ACHA D2: Penn State 6 vs. Marist 1

The Ice Lions (27-6-1 overall) closed their Pool C schedule at the ACHA Division 2 National Championships - and their season - with a 6-1 win over Marist Sunday morning in Chesterfield, MO.

In winning for the second straight day after a tournament-opening loss to Illinois State, Penn State demonstrated both heart and resiliency. Neither, however, were enough to catch the Redbirds, who tied Weber State in Sunday's other Pool C game to finish the round robin 2-0-1 (just ahead of PSU's 2-1-0) and as the group's representative in the national semifinals on Monday.

Without knowing how that simultaneously-scheduled game was proceeding, the Ice Lions did everything they could in an attempt to swing the tiebreakers in their favor (which would have come into play had ISU lost to Weber State) by crushing the top-seeded Red Foxes.

After a scoreless first period, an unlikely source initiated the rout: Mac Winchester. The blueliner, playing his final game in blue and white, potted PSU's first two goals. First, just 20 seconds into the second period, and following a textbook breakout after Marist had cleared the opening draw behind PSU goalie Ryan Demuth, Winchester fired one in down left wing. First assist on the goal, unofficially, went to Foxes defenseman Cameron Rosata, who deflected the shot past Tom Dorsey, his goaltender. Then, with 6:41 left, and just after keeping the play alive along the boards, Winchester ripped home the loose puck that he helped create from high in the left wing circle. Both goals came through a power play that ended the season on a high note, by connecting four times for the second day in a row.

The third period turned into a 20-minute-long statement, as the Ice Lions battered the Foxes for four more goals, including three in the first 4:06. Another early strike got things started, this time just twelve seconds in. That was followed shortly after by Taylor Vincent, who intercepted a careless pass across the middle while on the forecheck, then dangled Dorsey into oblivion before burying. Mike Broccolo converted PSU's third power play goal, and fifth overall, from near the blue following a puck to the front created by a faceoff win and good movement. Marist immediately answered through a Chris Cerbino one-timer from the slot on a Foxes power play, but Chris Lewis' capper restored the five-goal advantage in the late stages of the game.

Seniors Winchester, Demuth, fellow goalie Kevin Lowthert, one-time Icers forwards Broccolo and Joe Zitarelli, and defenseman Tyler Starn all enjoyed productive conclusions to their distinguished careers, which saw the Ice Lions thrust themselves into national championship contention over the last two years. A strong group of returners - Lewis, Vincent, Max O'Malley, Fredrik Linge and Franky Reluzco to name a few - should help to keep Penn State among ACHA D2's elite next season, when the team joins University Park's other three intercollegiate hockey teams in a move to Pegula Ice Arena.

ACHA D2: Penn State 7 vs. Weber State 3

The Ice Lions (26-6-1) will live to fight another day at the ACHA National Championships in Chesterfield, MO, thanks to a come-from-behind 7-3 win over Weber State (28-11-3) Saturday afternoon. PSU is now 1-1-0 in the Pool C round robin, and another must-win - with help needed - will follow Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. against Marist in the final game of the group round.

The easy story of the game was Penn State's power play, which finished 4-for-9 after a sluggish start. The Ice Lions misfired on their first two attempts (and frankly, didn't come very close), and immediately following the second, Braxton Green converted a breakaway to give the Wildcats a 1-0 first-period lead. Mike Broccolo answered late in the period with PSU's first conversion on the advantage, set up by a nice cross-crease feed from Chris Lewis.

WSU chased goalie Kevin Lowthert with a couple of quick goals early in the second period to put the Ice Lions down 3-1, but Ryan Demuth's entry provided a spark - the senior from Yardley, PA didn't allow a goal over the last 36 minutes of the game, with a dominant team in front of him playing like their season hung in the balance playing no small role in that. Max O'Malley's blast from right point on the power play cut the deficit to one just over eight minutes into the second, and even some penalty trouble shortly after couldn't derail PSU's comeback. Ryan Urban capitalized on a misplayed puck by Weber State goalie Craig Peterson while killing a 3-on-5 situation by firing into a gaping net. Broccolo's second power play goal of the game gave the Ice Lions their first lead into the intermission at 4-3.

WSU never really threatened for any sustained stretch after falling behind, and goals from Fredrik Linge, Neil Laessig and Mac Winchester (the last of the four PPGs, coming from the O'Malley spot on the other end of the ice in the last two minutes of the game) both sealed the result and potentially offered some tiebreaker help, should the Pool C semifinal bid come down to goal differential.

Here's the live blog:

ACHA D2: Penn State 0 vs. Illinois State 4

HockeyYall.com recap

The Ice Lions, just as quickly as their ACHA Division 2 national tournament began, find themselves on the brink of elimination after a 4-0 game one loss to Illinois State Friday in Chesterfield, MO.

Redbirds senior goaltender Ryan Siuzdak earned the shutout for ISU by closing the door on a Penn State offense that frequently threatened, but also occasionally appeared out of sync and frustrated. He got plenty of goal support as well, thanks to a gritty effort that saw two dirty goals - as well as one fluky one, and a late tally meaningful only in terms of pool tiebreakers - decide the contest.

Midway through the first period, and 24 seconds after a Mac Winchester holding penalty, Jordan Leach banged home the game's opening goal from Brian Reimel and Eric Brown, after some good movement by the latter two got the puck to the front of the net.

Five minutes into the second period, the Redbirds caught a crucial break when an Anthony Luka dump-in took a skip off of the Zamboni door and ended up right in front of PSU goalie Kevin Lowthert, where Carter Kernbauer showed up to bury (PSU actually got a similar bounce in the first period off of Brandon Russo's dump, but the timing and positioning weren't as fortunate for the Ice Lions). With 7:26 remaining in the middle frame, Connor Anderson's third-chance goal served as the likely backbreaker, while Ryan Dunne added another from just outside of the blue in the last two minutes of the game on a pretty set-up by Brown, who terrorized PSU on the forecheck for most of the afternoon.

With the loss, PSU will now likely have to win each of their other two pool games to advance to Monday's semifinals. The next challenge will be Weber State, which stunned top seed Marist 7-6 in overtime in their opener, at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Here's the live blog:

The Rundown: February 1-4

So...if you haven't noticed, I've been completely inactive since Friday. No posts, no Twitter, nothing.

While I usually try to be as upfront as possible with you guys about things, in the interest of not airing my dirty laundry, I'm going to be a little cryptic here. So, on that note, the short version of events is that I've had continuing issues with certain people, and I felt that those issues were compromising the quality of the blog. With that in mind, I decided to completely bail on things for the weekend to get my head back and let my frustration dissipate. Did it work? I guess we'll find out together, won't we?

