McGee Headed to Holy Cross

What was well known in Penn State and women's hockey circles for quite some time is finally official - former Nittany Lions defender Taylor McGee is headed to Worcester, MA and the College of the Holy Cross for the coming season, the school announced Friday.

McGee, who joined University of British Columbia-bound Katie Zinn in transferring out of the Penn State program this off-season, played 23 games as a freshman in 2012-2013 and put up a pair of assists. When healthy, the Pearl River, NY native and former captain at Taft School was an outstanding puck mover with good offensive instincts from the blue line. Her highlight as a Nittany Lion was probably the opening weekend of the season (and of the NCAA era), as she and defense partner Paige Jahnke were each a +3 in the historic 5-3 win at Vermont on October 6, 2012. The duo followed up with +1 ratings and one of McGee's assists in defeat the next day.

Holy Cross, which plays at the NCAA Division III level for women's hockey, is perhaps best known to PSU as the alma mater of assistant coach Casey McCullion. The 2007 graduate's name still dots the Crusaders' goaltending record books, as she's second in program history for career saves, third for wins, fifth for save percentage and fourth for goals against average, and also owns several top ten single-season marks in those categories. Overall, Holy Cross is 198-130-25 in 14 seasons of play and captured the 2009 ECAC East regular season championship. Head coach Peter Van Buskirk has posted winning records for seven years running, dating back to McCullion's senior year, after the program enjoyed just one winning campaign in its first seven.

Here is the body of the press release covering McGee and the six other members of her recruiting class...

Holy Cross head women's ice hockey coach Peter Van Buskirk has announced the newest members of the Crusaders' program. Six newcomers make up the 2013 incoming freshman class while one transfer student-athlete joins the roster as a sophomore. Izzy Bagi (Branford, Conn.), Erin Hall (Pembroke, Mass.), Hildie Hoeschen (St. Paul, Minn.), Livvy Konaxis (Beverly, Mass.), Meghan O'Donnell (Lancaster, Mass.) and Rose Rather (Stamford, Conn.) make up the freshman class while Taylor McGee (Pearl River, N.Y.) comes to Holy Cross after spending her freshman year at Penn State.

"We are very excited to have these players attend Holy Cross and be part of the women's hockey program," Van Buskirk said. "They all have good skills but more importantly they are all team players with great work ethic."

...and finally, here's the standard-issue quote from Van Buskirk regarding McGee, who will wear number 28 for the Crusaders:

"Coming from Penn State we expect great things from Taylor. We anticipate she will help stable our defensive core and contribute offensively. We see her as an offensive defenseman with great decision making skills, strong on the puck and a good shot."

M: Penn State 1 at Holy Cross 4

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // GoHolyCross.com recap

Guy Gadowsky postgame // Holy Cross F Jake Youso postgame

Despite the personal issues that popped up Saturday to cancel a planned live blog, I was able to watch what, in too many ways to count, was a pretty ugly loss for the Nittany Lions to drop the team's record to 7-8-0 (5-6-0 NCAA DI). Rather than string together some thoughts in a traditional recap, I decided to reproduce my tweets during the game because...

• I don't want to think about it any more than I have to.
• It's something different.
• It's probably a more accurate reflection of my thoughts than anything I'd manage to write later.
• It's early Monday morning as I'm typing this and PSU (thankfully) has another game Tuesday.
• You can check the links above to fill in the fine detail and don't really need me to do that.

Enjoy.

---

M: Penn State 4 at Holy Cross 5 (OT)

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // GoHolyCross.com recap

Holy Cross F Shayne Stockton postgame

At the beginning of the NCAA era, I set a simple rule for myself: don't get mad for the first two years.

The reasons for such a rule should be fairly obvious, but just to make them explicit:

1. Having any sort of expectation is pretty unfair at this stage - and anger in sports tends to be related to expectations not met.
2. We should just relax and be happy about all of the positive developments found everywhere in Penn State hockey right now. There will be the rest of our lives to worry about wins and losses and the smaller things that lead to them.

With that out of the way, if there were ever a game where I were to break that rule, it would be this one, just for the way things seemed so perfect for Penn State (7-7-0, 5-5-0 NCAA DI), then turned so quickly and decisively in favor of Holy Cross (8-4-2, 6-3-2 ECAC). The Nittany Lions, as a result, have now dropped five of seven.

After a slow start - a David Glen turnover led to Adam Schmidt's 1-0 goal 3:58 into the game, and PSU was outshot 16-5 in the first period - the second period was a great example of where we should eventually set our expectations. The Nittany Lions scored three times in the middle 20, but more significantly than that, it was a creative, free-flowing, yet gritty and defensively responsible effort. Pretty much textbook Guy Gadowsky stuff.

During a four-on-four situation that resulted from Caston Sommer's takedown of Matt Skoff and Connor Varley's reaction to it and just 21 seconds into the second period, Casey Bailey capitalized on the extra ice. He skated seemingly unnoticed into the slot, where he deflected Nate Jensen's point shot to force a rebound from Crusaders goalie Matt Ginn, then put back that rebound to tie the game. Glen - who bounced back tremendously from his early mistake, by the way - put back a Pete Sweetland rebound to give the Nittany Lions the lead 7:30 later, and Varley finished the burst at the 12:39 mark off of sort of a role-reversing give-and-go with Jonathan Milley that involved the big forward feeding the defenseman from up high as he streaked towards the net - remember what I just said about creativity?

Milley would finish with a goal, two assists and a plus-three rating, adding up to a highly-successful return to the lineup after missing the past month with a hip injury.

