Men's Jersey Countdown: #8 Michael McDonagh

Senior - Forward - 6'2" - 190 pounds - Wilmington, MA

With classmate Matt Madrazo not returning to the Nittany Lions this season, Michael McDonagh stands alone as the last active NCAA men's player enrolled at Penn State prior to September 17, 2010 (Lindsay Reihl holds that distinction on the women's team). And the former prep star at both Phillips Andover and Winchendon School, as with the six "pure Icers" who were seniors last year and against the expectations of some, made himself a valuable member of the squad. He's a net-front specialist with good size who generally centered other do-what-it-takes types (most frequently Michael Longo and Tommy Olcyzk, but also Eric Steinour, George Saad and Jacob Friedman). It was a style that paid off in a big way, as McDonagh was a major reason why PSU had better-than-expected depth last season. He scored the first empty-net goal in the program's modern varsity history on November 10, 2012 against Air Force and skated in 23 of the 27 games Penn State played against NCAA competition.

Career Statistics (2010-12 with ACHA Icers):
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2010-11	29	7	16	23	6	1	0	0	-
2011-12	32	11	14	25	30	2	1	1	-
2012-13	23	1	6	7	8	0	0	0	0
ACHA Career	61	18	30	48	36	3	1	1	-
NCAA Career	23	1	6	7	8	0	0	0	0

M: Penn State 8 vs. Arizona State (ACHA) 3

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // USCHO recap

House of Sparky recap // WCSN recap

Guy Gadowsky postgame video

Michael Longo/David Glen postgame video

Hopefully by now, you guys know how greatly I despite mailing in one of these posts by copy/pasting a press release, as I've done this time for Penn State's win over Arizona State to improve to 7-5-0 (5-4-0 NCAA DI). However, the unfortunate reality is that as just one guy, I'm not able to do something like a) Be in Erie, PA for the Penn State-Mercyhurst women's game Friday night at 7:00 p.m., b) Drive home to Medina, OH after the game, c) Do what I need to do on this blog the way I like to do it, d) Get enough sleep to avoid dying on I-90 and e) Be back in Erie, PA for a 2:00 p.m. puck drop Saturday. In that sequence, c) is what has to suffer, and so here we are.

The bright side? Because Saturday's women's game isn't directly opposite Saturday night's PSU-ASU series closer, I should be able to address both adequately. Also, at least I'm not getting paid to do it while slapping "From Staff Reports" on top. So there's that.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman forward David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) notched a hat trick to lead the Penn State men's hockey team to an 8-3 exhibition victory against Arizona State at Greenberg Ice Pavilion Friday evening.

In addition to Glen, four Nittany Lions - senior forward Michael Longo (Allison Park, Pa./1g, 1a), freshman defenseman Joseph Lordo (St. Louis, Mo./2a), senior defenseman Nate Jensen (Shorewood, Minn./2a) and junior forward Michael McDonagh (Wilmington, Mass./2a) - recorded multi-point games. Freshman goaltender Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) turned aside 24 shots.

Arizona State took a 1-0 first-period advantage before the Nittany Lions tallied four straight markers, including three in the second stanza, as they skated to a 4-1 lead. The Sun Devils, who compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, scored once more in the second to halve the lead, but Penn State responded with a 4-1 run to end the game.

Penn State outshot the Sun Devils by a 52-27 margin and finished 3-for-3 on the power play. Arizona State was 0-for-1 with the man advantage. Joe D'Elia started for the Sun Devils, allowing four goals on 19 shots, while Kyle Dietriech surrendered four goals on 33 attempts.

Arizona State's Dan Styrna opened the scoring at 12:20 of the first period, but Penn State responded with four straight goals. Freshman defenseman Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ont.) knotted the game at 1-1 with a power-play tally with 1:15 left in the stanza. Lordo passed to McDonagh, who skated down the right-wing boards before sliding a backdoor pass to Juha.

Sophomore forward Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) put the Nittany Lions ahead, 2-1, at 2:01 of the second frame. McDonagh passed to Longo, whose initial shot was stopped, but Olczyk knocked the rebound into the net.

The Nittany Lions grabbed a 3-1 lead after Kenny Brooks' (Las Vegas, Nev.) wraparound goal at 4:20, and Glen added his first of the game 1:11 later after capitalizing on passes from sophomore defenseman Peter Sweetland (Newtown, Pa.) and senior forward George Saad (Wexford, Pa.).

Arizona State's Faiz Khan scored with 13:27 left in the second period to make it a 4-2 game. After Glen tallied a power-play marker with 15 seconds left in the frame, Arizona State cut the lead to 5-3 with Styrna's second goal at 2:26 of the third stanza.

Longo gave the Nittany Lions a 6-3 lead with 13:44 left in the game after his shot from the right circle found the back of the net. Freshman forward Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) and sophomore forward Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) collected assists on the play.

At 11:09 of the final frame, Eric Steinour (Carlisle, Pa.) gave Penn State a 7-3 advantage. Sophomore forward Jacob Friedman (West Bloomfield, Mich.) passed to Steinour, who deked to his backhand before slipping the puck past Dietriech. Lordo also garnered an assist on the play.

While on the power play, Glen capped off the evening with his third goal with 6:04 remaining. With the faceoff to the right of Dietriech, Glen won the draw back to Jensen, who took a shot from the point that Glen redirected into the back of the net.

Penn State and Arizona State will conclude their two-game series Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Did The Icers Matter?

With Maryland and Rutgers joining the Big Ten this week, some attention was given to the question of whether either school would take advantage of their new conference's sponsorship of hockey by adding NCAA Division I hockey to their athletic offerings. Big Ten hockey, as I'm sure you know, presently only involves six of the (now) 14 league members, so speculation regarding those (now) eight members without NCAA hockey is a favorite pastime of bored hockey bloggers.