The purpose of this post will just be sort of a quick one-time catch-up on everything that's happened since Friday afternoon so that I can get straight back into regular programming from here. Presumably most of you know most of it by now, but just for posterity's sake...

Neil Laessig scored twice against St. Joseph's. Photo: Steve Hass

Ice Lions Sweep Weekend, "Clinch" Nationals Bid

Due to context, the ACHA D2 Southeast No. 2 Ice Lions' weekend road sweep at Southeast No. 7 Rider (4-3), at St. Joseph's (5-2) and at Southeast No. 3 UMBC (4-1) - as well as their now-likely return trip to the ACHA National Championships - has to be considered the top story for this post.

Box score

A three goal second-period proved important when Rider's late rally - against a PSU team down leading goal scorer Chris Lewis to a first-period elbowing disqualification - fell just short.

Mike Broccolo's power play goal tied things up early in that middle period after the Broncs were spotted a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Just after a Tyler Person interference penalty ended, Peter Daley and Taylor Vincent made the score 3-1 with goals 13 seconds apart. Ryan Urban's 4-1 goal midway through the third ended up being the winner after RU's Chris Daley and Connor Fox connected on 5-on-3 situations in the last five minutes to make things interesting.

Neil Laessig's pair of goals were key in the Ice Lions' sandwich-game win over the Hawks. Laessig scored late in the first period, then 2:24 into the second - or 2:00 after SJU had tied the game - to keep PSU afloat early.

Once the Hawks tied things up once again, Urban took over with his second consecutive game-winning goal at 11:31 of the period. The sophomore from Chester Springs, PA would add a late insurance goal, after Franky Reluzco, fresh out of the penalty box and on an Ice Lions' power play, made the score 4-2 early in the final period. Reluzco and SJU's Mark Boczar both took penalties at the end of the second period, but Boczar's was a major, giving the Ice Lions a three-minute advantage.

Box score

Thanks to early power play goals from Lewis and Reluzco, as well as an even-strength effort from Will Vaeth, PSU put the Sunday showdown with UMBC on ice early, and cruised to the finish line in a rematch of last season's MACHA championship game.

When the Retrievers thought about a comeback, via Daniel Durantaye's power play answer midway though the second, Fredrik Linge was there to restore the three-goal lead after 40 minutes and ensure that the Ice Lions' winning streak hit 13, part of a 22-4-1 overall record.

While nationals bids aren't official yet, PSU has just one regular season game remaining, at Monmouth this coming Sunday, in a makeup for an October game postponed by Hurricane Sandy. Since that date happens to also be the due date for the last ranking of the season, the one establishing nationals autobids and regional seeding, it's now (thanks to the weekend sweep) extremely, extremely unlikely that the Ice Lions will be outside of the Southeast Region top two (the autobid teams) when the poll is released, regardless of what happens against Monmouth.

Interestingly, the ACHA tournament for D2 is in St. Louis from March 15th through 19th, meaning that the Ice Lions will likely be the last Penn State hockey team playing this year, just as they were last year. Nationals for the ACHA women (should they qualify) run March 7th through 10th, while the seasons for the NCAA teams end on February 25th (men) and no later than March 9th (women).

Former Icers George Saad and Eric Steinour (center) got two last shots in on Ohio. Photo: Christine Baker/PennLive.com

NCAA Men End Ohio Series with Wins

PSU played its likely last-ever games against former ACHA archrival Ohio, collecting a pair of wins, including one in front of 6,107 in Hershey, to improve to 14-15-0 in all games, while remaining 10-13-0 in NCAA games and 8-11-0 against NCAA Division I.

By the way, in case anyone is wondering (since I've never fully explained it), my insistence on giving three records for the men this season stems from the fact that I really don't see much value in the official NCAA record, which includes games against NCAA Division III opponents that aren't any better in quality than the ACHA teams not counted. "How does PSU measure up with DI competition?" is a much more pertinent question than whatever question is answered by a combined DI/DIII record, and I also include an "all games" mark because I don't accept the official designation of "exhibition" for the ACHA games, not when stats against a crap DIII like Fredonia are counted.

For a while I only gave a DI record and an all games record, until a PSU representative needlessly called me to complain about the practice back in December... oh right, I'm not airing my dirty laundry.

Friday box score // Saturday box score

In the name of having someone who actually saw the games (it was a full-on mini-hiatus, I wasn't kidding about that) write the recap, here's Mary Clarke of Victory Bell Rings.

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The men’s first game of the weekend actually took place in Hershey, Pa. at the GIANT Center in front of a mostly Penn State crowd. The Bobcats got the early lead a little over six minutes into the first frame off of forward Nick Rostek but the Nittany Lions were able to bounce back with six unanswered goals of their own. Casey Bailey netted two, Kenny Brooks had one goal and two assists, Connor Varley had two assists, David Glen got one to the back of the net as well, and combined the team went +20 for the night with 37 total shots reaching Ohio’s goaltender. The game was a great defensive showing for the Nittany Lions as well, allowing only 14 shots to reach netminder PJ Musico and blocking six additional Bobcat shots.

Saturday’s game at home started off similarly to Friday’s, with the Bobcats taking a lead early in the first period, this time just less than two minutes into the frame. However, Casey Bailey and George Saad would counter for the Nittany Lions with two goals in under three minutes to give Penn State their first, but not only lead of the game. A quick goal in the beginning stages of the second period for Ohio would tie the game at 2-2 but after a scoreless frame afterwards, the Bobcats would grab their second lead of the night with a Brett Agnew goal just 38 seconds into the third. Ohio wouldn’t get the lead back again after Peter Sweetland capitalized on a Bobcat defensive error and turned the tables in favor of the Nittany Lions. Curtis Loik and Casey Bailey would cap off the scoring to make the rallying comeback complete with a final score of 5-3. Goalie Matthew Skoff faced a fair number of Ohio shots – 37 of them – and was able to stop 34 for the win. While the wins feel nice, the two games against Ohio do not count in the standings so the team still sits at 10-13-0 for the season.

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Celine Whitlinger made 59 saves against Mercyhurst on Friday. Photo: Steve Hass

NCAA Women Hang Tough Against No. 7 Mercyhurst

The women - now 7-19-1 (1-12-1 CHA) - once again demonstrated their improvement over the course of the season by forcing Mercyhurst to earn their wins at the Ice Pavilion. PSU faces a pretty important series this coming weekend - the final home games of the year - against Lindenwood. LU sits fifth in the CHA standings with eight points, while PSU is sixth with three. With only four regular seasons games left for each team following their head-to-head, a Nittany Lions sweep is all but essential for Penn State to avoid being the last seed for its first league tournament.

