Three Stars: August 19-25

3. Beantown Classic – Scouting the Forwards
(Over The Boards)

Forward A.J. Greer, a Nittany Lions commit scheduled for 2015 entry, participated in the highly-regarded Beantown Classic showcase from August 10th through 14th. And did quite well for himself - OTB rated him the number two forward there and had this to say:

Greer started strong here and never let up. Consistently created chances and used his outrageously long reach to score a number of creative goals including a wrap-around and a full-reach fake that got one of the better goalies here to bite just enough for Greer to bury in the ensuing opening. Surprisingly deceptive and will only get better. Would like to see more snarl from the forward but he did show a mean streak here at times. Youngest player in the pro division but finished second in overall scoring.

Just one guy's opinion? Au contraire, mes amis. USHR tabbed Greer the number two forward in the pro division (1996 birth years and older, in case you're wondering).

AJ Greer, late ’96 F, KUA (#11 Bombers) – 6’4”. The youngest player in the pro division, the Penn State recruit is not even draft-eligible until 2015. A power forward in the making.

We got ourselves a pretty good one here, guys.

2. Preseason Previews: PSU Still Too Many Unknowns
(B1G Ice Hockey)

The Big Ten Hockey Blog predicts that PSU will finish last in the conference, largely due to the unknown quantity of conference play for the young program.

I'm not going to say too much about it here, because I'm still contemplating writing a full post in response (I did fire off a few points in the comments over there if you're interested). However, I think relegating the Nittany Lions to the basement out of hand because the other league teams "have been doing it for decades" is a mistake. Banners don't skate, as the saying goes, and I sincerely cannot identify a single reason to say that Penn State is any worse than Ohio State or Michigan State right now. Given the whole 2-1-0 situation against that pair in 2012-2013 with eight pure ACHA players on the roster, there is reason to see it the other way around.

1. Penn State breaks in new Pegula Ice Arena ice sheet
(Western College Hockey Blog)

For the record and on Thursday, Joe Battista, Guy Gadowsky, Josh Brandwene and their families were the first to go for a skate at Pegula Ice Arena. Evidence of the happenings comes from Battista's Twitter, the men's team's Instagram (twice), and the women's team's Instagram (again, twice).

Most coverage of the ice's initiation focused exclusively on Gadowsky, which is understandable to a degree, as the men's team is the one that draws the eyeballs. But also a mistake, because it meant whiffing on a story like this:

(Belated) happy anniversary guys! The next 21 go pretty fast, from what I hear.

Best of the Rest

@Fung_er
(Twitter)

It certainly took a while, but the Women's Ice Hockey Club's Mary Kate Tonetti finally has her ACHA Women's Division 2 Off-Ice MVP award after being named its winner back in March.

York City Ice Arena to Host CHE Playoffs
(psuwihc.com)

Sticking with the ACHA women, some pretty great hockey will be coming to York on February 22nd and 23rd in the form of the College Hockey East playoffs. The four teams that make up this season's inaugural edition of CHE (PSU, West Chester, California (PA) and Delaware) were half of the field at the 2013 ACHA WD2 National Tournament, including both championship game participants.

Charles Vance McCullough
(Centre Daily Times)

Here's the obituary for Vance McCullough, the long-time head of Penn State's club sports who passed away unexpectedly last Monday at age 69.

Vance was a driving force in creating a club sports department supporting many programs that were organizationally on par with NCAA teams. His legacy includes the Men's and Ladies Icers Hockey teams, as well as the nationally recognized men's and women's rugby teams.

Hey wait, that sounds awfully familiar...

McCullough was a driving force in creating a club sports department supporting many programs that were organizationally on par with NCAA teams, but for the recognition and the existence of scholarships. His legacy included not only the Icers and later the Lady Icers, but continues today through the success of the Ice Lions and Women's Ice Hockey Club, as well as Penn State's nationally-recognized men's and women's rugby teams.

Flattered, Koch Funeral Home guy who wrote the obit.

Top 5 Big Ten Off-Season Stories
(Western College Hockey Blog)

PSU doesn't even register in this rundown of the Big Ten's offseason beyond a mention of the school's first NHL draft picks, with stories like the Illinois rumors and Ohio State's post-Osiecki meltdown collecting the attention. The crazy thing? PSU doesn't really deserve to register in a rundown of the Big Ten's offseason beyond the draft picks and maybe Pegula Ice Arena's completion.

Basically, Penn State's program has finally reached sort of an awkward milestone: it's more or less completely normal.

Other than new program-type stuff, making offseason news is bad roughly 92 percent of the time. So here's to never, ever appearing in one of those types of posts again.

@OhioState_MHKY
(Twitter)

Ohio State has new alternate jerseys (above), and suddenly, I want to go get Taco Bell.

Although they include a few striping modifications, they're essentially a white adaptation of the jerseys the Buckeyes wore for the Frozen Diamond Faceoff, a January 15, 2012 outdoor game against Michigan in Cleveland.

Just made you smarter than your friends on a completely useless topic. You're welcome.

In other OSU news, the team named its leadership group last week, headlined by captain Curtis Gedig.

Pittsburgh-born Saad savors his day with Stanley Cup
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Brandon Saad, the brother of former Nittany Icer George who became the first Pittsburgh born and trained player to win the Stanley Cup in June, got his customary time with sport's most iconic trophy on Thursday.

Penn State Athletics Announces National Anthem Performer Auditions for 2013-14 Year
(gopsusports.com)

Karen Newman, Lauren Hart, Jim Cornelison, Jeff Jimerson, Rene Rancourt... anthem singers can become legends to their team's fans in hockey. If you think you're up to it, September 5th is a date you should circle.

Bennett takes his hockey show to the Lone Star State
(Foster's Daily Democrat)

Luke Bennett, a Rochester, NH-native forward who recently signed with Corpus Christi in the NAHL, is interested in Penn State. But not that interested.

Bennett has grown to like the western brand of hockey.

“I like the style,” Bennett said. “It’s a little different. It’s faster with less fights (than East Coast hockey). I’m a skill guy, not a fighter. I’m 165 (pounds). I’m not throwing around too much.”

Bennett plans to use his time in Texas to expand his game and draw D-I college attention. He mentioned schools like Western Michigan, Penn State and UMass-Lowell, but adds that in his heart he wants to stay in the west.

