Women's Jersey Countdown: #19 Jill Holdcroft

Sophomore - Forward - 5'1" - Pennsylvania Furnace, PA

While she's considered to be one of the finest hockey players ever produced by the Centre Region, native daughter Jill Holdcroft, simply put, is one of the most fun players to watch hailing from any region. She plays the game as if her life depended on the outcome, frequently barreling into high-traffic areas among much bigger players. The reward: 10 goals, second on the Nittany Lions only to Shannon Yoxheimer. Holdcroft, whose father Tim and uncles Bob and David all played for the Icers, almost never loses a puck battle and was PSU's best on faceoffs last season, winning 52.7 percent of her draws. Amazingly, despite her high-energy style, she only spent four minutes in the penalty box, the lowest figure among Penn Staters playing in at least half of the team's games. She broke her wrist in the Lions' final regular season game, February 23rd at Robert Morris, and had to miss the two one-goal losses at RIT that eliminated the team from the CHA Tournament. The guess here is that 2013-14 opponents aren't going to have a lot of fun playing against Holdcroft, because one can only imagine what she's like with a chip on her shoulder.

Career Statistics:
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2012-13	33	10	2	12	4	6	0	0	0
NCAA Career	33	10	2	12	4	6	0	0	0

Shut Out The Light

Click to enlarge

From her father and uncles who played for the Icers, through her status as a locally-raised rink rat and her time playing and working in it, to her freshman season as a member of the inaugural NCAA women's team at Penn State, few people are as connected to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion as Jill Holdcroft. Via teammate Lindsay Reihl, here's Holdcroft saying her goodbye to the old orange barn.

With the official move to Pegula Ice Arena scheduled for completion early next week, we're just entering an exciting new beginning for Penn State hockey. Every new beginning, however, comes from some other beginning's end. Farewell old friend, you've been awfully good to Penn State for 33 seasons of hockey.

Related posts:
33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part I)
33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part II)

Three Stars: March 12-17

3. The Penn State fans have to step up next year
(PennStateHoops.com)

Although I take issue with some of the things said about hockey within, I found this a worthwhile discussion of what may turn into an interesting and unique dynamic. People who pay more attention to PSU men's hoops than I believe that Pat Chambers' program is close to turning a corner. And of course, we all know what's going on with men's hockey. I don't think it violates #OneTeam bylaws to ask the following questions:

1. Is there room at Penn State for three heavily-attended winter sports (with wrestling being the third), particularly given the population of the immediate area? Penn State supports more different sports at a high level than most schools, and doesn't have the benefit of being the primary sports entity in a metro area of 1.5 million like Ohio State.
2. If not, who "wins" to become the alpha winter sport at Penn State? Who settles for the scraps?

My opinion? It's much too complicated of a question to answer right now. But I do think we'll have some idea of how things are headed by the end of next season.

2. PSU Women’s Ice Hockey Club: The Journey
(Onward State)

Onward State checks in with a nice review of the Women's Ice Hockey Club's ACHA tournament run. Jump on the train now, kids - this is your best shot at a national championship next year. With no disrespect at all meant to the Ice Lions, who will certainly contend as well, or to the NCAA programs, who will continue to progress but probably won't be on a national championship level just yet, of course.

1. 2013 ISS Draft Rankings - March
(The Pipeline Show)

As Gudas time as any
(The Hockey News)

When it comes to items related to recruits, it takes a lot to make a Three Stars post in a week where the appropriate gender's Commit Cycle is up. Welcome to "a lot:" 2013 commit Eamon McAdam retained his number five goaltender slot in the ISS draft rankings and also got a shout in The Hockey News' Hot List.

June's NHL Entry Draft is in New Jersey. The next great TYT roadie? Quite possibly.

Best of the Rest

An Inside Look at the Pegula Ice Arena
(Onward State)

Between the second star and this, it wasn't exactly a close race for the unofficial TYT website of the week award.