Friday box score // Saturday box score

Here's Mary Clarke again.

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The women’s team had a rematch against No. 7 Mercyhurst starting Friday night at the Greenberg. Penn State was in trouble early, giving up a three goal lead to a deadly Laker team. However, the Nittany Lions tightened up and scored two goals on the Laker goalie, Stephanie Ciampa. Hannah Hoenshell notched her eighth goal of the season at 6:21 in the second frame and Jordin Pardoski added a power play tally that, at the time, put the game almost within reach at 4-2 to Mercyhurst. However, the Lakers were able to hold on to the win despite Penn State’s late game surge. Celine Whitlinger was in net for the Nittany Lions and played an outstanding game, saving 59 shots on 64 attempts. The Nittany Lions were also better in the shot category in this game than they have been recently, getting 19 shots to the net.

Saturday’s game started off rough with four unanswered Mercyhurst goals. PSU goalie Nicole Paniccia was able to stop all 11 Laker shots in the first period and did end up saving 46 of the Lakers’ 50 shots. Jill Holdcroft scored her ninth goal this season on the power play with three seconds to go in the game to break Penn State’s shutout. The Nittany Lions totaled 12 shots on goal and had another 5 blocked by the Mercyhurst defense. The spirited effort by the team fell short; however, and the two losses for the weekend put their record at 7-19-1 this season.

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CDT Gets Exclusive PIA Look

In the aftermath of the games (except for the Ice Lions-UMBC one, I suppose), the big news was the Centre Daily Times' front-page story on Sunday regarding the progress of the Pegula Ice Arena, featuring a tour from Joe Battista.

I suppose at this point, there's not going to much in the way of new information - wait... the student section is as steep as code allows?!?! - given that the thing is pretty well on its way to being completed. Still, it's nice to see the latest, publicity is always good, and there's certainly going to be a thing here or there that's news-ish. Like...

The arena, other than melting the ice for about two months each spring for a few events such as commencement, will be almost exclusively for events on ice. They did not purchase covers to put over the ice and have other events on top of it.

Guess that arena football team for State College is on hold.

Dylan Richard Discusses Commitment

I greatly enjoy Andrew Dzurita's recruiting articles for Lions 247 and this one, featuring 2013 forward Dylan Richard, is his latest effort. Here's your money passage.

The 19-year-old center started speaking with the Penn State coaches after former Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL) teammate David Glen committed to the Nittany Lions, and developed a nice rapport with the staff.

“It was Keith Fisher initially. He really started it out where we got to know each other a little bit,” recalled Richard, who chose the Nittany Lions over Minnesota-Duluth, Ohio State and North Dakota. “I went down to Penn State in mid-December on a visit before committing and I thought it was great. Great people, a great campus, good atmosphere, just an overall good feeling.

“They’re a great group of people, all of the coaches. They’re easy to talk to, fun to be around. Being around them made my decision a lot easier.”

Hahahaha hate you, North Dakota.

Club Sandwich: January 31st

Blueliner Tara Soukup pumped home the eventual winner in a key victory over West Chester.

Women

PSUWIHC.com box score and recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

It's only a mild exaggeration to suggest that No. 4 Penn State, now 6-2-1, earned a bid to the ACHA National Tournament in Ashburn, VA from March 7th through 10th with a 2-1 win at second-ranked West Chester on Saturday. And it's no exaggeration at all to suggest that if invited, PSU will be among the title contenders - in four games against the nation's top two teams (California (PA) being the other), the team now has a 1-2-1 record.

Stealing from myself via PSUWIHC.com to decribe the signature win, because I can:

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Tara Soukup's second-period goal powered PSU to a 2-0 lead and would hold up as the game-winner. Freshman sensation Devon Fisk assisted Soukup and also scored the game's opening goal earlier in the period, with help from Mandy Mortach and Ashton Schaffer. Fisk now has 12 goals and 16 points in just nine games.

After going up two with 5:31 remaining in the middle frame, Penn State would continue to keep a potent WCU team at bay for most of the rest of the game. Although Becky Dobson broke Katie Vaughan's shutout bid with 1:09 remaining, the junior goaltender still polished off her fifth win.

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PSUWIHC.com box score and recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap

While a sweep would have been unreal, PSU had to settle for a split - still an outstanding weekend considering the opponent and the stakes.

Once again, from the PSUWIHC.com recap:

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On Sunday, Carly Szyszko connected on a third-period goal from Mortach and Mary Kate Tonetti to pull Penn State within 2-1 with 15:32 remaining, and just 37 seconds after Amanda Vito had scored the Golden Rams' second goal. But the team would not find an equalizer, despite a 31-27 shooting advantage over the course of the game. A couple minutes after a late power play was foiled by a quick PSU penalty, head coach Pat Fung called Vaughan to the bench for an extra skater, but the only outcome to the gamble was a game-sealing empty-netter by WCU's Colleen Tweedy.

Defensively, the team turned in a stellar effort, limiting Dobson, the leading scorer in ACHA WD2, to just one meaningless goal and one assist over the two games. Coming into the weekend, Dobson had a staggering 55 points in 12 games, part of an offense that averaged 6.58 goals per game - but was held in check by Vaughan and PSU's blueliners. The WIHC also successfully killed all eight WCU power plays over the weekend, including a 1:50 stretch of 3-on-4 and 3-on-5 time during Sunday's game.

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A new ACHA WD2 poll is expected out this week, and while Penn State doesn't have much room for upward mobility, a jump to the third spot and added distance above the national tournament cutoff are reasonable expectations.

Penn State's next games - the last ones before nationals bids are awarded - will be February 9th and 10th at Buffalo, an ACHA WD1 team.

Mike Broccolo was among many seniors starring in their last Ice Pavilion weekend.

Men

Box score // Black Shoe Diaries recap

Seniors Ryan Demuth, Mac Winchester, Kevin Lowthert, Joe Zitarelli, Mike Broccolo and Tyler Starn received their official send-off with a Senior Night trashing of Monmouth that, as it turned out, was a showcase for many of those playing their final home weekend.

Fredrik Linge opened the scoring, from Austin Meehan, at the 6:16 mark of the first period, and the hosts never looked back. Chris Lewis - on the power play - and Linge expanded PSU's lead to 3-0 after 20 minutes, before Lewis added another and Joe Bonazelli also scored in the second.

The third period highlighted former Icers-turned-Ice Lions, as Broccolo, Zitarelli and Winchester scored to close things out. Broccolo also had a pair of assists in the game, while Zitarelli had one.

Demuth (nine saves) and Lowthert (seven) split a relatively painless shutout, in stark contrast to Monmouth goalie Stephen Bonora, who had 66 shots slung his way.