Construction Webcam
(rit.edu)

Last week, structural steel went up on RIT's Gene Polisseni Center. The 4,500-seat arena, which will replace PIA as NCAA Division I's newest hockey venue, is scheduled to open in time for next season. The Nittany Lion women, of course, will play there each year as part of the CHA schedule.

Despite the lost distinction for Penn State, it actually is quite fun watching someone else's dream building materialize. And if you still have the urge to hate, just remember that Polisseni Center broke ground during RIT's homecoming last October - a weekend that was spoiled (for Tigers faithful) by the PSU men and their big win in Rochester.

@GopherHockey
(Twitter)

A quick bit of setup: Minnesota fans have been very vocally opposed to the Big Ten's "intrusion" into the hockey bubble because they'll miss their big games against Bemidji State and Mankato State Minnesota State-Mankato Minnesota State in the WCHA, or something like that. Furthermore, despite his pair of national titles, four Frozen Fours and seven conference regular season or playoff championships, they aren't exactly thrilled with their coach, Don Lucia, either. Because they're the State of Hockey, as they're more than happy to remind you, and if they don't win everything ever, THINGS WILL EXPLODE.

So with all of that out there and from a Penn State perspective, you can understand why the photo above, of Lucia (left) presenting Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany with a Gophers jersey, could be considered quite entertaining.

@TYTBlog
(Twitter)

A quick, shameless self-link to share some news for the Twitter-free among you:

Confirmed: Rodney Martin will return as PA announcer for the inaugural Pegula Ice Arena season. Fantastic news.

Really could not imagine things any other way.

Three Stars: July 22-28

3. Southeast Schedules and What They Mean for 2013-14
(Twisted Thoughts)

While the ACHA Division 2 Ice Lions have yet to release a 2013-2014 schedule, several opponents - MACHA rivals Delaware, Virginia Tech and Liberty most recently - have. Here's what we now know of PSU's upcoming slate as a result:

October 26, 2013 - vs. Delaware
November 2, 2013 - at Delaware
December 8, 2013 - vs. Maryland-Baltimore County
January 10, 2014 - at Liberty
January 11, 2014 - at Virginia Tech
February 1, 2014 - at Maryland-Baltimore County
February 7-8, 2014 - at Navy Crab Pot (D1 Navy, D1 Towson, Maryland)
February 14-16, 2014 - at MACHA Playoffs
February 23-24, 2014 - at Southeast Regionals
March 21-25, 2014 - at ACHA National Tournament (Marlborough, MA)

The second-year Women's Ice Hockey Club, which is joining the new College Hockey East women's league with California (PA), West Chester and Delaware for 2013-2014, also has a few games out there, thanks to the schedule releases of both the Blue Hens and Michigan State.

October 19, 2013 - vs. Michigan State
October 20, 2013 - vs. Michigan State
November 16, 2013 - at Delaware
November 17, 2013 - at Delaware
December 7, 2013 - vs. Delaware
December 8, 2013 - vs. Delaware
February 21-22, 2014 - at CHE Playoffs (York, PA)
March 13-16, 2014 - at ACHA National Tournament (Newark, DE)

Notably, the December 8th Delaware game will be played at Galactic Ice in Altoona. Guess PIA isn't solving everyone's ice time issues after all.

2. The debate: players discuss CHL vs. NCAA
(The Daily Collegian)

Tackling something like a CHL vs. NCAA article is a tough task, because it's been done so often that it's difficult to find a fresh angle to bring to the table. But Matt Nestor has pulled it off by writing for a general Penn State audience that might not be familiar with The Choice while also bringing in quotes from guys like Luke Juha and Guy Gadowsky, both Canadians who played or are playing NCAA hockey.

Juha is a particularly insightful source as a guy who was once considered a potential late-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Electing for college over major junior probably hurt his stock in the short term, and he went undrafted. But Juha seems to believe that he'll ultimately be a better player because of college hockey, with a better shot of making it as a pro. And I believe that he's right.

1. Head Coach Morris to step down
(ohiobobcatshockey.com)

Andrew Largeman, Zach Braff's character in the movie Garden State, memorably said:

"You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of a sudden even though you have some place where you put your shit, that idea of home is gone... You'll see one day when you move out it just sort of happens one day and it's gone. You feel like you can never get it back. It's like you feel homesick for a place that doesn't even exist. Maybe it's like this rite of passage, you know. You won't ever have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for your kids, for the family you start."

That's how I'm starting to feel about ACHA Division 1. Maybe the process is a bit more gradual and less traumatic than it was for Largeman, but it's there nevertheless, because the simple fact is that after you remove yourself from a place, it still continues to evolve without you.

The ACHA will look a lot less like it did when we left without legendary Ohio coach Dan Morris, who is stepping down after 12 seasons, 344 wins and the 2004 national championship. Given that he also played for the Bobcats between 1993 and 1997 (winning three more national championships during those years) and then was an assistant coach under Craig McCarthy between graduation and taking over as the head guy, it's a no-brainer to call Morris one of the most important figures in the history of one of the ACHA's most important programs. Of course, he was also the Icers' archnemesis for all but the final one of those years on the wrong side of the greatest rivalry in ACHA history - including the 2004 title game win over PSU that ended Joe Battista's dynasty of four straight and five in six years.

No Dan Morris, Illinois' Chad Cassel departed a year ago, Minot State apparently wins the Murdoch Cup now... it doesn't feel like home anymore. And to be honest, neither does NCAA Division I and the Big Ten just yet, but it will. We have to evolve too, after all.

Best of the Rest

Eddie Quagliata and Matt Welch model Illinois' new jerseys...who says there's no "I" in "team?"

Just a year in, head coach Fabbrini hires another assistant
(The Daily Illini)

Let's stick with the ACHA for a minute, because it was quite a week for IllinoisWatch.

First, last Monday, the school's student paper published a write-up on new Illini assistant coach Blake Sorensen, who seems to believe that the program would consider going DI, and claims that belief was part of the reason he took the job: "Maybe I’m thinking out of the box, but I’m thinking the U of I would be the next school having the aspiration of going to the next level. So I said, ‘Why not?’ It was a very easy decision." That's either your garden-variety pipe dream or he knows something, take your pick, but I don't remember Billy Downey saying anything like that when he was hired as an Icers assistant in 2008.

