Ice Lions Announce Challenging 2013-14 Schedule

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three Stars: August 5-11

3. 2013-14 USHL Protected List
(Western College Hockey Blog)

WCHB's Chris Dilks has put together the 30-player rosters and 18-player affiliate lists for each USHL franchise, which is kind of a big deal since the teams don't really go out of their way to keep everyone informed, particularly with respect to the affiliate list.

The primary takeaway from a Penn State perspective: it's verification that A.J. Greer is on the affiliate list of the Des Moines Buccaneers and not the roster. That's not shocking - anything else would have been, in fact - but since the Bucs never actually put out a formal announcement following their tryout camp and ahead of the required July 10th cutdown...

Elsewhere, Chase Berger (Tri-City), Kevin Kerr (Tri-City) and Alec Marsh (Cedar Rapids) are where they're supposed to be. Put that together with Greer's return to Kimball Union Academy, toss in BCHLers Bo Pellah (Alberni Valley) and James Robinson (Langley), and we're as certain as can be reasonably possible at this point of where all of the Nittany Lions' recruits will be playing this season.

2. Jim Delany praises Penn State
(ESPN, via the Associated Press)

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany stopped by Penn State football's preseason practice Thursday afternoon, where the involved parties went through the usual song and dance of such appearances. PSU gave Delany a football jersey, Delany gave the media the league's highly-manufactured party line concerning the scandal and the sanctions, the media gave the public some filler copy masquerading as actual news...

...except for the part where someone asked Delany about Big Ten hockey.

Delany said he expected to announce a "robust" league media package soon for hockey.

"I think our championship will grow, and I think you'll see that growth pretty immediately," Delany said. "I'm very bullish on hockey."

Well, okay, that's filler copy masquerading as actual news too, it just happens to be about hockey instead of football. Still... "robust?" I can get with that. Hopefully that word and "soon" both turn out to be accurate.

1. 2013 Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff Promo
(YouTube)

Know why this year's Philly Faceoff promo is better than last year's version? Because it involves footage from an NCAA hockey game that Penn State won. This year's PSU-UVM repeat, of course, will be played on October 26th at the Wells Fargo Center and tickets are on sale now.

Best of the Rest

Neil Laessig will try to beat his father, Lehigh coach Tom Laessig, on November 15th and 16th

Lehigh Announces Schedule for 2013-2014 season
(lehighsports.com)

Two more Ice Lions games are out of the bag: November 15th and 16th at ACHA Division 1 Lehigh. The obvious storyline there is that Mountain Hawks coach Tom Laessig is the father of PSU forward Neil, as well as alumnus T.J., who graduated in 2012.

The series brings the total number of known Ice Lions contests to ten, plus postseason. For a full list (other than these, obviously) check out the third star from a couple weeks ago.

Penn State Berks is also on Lehigh's schedule as an ECHA rival, with games in Bethlehem on October 5th and in Wyomissing on November 8th.

Walkom named Senior VP and Director of Officiating
(NHL)

Noted Penn State hockey dad Stephen Walkom is the NHL's new Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, replacing the retiring Terry Gregson. He was also the NHL's old Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating, as he held the job from 2005-2009 before returning to the ice as a referee. Walkom has been with the NHL in one capacity or the other since 1990 and has worn the orange stripe for 965 regular season games, along with 139 in the playoffs, the latter number including the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, 2004, 2010 and 2011.

"We are fortunate to have someone with Stephen's on- and off-ice experience ready to step in to this position," NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said. "From 2005 to 2009, Stephen provided tremendous direction and guidance to our team of officials as the League implemented several rule changes that brought more flow and speed to our game. That management experience, combined with the fact that he has been back on the ice as a referee for the last four years, will be of tremendous benefit to the League and the game."

“The New G-Man” to Open Thursday
(Onward State)

The new era of the G-Man is underway sans the Icers-related ownership group, leaving the Shandygaff uncontested as State College's hockey player bar.