Box score // Black Shoe Diaries recap

The Ice Lions became the first of the four University Park hockey teams to play its final game at the Ice Pavilion - and a decisive win over Southeast No. 5 Rowan not only closed the barn in style, but gave Southeast No. 2 PSU some ammo in its push to secure an autobid to the ACHA national championships.

The Profs stunned Penn State 43 seconds into the game with a goal by Alekos Polis, and took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission when J.C. Caulfield scored on the power play with 11:40 left to answer Dylan Jones' tying goal.

Four unanswered goals - by Taylor Vincent, Peter Daley, Linge and Lewis - in the second period would give the Ice Lions the upper hand in the game, and Lewis would add an empty-netter with 19 seconds remaining in the game for the final margin. Ten different PSU skaters collected points, headed by Lewis' two goals, Brandon Russo's two assists, and Linge's one of each.

PSU will now take on a three-game weekend thanks to a makeup at Rider on Friday, a match initially cancelled by Hurricane Sandy in October. Previously-scheduled games at St. Joseph's and at UMBC are on Saturday and Sunday. Another Sandy makeup, a rematch at Monmouth on February 10th, will close out the regular season.

Club Sandwich: January 23rd

Taylor Vincent scored four goals in the Ice Lions' series with Kentucky.

Men

Kentucky Kernel recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap // Kentucky Kernel photos

Kentucky, while 9-17-0 this season and generally not in the ACHA Division 2 national conversation, is still an extremely tough road trip. Long noted for their schedule posters featuring an array of not unattractive women, UK is also famous for their midnight start times and for drawing large and raucous crowds, even at that hour.

None of that seemed to present much of an issue for the Ice Lions last Friday night in a blowout win.

Kevin Lowthert earned the shutout in net, but the story of the game was PSU's steady barrage that saw goals by Austin Meehan and Taylor Vincent punctuate a 25-9 shot advantage in the opening period. In the second 20 minutes, a Chris Lewis rebound goal from a Joe Zitarelli shot, a Tyler Person snipe through a screen and a Will Vaeth backhander essentially clinched the game's result.

PSU leading scorer Franky Reluzco, who assisted on Vincent's first-period odd-man rush goal, performed most of the third-period mop-up duties. The sophomore from Frederick, MD scored a hat trick entirely within the frame, with only Vincent's tip-in preventing Reluzco from going natural.

Kentucky Kernel recap // Black Shoe Diaries recap // Kentucky Kernel photos

The blowout on Friday, tighter game on Saturday pattern tends to appear quite frequently in weekend series, and indeed, it turned up for the back half of the set with Kentucky, forcing the Ice Lions to grit out a vital win. UK jumped out of the gate quickly and built a 2-0 lead with 5:44 left in the opening period, before Vincent's deflection of a Brandon Russo shot on the power play cut the deficit to one at the first intermission.

Although Mike Broccolo tied the game up just 16 seconds into the second period, the Wildcats weren't done, as they capitalized on a second-chance opportunity seven minutes later.

Junior Matt Hudzinski would earn his first goal in a UK jersey to recapture the Cats’ lead, 3-2. He said the feeling of scoring his first goal was unbelievable.

“When that puck crosses the line, hearing the crowd cheer and knowing that it’s all for you is an incredible feeling. Much different than when you’re sitting on the bench,” he said.

A Chris Lewis interception of an errant pass right in front and his subsequent bury with 6:53 left would pull the Ice Lions back even at 3-3 and initiate a scoring burst to close the period. Vincent's rebound goal with 2:38 left gave PSU its first lead and Lewis joined Vincent as a two-goal man by finishing shorthanded off of a feed from Russo with 39 seconds remaining. The two-goal lead heading into the third period would prove to be important.

With under six minutes played in the third, senior Matt McLaughlin scored the Cats’ fourth and final goal of the night, falling short of the comeback.

“I’ve never been so happy after a loss. It’s a moral victory,” [UK goalie Aaron] Tenfelde said, adding that he generally hates moral victories. “I’m not really a kumbaya hockey player.”

It's fair for Kentucky to claim a moral victory against heavily-favored Penn State, but the Ice Lions will certainly accept the actual victory, as each win is important in a tight race for the second spot in the ACHA Southeast Region rankings, and the autobid to the national championships that comes with finishing in the top two. PSU, the current no. 2, is now 17-4-1 overall and on an eight-game winning streak. The team, however, faces a stiff test this weekend in hosting Monmouth on Friday and Rowan on Saturday in their last-ever Ice Pavilion games. Rowan is presently the fifth-ranked team in the Southeast, although the Ice Lions defeated the Profs 3-1 on December 15th.

Don't worry, you guys. Katie Vaughan's got this. Also, her mask is the sickness.

Women

The women, still 5-1-1 and ranked fourth in ACHA WD2, have been idle since a 9-1 blowout at Navy on January 13th, but that status won't last long. On tap this weekend: two gigantic games at No. 2 West Chester.

It probably doesn't need to be said, but the series will almost certainly go a long way towards determining whether PSU will make the ACHA national championships in Ashburn, VA from March 7th through 10th. Pat Fung's crew is in position to receive an invite right now as the third-best team in the East Region, and with just this weekend and a pair of games at WD1 Buffalo remaining before the final ranking is released, two wins in four might be enough to lock down a bid.

Obtaining those wins Saturday and Sunday certainly won't be easy. The Golden Rams are 11-1-0, with the only blemish on their record coming from California (PA), the top-ranked team in the country, and one that WCU also has beaten this season. Junior forward Becky Dobson paces the West Chester offense with an eye-popping 36 goals and 19 assists this season - her goal, assist and (natually) point totals are all tops in WD2.

Club Sandwich: December 20th

Sophomore forward Chris Lewis was deadly on the power play Friday night against Berks.

Men

The Ice Lions, which beat ACHA Division 1 Penn State-Berks 8-3 at the Ice Pavilion to open the season, took a little longer to get going on Friday in southeastern Pennsylvania. Eventually though, strong special teams proved too much for Berks in a decisive win to climb to 12-4-1.

After some back-and-forth action to open the game, Max O'Malley scored about 13 minutes in to put the University Parkers ahead for good. Chris Lewis made it 2-0 at the first intermission with a power play goal set up nicely from behind the goalline by Joe Zitarelli. Berks and goalie Michael Narrigan continued to stand tall through most of the second period, and very nearly escaped the middle frame at 2-0 before Zitarelli created a turnover on the forecheck while shorthanded that was buried by Brandon Russo in the last minute of play.