That, by itself, is interesting but hardly A Thing. However, mostly-spam Twitter account @USCollegeHockey fanned the flames three days later: "May we have BREAKING NEWS soon? We were 1st to report Penn St.'s ascent to D1. Is another top ACHA team making the jump? Details soon..." They didn't specify that they were referring to Illinois, which is a pretty effective technique in the world of rumor mongering (PS. Someone will die of heart disease today. Because I can see the future.)

For the record, I don't know if @USCollegeHockey was first on Penn State in August and September of 2010. And I don't care. You know who I credit as being first? The Harrisburg Patriot-News' David Jones, who noted Terry Pegula's windfall from the Royal Dutch Shell sale in May 2010 and connected it to the idea of Penn State hockey a few days later. Accuracy and fresh insight over unchecked speed, every time.

Anyway, "soon," evidently, was Saturday evening, when @USCollegeHockey jumped back in with "Remember that BREAKING NEWS we mentioned on Thursday?" and attached a screengrab of a Facebook status (since deleted).

From there, the predictable played out. People overreacted, some commented on how it would be a great idea (it would be), Let's Play Hockey patted themselves on the back over the Jimmy John's rumor they advanced a couple years ago, and real journalists like Matt Slovin and Chris Peters got to work, ultimately taking about 90 minutes to confirm that the Facebook post had to do with the sale of the team's new jerseys.

There's an important lesson, which should have been learned from Penn State, that also needs to be applied here. PSU's process took five years from the initial Battista-Pegula dinner. Along the way, people talk, toes are dipped in the various pools and feasibility studies are conducted. And any one of those occurrences, which repeat themselves many, many times throughout those five years, has the potential to become an "OMG IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN!!!" tweet. Just as a rumor doesn't mean something is imminent, the short-term dismissal of a rumor doesn't mean that the information wasn't a legitimate hint, just applied incorrectly or prematurely. Illinois probably has explored the idea of NCAA hockey, and they probably will have an NCAA program someday. There's been an awful lot of smoke, and it's increased in volume recently. But I'm fairly sure that when it does happen, @USCollegeHockey won't be the first to tell us.

Portland, ME's newly-renovated Cumberland County Civic Center will host the 2015 Ice Breaker

@Chris_MJH
(Twitter)

Last week, Notre Dame was awarded the 2014 Ice Breaker (a season-opening four-team tournament presented by College Hockey Inc.) while Maine grabbed the 2015 version. And almost immediately, the rumor mill fired up.

Hearing Michigan, Michigan St., Penn St & BC are possible teams to take part in '15 IceBreaker.

Just as a reminder, since this seems like an appropriate spot: way back in January 2012, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that the Nittany Lions had signed on for the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush. The Goal Rush is another season-opening tournament, hosted by Alaska and always including their dumpster fire of a neighbor in Anchorage. This year's field - Denver and Western Michigan are the two "outside schools" - was announced on November 16, 2012, so we might hear confirmation on that one relatively soon.

150 Miles for a Cure...
(Bike MS)

Coming up on September 28th and 29th, women's assistant Casey McCullion will once again go on a bike ride to raise money to fight multiple sclerosis. Please consider supporting her and the cause if you're able. And yes, I'll remind you again.

Pro New York Sports Exclusive: Eamon McAdam
(Pro New York Sports)

Know what I like seeing in a player? This, from Eamon McAdam:

I want to help the team progress as fast as possible and by my second or third year I want to give the team here a chance to go for a National Championship. This may seem like a lofty goal but the age old expression of championships are won with goaltending is true in my eyes and if I put in enough work I am hopeful I can give the team a chance no matter who we’re playing.

Check Gadowsky's track record, especially with a Princeton program that had/has a lot less behind it than what's in place at Penn State. Kid ain't crazy.

New York Islanders 2013 draft review
(Hockey's Future)

Your second dose of Big Mac comes through a roundup of Garth Snow's 2013 draft picks. If you're like me and are now trying to follow the Isles a little bit, it's probably good to check things like this out once in a while.

Ohio State's dumping of Mark Osiecki has continued to prove costly

Magyar chooses Kitchener Rangers over Ohio State
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Ohio State's firing of coach Mark Osiecki back in April... yep, still an absolutely terrible decision. The latest evidence: Ohio native and Cleveland Barons product Nick Magyar, a Buckeye commit who played for Sioux City and the National Team Development Program in the USHL last season, has signed with the OHL's Kitchener Rangers and blowtorched his college eligibility. Magyar is just the latest in a growing line of Osiecki recruits to flee, including Nolan Valeau, Cliff Watson and Zach Stepan.

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Unveiled
(USA Hockey)

This year's U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame class lacks the direct Penn State connection of the 2012 group featuring Eddie Olczyk, but it's still a robust collection headlined (for our purposes) by Ron Mason. Mason coached at Lake Superior State (1967-1973), Bowling Green (1974-1979) and Michigan State (1980-2002), won the 1986 national title with the Spartans, and was the winningest coach in college history (924 victories) until he was passed by Jerry York last season. He was also among the hockey giants surveyed for quotes distributed to the press on September 17, 2010, for whatever that's worth:

“I think it’s wonderful that Penn State will have Division I hockey. I’ve long thought that if Penn State ever decided to elevate its program that it would be a school that would challenge for championships. This is a good move for the school and for college hockey.”

Jake Gardiner, a Maple Leafs defenseman and Max's brother, is among the U.S. Olympic hopefuls

Men's National Team Orientation Camp Roster Set
(USA Hockey)

Arguably the biggest story in the hockey world last week was the release of Olympic team camp rosters by most of the countries expected to contend in Sochi, Russia next year. Team USA's version includes a pair of Penn State siblings in Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner and Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad, and yes, we're going to keep living vicariously through those guys until there are Nittany Lions in the show.

The 48-man camp roster will eventually be cut to 25, so Saad and Gardiner certainly aren't home yet, although both are strong contenders for selection.

Glen Gulutzan happy to return 'home' with Canucks
(Vancouver Sun)

Glen Gulutzan, one of the more prominent members of the Guy Gadowsky coaching tree (Gadowsky coached Gulutzan with the WCHL's Fresno Falcons in 1996-1997 and 1998-1999), has joined John Tortorella's Vancouver Canucks staff. Gulutzan, last time we checked in on him, was being fired as head coach of the Dallas Stars after two seasons, so it's nice to see him land on his feet.