Contrary to the assertions of many entertaining that topic who declared that neither school has a hockey team, both have ACHA programs, although at decidedly different points in the hierarchy. Maryland, once upon a time, was a conference rival of the Icers in the short-lived ACHL (although not a particularly competitive one - PSU never scored fewer than 12 on them in five meetings over two ACHL seasons from 1992 through 1994), but today, they're stuck in the rather large middle class of Division 2. Sometimes they're decent (relative to the division), sometimes not.

Jason Adams, a huge part of his team's recent successes, has helped Rutgers to a 9-4-0 start this season.

Rutgers, on the other hand, has become a pretty solid program after years of struggle following their 1998 elevation to Division 1. In recent seasons, the Ice Knights typically have won one of the weaker D1 conferences, the NECHL, collected an autobid to to the national championships, and lost once there. RU has certainly had moments - they beat defending national champ Delaware on October 26th and toppled Rhode Island last year, to cite two examples - but generally, they have struggled to break into the upper levels of D1. To its credit, the program upgraded leagues to the ESCHL (formerly PSU's home) this season and looks to continue growing.

However, with no disrespect whatsoever intended (I happen to like Rutgers' program), it's a fair statement that neither school's team is at the level of the Icers prior to the NCAA transition.

For years, Penn State and Illinois probably led the nation in "when are you guys going NCAA?" Part of that was due to the two schools' prominence, location and the promise (or specter, for some) of Big Ten hockey. Most of that, in my opinion anyway, was due to the status of the Icers and Fighting Illini as arguably the two most successful ACHA Division 1 programs of the last 10 or 15 years. I mean, why always PSU and Illinois, but not Northwestern, Indiana, Ohio State (oh right... keep forgetting, sorry) or Iowa? ACHA prominence and visibility is really the best, simplest explanation.

For a while though, I've been somewhat dismissive of the significance of that last point. Through all of the wins, All-Americans and Murdoch Cups, after all, both schools need(ed) a pile of money and an arena. No way around it - that has always been and will always be the case. So really, what do ACHA wins even matter in terms of the NCAA? If someone shows up with, say, $102 million, NCAA hockey gets started regardless of whether the school had good ACHA D1 program, a bad NAIH program, or nothing at all.

Now that we're 25 percent of the way through an actual NCAA Division I hockey season fresh off of a transition from ACHA D1, I thought it might be worthwhile to re-visit that position. Just how important were the Icers to the successful re-establishment of varsity hockey at Penn State?

Roster Ramifications

At the tail end of Frank Serratore's legendary postgame on November 9th, he made maybe his only misstep of that beauty when he said "it's not like [Penn State is] bringing guys in from club hockey."

Not quite true.

The fact is that eight of 27 players on Penn State's inaugural NCAA Division I roster came to University Park with no clue that they would ever have a chance to play NCAA Division I hockey. They're not insignificant pieces either - forwards Michael McDonagh and Michael Longo are lineup regulars, with net-front wizard McDonagh fourth on the team in scoring. Defensemen Brian Dolan and Rich O'Brien will be relied on heavily over the next couple months with Mark Yanis' fractured ankle testing the blueline group's depth. Eric Steinour has played in more than half of the games so far, and while Dom Morrone has only dressed once, it was an outstanding turn on the top line in the Nittany Lions' last game, a 5-1 win over Air Force.

"Original Icers" like forward Michael McDonagh were able to make an impression by playing a high level of hockey in 2011-2012 - and are now key contributors on an NCAA Division I team, which has benefitted the program in many areas.

An additional eight players arrived at PSU last season - after the NCAA announcement, of course - and played one season as Icers before joining the NCAA roster. While these players (which include guys like captain Tommy Olczyk, goalie P.J. Musico, and DI transfers Nate Jensen, Taylor Holstrom, Bryce Johnson and Justin Kirchhevel) certainly came in with an eye on the NCAA, the presence of a top-end ACHA program was still vital in their cases. Guy Gadowsky and his staff, which coached the final Icers season, were able get in, implement systems, make evaluations, and begin to lay a foundation for their program's culture. The transfers probably don't end up as Nittany Lions without the ability to play highly-competitive hockey during their required year in residence. For the others, most of whom arrived without any promises, the Icers represented a chance to make an impression in a way simply not possible even at a lower-end ACHA D1 school. It's also worth mentioning that PSU's good ACHA Division 2 program may have helped as a contingency plan for those in that situation, one that has been pursued by former NCAA hopefuls Brandon Russo and Forrest Dell, among others.

Recruiting Flexibility and Focus

Other than the tangible on-ice contributions of those players the Nittany Lions' surprising 6-3-0 start, it's important to look at what those previous two paragraphs mean in the big picture. PSU's roster has six seniors, six juniors, five sophomores and ten freshmen. A little young? Sure. But not nearly as young as one would expect from a first-year NCAA program.

There's a ripple effect in recruiting of course, and it's very telling that the Nittany Lions are only (as of this moment) bringing in five new players for the second NCAA season. Thanks largely to the class balance made possible by the Icers, Penn State can hone in on talent, need, and fit, as opposed to grabbing every warm body out there in order to fill out a roster. This sort of focused recruiting effort has led to early successes above and beyond what may have been possible with trying to go 0-to-27 in a short time frame. Additionally, the Icers have provided the Nittany Lions with a large collection of quality players willing to play without scholarships, allowing even greater flexibility with the available money moving forward.

It's not hard to imagine some sort of alternate reality where PSU has either no ACHA team or an ACHA team lacking the quality to offer anything to a DI-level player. I don't think it's any sort of exaggeration to say that it would have been a much larger struggle to get things going. At the very least, it's extremely unlikely that the team would be as immediately competitive as it has been.

