Men's Jersey Countdown: #7 Jacob Friedman

Junior - Forward - 5'9" - 175 pounds - West Bloomfield, MI

Jacob Friedman is one of those players who, above all else, is fun to watch. Although not blessed with great size, the hard worker prefers the high-traffic areas in front of the net and on the walls usually populated by much larger men. A Detroit-area native, Friedman came to Penn State after two seasons with the EJHL's South Shore Kings, the second of which (2010-11) saw him serve as the Kings' captain and put up 61 points to finish tied for sixth in the league in scoring (notably, with current Union forward Max Novak). Unofficially, and along with the since-departed Tim Carr, Friedman was the first commit of the 2011-12 freshman class and therefore of the NCAA era. The 2012-13 Academic All-Big Ten selection particularly likes playing against NCAA Division III Fredonia State. As a freshman, one of his Icers-high five power play goals was instrumental in a stirring come-from-behind win over the Blue Devils on November 5, 2011, and last season he offered a goal and an assist as PSU also took the rematch. In July, Friedman was a member of Team USA for the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Metula, Israel and helped the American squad to a silver medal.

Career Statistics (2011-12 with ACHA Icers):
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2011-12	31	9	12	21	10	5	0	2	-
2012-13	13	1	1	2	6	0	0	0	0
ACHA Career	31	9	12	21	10	5	0	2	-
NCAA Career	13	1	1	2	6	0	0	0	0

Friedman, Zimmel Win Silver at Maccabiah Games

PSU junior Jacob Friedman was one of Team USA's key players throughout the Maccabiah Games

In the open division hockey tournament at the 19th Maccabiah Games, held between July 20th and 26th, Nittany Lions junior forward Jacob Friedman and former Icers forward Jaime Zimmel won silver medals with the U.S. squad., following a 7-1 defeat to Canada in the final Friday morning.

The Maccabiah Games, often colloquially called the Jewish Olympics, brings more than 9,000 athletes from 78 countries to Israel to compete in 38 different sports over two weeks, making it the world's third-largest sporting event behind the Olympics and the World University Games. Each sport has tournaments for three separate divisions - juniors for 15-18 year olds, masters for those above a certain age (40 in hockey) and open for, essentially, everyone else. That last division, due to its inclusiveness, contained an eclectic mix of pucksters at the 2013 Maccabiah: former and current professionals, collegians and juniors were all involved.

The origin of the second-ever Maccabiah Games ice hockey competition is an interesting story in and of itself. While it was a demonstration sport in 1997, a tournament won by Canada over Team USA, hockey disappeared from the quadrennial event for the next three cycles.

That changed when six Jewish NHL owners (Anaheim's Henry Samueli, Tampa Bay's Jeffrey Vinik, Edmonton's Daryl Katz, Philadelphia's Ed Snider, Toronto's Larry Tanenbaum and Florida's Cliff Viner), along with commissioner Gary Bettman, threw their support behind installing hockey as a medal sport this year. As a result, Metula, Israel's Canada Center rink was renovated and notables from around the hockey world signed on to participate.

Not that things went perfectly from there. The U.S., Canada, Israel and France was the original open tournament field, but the French withdrew, forcing the organizing committee to permit a Ukraine team including non-Jewish athletes in as a replacement. Russia was reportedly in at one point, but pulled out as well.

Mike Keenan, Canada's coach and the source of much of the tournament's star power thanks largely to his 1994 Stanley Cup win with the New York Rangers, took a job in the KHL and had to quit - although his replacement, Guy Carbonneau, wasn't exactly a significant step down. On the U.S. side, defenseman Colby Cohen, who scored the national championship winning goal for Boston University in 2009 and was a black ace on the Boston Bruins' 2011 Stanley Cup team, signed a contract in the Finnish Elite League and could not participate. The hosting Israeli team ran into budgetary issues that prevented them from importing many potential dual-citizenship players and paying insurance on professionals (categories that notably include Oren Eizenman, a former RPI star and the brother of Icers and ACHA Hall of Famer Alon).

Furthermore, just to ensure that hockey wasn't too much of a distraction from the real world, Canada Center - Israel's only full-size rink - is roughly three hours north of Jerusalem, but just a few hundred yards from the Lebanese border, necessitating a heavy presence of United Nations and Israeli security forces in the area.

It was against that simultaneously hopeful and issue-plagued backdrop that things proceeded, with each team playing the other three participants in a preliminary round that determined seeding for the semifinals.

The U.S. blasted shorthanded Israel 14-0 on the first day of the round robin, July 20th, and Friedman played a huge role in accelerating the score out of reach early. The Michigander scored three times in the first period (video: 1, 2, 3), generally by doing what he does best - carving out space in front of the net despite not being blessed with gargantuan size. Vermont Catamount Pete Massar set up the second and third goals by Friedman, while Zimmel assisted on the 2-0 goal, by Jacob Rosen. Ben Rosen, who just finished his career at Boston University, scored twice during the opening bombardment.

Icers alumnus Jaime Zimmel's three power play goals against Ukraine helped produce two tough wins

A much sterner test presented itself the next day in a Ukranian team highlighted by defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, who played 1,085 NHL games with the Kings, Sabres, Islanders, Flyers and Thrashers. However, Zimmel stepped to the fore to help Team USA improve to 2-0 in the round robin with a 5-3 win. He drew a first-period penalty that did not bear fruit, and the match remained goal-free after one period, thanks in part to a couple big saves by Air Force goalie Jason Torf. The 2009 PSU graduate then took over with a pair of power play tallies (1, 2). One opened the game's scoring within the first minute of the middle frame, while the other was a sufficient reply to Vitali Lakhmatov subsequently tying the score and gave the U.S. the lead for good.