ASU Hockey Year in Review: The Game of the Year
(House of Sparky)

I'm sure you don't need me to reveal the identity of the game declared Arizona State's "Game of the Year." Now that it's all over, I'm okay with it, to be honest. We'll move on to bigger things, they have their story for the grandkids. The Icers beating then-new NCAA program Robert Morris in 2005 didn't screw up the Colonials' development and gave PSU a great moment for a time when we didn't think we'd ever have NCAA hockey. No harm either way.

OSU Ice Rink called upon one last time
(Land-Grant Holy Land)

I feel like you could swap out "OSU Ice Rink" for "Greenberg Ice Pavilion" in a lot of places here. Regardless, an outstanding look at possibly the last time the Buckeye men will be forced out of their large, multi-purpose arena and into a tiny and dated, but gloriously intimate, rink (OSU's women will continue to use the facility as their regular home).

Ice Hockey Recap: ALL THE SEASON CLOSURES!
(Black Shoe Diaries)

There's always room for IcersGuy (and apparently, all SB Nation blogs) in this post. Here, he runs down the end of the season for the NCAA women and both ACHA teams.

Mercyhurst beats Cornell, 4-3, in Overtime. Advance to NCAA Frozen Four
(chawomenshockey.com)

Speaking of season closures... Mercyhurst advanced to the Women's Frozen Four by beating No. 2 Cornell. They'll now play Boston University (PSU assistant Gina Kearns' alma mater - guessing she's going to drop conference loyalty for a couple hours there) in the semifinals on Friday in Minneapolis. The winner will battle the winner of the other semifinal, between Boston College and Minnesota, in Sunday's NCAA championship game.

On the men's side, PSU opponents Ohio State, Wisconsin, Union and Connecticut are still alive in their respective conference tournaments, which play their semifinals and finals (or Final Five, in the case of the WCHA and the Badgers) this weekend, ahead of the NCAA tournament selection show Sunday evening. Those four schools are the only opponents remaining with any chance of making NCAAs - OSU and UConn would have to win their conference tournaments to qualify, while Wisconsin and Union stand at least a chance of an at-large bid, depending on how things shake out with the always-fluid PairWise Rankings.

Part of me hopes Wisky makes it, part of me hopes Penn State ruined their season. Tough call.

@JHoldcroft
(Twitter)

Good news: Jill Holdcroft's broken wrist is progressing nicely.

Penn State goalie Nicole Paniccia, once upon a time

Heather Linstad Resigns As Women's Ice Hockey Coach
(uconnhuskies.com)

Someday, I'd love to hear the full story of what happened with UConn women's hockey. Here's what I do know: Heather Linstad, the only coach in program history, was generally successful since starting at the school in 2000. Then, rather suddenly, things veered downhill a couple years ago. Twenty-one wins in 2009-2010 became 13, then four, then just three this past season. Simultaneous to that slide, the Huskies were gutted by transfers, including Nicole Paniccia, Taylor Gross and Jenna Welch to Penn State of course, as well as Jocelyn Slattery, now of Lindenwood. Last week, Linstad resigned. I'm not sure I've ever seen a program take such a complete header in such a short period of time.

@B1GIceHockey
(Twitter)

Regarding a possible name for the Big Ten championship trophy...

Admittedly, I did not support the idea of Big Ten hockey initially. But the more it angers Minnesota and Wisconsin fans, the more I'm coming around on it.

W: Penn State 0 at RIT 4

Box score // GoPSUsports.com recap // RITathletics.com recap // USCHO photos

The Nittany Lion women (7-22-2, 1-15-2 CHA) dropped a disappointing, but not discouraging, 4-0 decision at RIT (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) Saturday night. The game became rather heated in the late stages - notable because the Tigers' now-completed sweep of PSU, combined with Lindenwood's simultaneous sweep of Robert Morris in St. Louis, make Rochester the most likely destination for Penn State when the CHA tournament gets underway in two weeks.

Next weekend, PSU closes its regular season with a pair at RMU. Elsewhere in the CHA, RIT travels to Mercyhurst, while Syracuse hosts Lindenwood. Sweeps by both Lindenwood and Mercyhurst would send the Nittany Lions to LU (which is even with Robert Morris in the standings, but owns the tiebreaker) for CHAs, while any other result sets up a rematch with RIT.