Built-In Support

There are, of course, several other areas where the Icers have enhanced the Nittany Lions. Actually, "enhanced" is the wrong word - did Terry Pegula suddenly roll out of bed a few years back and say "hey, I went to Penn State 30 years ago, maybe I should chip off nine figures to start NCAA hockey there?" Of course not. His son Michael attended PSU hockey camps. He remained a fan of the Icers. And of course, like so many of us, he was drawn in by the charisma of Joe Battista. Simply put, Pegula doesn't exist to us without the Icers.

Penn State, thanks to the Icers, had a ready-made supply of support from day one.

Even beyond Pegula, the Icers have provided a ready-made pool of support. Two other high-profile donations - from Paul and Nancy Silvis and from John and Karen Davis - also came from people with ties to the non-varsity program. Surely, there have been numerous others from fish dating back to the Icers but not big enough for a press release, myself included. The team has a booster club that was formerly called the Icers Booster Club. From the start, Penn State has had a pool of donors, fans, sponsors and even official personnel (Billy Downey and Steve Penstone, anyone?) made possible by the Icers. Enjoy this blog? Credit the Icers for that too.

The team even has a fascinating built-in history (that extends well beyond the 1940 through 1947 period, trust me), should the athletic department ever choose to embrace it. Does that directly translate to wins and losses in the present day? Probably not, but it is a source of pride for many, and pride can be converted to dollars in most cases.

So you tell me, does having a top ACHA program matter? Would Illinois be in a better position to make the jump than Maryland or even Rutgers? I think the answer is pretty evident.

M: Penn State 6 at Sacred Heart 3

First off, I want to thank each of you for your support, or at least understanding, of my absence for Saturday evening's men's win over Sacred Heart. Suffice it to say, I'm a little bit of a hothead and needed to take a step back from things for a few hours. Simple as that.

The issue, for those who don't follow me on Twitter, is that there was a media tour given of the Pegula Ice Arena site yesterday (I'm sure you've seen some of the photos and videos that resulted from that already, they're pretty amazing - one photo is above, of course, and one video is linked below). Despite carrying a full-season credential for Penn State hockey, I was not invited. Last night, I was given the explanation that the tour was designed to take advantage of the "national and regional" media in town for the Penn State-Ohio State football game and who don't cover PSU hockey on a regular basis. I'd be a hypocrite if I took any great issue with that idea, as I've expressed concern over the interest of the wider Penn State community before, and the growth of the programs should always come ahead of this blog and my ego.

However, that explanation doesn't account for the fact that among others Rob Greissinger, one of the Daily Collegian's hockey writers, was on the tour. So was Ben Jones, who regularly covers hockey for StateCollege.com. So was Greg Pickel, whose hockey stuff can be read on several different outlets. All three of them do a fantastic job, and this isn't meant to imply otherwise, but their presence would seem to contradict the reasons given for my exclusion. Student papers and websites named for Penn State's home borough are not "regional" or "national," and as stated, there has been no shortage of great hockey coverage from those outlets. All three of them are fully credentialed for hockey as well and at every men's home game and even some away games. In short, their inclusion was not growing Penn State hockey's coverage footprint in any way.

More than anything, I think this and a lot of things simply boil down to "we just don't like (or respect or both) you, and aren't going to include you if we don't absolutely have to." There's a larger conversation in there about whether I should be media (which involves dancing a certain dance in exchange for less access than they give themselves) or a blog (which doesn't have to follow rules, but gets no access), but I'll save that for some other time. In general, my feeling that I'm sort of awkwardly caught between those two things.

Before moving on, I do want to reiterate one thing: my love of Penn State hockey. It's why I've paid thousands of dollars for the privilege to do this. And honestly, it's what makes my continued struggles in certain areas so perplexing to me, because I believe that I've demonstrated - both through this blog and otherwise - my support for the programs.

Anyway, on to the business of the day...

Box score // GoPSUSports.com recap // SacredHeartPioneers.com recap

StateCollege.com recap and PIA tour video

GoPSUsports.com Guy Gadowsky postgame comments

I probably need to give some thought to how I handle away games with no available video (sort of a new reality this season) and when I'm not in attendance. The cruel truth is that I don't have any great insight regarding those games - how can anyone without the ability to see it? - and simply post about those by cobbling together the available recap stories, the box score and maybe a couple tweets. I'll try to interpret what can be interpreted and offer some context.

Is the result a worthwhile product? Does it add anything to the conversation? Does it assume facts not in evidence? I'm not sure. Maybe I'm offering something unique and making the best of a bad situation. Or maybe I'm offering an inferior product just in the name of not taking the easy way out.

This time around, and in consideration of the fact that I was even less plugged in than normal for a "blind" game (see above), I'm simply going to re-publish Penn State's game release here. Actual media outlets do this all the time and get to be called actual media outlets, so maybe they're on to something. As with anything I do here, I'm accepting feedback on which approach you'd prefer. Naturally, if I'm in attendance or if streaming video is available (which will be most of the time), I'll continue with the usual live blog/recap approach.

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Junior defenseman Nate Jensen scored his first goal of the season to help PSU pull away in the third.

Six Different Lions Score in 6-3 Win Vs. SHU

MILFORD, Conn. - Six different Nittany Lions scored as the Penn State men's hockey team skated to a 6-3 victory against Sacred Heart at Milford Ice Pavilion Saturday evening. The Nittany Lions improved to 4-2-0 with their third straight win.

Senior forward Michael Longo (Allison Park, Pa.) and junior defenseman Nate Jensen (Shorewood, Minn.) notched their first goals of the season, and junior forward Michael McDonagh (Wilmington, Mass.) tallied a game-high three assists. Sophomore Max Gardiner (Deephaven, Minn.) and freshmen Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, B.C.), Jonathan Milley (Gatineau, Que.) and Mark Yanis (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) also scored.