The relentless Ice Lions power play finally put things out of reach in the third period, when Taylor Vincent scored on a cross-crease pass from Peter Daley while on the advantage. Lewis followed up with a his second PPG of the game, a dirty effort assisted by Zitarelli and Mike Broccolo in which he collided with Narrigan while scoring. Lewis, by the way, clearly won that confrontation. While he was knocked to the ice, he made the most of it with a snow angel celly. Narrigan, on the other hand, was knocked out of the game and watched as Justin Golia gave up two late goals to pad the margin a little.

Ryan DeMuth survived the mediocre beaks of the home crowd ("number one, your five-hole is ginormous big," for example) to turn in a solid effort despite allowing a late goal - through his six hole (between the stick/blocker arm and body).

HockeyYall.com recap

PSU followed up the Berks win with an even bigger one - 3-1 over Rowan, the Southeast Region's second-ranked team, to climb to 13-4-1 heading into the semester break. With the Ice Lions fourth in the region entering the game, some upward movement on the back of this result seems likely in the next D2 poll, expected out Friday. It also vaults PSU ahead of the Profs into the driver's seat of the MACHA North at 5-0-0 in the league.

Because it's literally the only information I could obtain online about it, here's most of the HockeyYall.com recap - I thought it would be rather disingenuous to lift information from there and restate it in my own words without bringing anything additional to the table.

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In both teams’ most meaningful game of the season to date, Penn State defeated Rowan 3-1 Saturday in New Jersey to improve to 13-4-0-1 and strengthen its hold on first place in the Mid-Atlantic College Hockey’s North Division.

After a goaless first period, Mac Winchester scored in the second to give Penn State a 1-0 lead that it carried into the third, where the Ice Lions outscored the Profs 2-1. Frederick Linge and Mike Broccolo scored for PSU to help gain the win for goalie Ryan DeMuth.

"[It was] a tight game from start to finish," noted Matt Morrow, Penn State’s head coach.

Erich Moen scored the lone Rowan goal.

"We played okay," said John Caulfield, the Profs’ head coach. "Couldn’t buy a goal. Missed about eight rebound chances wide or bouncing over sticks. Frustrating."

The win was the Ice Lions’ sixth in their last seven games. They will resume their season Jan. 11 at No. 6 Liberty, another MACH opponent.

After going undefeated and untied in their first 11 games, the Profs were 4-4-1-1, including three losses in their last four games, and stand at 15-4-1-1 today. They’ll return to the ice on Jan. 6 against Montclair State.

"The Virginia Tech loss (7-1 on Dec. 7) was the only bad loss," said Caulfield. "We were totally outworked there. The UMBC (Maryland-Baltimore County) and PSU games, we just couldn’t score. And when we made mistakes, they scored. We need the break — injuries and tired bodies."

Both Penn State and Rowan are likely to see a change in their status when the ACHA releases its third Southeast Region ranking of the season this week, with the Ice Lions moving up the ranking and Rowan heading South.

Katie Vaughan - helped by the defense of Allie Rothman - tops the ACHA in save percentage.

Women

There's not much new to report on the women, who hit the break at 4-1-1 after thrashing Slippery Rock 8-0 on December 9th. The team is undoubtedly hoping to see some upward movement in the second ACHA Women's Division 2 poll of the season - due out this past Sunday, but unreleased as of this post - on the back of that win.

Several team members rank at or near the top of the ACHA WD2 statistical charts. Goaltenders Sarah Eisenhut and Katie Vaughan are 1-2 in goals against average, with a 0.72 and a 0.86, respectively. Vaughan leads in save percentage with a 0.959 mark, and Eisenhut's 0.947 is fourth. Offensively, freshman sensation Devon Fisk's 10 goals are tied for 11th overall, but 7th when counting on a per-game basis.

Club Sandwich: December 12th

Senior Joe Zitarelli opened the game's scoring on Saturday against Temple.

Men

Box score

It's not often that great passing gets headline status, although through the Ice Lions' performance against Delaware it probably earned the privilege, as PSU's first three goals were all the product of pretty set-ups.

Neil Laessig opened the scoring 4:14 into the game by snapping one past Delaware goalie Joe Marshall after a nice Will Vaeth indirect pass started a rush. He was quickly answered by Matthew Gumina on the power play, but the Ice Lions would surge back ahead with a three-goal second period.

Two minutes into that frame, Taylor Vincent finished a 2-on-1 with Reluzco. That was followed with Chris Lewis going five-hole on a give-and-go and Joe Bonazelli's backhand-forehand-shelf goal. The Blue Hens did pull within two in the third period thanks to Trevor Richmond slamming one home from the back door, but Ryan Urban squelched any comeback notion by finally finishing a shorthanded breakaway, after PSU had been denied on two attempts earlier in the game.

In goal, Teddy Steinhart turned in a workmanlike 21-for-23 effort, while - and how's this for balance - 12 different Ice Lions registered points, but none had more than one.

Box score // Daily Collegian recap

Penn State didn't waste any time jumping all over Temple in a key MACHA North matchup, as Vincent put back Reluzco's rebound 4:03 into the game, and after a long stretch of PSU dominance (the Ice Lions won the first-period shot count 25-5) Joe Zitarelli made it 2-0 ten minutes later from Mike Broccolo. Another pair of goals - Urban, from a Reluzco feed that deflected in off of his skate and Brandon Russo through traffic - in the first 3:18 of the second period effectively sealed the game's outcome.

Temple did escape being shut out in the highly-physical contest that saw 14 minor penalties handed out, as well as injuries to Laessig and Vaeth from a scary first-period collision. With five minutes remaining in the second period and Chris Dinsmore off for tripping, the Owls' David Brewer connected on the power play to make the score 4-1. However, goalie Ryan Demuth and a defense that only forced him to make four third-period saves shut the door the rest of the way.

The Ice Lions, now 11-4-1 (4-0-0 MACHA North) and ranked fourth in the Southeast Region of ACHA Division 2, will close their fall semester schedule this coming weekend with two very tough games at Division 1 Penn State-Berks (Friday) and at the Southeast's second-ranked team, Rowan (Saturday).

Women

I covered the ACHA women's team's 8-0 blasting of Slippery Rock in its first-ever home game Sunday morning separately, so here are those posts one more time:

ACHA W: Penn State 8 vs. Slippery Rock 0
12/9 Postgame: Mary Kate Tonetti, Allie Rothman, Carly Szyszko
Penn State-Slippery Rock Photo Gallery

The short-notice game (it was just announced just five days before it was played) may prove quite important for No. 5 PSU, now 4-1-1. ACHA Women's Division 2's next poll is due out Sunday, and the win over No. 11 SRU will stand as the team's only contest since the release of the current ranking, dated November 18th. In other words, without it, Penn State would have been in the unenviable position of trying to tread water without playing a game between polls.