Tuesday's showdown between the U.S. and Canada to close the preliminary round ended in a 6-1 decision for the maple leaf-bearing squad. The Americans did manage 43 shots, helped by a rash of Canadian penalties, but a stellar effort by former Clarkson goalie Cody Rosen kept the red, white and blue at bay. Adam Henrich, a 2002 second-round draft pick of the Lightning who bumped around the ECHL and AHL for six seasons before moving to Europe for the last three, had a hat trick for the victorious side.

Before topping the U.S., Canada thumped both Ukraine (7-1) and Israel (15-0), while Ukraine took care of Israel 12-3 on the final day of the round robin, so these were the final standings:

	Team	W-L-T	Pts.	GF	GA
1	Canada	3-0-0	6	28	2
2	United States	2-1-0	4	20	9
3	Ukraine	1-2-0	2	16	15
4	Israel	0-3-0	0	3	41

Top-seeded Canada earned the right to skate through Israel once again in Wednesday's semifinals (and they did, with 13-2 the score this time around), while Team USA needed to deal with a much tougher Ukraine to set up an all-North American gold medal game.

As in the U.S.-Ukraine meeting on July 21st, the rematch saw a scoreless first period before a Ben Rosen blast dented Ukrainian twine midway through regulation. Steven Weinstein made it 2-0 for the Americans a couple minutes later on the power play, a score that held up into the second intermission. Five minutes in the third, Zimmel's greasy tally on the advantage helped open the floodgates, and two Jacob Rosen markers sandwiching one by Dalton Weinstein closed out the scoring in what turned out to be a surprisingly decisive 6-0 win.

One of the tournament's storylines was its paucity of close games (the USA-Ukraine matchup in the round robin was the only one closer than five goals through the semifinals), but shockingly, the Israelis managed to buck the trend in the bronze medal game, leading the Ukranians after two periods and hanging within one into the last ten minutes before falling 9-5.

Unfortunately, things reverted to form in the border-war final that went to the northern side by a 7-1 count Friday morning. Game details are still sketchy (and considering that the teams are about to travel back to North America, it's tough to say when they'll be filled in), but Canada potted two goals in each of the first two periods - with the opener on the power play - before closing out with a 3-1 third. The winning side notably included Michigan Wolverines Zach and Spencer Hyman, which will undoubtedly give Friedman a little extra juice in at least four games for Penn State this season.

U.S. head coach Billy Jaffe, himself a former Wolverine and a player in the 1997 Maccabiah Games hockey tournament, said afterwards that "the boys left it all out on the ice but Canada was simply better." Nevertheless, he remained upbeat about the experience:

Congratulations to Jacob Friedman, Jaime Zimmel and the rest of Team USA on your silver medals and on representing your country with great distinction.

Friedman, Zimmel Aim For Maccabiah Games Gold

PSU's Jacob Friedman faces off against Michigan State's Lee Reimer on January 26th

Nittany Lions junior Jacob Friedman and former Icer Jaime Zimmel are two of the 18 players who will compete for Team USA in the hockey tournament at the 19th Maccabiah Games, a quadrennial event for Jewish athletes. The 2013 version will take place in Israel from July 19th through 26th. In all, approximately 9,000 athletes from 76 countries will participate in what is the third-largest international sporting event in the world.

However, with fewer than 100 athletes and four countries - Canada, Israel, Ukraine and the U.S. - in the open division of the Maccabiah's first hockey competition since 1997, the format will be quite simple. Each team will play the other three during a round robin stage lasting from July 20th through the 23rd. After that, each squad will be seeded for purposes of placement in the July 24th semifinals, with 1st playing 4th and 2nd playing 3rd. The points system will be two for a win, one for a tie, zero for a loss, the IIHF rule book will be used, and all games will be played at the Canada Center in the town of Metula, Israel's only full-size ice rink.

Friedman, unofficially the first NCAA-era recruit in Penn State history in that he was the first commit following the the Pegula donation announcement, is coming off of his sophomore season. In thirteen 2012-2013 games, Friedman scored once and added an assist, with both points in a 4-0 win over Division III Fredonia State on December 11, 2012. As a freshman with the Icers, he had nine goals and 12 assists in 31 games, helping PSU to the number one ranking for most of the season and a berth in the ACHA national semifinals. In May, Friedman was honored as an Academic All-Big Ten selection.

This won't be Zimmel's first time competing in a red, white and blue jersey. In 2009, while still an Icer, he was a member of Team USA's World University Games entry that finished a best-ever seventh place (a mark later eclipsed by 2011's sixth-place team) in Harbin, China. Zimmel scored three times and added an assist in five tournament games, including two third-period points against Slovakia on February 22, 2009. After overtime became necessary largely thanks to the New Jersey native, the U.S. went on to a shootout win clinched by Icers teammate Lukas DeLorenzo. Zimmel played 122 games at Penn State from 2005 through 2009 and registered 93 points, including a 26-goal campaign in 2007-2008.

Besides Zimmel and Friedman, other current and former college players dot Team USA's roster, including Air Force goaltender Jason Torf, Vermont forward Pete Massar and Bentley defenseman Steve Weinstein. Former Boston University star and AHLer Colby Cohen, a Philadelphia-area native who scored the national championship-winning overtime goal against Miami in 2009 and Abington's Ben Pulley, who played for the EJHL's Philadelphia Revolution last season, represent the Keystone State on the roster. Former Michigan forward Billy Jaffe, who is now an NHL Network analyst, is the head coach.

Following the Maccabiah Games promises to recreate the struggle of doing so with the WUG (or any non-televised overseas happening, to be fair), but live scoring and results can be found on the event's website, its YouTube channel may include highlights, and photos will be posted to Maccabi USA site.

Here's the full schedule for the hockey tournament. Keep in mind that all times given are local and that Israel Daylight Time is seven hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. So for example, Team USA's opening game with the host country will be played at 2:30 p.m. in Pennsylvania but 9:30 p.m. in Israel.