The Nittany Lions fell behind, 1-0, early in the first period before scoring three goals in a 5:06 span to take a 3-1 lead. The Pioneers tallied later in the frame before the teams traded goals in the second period as Penn State skated to a 4-3 second-period advantage. The Nittany Lions added a pair of goals in the final stanza as they defeated their fourth Atlantic Hockey opponent of the season.

Penn State outshot the Pioneers by a 31-19 margin. The Nittany Lions were 0-for-5 on the power play, while Sacred Heart finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage. Sophomore goaltender PJ Musico (Orange, Calif.) improved to 4-0-0 with 16 saves, while Sacred Heart netminder Andrew Bodnarchuk turned aside 25 shots.

Penn State found itself down 1-0 just 5:03 into the game before the Nittany Lions responded with their three-goal run. Following Josh Phillips' marker, Longo knotted the game at 1-1 with his first career tally just 32 seconds later. McDonagh passed to freshman defenseman Joseph Lordo (St. Louis. Mo.), who fired a shot from the blue line that Longo tipped in for the goal.

Gardiner gave Penn State a 2-1 advantage 1:07 later. Freshman defenseman Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ont.) sent a pass across the blue line to classmate Yanis, who found Gardiner near the edge of the crease. The Deephaven, Minn., native's first attempt was stopped before he took the puck around the cage and slipped it to the back of the net.

With 9:19 left in the period, Milley extended the Penn State lead to 3-1. Freshman defenseman Connor Varley (Lansdale, Pa.) passed to classmate Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska), who recorded a point in his third straight game, along the half boards. The Anchorage, Alaska, native found Milley near the bottom of the left circle, where he put a shot toward the goal that went past Bodnarchuk.

Sacred Heart closed the gap to 3-2 with 2:24 left in the opening frame. The Pioneers skated through the neutral zone on an odd-man rush before Brian Sheehan wristed a shot that was caught in Musico's pads before trickling in for the goal.

Both teams scored once in the second period as Penn State secured a 4-3 lead. With 11:51 left in the frame, Jensen gave the Nittany Lions a 4-2 advantage. Lordo passed up the boards to McDonagh, who raced down the right-wing boards before sending a backdoor pass to Jensen for the goal.

Drew George tallied for the Pioneers with 7:27 left in the period to make it a 4-3 game. George received a pass from Eric Delong and finished the tic-tac-toe play for the marker.

In the third period, Yanis extended the Penn State lead to 5-3 with his second goal of the season. McDonagh passed to Yanis at the blue line, where the defenseman rifled a slap shot high to the blocker side. Senior forward Eric Steinour (Carlisle, Pa.) also recorded his first assist of the season.

Loik added his goal 1:15 later. Freshman David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) passed to Jensen, who took the puck into the slot. Loik then batted the puck out of mid-air and into the back of the net. Glen extended his point-scoring streak to three games with the helper.

Penn State will return to action Tuesday, Oct. 30 when it visits Fredonia State. Opening faceoff is set at 7 p.m.

2/11 Mercyhurst Postgame: The Players

Sophomore goaltender Matt Madrazo

[Guy] Gadowsky was telling us about you and P.J. [Musico] had a competition for starting in goal last week, I guess it was?

Yeah, the last couple weekends, we play a little game at the end [of practice]. Ten pucks on the blueline, just breakaways. I’ve not been doing well in it, and obviously playing the second game on the weekend, but what more can you ask for?

Do you think that’s healthy competition between you two?

Yeah, absolutely. Personally, I’d rather play the first game. Throughout the season, Saturday games, the team’s always tougher to play against, and it’s kind of been weird games every Saturday, but what can you do?

When you’re playing on Saturday too, you kind of get a chance to watch the opposition first. Do you think that helps as well?

It helps, but every game’s a different night. If you beat a team 10-1 the first night, you know you’re not going to do that again the second night. This weekend, we did do well both games and we ended up sweeping the weekend, which is good.

Would you rather face more than 12 shots in a game?

Yeah, I mean, this whole season so far, for both of us, it’s kind of been…they get a flurry, then it’s five minutes off, they get a flurry, then it’s five minutes off. It’s rough, but I mean, nothing you can do about it.

Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

Not really. I’d rather just be relaxed and play it cool. The more you think about it, the more you’re going to mess up.

Have you noticed that [Gadowsky] doesn’t look you directly in the eye before games or anything like that?

Someone told me today, and right as he walked out of the locker room, he goes ‘Madrazo, it’s your game,’ and he looked at me right in the eyes. And everyone looked at me like ‘oh my God,’ and I guess – I didn’t know about that until this afternoon, and I guess, I don’t know. [laughter]

Yeah, we asked him last night.

Maybe he looked at P.J. and not me, since he sits next to me, but I don’t know.

Can you say anything about the home winning streak? You guys are [17-0] at home now; you can go to [19-0] to finish up the season.

It’s a great place to play. Every night, the fans come, they’re bringing noise. It’s just fun to play here. It’s just a good atmosphere. Playing at Ohio too. We do well when there’s a lot of energy in the rink. You go to some of these rinks, and they’re dreary and there’s nobody in the stands. It’s tough to get up for that. But when you come here, go to Ohio, there’s energy. Everyone’s pumped up to play, and that’s when we always play well.

Any idea how the rotation might go with two Friday-only weekends coming up?

I couldn’t tell you, I haven’t known the whole season. I mean, one day I get a shutout and he plays the next day and he gets a shutout, and I play – no idea. It would be nice if a goalie got on a roll, but it hasn’t happened this season.

Do you think not having a definitive starter has an effect on the team?

No, not at all. It’s good that they trust both of us in the net and that our defense has confidence, and we have confidence in our defense. As I said before, we trust each other. As you can see with Oklahoma last weekend, we went down 3-0, maybe I didn’t play my best game, I kind of messed up a couple times, but the forwards got me back for that, which is good.