Furthermore, among a tightly-packed cluster of teams, co-No. 3 Delaware is just four points clear of Penn State for fourth place overall and (more importantly, given the format of the national tournament) third among East Region teams. The Blue Hens are 1-1-0 since the present poll came out, and only beat The Rock 6-3 on November 17th. Could Sunday's result trigger upward movement for PSU? Here's hoping.

The women resume their schedule after break with a game at Navy on January 13th.

Club Sandwich: November 13th

Sophomore forward Franky Reluzco (one goal, two assists) had a good weekend at the Siena Showcase

Men

While the much-anticipated frankenweekend for the Ice Lions did not develop (a second game on Sunday at ACHA Division 1 Lebanon Valley College was cancelled), PSU still had a tough task in the form of three top D2 programs at the Siena Showcase. Mission accomplished: the Ice Lions are now 8-3-1 (3-0-0 MACHA North) following a 2-1-0 mark in Loudonville, NY.

Box score

The Ice Lions opened up by blasting the hosts on Friday evening, courtesy of five different goal scorers and a 16-save effort from Kevin Lowthert.

Franky Reluzco, PSU's leading scorer so far, tallied about ten minutes into the game with an unassisted effort, and Joe Zitarelli made it 2-0 from Chris Lewis and Mike Broccolo just 44 seconds later.

In the second period, Siena's Brian Sisti answered with Austin Meehan in the box for a butt-ending major, but a barrage from Fredrik Linge, Neil Laessig and Taylor Vincent over a 6:10 span later in the period ended any comeback thoughts the Saints may have entertained.

The game was a rematch of one from last year's ACHA national championships, won 5-0 by Penn State.

Box score // WPUHockey.com recap

In the always-dangerous middle game of a tough weekend, PSU was downed 7-1 by New Jersey's William Paterson University. WPU, now 7-2-1, is a D2 power, having appeared at the ACHA national championships each of the last four years.

Still, the score was a little flattering to the Pioneers. Thanks to a Lewis goal (assisted by Tyler Person and Max O'Malley), PSU was only down 2-1 heading into the second period and missed a prime opportunity to tie the game with 1:31 of carryover power play time on fresh ice. The Ice Lions also outshot WPU 20-10 in the first period.

“We needed to make adjustments because our goaltender won that period for us”, said [WPU] Coach [Joe] Ballance.

The score remained 2-1 late into the second period when a Pioneer timeout after an icing call played a role in shifting the game away from its established tightness.

“We wanted to both regroup and get a fresh line out on the ice because of the no change icing”, said Coach Ballance. After the timeout, the Pioneers played with some energy and would score a minute later as Freshman Mark Apidopolous (Paramus, NJ) would score his first goal of his collegiate career with assists coming from Kyle Garlasco and Ryan Mara. “It was a great feeling to get my first college hockey goal. I got a great pass from Garlasco and I got all of my shot and it beat the Penn State goaltender,” said Apidopolous.

Following the Apidopolous goal, the floodgates opened. The freshman added a second to cap the game's scoring, but Jonathan Craig, Jeremy Lewis and Matthew Hunter also scored in between the two.

Box score

PSU wrapped up what, on balance, has to be considered a successful weekend by dusting the defending ACHA Division 2 national champions. Florida Gulf Coast has actually struggled so far this year at 3-6-2 overall, but did beat Oakland (the team that ended the Icers' final season is presently ranked 8th in D1) 5-1 back on October 5th to show that they still have something in the tank.

The Eagles were unable to score until finally breaking Lowthert's shutout bid with 32 seconds left - but by then, the Ice Lions had already bombed FGCU goalie Ryan Lynch with 49 shots, scoring on seven of them. Ben Snow had two snipes, while Lewis added a goal and two assists. Broccolo, Zitarelli, Meehan and Vincent were the other Ice Lions goal scorers.

Women

Following the blowout of Maryland on November 3rd that boosted the team's record to 3-1-1, it's increasingly likely that the ACHA women are done for the semester, as they have been unable to secure an opponent for the scheduled December 14th home game (it's proven tough to book largely because it involves finals week travel for many schools). Without that game, the team's next match won't be until January 13th at Navy.

The first Women's Division 2 poll of the season will probably be released this week - it will be interesting to see how the coaches handle PSU, which does meet minimum game requirements for an ACHA National Tournament invite. For ranking purposes, teams are divided into east and west regions, with the top four from each region at the end of the year receiving a bid to the championships.

Club Sandwich: October 23rd

Taylor Vincent sealed the Ice Lions' win with a breakaway goal.

It was a pretty light week for Penn State's ACHA teams, as only the men were in action - and only for one game, a Saturday night home tilt.

Men

Box score

A five-goal third period explosion turned what had been a lackluster 40 minutes and a 1-0 deficit into a possible statement win, 5-3 over Virginia Tech.

The Ice Lions, now 5-2-1 (2-0-0 MACHA North), had lost three of the previous four outings - one of which was in a shootout - making the third period against the Hokies particularly vital to getting the season back on track. Until that last stanza, Kevin Peak's second period shot past Kevin Lowthert was the game's only scoring. However Mike Broccolo, Joe Spagnola, Mac Winchester and Fredrik Linge all got on the board in the first 9:07 of the third to give Penn State a suddenly-comfortable 4-1 lead.

VT's Alex Smith scored twice in that last period, once on the power play to cut that lead to 4-2 and once more with 2:30 left for the game's final goal, but in between those efforts, a Taylor Vincent breakaway kept the game from creeping back into doubt.

For PSU, Lowthert made 37 saves on 40 shots, while Winchester, Vincent and Broccolo all added assists to their goals to finish with two points each.

Next weekend will be another one-gamer, with the Ice Lions hosting Saint Joseph's Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.

Women

As mentioned, the women (2-1-1) were off last weekend. Their next game is November 3rd at Maryland.

Club Sandwich: October 16th

Junior captain Carly Szyszko scored the game-winning goal for the ACHA women Sunday.

Women

Saturday box score // Sunday box score

While the NCAA men's and women's teams were stockpiling a list of firsts at the Ice Pavilion and in Wilkes-Barre, the ACHA women collected a few of their own in East Lansing, MI over the weekend - most notably, a first win and a first sweep. Thanks to those pieces of history, the team is now 2-1-1 overall.

The victim was Michigan State, which managed only one goal on the weekend, thanks largely to Katie Vaughan's 13-save shutout on Saturday and Sarah Eisenhut's nearly-as-perfect start on Sunday. MSU's Amanda Tapp was also excellent in the opposite crease in both games, but freshman Devon Fisk, set up by fellow freshman Nina Elia, gave PSU all the needed offense on Saturday midway through the second period.