Princeton's Jack Berger: Solid guy

PU's Berger setting example
(The Princeton Packet)

Here's a nice in-depth feature on Princeton senior captain Jack Berger, a pre-med economics major who more or less is the epitome of "student-athlete." Berger was recruited to PU by Guy Gadowsky and played for him as a freshman in 2010-2011, before Gadowsky left for PSU. Additionally, younger brother Chase (who receives a quick mention in the article and another one above in the third star) is a Nittany Lions commit for 2015.

Bazin earns contract extension at Massachusetts-Lowell through ’17-18 campaign
(USCHO)

After Norm Bazin led perennially-average UMass-Lowell (a 2013-2014 PSU opponent) to both Hockey East championships and the Frozen Four in his second season last year, why wouldn't you extend him?

New Madison USHL franchise presents positives and negatives for Badgers
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Madison, WI - home to UDubs, of course - has been awarded a not-yet-named USHL franchise for the 2014-2015 season. Generally speaking, people struggle to put a finger on what, exactly, a nearby junior team means for the local college program, but B5Q's Andy Johnson got into the implications of the news as well as anyone. There's good (easier recruiting and scouting, exposure of players to the area) and bad (the cheaper USHL product freely serving alcohol might chip away at the Badgers' attendance) to it, but both are probably overstated in some corners.

UNO, which is located in the same market as the storied Omaha Lancers and is more in line with the USHL's footprint than any other DI program, was fourth in the nation in attendance last season and doesn't run college hockey. Michigan tends to do well with the Ann Arbor, MI-based National Team Development Program, but they'd be doing well with high-end prospects regardless of the NTDP's physical location. So who knows? The USHL certainly won't hurt Wisconsin's recruiting efforts and certainly won't help their attendance, but it's doubtful that any effect will be noticeable to the naked eye.

Penn State isn't barren in the junior program department, with the NAHL's Johnstown Chiefs nearby and the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms about a three-hour drive away (for as long as they can keep from being kicked out of Covelli Centre, anyway).

Comparisons to Gretzky? Valid in at least one respect.

The Crosby Effect
(The Hockey Writers)

Love him or hate him, it seems clear that Sidney Crosby's popularity has been fantastic for the growth of hockey - not just in western Pennsylvania, but nationally as well.

Decision made, Sheridan promoted
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Replacing Dan Morris who replaced Craig McCarthy as coach of the Ohio Bobcats: Jonathon Sheridan, a 2011 graduate of Lawrence University who spent last season as Morris' assistant. Good luck bud, that's quite a bit to live up to.

U.S. National Under-18 Team Roster and Schedule for 2013-14 Revealed

2013-14 U.S. National Under-17 Team Roster and Schedule Announced
(USA Hockey)

USA Hockey unveiled the rosters and schedules for its two National Team Development Program squads last week. Penn State is uninvolved, although every other Big Ten team has at least one commit on the U18 team among the league's six total (Minnesota is the school with two). Additionally the U18s, as part of their usual array of exhibitions against college teams, will battle both Michigan and Michigan State this season.

The younger team includes recruits from both Michigan (2) and Wisconsin (1).

NCAA to 'exit' business of selling school-related items
(CBS Sports)

Former Duke basketball player and present lawyer/ESPN analyst Jay Bilas - who is all kinds of awesome, by the way - discovered that on ShopNCAASports.com (a site branded as the NCAA's official online store), typing active student-athletes' names into the site's search box pulled up jerseys of the appropriate school, sport and number. The NCAA, of course, is presently busy in court defending their membership's revenue streams the noble concept of amateurism by arguing that (for example) Texas A&M football jerseys with number 2 but no name on them aren't actually Johnny Manziel jerseys, even though Manziel wears number 2 for the Aggies' football team. Ouch.

Further egg was lobbed the association's way when others discovered that merchandise involving sanctioned individuals like Joe Paterno and Reggie Bush was also available on the site. The Paterno-related items included a DVD of PSU's 2006 Orange Bowl win and a t-shirt commemorating JoePa's 400th career victory, both of which were wiped out by the NCAA penalties last summer.

Anyway, Bilas tweeted his findings last Tuesday. The story blew up from there and two days later, the NCAA announced that it was pulling out of the school- and athlete-specific merchandise business. It remains to be seen how the whole mess impacts the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit (the NCAA, for what it's worth, claims it received no revenue from ShopNCAASports.com), but given that an entity contracted by the NCAA to run its store was using player names to move product, it certainly doesn't look good.