@BillRiga
@KeeferJ_
(Twitter)

The leading Twitterdrama last Tuesday: assistant coaches acting butthurt for really, really stupid reasons. First, there's the case of Quinnipiac's Bill Riga, subtweeting QU blog From the NIP to the Bank for having the audacity to predict the Bobcats' lineup for the coming season (forwards, defense/goalies).

Love people who have our line-up and freshmen predicted. I don't even know and I've seen them all play a lot. #smarterthani

Someone needs to look up the definitions of "prediction" and "know" and note the differences.

Jerry Keefe of Northeastern skipped snark and went straight to fury. His target? The Providence Journal's Mark Divver, whose horrific crime was tweeting that new Providence College commit Spenser Young, a defenseman at Phillips Exeter Academy, held an offer from Keefe's Huskies. Time to rumble.

Divver wisely bowed out at that point, but in Keefe's estimation, Twitter still wasn't safe - after all, there were people making innocuous "don't see that every day" comments about the Keefe-Divver exchange to straighten out.

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver don't like when people tweet false info to make a hockey program look bad. We all work to hard for that.

Yeah, you (may have) lost out on a highly-sought-after (heavy hitters Boston College, Yale and New Hampshire also whiffed on Young, according to Divver) recruit. Brutal. Your program looks absolutely horrible now. But no worries, you're well on the way back, because you don't spread rumors about the media.

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver I don't report false info on twitter about you guys and your jobs so don't do about hockey programs and our jobs

Also, don't tell Keefe he's in an argument...

@smclaughlin9 @MarkDivver it's not an argument it's a point I feel strongly about.

...or that he melted down.

@FearTheTriangle @TheBUHockeyBlog no meltdowns here!

I beg to differ. The best summation is brought to you by Boston University "blog/Twitter combo without the blog" BurntBoats.

Moving On
(From the NIP to the Bank)

Finally, best wishes in blogger retirement to Luke Devoe, who is stepping aside from his aforementioned work on Quinnipiac.

I don't feel a true kinship with too many bloggers out there (which isn't to say that I don't respect and enjoy their work or like them as human beings). The SB Nation guys have 800 different writers and 20 billion pageviews a month. Other blogs are run by professional journalists as a side project or as part of the coverage of their beat. TYT isn't any of those things, and I don't really identify much with their realities. Devoe was different. Much like him, I'm just a guy who loves hockey, loves his school, and enjoys the artificial level of closeness allowed by doing this. That's why I find his reasons for stopping heartbreaking.

I became blacklisted to a certain extent because, well, I was a little too opinionated during a rough stretch of play. I accepted this, altered my approach, and went on covering the team I love. Recently, a small but similar event occurred. While it would be easy to shrug it off and file it under the "can't make them all happy" category, I simply can't.

Back when things weren't exactly gravy and FTNTTB wasn't on the best of terms with the brass at the Q it was tough receiving sideways stares walking into a venue that I held, and still hold, so near and dear. It was even harder when those stares were coming from some people whose opinion mattered. The labor of love turned into a exhausting game of second guessing and self-censoring, even at times when I truly felt I was right. I just don't feel like doing it again. I concede.

Shame on you, Bill Riga and anyone else who may have contributed to his struggles.

One Year Later: Penn Staters Wearing NHL Logos

Last July, inspired by the NHL development camp invites received by Nittany Lions David Thompson and Tommy Olczyk, I wrote a post called "Breakout Past: Penn Staters Wearing NHL Logos." Thompson and Olczyk were included, of course, with the rest of the list filled out by grainy, low-quality black-and-whites of players like Don Coyne and Alon Eizenman scanned from ten-year-old media guides. That's not a knock on those players or the Icers, of course - Mark Scally playing in a pair of NHL exhibition games for the Penguins in 2000 is still the gold standard for "Penn State to the show" as far as I'm concerned - but it did indicate a clear dichotomy of players from PSU's most successful period of ACHA hockey around the turn of the century and the very beginnings of NCAA-level talent at the school, with remarkably little in between. It admittedly felt a bit forced.

It's staggering how far things have progressed in a year. No, it's not all the way there yet. The list doesn't include any active NHLers, and scouring the internet for a couple days just to find not-that-great photos of a couple players (thanks for nothing, Flyers) or none at all of another (thanks for literally nothing, Canucks) seems a little south of the big time. Still, things are moving forward at a fantastic rate.

Just to be thorough, let's start with Olczyk and Thompson.

The most obvious progress has been in the form of Penn State's NHL Entry Draft picks.

[Note: Max Gardiner committed to Penn State in January 2012 and had been drafted by that point, but he wasn't included in last year's post because he hadn't been photographed playing hockey in his Blues jersey.]

Mike, if you want to pop on a Canucks jersey, selfie up, and send it over, I'd be more than happy to update this post.

This month, Koudys, McAdam and Williamson all attended development camps held by the teams owning their NHL rights (Gardiner's team, the St. Louis Blues, does not hold an on-ice camp, although they do bring prospects in for off-ice instruction). They were joined by a pair of teammates invited as free agents, similar to Olczyk and Thompson last year: Matt Skoff with the Flyers and Casey Bailey with the Bruins.

Where will the Penn State-NHL connection sit one year from today? Can't wait to find out.

Three Stars: July 8-14

3. Mayers pledge $50,000 to support Smeal Trading Room
(Penn State News)

In addition to the headlining $50,000 for the Smeal College of Business' Rogers Family Trading Room, former Icer Bill Mayer along with his wife Cynthia (both 1985 graduates), recently donated $12,500 to the men's hockey program.

Both Bill and Cynthia were multi-sport athletes at PSU - the former was on the varsity lacrosse team in addition to hockey, while the latter played field hockey and softball.

2. One-on-One with Mike Williamson
(Dustin's Cafe)

Freshman defenseman Mike Williamson dropped by the studios of radio station CJLD in his hometown of Leduc, AB for a great interview primarily discussing the NHL Draft and Canucks Development Camp (which was still ahead of him at the time), but also touching on his future at Penn State and his past in Spruce Grove.