Penn State's power play has been the subject of some criticism this year. It's ranked 54th in the country with an 8.0 percent conversion rate, and its four total goals lead only Harvard in NCAA Division I. That unit actually didn't take the ice all game, as Sommer's matched penalty was the only Holy Cross infraction of the contest. This time around it was Penn State's penalty kill, ranked a better-but-still-not-very-good 32nd, standing in as the disappointing special team by surrendering two crucial goals, the first of which came late in the second period.

On that goal, Holy Cross cut the PSU lead to 3-2 just nine seconds into a Milley boarding penalty by winning the draw to start their power play, moving the puck to Sommer at left point, and getting traffic in front of Skoff, including Mike McNamara, who tipped Sommer's shot in. After intermission, Milley overpowered Ginn in the crease on a second-chance goal to restore Penn State's two-goal lead at 4-2. That score lasted into the last six minutes of regulation when...ehhh...I don't want to break my rule, so I'll just not think about it and pass off to the Holy Cross side.

Freshman Matt Vidal (Manorville, N.Y.) scored his first collegiate goal, making the score 4-3 at 14:44 when he split through two Penn State defenders and took a low backhand shot into the Penn State net after receiving a tipped pass from sophomore Nilan Nagy (Canonsburg, Pa.). Zych also recorded an assist on the play for his second of the night and team-best 10th of the season. Just over two minutes later at 16:51 Holy Cross tied the game on a power play goal, forcing overtime action. The goal occurred when junior Shayne Stockton (Rochester, N.Y.) picked up a pass from sophomore Jake Youso (International Falls, Minn) and sent a puck through the five-hole of the Nittany Lions' goalie. Freshman Joe McNamara (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) also recorded an assist for the play.

Holy Cross defeated Penn State 1:54 in overtime play when [senior captain Erik] Vos netted the game-winner. After a fight for possession in front of the net, Vos stuffed the loose puck beneath the glove of the Nittany Lions' goalie and into the back of the net, giving the Crusaders the victory. Youso and freshman Karl Beckman (Okemos, Mich.) each posted assists on the goal. The last time Holy Cross won an overtime game was on Nov. 6, 2010 against Robert Morris, with a score of 3-2.

A learning experience in a season - or two - full of them? Absolutely. More than that? Forget it, there's another one tomorrow.

A DI Diary

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

M Results/Season: 1909-present

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atlantic Hockey Announces Eight New PSU Games

Air Force junior goaltender Jason Torf stopped 32 of 34 shots against eventual national champion Boston College in the NCAA tournament last season. He'll visit the Ice Pavilion on November 9th and 10th.

The Atlantic Hockey Association has posted its 2012-2013 composite schedule. Penn State, while not a member of the conference, could almost qualify as an honorary one by virtue of appearing 11 times.

Three of the games, the series on October 12th and 13th with AIC that will serve as PSU's first home Division I games and the October 20th tilt as RIT's homecoming opponent, were already known. Here are the other eight:

October 26 at Army, 7:05 p.m.
October 27 at Sacred Heart, 7:05 p.m.
November 9 vs. Air Force
November 10 vs. Air Force
December 7 at Holy Cross, 7:05 p.m.
December 8 at Holy Cross, 7:05 p.m.
January 4 at Connecticut, 7:05 p.m.
January 5 at Connecticut, 7:05 p.m.

The complete collection of known games for next season can be found here.

Without a doubt, the jewel of those games is the home series with Air Force. The defending AHA regular season and conference champs were 21-11-7 in 2011-2012 and have represented the league in the NCAA tournament for five of the last six seasons, including last year when Frank Serratore's crew lost 2-0 to eventual national champion Boston College in the NCAA Northeast Regional. The Falcons join Frozen Four team Union and Michigan State as 2012 NCAA Tournament teams on the Nittany Lions' (still feels weird typing that) schedule, and for what it's worth, sources have indicated that Air Force will be the premier opponent visiting the Ice Pavilion. Holy Cross is the only other new opponent with a winning record last season. The Crusaders were 20-15-4 overall, finishing 3rd in AHA.

The original Nittany Lions varsity program played at Army on December 26, 1944, losing 18-3. Additionally, the Icers do have a little bit of history with several current Atlantic Hockey teams. During the formative years of the Robert Morris program when RMU was a member of College Hockey America, PSU beat the Colonials 3-2 in October, 2005 before losing 6-0 the following season. Current AHA teams Mercyhurst and Canisius were frequent Icer opponents in the 1980s and 1990s when the pair of now-DI programs were members of Division II.

As much fun as speculation on the Lions' first DI schedule has been, it's likely that we're close to the end, at least in terms of discovering DI opponents. Joe Battista has indicated that PSU will play 20-22 DI schools in this inaugural NCAA season, and this latest news brings us up to 19 such games. Furthermore Atlantic Hockey, the only (for now) mid-major conference in DI, represents the likely source for a large percentage of games. Roughly half (22 of 45) of the schools in the other DI conferences have formally announced their schedules. From here on out, most new opponents are likely to be a smattering of ACHA Division 1 (Ohio will visit the Ice Pavilion, while Arizona State and Oklahoma have been subjects of speculation) and NCAA Division III teams, as well as confirmation of the four games with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

With that in mind, there's a lot to like about the schedule. Air Force, along with Michigan State, Union, RIT and Wisconsin represent a nice collection of "reach" games (with the added bonus of getting the Falcons at home), while the lower division games will ensure that PSU doesn't go 5-28-1, setting a negative tone for the NCAA era. In between lies a stout collection of lower-tier AHA programs that will also help provide Guy Gadowsky and his staff with a barometer of where the program stands entering the Big Ten in year two.