A summary of the rapidly-solidfying league standings: Mercyhurst clinched the regular season title over the weekend by sweeping Syracuse, which has clinched second. Both teams will receive byes to the tournament semifinals, which will be hosted by the top-seeded Lakers. On the other end, Penn State is locked into sixth, and - barring the scenario outlined above - will head to third-place RIT in for the best-of-three first round of the playoffs. Lindenwood and Robert Morris are currently tied for fourth in points and (again, unless LU sneaks into third) will likely play each other in the first round, with home ice between the two still up for grabs.

Here's the RITathletics.com recap, followed by the live blog.

---

Nicole Paniccia made 41 saves, including this one on Lindsay Grigg. Photo: Omar Phillips/USCHO

The RIT women’s hockey team (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) clinched at least a share of third place in the College Hockey America standings after defeating Penn State (7-22-2, 1-15-2 CHA) by a score of 4-0 on Saturday night at Ritter Arena.

RIT broke the game open with three second period goals. The line of Erin Zach (Elmira, Ontario/Cambridge Fury), Marissa Maugeri (Ajax, Ontario/Durham West Lightning), and Jess Paton (Woodstock, Ontario/Waterloo K-W Rangers) combined for six points. Zach and Maugeri had a goal and an assist apiece, while Paton tallied two assists. Kourtney Kunichika (Fullerton, CA/LA Selects) recorded a goal and an assist, while Kim Schlattman (Stratford, Ontario/Cambridge Fury) also scored for RIT.

RIT out-shot Penn State, 45-20. RIT goaltender Laura Chamberlain (Norco, CA/LA Selects) stopped all 20 shots she faced to record her second shutout of the season and 12th of her career. Chamberlain made a handful of big saves in the third period to preserve the shutout.

Nicole Paniccia made 41 saves in defeat for the Nittany Lions. The Nittany Lions were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-1.

The Tigers have clinched home ice for the upcoming CHA postseason tournament and will host a best-of-three series at Ritter Arena from March 1-3.

RIT Head Coach Scott McDonald was happy with his team’s play tonight, especially in the second period.

"I was excited with the way we played the entire game," said McDonald. "I couldn't be happier for our senior class, they were great tonight. The second period was one of our best of the year."

Neither team scored in an opening period that featured just a handful of stoppages and no goals. RIT held an 11-5 edge in shots on goal, but missed several wide.

Paton had a great chance stopped by the glove of Paniccia with 4:23 remaining, interrupting a 13-minute span between whistles. On the ensuing face-off, Maugeri rang a shot off the post.

Shannon Yoxheimer nearly scored twice in the first period. Photo: Omar Phillips/USCHO

Penn State had its best chance of the period with three minutes left in the period, as Shannon Yoxheimer fired a shot from the left wing that Chamberlain looked to have smothered, but the puck got behind the goaltender and was sitting in the crease for a few tense seconds before Morgan Scoyne (Drumbo, Ontario/Stoney Creek Sabres) knocked it away.

The Tigers played one of their better periods of the season in the second, scoring three times, while out-shooting the Nittany Lions 24-4 to take a 3-0 lead into the intermission.

Schlattman got the Tigers on the board just 2:08 into the period, as she shoveled a pass from Kunichika from in close off the post and in for her team-best 14th goal of the year. Great work by Tenecia Hiller (Brampton, Ontario/Brampton Thunder) and Kunchika down low made the goal, as Schlattman was alone in front for the goal.

RIT nearly made it 2-0 on the power-play moments later, as Hiller was denied three times in succession in front, first on a deflection, then on two rebounds.

Maugeri gave RIT a 2-0 lead at the 12:48 mark, slamming in a rebound after a shot by Zach was stopped. Paton kicked a pass in the neutral zone to Zach, who came flying in on the right wing. She had her initial attempt stopped by Paniccia, but Maugeri was there to stuff home the rebound for her seventh goal of the year.

That line struck again with 1:09 left in the period, as Zach collected a cross-ice pass from Paton on the rush to put the puck past Paniccia for her fourth goal of the year. Maugeri also assisted on the goal.