M: Penn State 4 at Fredonia State (NCAA DIII) 0

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // FredoniaBlueDevils.com recap

Guy Gadowsky postgame video // Jake Friedman postgame video

In a rescheduled (from October 30th, due to Hurricane Sandy) Tuesday night game nearly as awkward as Carly Szyszko, Allie Rothman, Mary Kate Tonetti and I in the same room at the same time, the Nittany Lion men dominated NCAA Division III Fredonia State at FSU's Steele Hall by a 4-0 count to improve to 8-8-0 (5-6-0 NCAA DI).

Because, in the words of the legendary Carl Spackler, I was unavoidably detained, I'm turning over recap duties on this one to Justin Grady, aka IcersGuy from Black Shoe Diaries. Enjoy your brief reprieve from mediocre writing, and be sure to check out Grady's stuff on BSD as well.

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With Penn State having to make the midweek trip to New York, just days after returning from Massachusetts, there were sure to be questions about the energy levels for the team. Luckily for Penn State, any lack of energy was countered by Fredonia State's own seemingly lethargic attitude towards this Tuesday night game - perhaps a result of being 1-5 over their previous 6 games. If Penn State couldat least match Fredonia's energy, the Nittany Lions were, on paper, in a solid position to snap their 4-game losing streak (or 3-game losing streak, depending on if you count the ACHA Arizona State games).

The first period opened with each team getting some light scoring opportunities, with no major offensive chances coming for either team. A delayed penalty early in the period gave Penn State their first set of real offensive chances, but nothing came from it except for the ensuing penalty. On the first power play of the night, the inconsistent man-advantage play reared its head. The Nittany Lions struggled to put together any consistent attack time until later in the power play, but credit to the Fredonia defense for blocking shots and goalie Mark Friesen kept it a scoreless game.

Fredonia would get a great scoring chance following the power play, as Matt Skoff would let a FSU shot slip past him, only to have it be swept away by his defense, averting any chance of weak goal. As both teams would continue to try to gain some sort of offensive momentum, a penalty to Luke Juha gave Fredonia their first power play of the night. The Blue Devils had a few good chances early in the power play, but the Penn State penalty kill would find their groove and keep the Blue Devils from getting any more quality chances.

David Glen and his teammates pressured Fredonia State goalie Mark Friesen all game long. Photo: Jerry Reilly/Fredonia State athletics

The quality PK for Penn State turned into positive momentum for the team, as the Nittany Lions started to dominate offensively. After a few good chances were turned away by Friesen, Connor Varley would take a shot from the point, which found its way through a number of bodies in front and past the Blue Devils' goalie,giving Penn State the 1-0 lead at the 17:55 mark of the first period. The goal is Varley's third on the season. Penn State would continue their offensive onslaught, but have to settle for the 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Penn State outshot Fredonia in the first period by a 23-9 margin.

Penn State kept their offensive momentum going into the second period, with seemingly everybody geting a scoring chance. Shots from Bailey, Saad, Loik, and Friedman were all quality chances that only were foiled thanks to the continued quality showing from Friesen. Fredonia would weather the storm and eventually come back with their own chances, but Skoff was up to the task of matching his goaltending counterpart. A couple of Penn State penalties slowed down the Nittany Lions' offensive attack, but the penalty kill made sure the Blue Devils found very few opportunities to tie the game with the man advantage.

With just over a minute left in the 2nd period, Penn State would get their second power play opportunity. Max Gardiner would take a wrist shot from the top of the circle, and Taylor Holstrom would put home the rebound, only to have it waved off as it was ruled that Holstrom's hand knocked the puck into the net. But with 30 seconds left in the period, the PSU power play would make one more rush. This time, it was Casey Bailey putting home a Peter Sweetland rebound with just fourseconds left in the period, giving Penn State a 2-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

The third period saw a return of the lethargic play that seemed to creep into both teams' play throughout the game. While each team would eventually get a round of scoring chances, it was the goalies and the defense/backchecking that dominated play to open the third period. It would take some quick thinking to break the defensive pressure, and so David Glen would make a sweet backhanded pass to Jacob Friedman in the slot, who skated in a snapped a shot past the Fredonia goalie, giving Jake his first goal of the season, and Penn State the 3-0 lead.

Back-to-back penalties against Penn State gave the Blue Devils a handful of chances to break the shutout. But the Nittany Lion penalty kill was up to the challenge, completing a perfect 5-for-5 penalty kill on the night, and nearly extending the lead - unfortunately, Lordo's shot from the blue line rang off the iron. Following the end of the second of the two penalties, both teams returned to the stagnant offenses from the start of the period. Fredonia State would eventually pull their goalie late in the game, and Curtis Loik would deposit his third goal of the season, with help from Jensen and Matt Skoff - Skoff's first point at Penn State. Skoff's assist would be a nice addition to his first shutout of the season, turning away all 18 shots he faced in the 4-0 victory for Penn State. In the end, it was a complete domination by Penn State, controlling much of the play, and outshooting the Blue Devils by a commanding 50-18 advantage.

Jersey City, New Jersey

There are only 57 days until the first women's game at Vermont and the official dawn of the Division I era, and we're sort of in an awkward place where there isn't that much left to know about the teams for the coming season. At the very least, we're probably done with major announcements. Well, except for one: the jerseys (or sweaters if you prefer, but I'm going with "jersey" for the remainder of the post).

Before we find out where we're going, let's look at where we've been. I covered a lot of this in a Breakout Past back in April (there are better photos there, if you're interested), but one more quick review, starting with the original varsity team, is still in order.

Those are the two designs worn by said varsity team, of course.

When the Icers started up in 1971, they wore the the jersey from the top left, above. Those were out after two seasons in favor of an arched "Penn State" design as seen in the other three photos. There were some inconsistencies with that second group of jerseys, as one might except from a new-ish club team (note the size, font and spacing of the lettering), but that general idea lasted through 1979.