When do you typically know if you’re starting on Friday?

Thursday afternoon, so right before Friday night’s games, he says ‘P.J., you’re going first game,’ and I’ll play in the second game.

Did you see the slash on [Justin Kirchhevel]? After that, how difficult is it to not want to retaliate?

Today, it definitely shows how much more of a mature team we are than a bunch of other teams in this league. A lot of the teams in this league would go up on them, and they’re just going to take stupid penalties. You could see even against Oklahoma too, they took a stupid penalty at the end of the game, and we ended up winning. It just proves what the coaches instill in our minds, that he says ‘success with honor,’ so we’re winning a game 9-1 and [Chris] Cerutti gets hit from behind. Kirchhevel gets slashed. And we keep going, keep going on.

Sophomore forward Bryce Johnson

What can you say about getting two goals in your first series back?

It was a nice feeling. Yesterday, I was a little rusty. It was nice to be back out there yesterday, but then finally, to get that first goal back, it felt great. Hopefully I can keep that going for the rest of the season and through nationals.

You mentioned that you felt a little rusty yesterday. Do you feel like you worked it all out today?

I’m getting back there. I’m not back to my full potential yet, but like I said, I’m getting there and every game’s going to be a new step for me. I think I played pretty well today and yesterday, just the bounces haven’t been going my way yet. Hopefully in the next few weeks those will turn around.

So what exactly do you think is the biggest thing? Do you think your speed’s not there yet, or are you still feeling weird with the puck?

I think my speed’s fine. I think it’s more my hands. I think I got a little rusty in that department. I’m just going to have to work hard on that this week in practice, and I’ll just keep working hard and everything will work itself out.

How do you feel out there with [Taylor] Holstrom and [Michael] Longo?

I like playing with them. We’re a fast line and we get pucks to the net. Yesterday we didn’t get anything showing from the scoreboard, but we worked hard yesterday and today, things were working our way and we put a few in the back of the net.

You said you guys had a good day today, you hope that continues and to play with them in the future as well?

Yeah, whatever Coach wants, we’re willing to do what he wants to do, and I don’t mind playing with them at all.

What do you think is the difference between playing with [the guys you’ve played with before] and these guys now?

It’s all chemistry. It just depends how players play. As you guys can tell, Kirchhevel and [Tommy] Olczyk play well together, and we’re hoping me and Holstrom can work together just as well. Today I think we showed that we’ve got some chemistry there, and the next few weeks of practice are going to be huge for us to find our full chemistry and hopefully we can get going really good before nationals.

[Mike] McDonagh was added to the Olczyk and Kirchhevel line. What did you see in that line? Do you think that’s an effective line?

Yeah, I mean, McDonagh’s a big guy, and he’s going to the net hard. He’s a big body, and guys aren’t going to be able to move him in front. Olczyk and Kirchhevel, you guys can tell, they’re going to pucks to the net and they’re going to put them in the back of the net. It doesn’t hurt to have a big guy like [McDonagh] in there who’s going to clean up the rebounds and screen the goalie, get his eyes.

Freshman forward Tommy Olczyk

You used to play with Holstrom and Kirchhevel, and that line was really effective, you guys have the most points on the team as a line, what was it like playing without Holstrom on that line?

It’s definitely different at first. That’s obvious, right there. We got some work in at practice this week with McDonagh at center. He’s one of the hardest working guys on the team in practice. You watch him out here, he’s always driving hard to the net, he’s always making it difficult for the goaltender. As different as it is at first, it’s really fun to play with new guys and to develop chemistry with other guys on the team.

Were you surprised when [Gadowsky] said you wouldn’t be playing with Holstrom?

I wasn’t really surprised, because with Bryce coming back I knew that was bound to shake up the lineup a little bit. Now we have four solid lines, any line we put out there is really effective offensively and they’re not a liability defensively. Whatever’s best for the team, and it worked out for us this weekend, so we’ll get a little bit more work at practice with our new lines this week, and next week, and gear up for nationals.

Do you expect McDonagh to continue to be on your line?

There’s no reason why things would change now. He proved this weekend he could play with Kirch and I, and it worked out, and Coach kind of looks like a genius, I guess. Maybe not, but a little bit.

What can you say about Johnson coming back? What do you think he brings to the team now that he’s back in the lineup?

He brings a lot of speed and a lot of skill. He has great vision out there, he works hard, like I said, he’s a really fast skater, he puts himself in the right areas. You look at that play that him and Holstrom had, that 2-on-1 where they just turned that defenseman inside out, two skilled guys like that on the ice at the same time, it’s fun to watch.

Good to get one early on the power play, since that’s been kind of an issue?

It definitely is. Personally getting a little monkey off my back there, I’ve had some chances in the past few games but haven’t been able to bury. I stopped in front, and Kirch made a great play getting the puck to the middle, passing it to McDonagh, McDonagh passed it to me back door, they don’t get much easier than that. It was great, and our power play was pretty effective tonight, so that was good to see as well.

You said it doesn’t get much easier than that, but was that goal you scored seven seconds into the second period the easiest one of your life?

I’ve scored a few empty-netters. That puck came off the boards hard! I had to be really strong on my bottom hand there. Seven seconds into the period, it was big for us, that’s for sure.

You guys are [17-0] at home, and in the next two weeks only have one game a week. Are you worried that the change wit no Saturday games might affect your home play?

I’m not too worried about it. I saw what Coach said in the paper about it, about him upping the tempo in practice, which is definitely important and I think everyone expects that. We’re used to playing two games on the weekend and now we’re playing one for the next two going into nationals, so it’s definitely going to be more high-tempo practice and I’m sure we’ll do a little extra conditioning. We’ll do something as a team I’m sure these next two upcoming weekends, whether it’s climbing mountains like we did earlier or whatever else. But it’s definitely going to be important to do a little extra something, and I know we will.