Kuncihika concluded the scoring with 4:43 left in regulation, stealing a puck into the neutral zone, flying into the Penn State zone, and putting a low shot through the pads of Paniccia for her ninth goal of the season.

Tonight was the fourth regular season meeting between the two squads, with RIT holding a 3-0-1 edge. On Oct. 25, RIT defeated the Nittany Lions 4-1 at Penn State, while the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie the next night. Last night, Schlattman scored two goals, while Ariane Yokoyama (Van Nuys, CA/LA Selects) dished out three assists to become the 12th player in the history of the RIT women’s hockey program to record 100 career points in a 4-1 RIT win.

Before the game, RIT honored seniors Ellesha Fortuna (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Barracudas), Danielle Read (Brantford, Ontario/Hamilton Hawks), Kristina Moss (Webster, NY/Buffalo Bisons), Yokoyama, Hiller, and Schlattman.

Three Stars: February 4-10

3. A Sneak Peek at the Pegula Ice Arena
(The Penn Stater)

PIA tours have become frequent enough that it's no longer a guaranteed all-time top tenner (traffic wise) when I drop in a photo of the progress, whether from myself or someone else. Regardless, here's a solid recent look from Tina Hay, the editor of PSU's alumni magazine. Pics beyond the two in the post were dropped in a Facebook gallery as well.

2. State College High School grad Holdcroft playing big role
(Centre Daily Times)

If you don't like the way Jill Holdcroft plays, you don't like hockey.

"I work hard, which might make up for not having some other essential skills," Holdcroft said. "I love to forecheck and get into the corners and make the other team work even harder to defend against."

Yeah, no kidding.

1. Fourth concussion forces an end to Lady Icer's career
(The Daily Collegian)

While I referenced it directly and indirectly a few times over the weekend, I wanted to get one last shoutout to Kate Christoffersen on the record, following the forward's Senior Day on Saturday. She's a pre-donation player who finished on the NCAA team, a great thing in and of itself. But for those who don't know by now, this happened at the end of the 2010-2011 season:

Kate Christoffersen and her parents couldn’t help but cry at their kitchen counter.

The three shed tears on March 6, after Kate arrived home to Trumbull, Conn., for spring break as David and Mary talked to their daughter about the possibility of ending her 14-year hockey career.

The Lady Icers sophomore defender had sustained her fourth career concussion on Feb. 11. After the season, Christoffersen decided to hang up her skates and stop playing the game she has played since age 6 because of what she calls her “most severe concussion.”

From there to here - one of my favorite stories ever.

Best of the Rest

Minnesota-Grown College Commitments
(Let's Play Hockey)

When combining the men and women, and among DI schools, Penn State's six recruits from Minnesota trail only North Dakota's eight among out-of-state schools. They're not leftovers either. On the men's side, Anchorage transfer Eric Scheid is a proven DI player, as he was fourth on the Seawolves in scoring as a freshman last year. For the women, Amy Petersen and Laura Bowman are most of the offense for two-time defending state high school champ Minnetonka and Hannah Ehresmann is part of a 50-50 goalie rotation for the Skippers. Christi Vetter (Lakeville North) and Sarah Nielsen (Edina) are also two of the best players on two of the best teams in the state. National and district camp invites are sprinkled throughout as well. Basically, well done, coaches.

B³ Postgame Recap: Lincoln 2, Omaha 4
(Black and Blue Blog)

One of those Minnesotans - Scheid - had a chance to play in the USHL's first outdoor game on Saturday, the afternoon half of a doubleheader at Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park. However, the archrival Omaha Lancers jumped all over Scheid's Lincoln Stars early and coasted to the win in front of an announced 13,650. The Blaine High School product was a +1 with a pair of shots.

The nightcap was an NCAA game, with host Nebraska-Omaha (or just "Omaha" if you ask them) falling to the North Dakota [Nickname] ("Fighting Sioux" if you ask them) 5-2.

Brandon Saad First Goal
(nhl.com)

Congrats to George Saad's brother on scoring his first NHL goal for the Blackhawks. I'm going to be honest with you guys though, I'm a little tired of living vicariously through Penn State siblings and other, much more tenuous, connections to the show. Here's hoping for our very own NHLer - not one from the OHL's Saginaw Spirit or Wisconsin (Max Gardiner's brother Jake) - in the next five years or so.