Note: From here on out, just assume that an opposite-color counterpart to everything shown exists.

Joe Battista's sophomore season brought one of the longest-running jersey designs (above, left). It did undergo some alterations in the mid-1980s (slightly enlarged letters, a different striping pattern involving one broad stripe flanked by two narrow ones), but for the most part, this was the look for nearly a full decade. By 1988, it morphed into the above right jersey, which had a short but honor-laden life, including the 1989 ICHL playoff championship and the 1990 national championship. That latter jersey was also notable for the debut of official university branding, in the form of an oddly-placed chipmunk.

In 1990-1991, the Icers introduced a look that would be substantially re-visited later on.

Nike's entry in 1996 led to a couple of short-lived late-1990s jerseys, until replaced by...

...the longest-running Icers jersey (2000-2012).

I'm not ignoring the women here, it's just that their jersey history is much simpler. For the most part, they've worn the 1998-1999 men's look (above), which gave way in the last couple years to...

The backs of the jerseys are largely unremarkable - basic block numbers of contrasting color have been the order for both teams throughout their histories, with grey trim added to anything after 1990. Another thing that started around 1990 (for the men, anyway) was the presence of names on the jerseys. The earliest examples used basic letters in blue or white, as appropriate. It's worth highlighting the two styles that have popped up since 1998 though, since they're a little different.

Why did I just do all of that? Well, because I like doing it, for one thing. But more importantly, I think history can help inform our opinions as to the next jersey. I can't speak for all of you, but here's what I think I want:

• No grey whatsoever. Penn State's colors are blue and white. Penn State hockey managed just fine without grey prior to 1990, and most PSU sports teams manage just fine without it today.
• The chipmunk is a great logo and should probably appear somewhere.
• Block "Penn State" lettering is something of a tradition, and in my opinion, most of the best looking jerseys across college hockey use lettering, not a logo, as the primary element.
• However, the chipmunk AND "Penn State" on the front is probably overkill. A tough choice is probably going to have to be made in that respect.
• Standard block numbers should be a given.
• I'm open to names on the back, and I'm open to no names on the back. But if there are names, please pass on the oversized fonts (as seen in both examples above).
• Above all else, keep it simple, stupid.

With all of that in mind, here is the revised TYT endorsement. First, the men:

You may recall that I presented a previous version in a Three Stars two months ago. Well, as it turns out, those were nearly identical to Connecticut's jerseys. So the primary jerseys are essentially the same as before, except with the logo on the front instead of the "Penn State"/number combo (to be honest, I feel like they're going to go in that direction anyway). The alternates are, of course, throwbacks to the 1940-1947 varsity era. It would be insane to pass on the obvious symmetry there, and it would come close to making my season if PSU were to break out "Alternate 2" for the October 26th game at Army since, after all, Penn State likely looked like that at Army on February 12th, 1947, the second-to-last game of that original varsity team.

The women's jerseys I propose are similar, but not a copy. I think it's important that they retain a unique identity.

For these, I used the mid-1970s Icers jerseys as my starting point and tweaked them, adding the shoulder patch and sleeve stripes, as well as reducing the large contrasting area to just the yoke on the white jerseys and to nothing on the blues (in the 70s, it went all the way from the collar to the end of the sleeve on both white and blue, as you can see above). If you've been reading this post and not just scrolling to look at the pictures, you might note that I went the other way with the "tough choice" I mentioned. One of the perks of having two teams to work with.

Because I went without names on these, I should point out that they represent junior forward Taylor Gross and senior defender Lindsay Reihl.

Before I close, I want to make one more observation. While Penn State does not have the department-wide branding program of Michigan State, there is still something to be gained from looking at a couple of the other 29 PSU sports teams. If there is something that can be called the "Penn State look," it wouldn't be a terrible idea to get on that bus.

That's vaguely familiar...

I could definitely live with that.

2/10 Mercyhurst Postgame: Guy Gadowsky

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am.

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

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

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

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

How big was it to answer that shorthanded goal quickly?

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

Doing anything differently for tomorrow with how Saturdays have gone?

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

Who is going to replace them?

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

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

Yeah, I guess so. Head injury.

Upper-body injury? [laughter]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or coaching, or on the bench...

I will be a spectator. [laughter]

Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

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

How long have you been doing that for?

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

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

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

In the locker room and stuff?

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

2/10 Mercyhurst Postgame: The Players

Mike McDonagh played with linemates that "make everyone look great" Friday night.

Sophomore forward Mike McDonagh

Can you say anything about the slow start today? It’s been kind of a problem plaguing the team this season?

Yeah, I think we just have to get better prepared before the game. We showed up a little earlier today - we came out hard, we just couldn’t put pucks to the net. But I think we outshot them 11-0 in the first seven to eight minutes of the game. I think we came out hard today, I wish we could finish more early on. 

You were playing with Tommy [Olczyk] and Justin Kirchhevel [today]. Can you tell me about how you felt out there with them?

They make everyone look great. They’re two fantastic players, so whoever’s out there with them is going to be able to do some special things. They make it really easy on me.

How do you think Bryce [Johnson] looked in his first game back?

He tried to shake the cobwebs out a little bit early there, but I think he looked great. His speed’s probably not up there yet, but a few more weeks of practice before nationals, and he’ll be flying around I think.

Can you say anything about P.J. [Musico]’s play in net? Did he look good out there?

Yeah, P.J.’s playing great. I mean, the last couple weekends, I don’t think he’s given up more than a goal during the game. He’s made some huge saves that really could have changed the game at that point if they scored. He’s been standing on his head and keeping us in every game. 

Do you or your teammates have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

There’s no really big superstitions. Everyone has their own ritual – get up in the morning, have the same meal pretty much every day and put on the equipment at the exact time. There’s no really big, weird superstitions, but everyone definitely has their own ritual before games.