Armchair prediction: college sports will look a lot different in the future than it does right now.

The Colonials honored Chris Kushneriuk after winning the Three Rivers Classic last year

ECHL player returning to hockey after battle with cancer
(The Score)

Saving the best news for last: Former Robert Morris captain Chris Kushneriuk, who was diagnosed with cancer last summer, is officially a survivor. Kushneriuk, who played for RMU from 2008-2011 after transferring from the dying Wayne State program, was most recently with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors. He issued this statement through the team:

After a tough 13 month battle which has included 4 cycles of chemotherapy, 2 bone marrow transplants, 3 operations and 3 months of oral chemotherapy, I have finished all of my treatments and received the amazing news in Indianapolis today from Dr. Einhorn that everything continues to look good and I am cleared to play hockey this season! Stage 4 cancer survivor!

Breakout Past: Penn State vs. Lehigh - 12/12/1976

Somewhat surprisingly, given its location in Bethlehem, PA and its long history playing hockey, Lehigh University doesn't really have much overlap with Penn State through the decades, just 16 games in all.

The teams met twice, in 1939 and 1940, during the era when the so-called "informal team" that would eventually lead to PSU's first varsity attempt represented the university (the latter of these two meetings was actually a conference game, in the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Hockey League that only lasted one season). After the Nittany Lions gained official recognition, two more games followed, in 1941 and 1942. Each of these first four contests was played at the famous HersheyPark Arena (then called Hershey Sports Arena) and each was won by Penn State.

After that though, the two programs diverged. A confluence of circumstances, many derived from World War II in one way or another, killed PSU's program in 1947, and hockey was dormant at the school until the birth of the Icers in 1971. Lehigh, while undoubtedly running into similar hardships, still managed to establish a university-recognized hockey program playing in the ECAC's Division II by the late 1960s (the ECAC's divisional system predates and sometimes conflicts with the NCAA system), later shifting to Division III.

LU hockey helped launch the careers of a pair of noted coaching careers. One, Don "Toot" Cahoon, had long tenures at both Princeton (1991-2000) and Massachusetts (2000-2012). Cahoon, who is the only person not named Guy Gadowsky to lead Princeton to the NCAA Tournament, coached Lehigh to a 10-5-2 record in 1973-1974.

Bill Riley Jr., best known for his 22 years (1969-1991), three NCAA Division II national championships and a subsequent, successful transition to Division I at the school now known as UMass-Lowell, got his start with the Engineers in 1968-1969 after graduating from Boston University. Riley is part of a legendary coaching family that includes uncle Jack, who led the 1960 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team and was the bench boss at Army from 1950-1986. Jack's sons Rob (1986-2004) and Brian (2004-present) have coached the Black Knights' since Jack's retirement, filling out what has to be the longest single-family coaching dynasty in sports history.

The Engineers - Lehigh's current nickname, Mountain Hawks, didn't come along until 1995 and is vastly inferior anyway - played at the Ice Palace in Allentown, a venerable rink that opened in 1924, but closed in 2004 due to competition from newer facilities in the area. Now residing at the Ice Palace's address of 623 Hanover Avenue: The Palace Banquet and Conference Center, named after the rink. This photo is from 1992, but I suspect the place looked pretty similar to this throughout the 1970s and 1980s:

Apologies for the watermark. I attempted to hand The Morning Call money in exchange for a clean copy, but kept getting a 404 Page Not Found error when clicking on "buy." This is why you're dying, newspapers.

Penn State began scheduling Lehigh once again as early as the Icers' second season, and as one might expect with games between a nascent club team and a varsity program, the results favored the Engineers to the tune of an 0-3-1 record for PSU from 1972-1974 - although the Icers did manage the tie and an overtime loss at the original Ice Pavilion during Cahoon's season in Bethlehem.