Possibly the only thing wrong with it: after Williamson cited fellow Spruce Grove Saints-to-Nittany Lions Dylan Richard and David Glen as people who will help his transition to college, the interviewer threw in Reed Linaker as another former AJHLer on the roster. Whoops.

1. TAKE A LOOK! An Updated, Inside Look at Pegula Arena
(WTAJ)

First, I'd like to get a quick beef out of the way with Penn State media: I wish they'd be more engaged in hockey. It seems like every story outside of a couple outlets (the Collegian immediately comes to mind as an exception) is either a) something the athletic department handed out or b) an OMG ARENA! hit, which is about the easiest thing in the world to crank out if you need to fill a couple minutes. It would be nice to see someone get a bit proactive, as Onward State recently did when they smoked everyone on the PSU football in Ireland story. Where's that initiative for hockey?

WTAJ is the one local TV station that has been, for the most part, on top of hockey throughout, so they deserve credit for that. And this story with "an updated, inside look" at Pegula Ice Arena is well done, although I expected more behind-the-scenes stuff and not just shots of the seating bowl and main lobby until the last ten seconds.

Also... "As steep as code allows." Finish your drink!

Best of the Rest

Dylan Richard is part of the Spruce Grove-to-Penn State pipeline

Saints hockey program continues to breed success
(Spruce Grove Examiner)

A nice look at the highly-successful and aforementioned Spruce Grove Saints program that has produced current Nittany Lions Williamson, Richard and Glen, and also had two players selected in the NHL Entry Draft last month (Williamson and defense partner Carson Soucy, taken by the Minnesota Wild in the fifth round).

Ice Dogs' Geoff Beauparlant to coach Brown Bears
(juniorhockey.com)

Former Icers goaltender Geoff Beauparlant (a 2002 graduate) has continued his ascension in the coaching world with his hiring as the new head coach of the NAHL's Kenai River Brown Bears in Soldotna, AK. Since 2010, he had been an assistant with the league's Fairbanks franchise.

Beauparlant was 27-2-1 during his college playing career, primarily as a backup to John Sixt, Mark Scally and Scott Graham, and won ACHA National Titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Eagan's Nick Wolff to take physical hockey style overseas
(Minneapolis Star Tribune)

While recruit Kevin Kerr recently missed out on selection for the U.S. Under-18 squad for the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament next month, it's at least possible that PSU ends up with someone from the team anyway - bruising Eagan (MN) High School defenseman Nick Wolff.

Wolff hopes to play college hockey sometime down the road and has already taken unofficial visits to Miami (Ohio), Ohio State and Penn State. But his plans for now call for first staying at home and finishing high school with his family and friends.

Some junior hockey after high school seems likely for Wolff. He will be eligible for the 2014 NHL draft next June.

Because of his size, work ethic, rapid development and recent exposure, Taylor believes Wolff will garner 'a ton' of Division I interest this season.

NCAA 2013 draft review
(Hockey's Future)

Here's a densely-packed look at how collegians nationally fared in the NHL Entry Draft, including a paragraph's worth of a nod to the history made at Penn State.

Me getting to drop a Habs jersey on TYT is one positive to Michael McCarron going pro

WMU hockey freshman Michael McCarron will play for London Knights and forgo college career
(mlive.com)

College hockey's draft presence took a big hit when Michigan State Cornell Western Michigan commit Michael McCarron, the only potential NCAA player selected in the first round, decided to pass on school and go pro. The National Team Development Program product signed an entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens and will play for the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights this season.

WMU hockey coach Andy Murray says release of Garrett Haar came after academic problems, 'issues of integrity'
(mlive.com)

Bad news came in twos for WMU, as the day after losing McCarron, the Broncos dumped junior defenseman Garrett Haar from the program. Head coach Andy Murray, who had already placed Haar on suspension for the fall semester due to academics, explained...

“First of all, I want to say we tried real hard with Garrett to help him,” Murray said. “We gave him every bit of academic assistance we could, including having people walk him to class, tutors and everything we could do, but you have to be committed to it and unfortunately he wasn’t.

“There were issues of integrity between the coaches and his teammates that were not at an acceptable level.”

Ouch. Haar claimed, via Twitter and included in the link above, that leaving was his decision. His comment preceded Murray's statement, so I'm guessing that he was taking a chance at saving face while assuming, incorrectly, that the school would remain silent on the story. He's apparently not the brightest guy in the world, so those things will happen.

Incidentally, Haar was a 2011 seventh-round draft pick of the Washington Capitals and was at the team's development camp with PSU's Patrick Koudys while all of this was going down.

List of college hockey players at NHL Development Camps
(Western College Hockey Blog)

We already know about the Penn State Five, but who else represented college hockey in an NHL development camp this summer? Unofficially, Michigan led the Big Ten with 15 players, followed by Minnesota (14), Wisconsin (12), Ohio State (10) and Michigan State (8). Don't panic over the difference between their numbers and ours - the list includes alumni, and PSU's a bit shorthanded in that area for obvious reasons.

Know Your Enemy: Minnesota
(Without a Peer)

I'm not even going to try writing a Minnesota preview this season. Thanks to the FoTYTs at RPI blog Without a Peer, I can just shoot out the link to this one again, since it deftly blends the past into the present as I like to do it, except better.

Kelly Seward: B-lo to the show

Flaunting their skills for Old Glory
(Buffalo News)

Nittany Lion freshman Kelly Seward is merely one player produced by a rapidly expanding women's hockey scene in Western New York, with the charge led in large part by Seward's Buffalo Bisons program.

Pittsburgh Penguins continue to drive local hockey participation upward
(City of Champions)

A bit south of Buffalo, the present growth trend of USA Hockey-registered players in western Pennsylvania - often called The Crosby Effect, after Sidney of course - has continued for an eighth straight year. Impressively, the western half of the commonwealth, despite being at a fairly substantial population disadvantage to the east, accounts for more than 13,000 of the roughly 30,000 Keystone Staters who play hockey.

Pennsylvania, which was frequently beaked as "not a hockey state" back when Penn State announced its NCAA transition plans, has the fifth-most registered players in the nation.

Corbett Named Head Coach
(uahhockey.com)

I'm not sure how Alabama-Huntsville continues to land quality coaches given the program's still-lingering uncertainties, but they've pulled it off once again in the form of now-former Air Force assistant Mike Corbett, a much better Corbett than the one we got stuck with.