What about you, do you have anything?

Nothing big. We always play soccer out here [by the locker area entrance near the scoreboard] before the game, that’s a big one. When we stretch, I always have to hold the ball during stretching. Everyone else stretches by themselves, but I have to be holding the soccer ball the entire time, and that’s my little thing. 

What did you guys do well today, and what do you need to work on a little bit? Did you learn anything from the game?

We did a lot of things well today. We still have to allow not a lot of odd-man rushes. Our goal is zero for every game, and their one goal was on an odd-man rush, so if we can get that down to zero, I think we’ll be in good shape. 

Have you ever played with Tommy and Justin?

No, just this week in practice, I practiced with them, and this was the first game.

Was it difficult playing with them after playing with other teammates throughout the season, then jump and play on this line?

No, not really. Like I said, they make it real easy on you. We’re always talking the whole way. I thought we had good chemistry, and we had a whole week of practice to work on everything, so it came kind of natural during game time.

Freshman defenseman Brandon Russo

What do you have to say about falling behind early again today?

We really don’t want that to happen ever. It’s kind of one of those things where everything’s going your way, you’re outshooting them, you’re outplaying them, beating them to every puck, and they get one of those fluke odd-man rushes and the puck just squeaks by our goalie. You just can’t let it get you down, and we didn’t let it get us down. We came back and just buried a couple.

You’ve had a few offensive rushes as a defender. Is that part of your game, do you really try to incorporate that?

Yeah, I like to look at myself as an offensive defenseman. I think that’s one of my stronger points. It’s almost like having an extra forward I guess you can say, but with defensive skills. So yeah, I definitely try to incorporate rushing the puck up during the game, but I also have to pick my spots. I can’t be doing that all the time. Given the circumstances, sometimes we’re down a man or the puck’s in a different part of the ice. But yeah, I definitely do rush the puck on purpose, I guess you can say, and try to get the puck to the net and create a play.

Is that something that the coaching staff has talked to you about?

Not specifically, no, but they do comment on it and they do like that. They want me to jump up into the play. Like I said, I just have to pick and choose my spots.

How do you think Bryce [Johnson] looked out there in his first game back?

I thought he looked pretty good out there. It was great to have him back out there, I mean he adds more firepower to our team. Just backing up one of those lines, and getting out there, just keeping ‘em coming. He looked great. He fell once or twice, but you would expect that with it being his first time back in a while. He looked really good.

What do you think he brings to the team now that he’s back?

I think he’s an all-around guy. He’s fast, he shoots the puck nice, he has great hands and he can pass the puck. So there’s not one thing I can point out but he’s definitely an all-around player that helps the team in every way.

I’ve noticed on some of the faceoffs, you’ll have one of the defenders, sometimes you, go on the wing and have one of the forwards drop back on the defense. Why do you guys do that?

That’s one of our plays. We like to sometimes have a forward come back up top where the defenseman goes, and he’s just going to go to the net, almost to stun the defensemen that are on the opposing team. Just get someone driving the net hard and look for a pass cross-ice, back door, and maybe he can score a goal.

You guys really controlled the tempo throughout the game, especially in the second period. Is that the game you like to play, out-muscle the other team?

Absolutely. That’s one of our biggest things. We’re going to beat them with our tempo, the quickness of our transitions, the quickness of us getting up the ice, the quickness of our passing, our shooting, everything. The tempo is a huge part of our game.

Do you have any pregame rituals?

Nothing really in particular. I bring the same stuff to the rink and I set up the same way in my stall. I usually put my left shin pad on before my right shin pad. Other than that, I kind of just go with the flow.

Freshman forward Jake Friedman

Can you say anything about falling behind early again in this game?

We like to try and come out strong in every game. We’ve been getting scored on first lately, which is definitely something we want to fix. We didn’t have a bad start, I think the shots were like 9-0 in the beginning, so basically we just have to capitalize on our opportunities early and just start off ahead and really kind of bury the team early on.

Do you think after you fall behind by the first goal, there’s some embarrassment and you want to come back and put a bunch on them?

We never like getting scored on, especially first in our own building in front of our fans, so we try to respond and just come back hard and keep playing Penn State hockey and get back on the board.

Before tonight, you hadn’t scored since early December, what did it feel like to finally get that goal?

It felt pretty good to get the monkey off the back. I’ve been working hard in practice and stuff, just tried grinding it out. Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t, but through my experiences, if you keep working hard, something’s gotta go in sooner or later. So I tried shooting the puck, hanging out around the net, and fortunately today, one went in.

Has it been frustrating over the last two months?

I’d definitely like to produce a little more, but when you’re not doing something good, you try to do other things good, whether it’s backchecking or keeping the tempo high. I try to rely on other parts of my game to keep it going, but it definitely feels good to get on the board.

Are you going to do any lobbying to get on Bryce [Johnson]’s line now that he’s back?

That’s pretty much up to the coaches. I’d love to play with Bryce, everyone would, but it’s good to see him back in the lineup, he definitely looks good out there, so we’ll see what happens.

Have you played with [current linemates Chris Cerutti and Paul Daley] before?

We played together one game last weekend, and we played together the last two practices. They’re both really good players, they work really hard and grind. They’re pretty fast too, so it was pretty easy to play with two guys like that.

Mike McDonagh was playing with Tommy [Olczyk] and Justin [Kirchhevel] instead of Taylor Holstrom. What do you think that mix-up’s meant for the team? Do you think it’s more balanced scoring?

Definitely more balance. We have four pretty strong lines right now that feel pretty confident when anyone’s on the line. Obviously Holstrom and Bryce, Kirchhevel and Olczyk are all really easy guys to play with because they’re so good. [It’s just] keeping everything balanced and working really hard together and pulling the same way.

Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

I’m not really superstitious, I just do my own routine, just try to stay focused on the game, stay relaxed, loose, and go out there and have fun.