After LU fell back off the schedule during Morris Kurtz's tenure (1974-1976), they returned for a game at the Ice Palace on December 12, 1976 - and a surviving program for the contest making its way into my hands more than 36 years later is the impetus for this post. The cover obviously led things off, so here's PSU's lineup card from the middle of publication (click to enlarge):

That more or less does it for the Icers portion of the booklet, although Lehigh's lineup on the opposite page refers to the Engineers' games with Penn State, among others, as "tune-ups for a crucial weekend series at Cortland State on Feb. 4 & 5." Ouch.

The program, as is often the case, functions largely as a vehicle for advertising sales, with Lehigh committing a full 17 of the 28 pages to the local business community. The other 11 pages are standard fare - the two lineups, a full roster and team photo for the Engineers, a schedule, a blurb about the university, bios for head coach Steve Penman and assistant Peter Bechtel (both bachelors, if you need that), headshots of the school president, athletic director, team members and support staff, and those officials' signals cartoons that have appeared in every hockey program ever. Oh, and this:

People really did have magnificent flow in the 1970s.

...well, except for Rich Benoit.

The December 14, 1976 Daily Collegian, unfortunately, only gives the events of that Sunday evening in Allentown a gloss-over treatment in the back half of an article also covering a 4-3 win at Delaware the day before the game with LU.

---

The Lions were involved in another close game against Lehigh but failed in a comeback bid and were defeated 7-5.

"After a strong second period we tied the score 3-3 and thought we could keep the momentum going in the third period," [head coach Bob] Hettema said. "We thought we were going to take over and skate them into the ice but instead we began to tire."

The Lions did appear to be taking the momentum away from Lehigh when Tom Horgas scored the go-ahead goal at 1:18 in the final period. But when Lehigh matched that goal a few minutes later, the partisan crowd spurred the Engineers on to victory.

Bill Richardson was in goal and stopped 42 shots. The Lion attack was balanced with Jerry Fry, Terry Brownschidle, Jim Lynch, Tom Horgas and [Bill] Galli scoring.

---

Lehigh, helped by the come-from-behind win, finished 11-5-0 that season, including a 6-4 win at Penn State in a rematch on January 23, 1977. In a situation mirrored by Northeast PA neighbor Scranton during its failed NCAA DIII run two decades later, the Engineers' schedule was an odd mish-mash of club teams like PSU, Delaware and West Chester, as well as varsity programs including Fairfield, Iona and Cortland State. Arguably, LU's most impressive results were 9-2 and 11-1 trouncings of RIT on February 19th and 20th, 1977. The Tigers, now an NCAA DI program of course, would go on to win national championships in 1983 (DII) and 1985 (DIII).

After 1976-1977, Penn State and Lehigh met five more times over the next few years, with the Icers finding increasing amounts of success, starting with the schools splitting a pair of meetings in 1977-1978. PSU then won at the Ice Palace on February 16, 1980, and twice more at the first two Nittany Lion Invitational Tournaments at the then-new Ice Pavilion on February 13, 1982 and January 21, 1983. The scores of those NLIT meetings were 7-4 and 12-3, a far cry from just a few years earlier when the Engineers were too steep of a hill for Penn State's puckmen.

The sudden reversal of results, unfortunately, said as much about Lehigh as it did about Penn State. By the end of the 1985-1986 season, and due to "the tension of Title IX compliance and other financial pressures [i.e., division adjustment, staffing and recruiting, league affiliation, travel and arena]," the program "faded from the athletics department’s agenda." The Icers wound up with a 4-6-1 record against LU's varsity hockey experiment.

Five years later, in 1991, the school rebooted with a club program and played one of their first games on November 3rd of that year at the Ice Pavilion against an Icers team well established as one of the giants of non-varsity hockey by that point. Predictably, Penn State cruised to a 9-1 win in what stands as the last tilt between the Icers and LU. Scott Shell had a hat trick that night, supported by two Mark Konchar goals and a 3-on-5 shorty by Brad Russell.

That Lehigh program, now unfortunately called the Mountain Hawks, has continued to develop over the last 22 years. It joined the ACHA in 1996, increased its budget several times over, and grew its association with a now-cooperative athletic department. This past season, while playing in the ACHA Division 1 ECHA - a conference that, by the way, includes Penn State Berks - LU went 15-13-1 under first-year coach Tom Laessig, the father of Ice Lions alumnus T.J. Laessig and rising Ice Lions junior forward Neil Laessig.