"Mike Corbett has spent the last decade recruiting elite young men to the United States Air Force Academy and winning championships," said UAH Director of Athletics Dr. E.J. Brophy. "We are very confident that he is the man to lead Charger Hockey into the prestigious WCHA and back to winning on a consistent basis here at UAH."

Former coach Kurt Kleinendorst, who left the program suddenly and after only one season back in May to return to the professional ranks, can now sleep at night I suppose.

@MarkHorgas
(Twitter)

Let's close this out with a shot of the community rink at Pegula Ice Arena, because it's a vitally important part of the facility that always gets the short end of the stick.

Nittany Lions Close NHL Development Camps

With the last-to-start, last-to-finish Boston Bruins concluding on-ice activities at their development camp on Sunday, here's a look at how things proceeded for each of the five Penn Staters - draft picks Eamon McAdam (Islanders), Mike Williamson (Canucks) and Patrick Koudys (Capitals), along with free agent invites Casey Bailey (Bruins) and Matt Skoff (Flyers) - who received a crash course in life as an NHLer over the past week.

I'd like to think that part of my value lies in my ability (well, willingness, it doesn't really require talent) to sift through things, pull out the essentials, eliminate the duplication of information, and save you guys from the trouble. With that in mind and under the assumption that you know how to find out who the Capitals' second-line center will be this season or how guys like 2013 top-15 picks Ryan Pulock and Sam Morin looked at their respective camps if you care, the plan here is to limit things to direct coverage and discussion of the PSU guys.

However, I also included links to daily summary articles for each team (even when not discussing our specific interest), just to give an idea of the activities of everyone at the camps, Nittany Lions included. Unfortunately, not all teams updated every single day - or at all - beyond one-on-one interview videos and player-based features well past this post's scope, and there was a ton of variance in how much of the off-ice agenda was shared. Other than what is listed, most camps participated in team-building exercises in the evening, with excursions to see the local baseball team probably the most popular of those.

One more thing before getting started: the first rule of being an obsessive "I need to know everything" blogger is that there's always more out there than is possible for one human to locate. If you know of something I missed (quality photos of Skoff and/or Williamson playing hockey in NHL jerseys would be particularly helpful), let me know in the comments and I'll be more than happy to share, with full credit, of course.

Anyway, here we go...

Vancouver Canucks

Mike Williamson

• On the first full day of camp, July 8th, the Canucks posted a video of drills with Williamson making a cameo (number 71). He's not doing much other than standing there and listening to a coach, but hey, it's something.
• Following the Grouse Grind - a climb up Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver - on July 10th, a brief interview with Williamson was posted on Canucks.com. He said that camp so far was "really good... it's been great so far, and it's good to meet the guys." Williamson then described himself as a defenseman who tries to be physical while moving the puck as quickly and efficiently as possible and also said that his goals for the week involved gauging the team's expectations and the work that needs to be put in to succeed on the highest levels.
• Later that day, the prospects visited the BC Children's Hospital, where Williamson was photographed with Nicole, a six-year-old fighting kidney disease (he's the one leaning on the top of the bed). A few other shots of Williamson on the trip were captured by the Vancouver Sun, including the one above (he's the furthest right) with four-year-old heart patient Mady Keefe.
• At the conclusion of camp, Williamson expressed his gratitude on Twitter:

Sunday, July 7th: Fitness testing, on-ice drills and measurements
Monday, July 8th: Skills testing, MMA training, yoga, scrimmage
Tuesday, July 9th: Skill development, weight training, dragon boat races, cooking class
Wednesday, July 10th: Grouse Grind, visit to BC Children's Hospital
Thursday, July 11th: Open scrimmage
Friday, July 12th: Four-on-four scrimmage, exit meetings

In addition to the regular recaps, Canucks.com also produced live blogs on several days that did a good job integrating their social media presence: July 8 // July 9 // July 10.

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Washington Capitals

Patrick Koudys

• According to Caps blog The Peerless Prognosticator, Koudys spent July 9th's session partnered with Madison Bowey, Washington's 53rd overall pick on June 30th. The Manitoba native has spent the last two full seasons with the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and in 2012-2013 put up 30 points in 69 games. Bowey spoke with the media that day, but shockingly nobody asked him about his development camp d-partner.
• On July 10th, Koudys again was paired up with Bowey for the camp's first scrimmage. However, their Team Red was waxed by Team White 7-3, with video of most of the game's goals available here. On the 3-1 goal beginning 19 seconds in, Koudys allows his man into a good scoring position, although it's unclear if he got a stick on the shot as it came through.
• Team White dominated Team Red for the second time in a row on July 11th, winning that day's scrimmage 4-0. Koudys was again paired with Bowey, and the two were caught napping on White's second goal, scored by Riley Barber (Bowey more so than Koudys). All four goals were captured on video this time around.
• The third scrimmage went to Red, 7-3 (video of all goals here). Koudys appeared - it's not always easy to read numbers on the video, but I believe it's him - to make a careless giveaway on a pass up the middle to lead to White's first goal (seemingly verified by this tweet), and he was in the box for Chandler Stephenson's shorthanded effort to make the score 5-2.
• I would like to make it clear that videos showing only a game's goals tend to not be very flattering to defensive defensemen, and that Koudys likely played much better than what the previous three points indicate.
• Red completed the turnaround with a 6-4 win in the camp-closing scrimmage on July 13th (first period, second period, third period, highlights). Koudys played a steady game from the back end partnering occasionally with Bowey, but mostly with 2013 seventh-round pick Tyler Lewington. On the game's opening goal, Koudys was able to start the rush by knocking a bad D-to-D pass that could have ended in disaster loose at the defensive line for Stephenson to advance with speed, and he was also effective when pinching. Primarily though, he was true to type as a stay-at-home guy who made smart plays under pressure and wasn't afraid to stand people up both entering and exiting zones. He was victimized on the goal that made the score 3-2 for White by a fluky bounce off the post that allowed his man to pound it home and was occasionally drawn out high in the zone, but he made up for any missteps with a couple of outstanding shifts on consecutive penalty kills with his team hanging on to a late one-goal lead.

