following that 2008-2009 season.

Still, as the Icers can tell you, there's something to be said for a team that has to battle to get there. Here's the IceJacks' road through the west regionals.

They first had to make it past #8 San Diego State, a team who NAU has lost to the last six straight meetings. After getting off to a quick start 1-0, NAU fell behind later in the game and had to battle back. Down 5-4 late in the third period, Ryan Greenspan netted a breakaway back-hander to tie the game. Both teams then held off furious rallies to send it into overtime.

Five minutes into the overtime period, NAU took care of an SDSU turnover and was able to keep the puck in their own zone. Flagstaff native John Isbell received a pass and fired a quick wrist shot over the shoulder of the SDSU goaltender to give NAU the intense 6-5 victory and kept the playoff dreams alive.

In the second game, NAU battled with the #6 Utah Utes in a close game throughout. After a scoreless first period, both teams traded goals in the second. Through the first two periods, the strengths of both teams were clearly evident. Utah used their speed and quickness to keep NAU’s offense at bay and NAU used their size to play physical on Utah.

In the third period, NAU was able to break the close game as Michael Farnham gained the puck in the corner and fired a shot in the middle of the zone to make it 2-1. Utah pulled their goaltender with a minute left to give themselves a man advantage but NAU held it off and netted an empty-net goal with seven seconds left to seal a National Tournament berth.

If Northern Arizona is to pull off what is unthinkable to many, they'll need to find some defense and goaltending that hasn't really been where it needs to be all season - or hope Gregory Park and Taylor Dustin find a way to make the opposition's D look even worse.

The Other Pools

Really, there's little reason for PSU to be concerned with the 12 teams outside of Pool D right now, as none stand a chance of crossing paths with the Ice Lions until the semifinals - assuming PSU makes it that far. But here are some things to watch from each other group.

Pool A: Besides Grand Valley State, Michigan State is the only active program to win a D2 national championship in the past eight seasons. That's not quite as impressive as it sounds on the surface, since former champions Oakland (2004, 2006) and Davenport (2008-2010) now compete in Division 1. Still, the 2005 and 2007 winners should be considered a favorite in the group. They were responsible for snapping GVSU's long winning streak and head coach Jim Martin, architect of both of the Spartans' titles, certainly knows what it takes to win the tournament. PSU's MACHA rival UMBC will also compete in Pool A, although with a ton of injury issues, they'll have a hard time advancing - still, Jon Drago gives the Retrievers that puncher's chance that only good goaltending can provide.

Pool B: Utah State is bringing the top two scorers in all of D2 to the tournament. Brendan McDonald (108 points) and Brian Gibbons (100) are the only players in the country to hit the century mark, with each doing it in 29 games. Still, USU's big scorers will have to get through William Paterson to advance. The Pioneers are making their fourth consecutive nationals appearance and rolled through a very tough schedule to the tune of 26-2-3.and an SECHL playoff championship. MACHA team Virginia Tech is also in this group, but they are heavy underdogs (in fact, they were the only team to get more 0-3 votes than NAU).

FGCU's Jake Coyle, two transfers ago.

Pool C: Florida Gulf Coast is both the host school for this tournament and one of its favorites. While they've only lost twice this season, one of those losses was to Northeastern, conveniently stashed in the same pool to give them something to think about (the other loss was to D1's Eastern Michigan). FGCU has come under criticism in ACHA circles for both the age of their players and their nomadic nature. One example of both is 24-year-old junior Jake Coyle, one of the team's top scorers. After significant stints in the NAHL and EJHL (with a USHL call-up mixed in for good measure), Coyle played at NCAA Division III Utica College in 2008-2009. He left for Lindenwood (D1 version) after one season, then moved on again after one season with the Lions, to FGCU. Another top player, Mike Lendino, is in his sixth year with the program.

Complete Tournament Schedule

All games available on FastHockey.com (free account required)

Pool A

Friday, March 16th:
UMBC vs. Michigan State, 12:00 p.m.
New Hampshire vs. Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 17th:
UMBC vs. Arizona State, 11:45 a.m.
New Hampshire vs. Michigan State, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 18th:
New Hampshire vs. UMBC, 9:00 a.m.
Michigan State vs. Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.

Pool B

Friday, March 16th:
Virginia Tech vs. William Paterson, 9:00 a.m.
Lindenwood vs. Utah State, 11:45 a.m.

Saturday, March 17th:
Lindenwood vs. William Paterson, 9:15 a.m.
Virginia Tech vs. Utah State 12:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 18th:
Virginia Tech vs. Lindenwood, 9:15 a.m.
Utah State vs. William Paterson, 2:45 p.m.

Pool C

Friday, March 16th:
Colorado State vs. Northeastern, 2:45 p.m.
Michigan vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 5:15 p.m.

Saturday, March 17th:
Michigan vs. Northeastern, 5:15 p.m.
Colorado State vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 18th:
Michigan vs. Colorado State, 12:00 p.m.
Northeastern vs. Florida Gulf Coast, 5:15 p.m.

Pool D

Friday, March 16th:
Siena vs. Penn State, 9:15 a.m.
Northern Arizona vs. Grand Valley State, 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 17th:
Siena vs. Grand Valley State, 9:00 a.m.
Northern Arizona vs. Penn State, 2:45 p.m.

Sunday, March 18th:
Northern Arizona vs. Siena, 11:45 a.m.
Penn State vs. Grand Valley State, 2:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Monday, March 19th:
Pool A Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 1:30 p.m.
Pool B Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 1:45 p.m.

Final

Tuesday, March 20th:
Semifinal 1 Winner vs. Semifinal 2 Winner, 1:30 p.m.