Mercyhurst twice this weekend, then a couple of Friday-only weekends to close it out. Are you guys worried about staying sharp through that stretch going into nationals?

I don’t think we’re really worried about it. We’re definitely going to keep working hard tomorrow night and through the weeks of practice we have left. We know that we’re gearing up towards nationals here and we all want to have a really good showing and try to win a national championship. This is crunch time here, so it’s really important that everyone’s at their best.

M: Penn State 7 vs. Mercyhurst 1

Collegian recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Official site recap // Box score

Guy Gadowsky postgame comments

Mike McDonagh/Brandon Russo/Jake Friedman postgame comments

When George Saad's errant cross-ice pass while on the power play led to a breakaway goal for Mercyhurst's Doug Stanton 14:45 into Friday night's game, he and his Penn State teammates could have very easily gotten down on themselves. After all, they had dominated the early going, but all they had to show for it was a 1-0 deficit. They decided instead to make the Lakers' lead a brief one. Saad redeemed himself with a rebound goal on that same man advantage, then added another in the last two minutes of a 7-1 Icers win. Brian Dolan, Paul Daley, Jake Friedman, Nate Jensen and Mike McDonagh also scored in a game that was notable for Bryce Johnson's return to action for the first time since December 9th against Liberty.

PSU (24-2-1) will attempt an alumni weekend sweep of the Lakers (19-8-3) Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.

M: Penn State 7 vs. Ohio 1

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

(OU) Post recap // View From the Booth recap/highlights

No. 1 Penn State improved to 4-0-0 with a dominating 7-1 win over Ohio. The Icers shredded the Bobcats' depleted defense for 55 shots and found secondary scoring from Eric Steinour, who had two goals. Jake Friedman made the Bobcats pay for 12 minor penalties with two goals of his own on the power play, and Matt Madrazo missed his second straight shutout by 2:04 behind a good defensive effort.

Three Stars: October 10-16

Still waiting for my free t-shirt.

3. Icers' goal remains same in transition year
(Pennsylvania Puck)

If you're not on the PA Puck bandwagon yet, you need to get there. They've been pumping out a quality PSU piece once a week. I can barely keep it together pumping out five crappy pieces a week, and I don't cover other teams.

2. Solid Start
(The View From the Booth)

Steve Penstone did some great work this week - adapting pretty well to a tough setup for the games at Illinois, grinding out fantastic intermission interviews with Ed Olczyk and Teddy Hume...so here I'll link the one thing he's done in the last week that I don't think I linked anywhere else: interviews with Bryce Johnson and Guy Gadowsky.

1. Penn State men's ice hockey getting a start with new coach
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Whatever happens, please don't ever let me lose perspective on just how cool it is that Penn State hockey is now worthy of conversation in major papers. Oh and hey, there's a video too, in which we find out that The Namesake wants the "rockingest" arena in college hockey.

Other famous "rockingest" things in history: Ellie's birthday party for Craig. That one didn't end so well.

Best of the Rest

Lady Icers prepare for College Hockey America conference
(Daily Collegian)

Freshmen fitting in with Lady Icers' team
(Daily Collegian)

The Collegian decided to write two articles about the Lady Icers this month. Wasn't really expecting that.

Cycling the Puck with Dave Sottile
(Pennsylvania Puck)

Remember that fundraising we were doing that we haven't heard anything about in a while?

“Our goal is to raise another $10 million,” [Joe] Battista said. “We’ve raised $3 million in addition to the Pegulas’ gift. We have a goal of – at minimum – raising $7 million more, and that helps put us into the area where as long as we’re filling the building, keeping the ice rented and selling merchandise, we’re going to be able to meet our goal.

“Our goal is for the building to be self-sufficient and the hockey programs to be self-sufficient, and that’s quite a goal,” Battista said. “Right now, 20 of the 36 scholarships fully endowed.”

My only question there: is it just me or is fundraising lagging a little after a hot start? Battista's words seem to make it pretty clear just how tight of a rope the program will be walking to remain self-sufficient, so hopefully that $7 million is coming. As well as all of that other stuff that also needs to happen.

Sux 6: The best things to do in Siouxland (Oct. 13-19)
(Sioux City Journal)

I'm not going to complain that the Journal ran a picture of last year's team calling it this year's pink jerseys. Not when Tommy Olczyk (center) and Matt Skoff (far right) are included. Also, as current or former Muskies, both apparently like boobs.

1. The Muskies heart pink, and boobs!
$3 of every ticket goes to Breast Cancer Awareness for this Pink in the Rink Musketeers vs. Lincoln hockey game. Happening at the Tyson Events Center, the puck drops at 7 p.m. Saturday. Be sure to wear pink.

ECAC Hockey Journal: Opportunity trumps loyalty
(hockeyjournal.com)

This guy's not a fan of what happened with ECAC coaching changes this past offseason, which obviously involved Gadowsky. I'm not a fan of this guy, so we'll call it even.

@JLPegula
(yfrog)

Surprise visitor at Icers practice last Wednesday: The Namesake, and a guy who holds his coat.

Actually, the other guy is Cliff Benson, a Penn Stater and new chief development officer for the Sabres. But if I had a few billion, I'd hire a guy to carry my coat and give him a fancy title (like, say, "chief development officer") too.

Vees land scholarships to prestigious schools
(bclocalnews.com)

I dare you to find more fail in one paragraph.

Another Vee committed is forward Curtis Loik, who will join the Penn State Littany Lions. The Littany Lions, which will play at the NCAA Division l level for the first time in the fall of 2012 as an independent program. The following year they will move to the newly created BIG 10 hockey conference, joining Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Loik is excited to be part of the new program guided by coach Guy Gadowski.

@PaulyyyyD
(Twitter)

The day before beginning the weekend set at Illinois, the team got the VIP treatment at a Blackhawks vs. Jets game.