Although it took a couple generations, the demise and rebirth of hockey at both institutions, and several other dramatic shifts in circumstances, it appears that Penn State and Lehigh finally have a relationship worthy of their proximity and respective histories.

Three Stars: April 2-8

3. An unscientific sampling of fan opinions about college hockey realignment
(USCHO)

This just in: some people are rather displeased about Penn State's very existence in their precious realm. Here's one opinion taken from the article which, by the way, very accurately captures the range I've observed.

Chris, a Minnesota fan: “It’s [expletive removed]. Look, we have years and years of alignments. We’ve got teams that we’ve played, teams that are rivals, teams that are together. Minnesota is all of a sudden the most western team and at least four hours away from its closest rival and [now will travel] all the way to Pennsylvania? Penn State decided that all of a sudden they want a team? No. Look, be in Hockey East. I don’t care. It’s very simple.”

I think Boston College just scored again. I guess maybe we should go to Hockey East if we want to compete with the best.

2. Gadowsky chooses 11 Icers for Division I squad
(The Daily Collegian)

Christine Newby does her usual fantastic work in providing the most depth of anyone out there regarding the selection of 11 Icers to next season's roster. To be specific, she got quotes from one of the cuts (Josh Daley, who sounds like he's headed elsewhere) and examined the Title IX implications of the roster's size.

1. Boston College Wins Third Title in Five Years
(College Hockey News)

Helped by Pittsburgh native and Most Outstanding Player Parker Milner, BC (yawn) won yet another national championship. Other takeaway: the last NCAA Division I season without Penn State is now complete.

Best of the Rest

Campus Athletics Announces New Head Coach for Ice Hockey A Team
(lehighsports.com)

Congratulations are in order to Tom Laessig - father of Ice Lions T.J. and Neil - on his new gig as the boss of Lehigh's ACHA Division 1 hockey team.

Men's Hockey Season Tickets
(gopsusports.com)

Guess what? They're taking down names of those interested in season tickets for the inaugural season at Pegula Ice Arena. If that doesn't blow your mind, I'm not sure what will.

Click to view.

Where Do D1 Hockey Players Come From?
(sixteenwins.com)

This is brilliant. And as I've been saying all along, Pennsylvania rates extremely well - perhaps second behind Illinois - when looking at player production per major-conference program.

Fight on State
(ESPN)

I'm sure most people associated with Penn State have read this article by now, but if you haven't, it underscores - in thick, black Sharpie - how little regard Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has for PSU, or even morality and common decency. Why do I bring this up? Well, if you're not aware...

Corbett's leading donors are Terrence and Kim Pegula, who have given $280,000.

I realize that the Pegulas don't owe me anything, and they're certainly free to support whichever politicians they prefer for whatever reasons matter to them. At the same time though, I would like to see some evidence that Corbett's treatment of PSU (not to mention his other shortcomings) bothers them more than they value his protection of hydrofracking. That said, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting. If it didn't happen when Corbett tried to slash the school's appropriation in half (that's $88 million times two per year if you're keeping score), it certainly won't happen over the ouster of a coach TPegs evidently didn't care for anyway (at the very least, he didn't hesitate to throw Joe Paterno under the bus in an ill-conceived interview with TSN while simultaneously trying to bury his own skeletons).

M.F. Schurman named ACHA D1 National Coach of the Year
(delaware.goalline.ca)

A little late on this, but Delaware's Schurman took home well-deserved coach-of-the-year honors. He's UD's first with the accolade since...Josh Brandwene.

Here's an unexpected surprise, from the display of all NCAA Division I jerseys that appears annually at the Frozen Four. I didn't expect PSU's inclusion due to not actually participating in this NCAA season, but I'll take it. Courtesy of former Delaware forward Dave Lombardi's locked Twitter account. 

UAH will be seeking conference affiliation while serving as NCAA Frozen Four host
(al.com)

Alternate headline: other than the whole "the program was killed, then un-killed thing, nothing's really changed in Huntsville."