Do you know anything about Kirchhevel’s injury, what happened there?

I didn’t see what happened at all. I was backchecking because they had a rush going the other way, so the next thing I knew, the whistle blew and I turned around and saw Kirch on the ground. So I am not 100 percent sure.

Do you think not having a definitive starting goalie has any effect on your team?

I don’t think so. We have two great goalies. You look at teams that win the Stanley Cup, it’s because they have 1-A and 1-B goaltenders. You look at the teams that are successful now, and yeah, some of them have a goalie that plays almost every game like in New York they have [Henrik] Lundqvist, and he’s a heck of a goalie, but come any type of playoffs it’s important to have two good goalies. Luckily we have that.

Is it good sometimes to just get those games over with when it gets rough at the end there?

You know, it definitely is a relief to get those games over with. Guys start taking runs at you; we’ve seen it with many teams we’ve played this year. I don’t want to say I’m used to it, but it is a little frustrating getting out there, being up however many goals we are – a bunch of goals – and having guys seem like they want to hurt you. That’s not how the game is supposed to be, and that’s not how it should be, but unfortunately, it happens at every level. So it’s definitely a relief when the time runs out, that’s for sure.

2/10 Mercyhurst Postgame: The Players

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

Sophomore forward Mike McDonagh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What about you, do you have anything?

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

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

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

Have you ever played with Tommy and Justin?

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

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

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

Freshman defenseman Brandon Russo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you have any pregame rituals?

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

Freshman forward Jake Friedman

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

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

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

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

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

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

Has it been frustrating over the last two months?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Do you have any pregame rituals or superstitions?

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

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

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

M: Penn State 7 vs. West Chester 0

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

View From the Booth Recap/Highlights

(links added as available)

Penn State improved to 10-0-0 with a 7-0 win over West Chester Friday night in the Ice Pavilion. While the game was never seriously in doubt, the Icers had to nurse a 2-0 lead for over half of the affair, and were able to do so thanks to some timely saves from P.J. Musico in earning his first PSU shutout.

Mike McDonagh's superhuman shorthanded effort finally provided some legitimate breathing room with 5:39 left in the second. The power play - highlighted by Brandon Russo's first PSU goal - polished things off in the third period, as it accounted for all four goals in a frame where it seemed like there were multiple people in the penalty box (or in the dressing room) the entire way.

Weekend Observations: Rhode Island

Collegian Friday summary // Collegian Saturday summary // Collegian weekend recap // Onward State weekend recap // Friday VFTB highlights // Friday box score // Saturday box score

Right off the top, I think you have to give the entire team all the credit in the world for scaling the mountain that was in front of them circa January 9th. Then, Ohio had just finished pasting the Icers at Bird Arena in a pair of games during which Penn State looked - no other way to put it - completely awful, and not at all like a team that wanted or deserved to go to the ACHA national tournament. Now, the outlook is pretty close to the opposite of that - six wins in the eight games since then, including 2-1-1 in the last two weekends against two of the ACHA's best teams, a lot of that coming without some key personnel.

There are some doses of reality to go around - URI was gashed worse than we were by the World University Games and we were generally outplayed (badly at times) over the last four games, for starters - but this, on balance, has to be a positive weekend. The Icers are now two home games against a bad Robert Morris team from a trip to nationals, and we've shown that we're at least more capable of competing at a high level than we looked one month ago.

A lot of that positivity comes from the way unheralded players have filled in effectively. It's almost become boring at this point with the way it's happened with such regularity. The latest example is freshman Andrew Duval, in the lineup because of an injury to Michael Longo, himself a guy that had been effective in a larger role. Duval followed in the underclassman hero footsteps of Mike Broccolo last week and Mike McDonagh the week before by scoring the winning goal Friday. On that one, George Saad did a tremendous job keeping the play alive in the corner. The puck ended up on Rich O'Brien's stick, and he had a shooting lane, largely because of Saad's drawing the coverage in. O'Brien's blast pinballed off a man and a heads-up Duval found the loose puck and buried the decider, which also happened to be his first at Penn State.

How good have McDonagh, Broccolo and Duval been? Well, let's put it this way: McDonagh made our power play not suck (which takes some doing), at least temporarily, on Saturday when he and Marek Polidor crashed on Dan Loucks point shot, and the captain allowed the freshman to do the honors. He added two assists in that game as well as one on Friday, and has generally looked fantastic playing on a top line with Dom Morrone and Paul Daley.

Taking out Robert Morris, who can't brush their teeth without giving up five goals in the process, the Icers are just 4-of-34 (11.8 percent) with the man advantage in 2011. It's definitely a concern, keeping in mind that in close-to-the-vest tournament hockey, special teams are vital. However, I'm willing to see how it looks in possible rematches with both Rhode Island and Delaware at ESCHLs in a couple weeks with Tim O'Brien once again manning the point and Eric Steinour giving us size down low. Their absence might have been felt there more than anywhere else.


O'Brien had as many PPGs in his last three WUG games as the Icers combined had in their last four. Photo: Shane Bufano


Speaking of the ESCHL, apparently Saturday's shootout loss eliminated the Icers from ESCHL regular season title contention and clinched said title for the Rams. I have to admit that I have a hard time caring all that much. Other than the guaranteed scheduling (which is huge, I understand that) and unless you need an autobid, conferences are completely pointless in ACHA Division 1. Maybe it's a product of my coming up during the independent years, but nationals are the one and only season measuring stick to me. I've heard stories about the wars in the old ICHL, a conference where winning the tournament was important enough to actually decline a nationals bid. However, this is not that, and I think most who have seen both will agree with me.