Five collegians to watch for the 2013 NHL Draft
(Hockey's Future)

...so, towards that end, here's someone who thinks Mark Yanis is a "collegian to watch" for this year's NHL Entry Draft. As a second-year eligible guy, the deck's kind of stacked against him, because there's a whole new birth year available for people to get excited about, and hey, everyone already passed on him once (seven times, actually).

That said, it does happen. One example is a player PSU saw this year, and in fact scored a game-winning goal against the Nittany Lions: Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who was passed over in 2011 before being drafted 78th overall by the Flyers in 2012. Yanis, who was given a B rating (roughly translating to mid-round consideration) on the NHL Central Scouting watch list in 2011 before dropping out of the ratings closer to the 2012 draft, is an intriguing prospect. He does fit the mold as a possible second-year pick, since he's someone who has taken a developmental step that many expected to see last year, specifically with respect to his offensive capabilities. He's been as advertised otherwise, of course (see photo above). The bottom line for me is that he is good enough for an NHL team to own his rights, but the logistics are against him. We'll see - here's hoping.

2013 Draft Blog: Eamon McAdam Pt. 3
(The Pipeline Show)

A PSU guy much more likely to be drafted is Eamon McAdam, an incoming freshman next year, who chipped in a long-awaited third blog entry for TPS last week. In it, he discusses his SportsCenter-worthy save at the USHL Top Prospects Game, as well as his other experiences at the showcase.

PJ Musico riding the Penn State hockey wave and making the most of it
(Stack the Pads)

Keeping the goalie love going, here's a comprehensive look at Penn State's repository of Caliswag.

Also, is there a more Canadian place name than Flin Flon? Maybe Moose Jaw.

Penn State ice hockey team might not return to Hershey for a while
(pennlive.com)

Obvious statement is obvious. PSU will want to play at Pegula Ice Arena as much as possible, and if they do venture to neutral Pennsylvania sites, it will likely be to cultivate their following in the major cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Penn State-Lindenwood Photo Gallery II

Photos from Saturday afternoon's Penn State-Lindenwood women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Left to right: Associate AD Joe Battista, AD Dave Joyner, head coach Josh Brandwene, and forward Kate Christoffersen, during Christoffersen's Senior Day recognition before the game

Freshman forward Birdie Shaw

Freshman forward Jill Holdcroft

Sophomore forward Jess Desorcie

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell

Freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen

Yoxheimer

Hoenshell

Christoffersen

Freshman defender Steph Walkom



Junior goaltender Nicole Paniccia

Freshman defender Sarah Wilkie

2/9 Postgame: Brandwene, Holdcroft, Paniccia

Comments from head coach Josh Brandwene, freshman forward Jill Holdcroft and junior goaltender Nicole Paniccia following Penn State's 3-2 win over 3-3 tie with Lindenwood Saturday afternoon.

W: Penn State 3 vs. Lindenwood 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // LindenwoodLions.com recap

It was a win that wasn't, thanks to a brutally missed call when Taylor Gross was tripped attempting to carry out of the PSU zone with a 3-2 lead in the last minute and Lindenwood goalie Nicole Hensley on the bench - a play that directly led to Allyson Arcibal's tying goal with 42 seconds left in regulation. Officially, Penn State is now 7-20-2 (1-13-2 CHA), while Lindenwood is 4-23-3 (4-9-3 CHA), but the Nittany Lions earned two points, period. No other way to say it.

Know how bad the no-call was? It featured prominently in the generally sunny and controversy-free official recap. Here that is, followed by the live blog.

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The final Penn State women's hockey game at Greenberg Ice Pavilion was a taut affair that ended in bizarre fashion as Lindenwood tied Penn State, 3-3, on Saturday afternoon. LU's Allysson Arcibal scored an extra-attacker goal with 42 seconds remaining to force overtime after a couple of tough calls went against PSU.