The Capitals' official updates were largely on video and unfortunately offered little insight regarding the camp's off-ice actvities. So instead, here is The Peerless Prognosicator on three of the six days.

Monday, July 8th: On-ice testing, practices
Tuesday, July 9th: Practices
Wednesday, July 10th: Practices, scrimmage
Thursday, July 11th: Practices, scrimmage
Friday, July 12th: Practices, scrimmage
Saturday, July 13th: Scrimmage

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Philadelphia Flyers

Matt Skoff

• Prior to camp beginning, Stack the Pads covered Skoff's invitation.
• On July 10th, the Flyers prospects participated in their annual Trial on the Isle, a unique development camp tradition that involves a day of participation in beach-based competition and community service events in Stone Harbor, NJ. Skoff's four-man team included 2011 fourth-round draft pick Marcel Noebels, Colorado College defenseman Eamonn McDermott and Erie Otters (OHL) forward Stephen Harper.
• Skoff, thanks to his backwards Penn State hat, was pretty easy to spot in photos and video at Trial on the Isle, including a group shot with him right in the middle taken before things got underway - and it looks like he's bulked up a bit. He also makes a cameo in an Instagram video of the players approaching the beach and elsewhere (see media at the link in the last bullet).
• While it probably wasn't the producer's intent, Skoff is fairly prominently featured in this camp highlight video as he faced shots during drills from some of the team's top prospects. He's the goalie with the dark mask and mostly white pads with the small oval near the top, or number 70 on the rare occasions you can see his back.
• Although he looked to be doing well in the video, there's at least a bit of anecdotal evidence of the opposite, specifically, mentions of players like Morin and Petr Straka scoring quality goals on him. It does need to be said, though, that a free agent invite like Skoff is only newsworthy to Flyers people when he's getting beat by their draft picks/prospects, so we'd be unlikely to hear of more positive exploits.
• Behance.net grabbed the best action shot of Skoff I managed to find.
• Like Williamson, Skoff delivered a wrap-up tweet when it was over, and also gave some insight regarding his apparent beef situation:

The Flyers media relations staff, for the most part, was pretty terrible in their reporting about camp (beyond Trial on the Isle), partly because their attention was ripped away from it by the introduction of free agent signings and former coach Fred Shero's election to the Hockey Hall of Fame. As a result, I relied on TheHockeyGuys.net for July 7th, 8th and 11th. Beyond the official site's July 10th recap, which I did use, they also came through with a nice feature explaining the goals of Philadelphia's camp, and how they differed from previous scrimmage-heavy years.

Sunday, July 7th: Testing, light drills
Monday, July 8th: Practices with position groups separated, light afternoon skate
Tuesday, July 9th: Two on-ice sessions
Wednesday, July 10th: Trial on the Isle
Thursday, July 11th: Practice, grocery shopping and cooking class, camp break

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Boston Bruins

Casey Bailey

• Any information at all on free agent invites can be considered a bonus, as obviously, the team, media and fans are much more focused on their draft picks (and usually just the high ones - even guys like Koudys and Williamson tend to be afterthoughts). Fortunately Hockey's Future poster Alicat provided a nugget from July 13th's session - and a positive one to boot: "Good hands and is an excellent passer. Has some speed. He, [Seth] Griffith and [Anton] Blidh had one rush where they went tick-tack-toe and scored on [Zane] Gothberg. Very reminiscent of [the Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton line]'s passing on odd man rushes."
• HF's DKH called Bailey "noticeable" in a brief collection of end-of-camp thoughts. Encouraging stuff to see, particularly when, as mentioned, the average Bruins observer had little incentive to care about him.
• Besides the picture above, which originated with the Bruins' Twitter account, he was also photographed by Puck Sage while shooting on goalie prospect/famous hockey family member Malcolm Subban.
• During Monday's team-building activities on Thompson Island, Bailey (blindfolded, bottom left) was included in an Instagram collage of a climb up an alpine tower.

Wednesday, July 10th: Practice, testing, social media training
Thursday, July 11th: Skills drills, full practice, cooking class
Friday, July 12th (1, 2, 3): Practices, community service activities
Saturday, July 13th: Running/fitness testing, practices, scrimmages, nutrition class
Sunday, July 14th: Practices
Monday, July 15th: Team building exercises, camp break

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New York Islanders

Eamon McAdam

• The team posted an Instagram video of what they called McAdam's "first drill in an Islanders jersey" on July 9th, the opening day of their camp. Kid can move laterally, which is probably good for a goalie.
• That same day, WFAN's Daniel Friedman asked him about the first thing he noticed when stepping on the ice. The answer: "How strong everybody is. Everyone's bigger, faster, stronger than anything I've ever experienced." (1, 2)
• On July 10th, Friedman mentioned McAdam as a practice standout, and followed up after the close of camp with some impressions: "He was sharp throughout the week. The thing I noticed about him was how fast he moved across the crease and his knack for being square to the shooter... At times, he was a little too aggressive and he certainly has what to work on, but McAdam looked good. Refreshingly, he looked nothing like his pre-draft stats suggested he would. He made a handful of quality saves during the scrimmage, including some fairly tough ones."
• He stopped 28 of 33 shots and took the loss in the open-to-the-public Orange vs. Blue scrimmage on July 11th and was outstanding in the skills competition that followed the game (covered in a separate post). Another opinion on his play there, from This Is Islander Country: "I liked what I saw from Eamon McAdam in net. He gave up a soft goal or two, but the kid is only 18. He played the angles well and moved pretty well laterally in the net. Made a handful of nice saves too. Needs to work on his rebound control a bit, but he definitely looks like a solid goalie prospect."
• Newsday's photo gallery of the event included a great McAdam shot (above).
• All departures are not created equal:

Tuesday, July 9th: On-ice practices, off-ice training
Wednesday, July 10th: On-ice practices, off-ice training
Thursday, July 11th: Morning skate, Orange vs. Blue Scrimmage/Skills Competition
Friday, July 12th: Practices, camp break

Mixed Results for McAdam in Isles Scrimmage

NewYorkIslanders.com recap // NewYorkIslanders.com game highlights
NewYorkIslanders.com skills competition shootout video

Eamon McAdam stopped 28 of the 33 shots he faced, but took the loss as his Orange Team fell 6-2 to the Blue Team in the Orange vs. Blue Scrimmage on Thursday evening, the centerpiece of the New York Islanders' prospect mini-camp this week.