Getting back to the games, I've been hard on the defense at times. So to be fair, I'm going to list some of the great plays they made during a crucial early penalty kill of Joe Zitarelli's checking from behind major in Friday's game. Any time there's a five-minute power play, there's one certainty: either way, a momentum swing is coming. These guys helped make sure that swing went PSU's way, and the payoff was the game's first goal 3:24 after it ended. Times given from this point are time remaining in the period (the penalty ran from 13:04 through 8:04).

• 12:37 - A Loucks interception leads to the first zone clear of the kill and an offensive faceoff. Thanks to some nice forechecking by Nick Seravalli and Chris Pronchik, URI doesn't re-gain the zone for 39 seconds.
• 11:44 - Dan Petrick wins a battle in the corner and gets the puck to Pronchik for another clear.
• 11:33 - A Rich O'Brien poke check allows another clear, and another 28 seconds wasted.
• 10:34 - Brian Dolan deflects Robert Beggi's follow-up chance on a wide-open net out of play.
• 9:52 - Loucks chips the puck off a stick and out of play - a neutral zone faceoff.
• 8:25 - Carey Bell blocks a point-blank Jaryd Coleman attempt, again with only a gaping net in front of the shot otherwise.

Not bad, eh? I like how it involves almost every d-man who dressed too.

Another guy of whom I was critical last week - Morrone, and yes, he still deserved it - offered much in the way of redemption this week as well, as he was the only Penn Stater with multiple goals on the weekend. He opened the scoring Friday after that five-minute PK. The goal started when McDonagh won a battle on the boards and got the puck to Petrick, whose nifty pass sprung Morrone. The sophomore from Sewell, NJ then used Daley as a decoy on the 2-on-1 and beat Andrew Marks cleanly. Then with 4:18 left in regulation on Saturday and Penn State trailing by one, Daley got the puck down ice, where Morrone was one-on-one. No. 19 simply wanted the puck more than URI defenseman Brandon Pinheiro. A prone Pinheiro, loser of the puck battle, could then only watch as Morrone put Paul Kenny's jock in the rafters, as Jeremy Roenick once put it.

While the shootout didn't go the Icers' way, the fact that it came to that means that PSU, for all intents and purposes, "won" alumni weekend. And regardless of who Rhody was missing, that's nothing to brush aside.

Next up: Robert Morris (yes, again). But you're excused if you breathe a sigh of relief first.

Weekend Observations: Delaware

Collegian weekend recap // Friday box score // Saturday box score

I think more that anything else, my No. 1 observation this weekend was the way hockey can get you riding the emotional roller coaster.

Circa Friday night, I was pretty upset. I was ready to tee off on a lot of things, both specific and general. A 2-7-0 record against the top ten this year (at that point) will do that to you, especially when your introduction to Penn State hockey was sometime during the whole ten championship games in a row thing.

Now, all of a sudden, I feel mostly okay. We survived a very good Delaware team with a split. Next week's opponent, the last in the gauntlet, hasn't exactly looked like world beaters without their World University Games players. Nor has Iowa State, one of the teams chasing the Icers for positions in the rankings, who managed two tight wins against ACHA D2 Colorado State over the weekend. In short, I'm no longer legitimately worried about Penn State needing one of these for their next trip to Newark.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all sunshine and puppies. I'm still not convinced that we're able to compete with the top of the ACHA when the stakes are equal for both sides. I'm disappointed that we're treating squeaking out a win to possibly save a nationals bid after being outplayed for the majority of the weekend as some kind of epic victory. I despise that we let the Blue Hens get in our heads and spent much of the two games tossing cheap verbal barbs their way. Or something a little more than a barb, like Marek Polidor at the end of the second period Saturday.

That's not the Penn State I know. But for this week at least, the full rant was postponed.

Okay, on to the actual game stuff...

Much like last week, the unheralded guys really stepped up for the Icers - go no further than the bookend goals on Saturday for evidence of that one.

First was Mike McDonagh, one of last weekend's heroes. He pounced on a neutral zone turnover, came in alone, was denied by goalie Nick Casella, then scored following up. Casella thought it was kicked in - don't ask me to judge things like that watching over the internet - but the officials disagreed. The game winner came off the stick of Mike Broccolo, who had a great weekend against West Chester too, just without the scoresheet cred, at the end of a tremendous shift by he and linemates Joe Zitarelli and Nick Seravalli. Broccolo actually came hard on the forecheck and made an interception to start that entire sequence. Well earned.

Much credit is also due Paul Daley. The guy found himself in the middle of a firestorm this week, but responded with a good weekend, particularly on Friday, when he had a hand in both Icers goals, including his score in the second period that tied the game, briefly, at one. And much like Broccolo last weekend, his efforts went beyond his point total. He's just one of those guys who plays well with a chip on his shoulder, clearly not for everyone, but it works for him.

Dan Petrick had an interesting weekend, to say the least. On Friday, Peter Crampton's eventual game winner bounced in off his body. Then on Saturday, he was victimized on Delaware's first goal when he lost track of David Conte. He counterbalanced this with saving a goal off of the goalline in the first period Saturday and by his generally steady play that makes him a personal favorite.

Matt Madrazo? Do I even need to talk about him anymore? Kid's a flat out stud. 79 of 85 for the weekend.

One major minus on Friday goes to Dominic Morrone for his senseless late-game penalty. How bad was it? Well, let me put it this way. Official write-ups are always dry and facts-only, right? Well, not in this case - the Delaware site's official write-up took the time to rip him.

In the games critical minutes Tasker continued his superb play, getting physical with Penn State forward Dominic Morrone. Morrone, a well-known hot head, took a terrible retaliation penalty giving the Hens a powerplay with just over five minutes remaining. Tasker buried a rebound off a one-timer blast from the point by junior Jason Michaud (Kennebunk, ME) just after the man-advantage had expired, locking up the 4-2 win for the home team.