Fisk, clearly unfazed by a quick turnaround that saw PSU playing at 10:00 a.m. Sunday after Saturday night's tilt, also opened the scoring in the second game. The Spartans had an answer this time though, as just eight seconds into a slashing call to Tara Soukup, Dana Ovsjannikovova brought things level at one. Amidst an increasing amount of chippiness that led to 20 penalty minutes over the last 5:25 of the second period, junior captain Carly Szyszko restored the PSU advantage with 30 seconds remaining in that middle frame, and the Nittany Lions survived the final 17 minutes to hold on for the victory.

Men

The ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions (4-2-1, 2-1-0 MACHA) dropped a 5-3 decision to the Delaware Blue Hens Saturday evening at the Fred Rust Ice Arena in Newark, DE.

Brandywine transfer Peter Daley tallied in the first and third periods, while freshman defenseman Rob Fauth added one in the middle stanza to help keep the Ice Lions within striking distance before a Blue Hens empty-netter sealed the result. Chris Lewis and Neil Laessig each had two assists for Penn State, and Ryan DeMuth stopped 17 of 21 in net.

Stunningly, PSU now has more blemishes on its regular season record than it did though all of last season. While it's always a little disingenuous to point a finger solely at injuries, the fact of the matter is that with two vital guns on the shelf - Mike Broccolo (ribs) and Ryan Urban (shoulder) - the Ice Lions might simply be in survival mode for a stretch.

That stretch continues back at the Ice Pavilion, with a match against Virginia Tech on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Ice Lions Announce Roster, Schedule

Former Icer and USHLer Brandon Russo isn't done wrestling with Ohio just yet - he'll do so with the Ice Lions against the D2 Bobcats on November 16th and 17th.

Matt Morrow, the new head coach of the ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions, will pilot a 31-man roster through a 28-game regular season schedule, the team has announced.

Here's the roster:

Defensemen (9)     Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Forrest Dell       So.   5'10" 185   Arvada, CO
Chris Dinsmore     Jr.   6'3"  215   Sinking Spring, PA
Robert Fauth       Fr.   6'0"  185   Carmel, IN
Matt Knudson       Fr.   5'11" 198   Upper Arlington, OH
Max O'Malley       Jr.   5'10" 180   Aston, PA
Tyler Person       Fr.   6'1"  180   Brick, NJ
Brandon Russo      So.   5'7"  175   Fairfield, CT
Tyler Starn        Sr.   6'1"  170   Pittsburgh, PA
Mac Winchester     Sr.   6'2"  205   Newton Square, PA

Forwards (18)      Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Joseph Bonazelli   Fr.   5'11" 180   South Windsor, CT
Mike Broccolo      Sr.   6'2"  185   Webster, NY
Peter Daley        Jr.   5'7"  155   Hopewell, NJ
Neil Laessig       So.   5'9"  165   Lansdale, PA
Chris Lewis        So.   6'0"  215   Fort Covington, NY
Robert Liberge     Fr.   6'1"  195   Lynn, MA
Fredrik Linge      So.   5'10" 165   Porsgrunn, Norway
Austin Meehan      So.   6'0"  175   Yardley, PA
Chris Putsch       Sr.   6'1"  195   Media, PA
Brian Reed         Fr.   6'1"  195   Chester, NJ
Franky Reluzco     So.   5'9"  180   Fredrick, MD
Ben Snow           So.   5'8"  170   Webster, MA
Joe Spagnola       Fr.   5'11" 182   Mountain Lakes, NJ
Ryan Urban         So.   6'0"  170   Chester Springs, PA
Will Vaeth         Fr.   5'10" 175   Horsham, PA
Matt Venoit        So.   6'0"  195   Virginia Beach, VA
Taylor Vincent     Fr.   5'8"  175   Lafayette, LA
Joe Zitarelli      Sr.   5'11" 185   Center Valley, PA

Goaltenders (4)    Yr.   Ht.   Wgt.  Hometown
Ryan Demuth        Sr.   6'1"  175   Yardley, PA
Martin Gudewicz    Jr.   5'9"  162   Pittsburgh, PA
Kevin Lowthert     Sr.   5'11" 190   Prospect Park, PA
Theodore Steinhart Fr.   5'9"  165   West Orange, NJ

To casual observers, the obvious focal point of the roster will be Dell and Russo, two members of the final ACHA Division 1 Icers team last season. They'll join 2010-2011 Icers Winchester and Zitarelli (who played for the Ice Lions last year), as well as Broccolo (who didn't) to form a significant part of the team's nucleus.

Taking things a little deeper reveals a team that, while suffering some significant losses from last season, still brings back plenty of firepower and adds quality players to complement the returners. The expression "reload, not rebuild," although a cliche, certainly applies here.

Lewis, last year's leading scorer (32 goals, 24 assists) and a second-team All-American, will be back, as will sniper Reluzco (15 goals) and four of the team's best defensemen, including Dinsmore and O'Malley. Demuth, who won seven games in goal a year ago, will get first crack at replacing Tom Badali, who posted a 1.45 goals against average while winning his first 20 decisions of the season. The newcomers include former Jr. Flyers Cleek and Vaeth, as well as Daley and Lowthert, who make the move to University Park after playing for the ACHA D3 team at the Brandywine campus.

Robert Liberge arrives at Penn State from Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, MA.

Penn State will attempt the tall order of topping 2011-2012's achievements - a 31-3-0 record that included a 25-game winning streak, MACHA regular season and playoff championships and an ACHA national championship tournament appearance - against a schedule that includes a nice mix of familiarity and novelty. The usual league opponents like Temple, Delaware and Virginia Tech are all there, but so is a series in the legendary environment (midnight starts, raucous crowds) of the Kentucky Wildcats, a pair of games each against D1 opponents Lebanon Valley College and Penn State-Berks (including November 11th at LVC's home, the venerable Hersheypark Arena), and mid-season tournaments in Washington, DC and Loudonville, NY.

By the way, the fact that two games are shown on November 11th is not an error - PSU is really going to attempt the day-night doubleheader with five hours of bus in between. If you're intrigued by that, and you should be, games are streamed on the team's UStream channel.

September 2012

Fri. 28 vs. Penn State-Berks (ACHA D1), 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 29 vs. Rider, 8:00 p.m.
Sun. 30 at Temple, TBD

October 2012

Fri. 5 vs. Lebanon Valley College (ACHA D1), 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 6 at ACHA Showcase (Washington, DC), TBD
Sun. 7 at ACHA Showcase (Washington, DC), TBD

Sat. 13 at Delaware, 5:15 p.m.