Jill Holdcroft (Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa.) scored a go-ahead goal with five minutes left in the third period on a power play for a 3-2 lead. Jordin Pardoski (Rochester Hills, Mich.) ripped a shot from the blue line that ricocheted off the post as Holdcroft slipped the puck past LU netminder Nicole Hensley (25 saves).

With less than a minute, Lindenwood earned a faceoff in the Penn State zone. Before the teams lined up for the faceoff, Penn State attempted to call a timeout, which was denied by the officials. On the ensuing faceoff, Taylor Gross (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the skirmish with Alyssa West and was ready to send the puck out of the defensive zone. West tripped up the junior captain as Lindenwood took control of the puck along the boards and a loose puck was knocked home by Arcibal to knot the game.

In the overtime periods, Penn State (7-20-2, 1-13-2 CHA) and Lindenwood (4-24-3, 4-9-3 CHA) combined for seven shots. Nicole Paniccia (Oakville, Ont.) had four stops and Hensley had three.

Shannon Yoxheimer (Jackson, Mich.) opened the account 9:08 into the game, an unassisted tally where she sniped a shot past Hensley glove side. The goal was Yoxheimer's 13th of the season and ended an eight-game goal draught dating back to Jan. 4. In that eight game span, Yoxheimer still managed to get on the score sheet four times through assists. Lindenwood answered with a power-play goal 3:20 to tie the game and the two squads skated into the break, 1-1.

Penn State went ahead two minutes into the period when Birdie Shaw (Troy, Mich.) slotted home an Emily Laurenzi (Townsend, Del.) feed. The two reversed their roles from Friday night when Laurenzi scored from Shaw's pass.

Lindenwood spent most of the second period on the power play, garnering four power-play chances and two 5-on-3 chances. Penn State killed them all off and allowed 12 shots. Seconds after the final penalty kill, Lindenwood's Katie Erickson ripped a shot that was tipped in by Lyndsay Kirkham to tie the game with 1:41 left in the period.

For the game, LU out-shot Penn State 47-28. Lindenwood had 20 of its 47 shots come on the power play, while just 4 of PSU's 28 chances were on the player-advantage. Lindenwood went 1-for-7 on the power play and PSU went 1-for-4.

Saturday was also Senior Day as Kate Christoffersen (Trumbull, Conn.) was honored beforehand with her parents, brother, PSU director of athletics Dave Joyner, associate athletic director Joe Battista and head coach Josh Brandwene.

The Nittany Lions also paid homage to its past by having women's hockey alumnae greeted on ice during the first intermission. All women's hockey alumnae have been made honorary members of Penn State's Varsity "S" Club.

Penn State travels to Rochester, N.Y. to face RIT next week in a two-game series. The Friday-Saturday set will have 7 p.m. opening faceoffs.

Penn State-Mercyhurst Photo Gallery

Photos from last weekend's Penn State-Mercyhurst women's games. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Freshman goaltender Celine Whitlinger

Sophomore forward Tess Weaver

Whitlinger

Freshman defender Paige Jahnke

Freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer

Sophomore forward Katie Murphy

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell scored PSU's first goal Friday

Hoenshell and a happy team

Junior forward Taylor Gross

Freshman forward Emily Laurenzi

Freshman forward Jill Holdcroft

Gross

Freshman defender Jordin Pardoski

Sophomore forward Jess Desorcie

Junior goaltender Nicole Paniccia (left) and Gross

Paniccia

Holdcroft

Hoenshell

McGee

Rasmussen

Paniccia and senior defender Lindsay Reihl

Penn State-Princeton Photo Gallery

Photos from Tuesday night's Penn State-Princeton women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Taylor McGee (8) cleans off Nicole Paniccia's (37) doorstep

McGee

Paniccia stopped 27 pucks...

...and at least one player.

Senior defender Lindsay Reihl

Junior forward Taylor Gross was dangerous on several occasions

Freshman forward Micayla Catanzariti

Sophomore forward Jess Desorcie

Freshman sparkplug Jill Holdcroft

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell and her silky smooth mitts

Freshman forward Birdie Shaw

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen

Freshman defender Jordin Pardoski, one of Paniccia's trusted protectors

Paniccia

Desorcie

Gross (C) and Reihl (A) have a meeting for people who wear a letter