You disappoint me, Jake Friedman.

A miracle rally for RIT provides 6-5 win
(Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Next year’s Brick City Homecoming opponent is Penn State, the upstart Division I program that was founded by Terry Pegula’s donation.

In 2013, Michigan comes to downtown Rochester. Yeah, I say the Tigers program is gaining in stature. When you can get the big boys to come to you, you’ve arrived.

"Big boys" before we play a single game? I'll take it.

Lucia signs contract for 3-year extension
(Rink and Run)

The Minnesota coach is still not fired. Quite the opposite, actually.

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.

Monarchs Win EJHL Title

Tim Carr left the traditional goalie slide in front of the team picture to starter Brian Billett.



The New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs won the Dineen Cup, symbolic of the EJHL championship, today with a second consecutive 3-2 win over the Jersey Hitmen. Penn State recruit Tim Carr served as backup goalie (as he had all playoffs), so since I obviously can't comment on his play, I'll turn it over to the EJHL website.

Cody Sharib scored two goals, including the game-winner, to lead the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs over the Jersey Hitmen 3-2 on Sunday and give his team its second EJHL Dineen Cup Championship in as many years.

Ryan Tyson put the Monarchs on the board 3:24 into the game when he banged home Chris Cowles’ rebound from the slot. Billy Fitzgerald set up Cowles’ shot.

Sharib extended the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal with 7:14 on the clock when he took a pass from Trevor vanRiemsdyk just outside the slot and fired it past Hitmen goaltender John Nauta.

The Hitmen got on the board 3:40 into the second period when Matt Willows took a pass from Craig Kitto at the point and rifled it at the net. Monarchs goaltender Brian Billett made the save, but Connor Leen buried the rebound.

A power play goal by the Hitmen tied the game with 10:57 left in the second period. Max Novak sent the puck to Andy Latta, who took a shot. A defenseman deflected the puck to the circle and Matt Willows beat Billett with his shot.

Sharib put home his second of the game with 3:21 remaining in the frame when he scored on a point blank shot with assists from Cam Brown and Ryan Tyson.

Billett and Nauta held the teams scoreless in the third period. The Hitmen pulled Nauta with a minute remaining, but to no avail, and Sharib’s tally held as the game-winner. Nauta finished with 25 saves and Billett recorded 36.

The win gives the Monarchs their second consecutive EJHL Championship and their sixth overall. The Eastern Junior Hockey League would like to congratulate the Monarchs and the Hitmen on their outstanding seasons.

Carr, of course, was an integral part of the Monarchs' 38-4-2-1 record, and their Northern Division championship, which earned them a first-round bye and home ice until the final. He went 15-2-1 with a 2.40 goals against average, a 0.917 save percentage and three shutouts, and even chipped in an assist.

The other PSU recruit to date, Jake Friedman, exited the EJHL playoffs with his South Shore Kings two rounds ago, with Friedman collecting a goal and two assists in the Kings' four total playoff games, plus a 20:00 mini-game. During the 45-game regular season, he led the Kings in scoring and was tied for sixth in the league with 26 goals and 35 assists.

Pegula Power

This post, by Matt Walfrand, originally appeared on Takeover The Game. They don't need me to shill for them and certainly didn't ask for it, but TTG comes with the TYT seal of approval for their fresh and interesting takes, mostly on basketball, soccer and hockey - check them out, and make sure you follow Matt on Twitter (@LeopoldsIpod) to talk Sabres and MAC basketball, and to experience all kinds of Michael Jackson-related hilariousness.

And yeah, it doesn't hurt that it's essentially the me show. Maybe when I'm more used to this and have less of an ego, I won't do things like this, but I'm not.

Since Pegula has taken over the team, the Sabres have been on a roll, except for last night’s clunker against Pittsburgh. But we are not going be talking about Pegula and the Sabres today, but more about Pegula and Penn State hockey with the help of Kyle Rossi from the Thank You Terry blog.

How did Terry get involved with Penn State hockey?

When you first asked me about doing this, even before I knew the questions, I had planned on dropping this story, because it’s actually a great illustration of Terry’s love for hockey. I think most people probably assume that Joe Battista (former coach of the club team, now an associate AD basically in charge of the hockey teams and the arena), who’s made Penn State hockey’s elevation his lifelong quest, saw some guy get a few billion dollars from Shell and started calling him for a handout. Not at all the case.

Terry, of course, is a PSU alumnus (class of 1973) and his son Michael had actually attended some PSU hockey camps in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the fall of 2005, and pretty much out of the blue from what I can tell, Terry approached Battista and asked him why, with everything Penn State has going for it - name brand university in the northeast, devoted following, successful club program - no NCAA program existed. They met for dinner shortly after and Battista explained to him that NCAA programs are expensive - especially in our case, as the Bryce Jordan Center, the basketball arena, was built without ice-making capabilities, so an entirely new facility would be needed. Not only that, but we’d need a women’s program too for Title IX purposes. Terry said that he might be able to help and that he’d talk to Tim Curley (athletic director) to get the ball rolling. Battista had to stifle laughter. Trust me, as someone who’s had to answer that “why are you just club” question a few times myself to outsiders and who never thought anything like this would ever happen, it gets old pretty quickly.

So anyway, Battista goes home, Googles him, and finds out he’s loaded, even back then. They kept in touch despite some setbacks like the 2008 market crash. Battista quit coaching after the 2005-2006 season to move into a fundraising position at the university, which hardly seems like a coincidence now, and Terry’s windfall with Shell in early 2010 put the process into overdrive. But that’s something that will always stick with me - Terry contacted us, basically asking to give money. He may not have known that $88 million would be the ultimate number, but he had to know that it would be well into the eight-figure range, because even I knew that. The common thought was closer to about $50 million, so to go almost double that without even blinking says a lot about Terry as well.