The timing of the penalty was an absolute back-breaker to begin with - Penn State had cut the deficit back to one and was pushing for the tie. Then the Blue Hens compounded the error by scoring four seconds after the penalty expired in what I like to call "bonus time," those few seconds between the end of the penalty and the man getting back into the play. Steve Penstone said on the broadcast that a penalty should have been called on the initial coming together to which Morrone was responding. I didn't see it well enough to comment, and I'm okay taking his word for it, but you still need to keep your head.

To me, one final storyline for Friday's game was second chance opportunities. The stats say that Delaware outshot Penn State 40-27, and that advantage came in part because their attempts came in twos and ours came in ones. A lot of that is a credit to Delaware goalie SJ Broadt, I thought he was a vacuum cleaner on Friday, and what rebounds he did give up were quickly cleared. As a big believer in the value of getting to the front of the net, I'm also a big believer in the idea that the quickest way to shut down an offense is to not give them a reason to go there.

The Icers now go back home for two - it's been a while, the home games against Delaware were our last full home weekend - against Rhode Island for alumni weekend. I'll get a little bit into the Rams, both in the World University Games and not, as the week goes on, but the initial impression based on their games without the four players in Turkey? We can beat them, twice.

Weekend Observations: West Chester

Collegian weekend recap // Friday box score // Saturday box score

Old West Chester? New West Chester? No matter, same result.

Harsh? Maybe. But the opponent I saw this weekend, while improved, didn't really appear to have taken the quantum leap forward that I had expected. I was sweating these games a little, in all sincerity, especially with our suddenly-questionable depth at forward and the consequences of dropping one of them in mind. As of right now, it's a tough call to determine whether that win over Rhode Island was due to URI playing down to their opponent as they've been known to do, or something larger, like WCU improvement.

Just about the only thing that qualified as adversity over the weekend came on Saturday midway through the second period. With Penn State up 1-0 and on a 5-on-3 advantage looking for more, Dan Loucks tried to force a shot though a man and then had to take a penalty to prevent a breakaway the other way. Once the WCU penalties ended, the Golden Rams' Chris Gentile, one of their bevy of new additions this semester, quickly tied the game at 1 on the ensuing power play. However, the Icers got the goal back just 29 seconds later when Chris Cerutti banged it home, so no lasting damage done there.

Major blemishes were a rarity for a defense corps that hasn't seemed quite at ease all season, and they faced a player shortage of their own with Kevin Miller out for the two games. Still, they did an effective job keeping a WCU team that had seemed to learn how to score off the board (just one even strength goal over the two games). And for the first time in what seems like a while, they chipped in some offense -  examples being Rich O'Brien's goal and Dan Petrick's two assists in Friday's barrage.

"Step up" was more or less the Icers' motto this week with the team depleted of players and a head coach due to the World University Games and injuries, and many did not disappoint. Foremost among those players has to be Mike McDonagh and his hatty in Friday's game. And beyond the fact that the three goals happened has to be their timing and execution. The first set the tone just 1:24 into the game. The other two came over a 55-second stretch midway through the second. This part of a four consecutive from Penn State to put the game out of reach after the Rams had cut the Icers' lead to 2-1 early in the period. All showed a willingness to plow some dirt in front of the net. McDonagh added an assist Saturday and therefore added 50 percent to his scoring total this weekend.

The Massachusetts native talked to Rodney Martin during the second intermission Saturday and didn't seem to be bothered that his goals are called garbage goals by some (myself not included).

"A goal's a goal. As long as you go to the net, it's all good."

Well said, sir. It was guys like McDonagh that allowed acting coach Josh Hand to spread the big guns throughout the four forward lines. Kurt Collins joined Cerutti and Marek Polidor on one of them. And while McDonagh partnered with Dominic Morrone and Paul Daley to do more than their share of the scoring (four goals, five assists between the three of them), I thought another group, Chris Pronchik-George Saad-Michael Longo, was quietly just as effective in a more defensive role Saturday. It was that line that sparked a sluggish start to the game with a dominant shift midway through the first period. Late in the game, after West Chester narrowed the deficit to two on Tom Scocozza's power play marker, the members of that line were prominent in a shutdown role lines reconstituted for that purpose. And the goal from the group turned out to be the game winner.

That goal, off the stick of Longo, was one of many rebound goals over the weekend, which might shed some light on how Randy Japchen ended up going from the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks to West Chester in two seasons. The Icers' shots came in twos a lot of the time, which is a pretty good way to find offense under somewhat uncertain circumstances. Japchen was great when the rebounds were cleared, such as on a Polidor wraparound attempt early Saturday or on a Daley breakaway later in the game. So I suppose we also saw how he was in the USHL in the first place.

There were no rebound issues in the opposite net, where Matt Madrazo resides. Both starts, 58 saves on 61 shots, and zero drama, which is the way you want it to be. His trademark confidence even extended to his offense, when he made a Ron Hextall-style attempt on the empty WCU net late in Saturday's game that was ultimately knocked down in the center ice circle (said Madrazo afterward: "It was going in.").

The end result of it all - Penn State's winning streak doubling from two to four over the weekend. While I'm not delusional about what we've done or who we've played, it does feel nice to have genuine momentum for the first time since October.

That said, it now gets real in a hurry with the two teams sitting on top of the ESCHL up next. First, the Icers travel to Delaware, who is fresh off of the total annihilation of Washington & Jefferson. Next, Rhode Island comes in for alumni weekend. With all due respect to Robert Morris and West Chester (decide for yourselves how much that is), teams of their caliber have never been the issue. Penn State's 2-6-0 mark against the current ACHA top ten is the issue (put that together with 15-1-0 against teams out of the top ten and it seems the Icers are ranked pretty appropriately). So I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the next two weekends have an awful lot of say in how this season ends up.