Sat. 20 vs. Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m.

Sat. 27 vs. St. Joseph's, 1:00 p.m.

November 2012

Fri. 2 at Monmouth, TBD
Sun. 4 at Rider, 2:15 p.m.

Fri. 9 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sat. 10 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sun. 11 at Siena College Tournament (Loudonville, NY), TBD
Sun. 11 at Lebanon Valley College (ACHA D1), TBD

Fri. 16 vs. Ohio, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 17 vs. Ohio, 7:30 p.m.

December 2012

Fri. 7 vs. Delaware, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 8 vs. Temple, 7:30 p.m.

Fri. 14 at Penn State-Berks, 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 15 at Rowan, 8:15 p.m.

January 2013

Fri. 11 at Liberty, TBD
Sat. 12 at Virginia Tech, 7:30 p.m.

Fri. 18 at Kentucky, 11:55 p.m.
Sat. 19 at Kentucky, 11:55 p.m.

Fri. 25 vs. Monmouth, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. 26 vs. Rowan, 7:30 p.m.

February 2013

Sat. 2 at St. Joseph's, 5:30 p.m.
Sun. 3 at Maryland-Baltimore County, TBD

Fri. 15 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD
Sat. 16 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD
Sun. 17 at MACHA Tournament (Abingdon, MD), TBD

Sat. 23 at ACHA D2 Southeast Regionals (Location TBD), TBD
Sun. 24 at ACHA D2 Southeast Regionals (Location TBD), TBD

March 2013

Fri. 15 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Sat. 16 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Sun. 17 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Mon. 18 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD
Tue. 19 at ACHA D2 National Tournament (St. Louis, MO), TBD

Weekend Observations: Rutgers

Collegian Friday summary // Collegian Saturday summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // Friday VFTB highlights // Saturday VFTB highlights
Black Shoe Diaries recap // Friday team press release // Saturday team press release
Friday box score // Saturday box score

Me, last weekend:

I foresee a whole bunch of taking anything good that happens against Rutgers next weekend and guessing whether it would've happened against Rhode Island.

Given the distinct lack of big-picture meaning to these games, let's start there. Two basic ways to look at it.

1. Rutgers is a crap team who plowed an even worse conference and used the disgraceful autobid to bump poor Illinois from nationals. They weren't even ranked! I just wish the ACHA had actually followed those rankings with the seeding so they could lose by 15 to Lindenwood instead of by 10 to Davenport.
2. Rutgers isn't as bad as you say, Mr. 1. They beat West Chester worse than we did half the time and scored some goals against Rhode Island. On paper and beyond the first couple guys, they look better than the Robert Morris team that beat us a couple weeks back. And they didn't just "win" that conference, they dominated it.

As you can probably tell from the more rational tone I gave the second point of view, I still kind of lean that way in spite of the two thrashings the Icers gave them. Please don't take this to mean that I'm calling them the 2002 Red Wings, but they are on par with teams PSU has struggled with this year, yet the Icers obviously didn't this weekend.

I may or may not be schizophrenic. Depends who you ask. Mr. 1 says no, Mr. 2 says yes.

(Over)simplified way to look at it: outside of Rutgers, the Icers have played 14 games against teams ranked from 15th through 31st in the most recent poll (including six against West Chester and Pitt, who are below Rutgers). In those games, PSU is 12-2-0 and averaging 5.64 goals per game while giving up an even 3.00. Rutgers is 26th in the poll, and we averaged 9.50 goals for, 2.00 goals against. Basically, PSU beat Rutgers worse than other teams similarly rated by the coaches.

Faulty reasoning? You may think so. But either way, I'm going to feel good this week, and you should too. Let's get into the reasons why - lots of credit to go around.

In a weekend of milestones like Tim O'Brien's becoming the 15th Icer ever with 200 points and marking the last home games of him and the other seniors, it was the so-called fourth line of Chris Pronchik (1 goal, 5 assists), Joe Zitarelli (2, 4) and Mike Broccolo (2, 2) that stole the show. Picking a favorite one of their goals is a little like picking a favorite jersey, but if I have to, I'll go with 5:43 of the second Friday. After a dump-in, all three gave the Rutgers D zero room to breathe and did a great job maintaining the zone - this is an effort goal. The eventual payoff came when Zitarelli won a battle behind the net with three Scarlet Knights converging, got the puck to Pronchik out front, who quickly moved it to all-alone Broccolo.

It feels like crediting the bottom six has become kind of a cliche in my write-ups, but hey, the shoe fits. Whatever problems may exist with the team, forward depth is not one of them. I thought the other half of the bottom six (Taylor Cera, Nick Seravalli and George Saad) had a pretty good, although overshadowed, weekend themselves.

Another possible cliche: saying nice things about the Carey Bell-Brian Dolan defense pairing, although I'm going to go about it a little differently this time. Rutgers' first goal Friday was not a shining moment for either of them. Bell got caught on a bad pinch, and Dolan, back by himself, fell trying to defend goal scorer John Beatrice. But each of them dusted themselves off like champs, and in fact, each had the chance to double their season goal output after that. Dolan's in particular was a beauty, because it came less than a period later and involved him driving the net, which of course involves a degree of risk assessment if you're a defenseman. Nicely done.

Speaking of defensemen, a nod to Dan Loucks is in order. The power play was 3-for-11 on the weekend (hey, we've done worse about other bad PK units), and he was a big reason why. I like the way he managed the point, and he seems to have a pretty heavy shot that he keeps low.

Chris Cerutti had a great weekend including a hat trick Friday, and doesn't get a mention until now. Ouch. He and his centerman (O'Brien) will obviously go a long way in deciding how the Icers fare next weekend.

Finally, how about senior goaltenders Teddy Hume and John Jay? Both were great in their likely last starts at Penn State. You can play the "easy win" card if you want, but it would mean that you didn't watch Jay's save with about 8:57 left in the first period Friday, or Hume's with 1:46 left in the first and 4:27 left in the third Saturday. Hume showed the form that got him to third on the all-time Icers wins list, and Jay made you wonder why he didn't get more of a look this year with some of the goaltending uncertainty.

Actually, that's not finally. Finally is once again offering my sincerest thank you to Steve and Barb Penstone for their work on the UStream broadcasts, as Saturday's was this season's last. Believe me, I've often considered the alternate reality where they don't exist. I probably don't even start TYT without the ability to watch the games, and I probably get frustrated and quit with a poor production (or one you have to pay for - twice if you need to re-watch it). Even if I do give it a go under those circumstances, it wouldn't be nearly as good, for obvious reasons. Great work this season, hope to say hi in Delaware!