All Buffalo Sabres fans are dying to know, is he a hands on guy or does he stay in the shadows?

Terry’s been pretty hands-on through the early stages of the process, but at the same time, not in an overbearing way. I know that he, Battista, the Pegula Ice Arena architects and construction team have been meeting pretty frequently as that project continues to move forward, and Battista referenced Terry and Kim’s vision for the place in [a recent] article. In fact, back in late November when Ken Campbell [from The Hockey News] was reporting that Terry had signed an agreement to purchase the Sabres, Battista dismissed it saying something like “he was sitting right next to me in a meeting when he was supposed to have been signing that agreement.”

But at the same time, I don’t think I’ve ever heard or seen his name mentioned on the hockey operations side of things, which right now more or less boils down to the coaching search. My impression is that everyone’s on the same page with what we want in a coach, and I’m sure Terry will have to sign off on the hire ($88 million buys you that right). But for the most part, it seems like he’s let Battista and his committee do their thing on that front, which seems to mirror the deference he’s given Darcy [Regier] and Lindy [Ruff] on your side of things, at least so far.

How is the program coming along?

Funny that you ask [that], because we just had developments on [the coaching and recruiting fronts].

First off, Andy Baggot from the Wisconsin State Journal reported that PSU has asked Wisconsin permission to speak with Mark Johnson. This is really the first “actual” news that has leaked out on the coaching search, although Johnson’s been a popular rumor subject since about 12 seconds after our press conference back on September 17th. He’s got the pedigree obviously, name recognition even to non-hockey fans, and he’s had a ridiculous amount of success with the Badger women, so it makes sense on a lot of levels. He’s a splash that would draw interest, he wins, and he can recruit without even opening his mouth. Other guys who have been kicked around (without any substantiation) are Denver’s George Gwozdecky, who’s in the middle of a contract dispute, and Minnesota’s Don Lucia if he gets fired after this season. I like both of those guys too. They’ve both won national championships, and both have experience building up new and/or struggling programs, Gwoz at Miami and Lucia at Colorado College. Derek Schooley at Robert Morris is a personal favorite - he’s charismatic, knows the recruiting area, and he started their program a few years back and has done a good job getting them up to speed. He's probably a longshot, but who really knows what they're thinking? All we really know is that Mark Johnson is somewhere on the list.

Battista has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want to disrupt anyone’s season, so the earliest a hire will be made is after the Frozen Four in late April or May. If an NHL assistant deep in the playoffs makes the short list, it could go longer obviously.

Recruiting-wise, news broke of our first two verbal commitments recruited specifically with the NCAA program in mind on Tuesday. Their names are Jake Friedman (a center) and Tim Carr (a goalie), and both are currently in the Tier III Easter Junior Hockey League, whose playoffs are just underway. I did a post that more or less contains everything I know about them - trust me, this ain’t like doing intel on Brad Boyes, that afternoon made me wish I blogged about the Sabres instead. I’m new to college hockey recruiting since there’s really nothing to follow at the club level, and I can already tell that trying to get decent info on recruits is going to be my least favorite thing ever.

Anyway, both Friedman and Carr will play for the club team in 2011-2012, which they can apparently do without losing a year of NCAA eligibility, and then will at least be considered as available players for the NCAA team when we get started in 2012-2013. We’re planning on only having about five scholarship players that first year, but I’m sure they’ll be considered for two of them, depending on who else might be coming and what we might have to promise to get them.

Questions like “why would anyone commit without knowing the coach,” “are these guys worthy of playing for the NCAA program” and “even if they are, won’t the coach want his own guys playing” are being debated as we speak. As to the second one, Carr shares time almost 50-50 with a guy committed to Boston College on his EJHL team and was being recruited by schools like Clarkson, Union and Northeastern (not exactly BC, Michigan and North Dakota, but still). I don’t know who else recruited Friedman, but he’s a top player in a league that’s not the best source for NCAA players but is certainly a viable one. They probably aren’t future Hobey Baker finalists, but they probably could be solid depth in most programs and stars in a new one.

Another thing that often gets debated is whether any of the current club players will be involved with or are capable of playing on the NCAA team. I don't think anyone, even the people on the inside, really knows that yet, but there a couple guys who are certainly candidates, most notably (in my amateur opinion) George Saad, who will be an academic senior in 2012-2013. You might know his brother Brandon, who is currently with the Saginaw Spirit and is a projected first-rounder in the entry draft coming up. In general, we have a pretty solid group of underclassman right now and I'm sure at least a couple can make the jump.

Would like to thank Kyle Rossi for your time and all of you should check out Thank You Terry for updates on Penn State hockey and college hockey in general. It’s a good read.

EJHL Playoff Update

While I was burying myself in ACHA national championship land, PSU commits Tim Carr and Jake Friedman were busy in the second round of the Eastern Junior Hockey League playoffs this past weekend.

Carr's New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs swept the Valley Jr. Warriors 2-1 on Saturday and 6-0 on Monday to advance to the semifinals, where they'll face the Boston Jr. Bruins this coming weekend in a two-game series, with a deciding mini-game following the second game if necessary. Carr did not play in either game against the Jr. Warriors - he backed up Boston College commit Brian Billet, who made an outstanding 57 saves on 58 shots over the two games.

The Jr. Monarchs semifinal games, which are at 5:30 Saturday and 2:20 Sunday, will both be broadcast on FastHockey.

Unfortunately, Friedman's South Shore Kings did not fare as well, dropping their series to the Bay State Breakers in a deciding one-period mini-game Sunday after winning the full game earlier that day 3-2 to force the tiebreaker. The Breakers won the opener Friday 6-2. Friedman was held pointless in the first two games but bounced back in the mini-game to open the scoring on the power play 8:19 in, before the Kings gave up two unanswered to lose. Friedman recorded two assists in an opening-round series win over the Green Mountain Glades.