McAdam was dented on the first shot he faced, 4:23 into the contest, when Blue's Ryan Strome won a puck battle at the line off of a stretch pass and chased it down in the corner. The fifth overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft then found a trailing Joey Diamond, and the former Maine Black Bear ripped it home from high between the circles.

Following the early goal - which turned out to be the only one of the 25-minute first half by either team - McAdam locked in and played his best hockey of the scrimmage to keep Orange in the game. A few highlights:

• His first stop was on Jesse Graham, who wristed it on from wide right with 19:25 to go in the period, resulting in a save and freeze.
• Three minutes later, Johan Sundstrom fired a quick shot from the top of the right circle off of a turnover at the line that was turned aside.
• All penalties during the scrimmage resulted in a penalty shot, and McAdam stoned Blue's first attempt - from Alan Quine - through a poke check and cover with 15:44 left.
• Following Diamond's goal, it seemed like Blue gained the urge to test McAdam from the outside, but he fought off Troy Donnay's sneaky try from the line with 14:15 left, then similarly denied Jesse Graham with 1:27 left.
• Off of another turnover, John Persson's wrister on from the left circle was a fairly easy stop, but his bomb off of the ensuing faceoff was tougher and met with a beauty of a kick save.
• Blue's second penalty shot of the evening was taken by Sundstrom, who tried to go between the legs before shooting, but McAdam saw it all the way and got the pillow to it.
• With 8:35 left, Riley Wetmore won a battle in the corner and found Jason Clark all alone in the slot, but McAdam made maybe his best save of the contest to knock the puck into the mesh.
• Roughly four minutes later, Andrey Pedan was denied from the left point, as was Strome's follow-up. Scott Mayfield then tried one from right point, but was also saved, although McAdam got the benefit of a quick whistle on the rebound.

Team Blue's goalie for the opening half was Kenny Reiter, the Pittsburgh-native backstop for the 2011 national championship team at Minnesota-Duluth. In the second half, McAdam stayed in, but Reiter gave way to Joel Rumpel. If the latter name rings a bell, it's probably because Rumpel just finished his sophomore year at Wisconsin and shut out Penn State on February 24th - so it may not be the last time he and McAdam are at opposite ends of the same ice surface.

Unfortunately, Rumpel won the battle this time around, starting with Clark scoring a soft goal just one minute into the half. The play began with a Strome stick lift on Orange defenseman Marc Cantin, who was attempting to exit the zone, then ended with Clark firing through McAdam from the faceoff dot to the goalie's left.

After Victor Crus Rydberg closed Orange's deficit to 2-1, Strome pushed the score back to 3-1 with 13:45 left when he buried an easy rebound from the bottom of the left circle after a great play by Diamond that saw the Long Island native swing behind the net from left to right, then spin and dangle his way to the front for an initial attempt that forced McAdam down. Colton Beck made it 3-2 through a penalty shot conversion with 5:05 left, but the comeback was stifled 28 seconds later when Wetmore scored off the rush. McAdam did manage the initial save, but was victimized by a bouncing rebound that appeared to deflect in off of Clark, although the goal was given to Wetmore.

Clark, a former Badger, got even with karma on a penalty shot with 1:51 left that involved some deft stickwork and outwaiting McAdam, and UMass-Lowell alumnus Wetmore closed the scoring with an empty netter.

Following the 50-minute scrimmage, the prospects engaged in a skills competition that also counted towards the point totals for the event. Orange, thanks largely to McAdam, took all three skills contests, but it wasn't enough to eliminate the four-goal hole from the scrimmage, allowing Blue to escape with a 7-6 overall win.

First up was a five-man shootout. Quine, Blue's first shooter, scored with a brilliant move that involved fading to the left side, working the puck between his skates and stick, then leaving it behind and reaching back over the goalie to tap it in (the Forsberg, if you're familiar). McAdam, though, bounced back and didn't allow one past him the rest of the way, poking away from Persson, saving Sundstrom and Diamond, and surviving Strome's errant attempt at flipping the puck in the air and applying a baseball swing. On the other end, Crus Rydberg and Brock Nelson burned Rumpel to give Orange the 2-1 win to trim Blue's lead to 7-4.

With the goalies sitting out of the hardest shot competition, Orange's Mike Dalhuisen, who just finished his career at Quinnipiac, fired two 97 mile-per-hour smokers to win it and give his team another point.

The final event was a team breakaway relay, a race to score seven pucks placed at each blue line, which included a requirement that each attempt be carried back to the line before the next shooter began. McAdam got off to a rough start in allowing goals to Wetmore and Persson in Blue's first three tries, but then locked the door in a major way with eleven straight stops (Matt Tabrum, Cason Hohmann, Steve Alonge, Ben Rosen, Peden, Trevor Moore, Sundstrom, Diamond, Strome, Jesse Graham and Loic Leduc) to allow Orange to pull ahead and eventually win. Even after Jared Hauf finally broke through for Blue, McAdam denied four of the last five shooters as Orange took a bit longer than they probably should have to clinch the point.

All in all, it was probably a better evening for McAdam than the credit he'll receive, particularly given that as a draft pick this year, he was among the youngest players on the ice and competing against selections from two and three years ago who have already established themselves as AHL players (not to mention a guy like Strome, who many think will play in the NHL this year - he sure looked ready to me). Sure, there were issues, as he still seems to struggle with longer shots and occasionally higher ones, while also sometimes overcommitting, but all in all, I took a positive feeling away from the event. Supporting that view: his athleticism that was fully on display with a diving stop on an attempt at the empty net as he was trying to leave the ice with 2:05 left, drawing a healthy cheer from the crowd of 5,200. Other plusses, in my amateur judgment, were his ability to read plays and his well-documented prowess on low shots. He also showed mental toughness in bouncing back from some of his worst moments with some of his best ones. Finally (and whether you like it or not, it's important in this day and age), McAdam proved that he's an outstanding shootout goalie.

Of course, all of that pales in comparison to the fact that a Penn Stater took the ice against the top prospects in what was recently called the second-best pipeline in the NHL and did quite well for himself on balance.

Here are a few more photos - be nice, they were taken with a cell phone camera.