Breakout Past: Battista Scouts The Cyclones

At the conclusion of a 19-6-3 1989-1990 regular season, Joe Battista's third as Icers coach, Penn State entered the 1990 National Invitational Tournament in Athens, OH as an uncharacteristically heavy underdog. PSU was the sixth seed (of eight), and also faced a pool including host Ohio, a 24-1-0 team that hadn't lost at home in three years. No big deal. John Gray's 49 saves included a shutout of the Bobcats over the final 40 minutes and John Ioia's power play goal was the winner in a 5-3 victory on March 1, 1990, following a 6-5 win over Arizona in the tournament's opener.

Beating OU clinched first place in the Icers' four-team group and a berth in the championship game, so PSU mailed it in the next day and lost 7-1 to Wisconsin-Whitewater. It wasn't time off for Battista though, as he scouted an Iowa State-North Dakota State game in the opposite group that determined the other participant in March 3rd's final. Via Special Collections at the Penn State University Libraries, here are the notes he took during the game. Click to enlarge.

One thing seems pretty clear: Battista viewed ISU as a spent team. Before the first intermission, he observed that they "slowed considerably in [the] 2nd half of [the] period. In the latter stages of the second period, he wrote "both teams appear very tired," and by the beginning of the third period, he believed that NDSU "has more left," that the Cyclones' "goalie is tired" and that one of Iowa State's forward lines is "out of gas."

A lot of that may have had to do with how ISU coach Al Murdoch had the team playing. Other notes on his team pointed out their aggressive forecheck, quick transitions, and individualistic tendencies, along with the fact that the game at hand was played with a lot of pace, requiring quick changes. Battista didn't seem to be a fan of the Cyclones' blueliners, classified as big and slow, fond of taking chances, and able to be beat with speed, as happened on a late first-period goal by the Bison. Towards the end of the game, and spanning the columns for both teams, Battista wrote that PSU's opponent "will subconsciously lighten up knowing OU is out."

So... what to do with all of that knowledge? Easy. Apply it to your last-minute coaching before Penn State battled the Cyclones for the national championship.

It's simple to find where Battista incorporated his ISU-NDSU observations:

• "Subconsciously they may let down after their win over NDSU. Also because they're not playing OU."
• "Will they have enough left after yesterday? Third game in three days for their goalie - tired!"
• "Change quickly, keep them off balance."

And here's one for fans of the Miracle on Ice:

• "This is our 'Finland' game. We already beat the Russians now we have to finish what we came to do!"

At the very top of the page, Battista reminds himself to get a letter from "Paul," meaning former Icers faculty advisor Dr. Paul Cohen. Here is that letter.

The legwork ultimately proved successful, of course, as Andy McLaughlin scored with just over three minutes remaining to boost Penn State over the Cyclones 4-3. Midge Hutchison, Chris Cervellero and Jim Adams also scored, while Gray made another 35 stops. Afterwards, what PSU's head coach told The Daily Collegian should be obvious to anyone who has read this far.

"Iowa State was a better hockey team on paper," Battista said. "We knew they were tired though from their Friday night game against North Dakota State."

I'd argue that, in fact, Penn State was the better hockey team on paper, provided that the paper comes from a standard-issue legal pad.

D-Day in DC for WIHC

To say the least, it's been quite an interesting inaugural season for the ACHA D2 Women's Ice Hockey Club. The light schedule that is the norm for any first-year outfit was hammered by circumstances - Winter Storm Nemo wrecked a scheduled series at D1 Buffalo on February 9th and 10th, and a scheduled game against Slippery Rock at the Ice Pavilion on February 22nd was called off when SRU couldn't assemble a team to make the trip (put that together with a cancelled game on December 15th, and the WIHC never got to use the orange barn for a competitive game in its final season). The result of all of this: the team has played just nine games this year, none since January 27th, and will now attempt to win five in four days at the 2013 ACHA National Championships, which will run from Thursday through Sunday in Ashburn, VA, near Washington, DC.

The good news is that based on the games that were played, PSU earned one of the eight bids to nationals by finishing in the top four of the East Region (the top four from the East and West Regions in the season's final poll are invited). And they've also proven that they deserve to be taken seriously as a title contender, with exhibit A being their 2-1 win at East No. 1 West Chester on January 26th. Familiar names from the former Lady Icers D1 program like Carly Szyszko, Katie Vaughan, Allie Rothman and Ashton Schaffer have merged with dynamic newcomers like Devon Fisk, Mandy Mortach, Tara Soukup and Taylor Nyman to form one of the division's best teams.

The first step in turning contention into reality will come during the preliminary round on March 7th and 8th. Each team will play three of the four squads in the opposite region during this round, with the matching seed on the other side off of the schedule. So for East No. 4 Penn State, this means games against West No. 1 Alaska (Thursday, 1:00 p.m.), West No. 2 Wisconsin-Stout (Friday, 10:45 a.m.) and West No. 3 North Dakota State (Friday, 5:30 p.m.). After the preliminaries, the four best-performing teams will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, with the championship game on Sunday.

Here is a capsule look at each of the teams blocking PSU's road to glory. For more on nationals, including a full schedule, standings and a link to FastHockey.com's webcasts of the games, be sure to visit the WIHC website's ACHA Tournament Central.

Note: All records and statistics below only include ACHA-sanctioned games.

East Region

1. West Chester

Record: 13-2-0
Head coach: David Japchen
Goals scored per game: 5.87
Goals allowed per game: 1.13

Versus Penn State:
Lost 1-2 on January 26th
Won 3-1 on January 27th

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 1:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. North Dakota State, 8:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. Wisconsin-Stout, 8:00 p.m.

DVCHC website team page:
http://womens.dvchchockey.org/page/show/748376-west-chester-univ-?subseason=101512

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Becky Dobson (44-21-65 in 15 games)
Kirsten Baron (14-11-25 in 15 games)
Lindsay Howard (7-12-19 in 15 games)
Colleen Tweedy (6-7-13 in 15 games)
Amanda Vito (6-7-13 in 15 games)

Goaltender:
Aly Golia (13-2-0, 1.13 GAA, 0.941 Sv%)

Simply put, it's impossible to find a more impressive-looking team headed into the tournament than WCU. Although Cal was ranked first in the East Region for most of the season, the Rams split a pair of regular season games with the Vulcans, then dominated a semifinal meeting in the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference playoffs en route to the league title (their only other loss, of course, was to Penn State). They boast D2's leading scorer in Becky Dobson, who averages just under a hat trick per game, as well as goalie Aly Golia, who joins PSU's Katie Vaughan and Sarah Eisenhut in D2's top three for both goals against average and save percentage.

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2. California

Record: 14-2-0
Head coach: Gregg Kaminski
Goals scored per game: 3.56
Goals allowed per game: 1.44

Versus Penn State:
Won 2-1 (OT) on October 6th
Won 2-0 on October 7th

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. North Dakota State, 3:30 p.m.
March 8 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 11:00 a.m.
March 8 vs. Alaska, 7:45 p.m.

Team website:
http://calu.zonethemes.com/womens/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Megan Cooper (11-14-25 in 16 games)
Alli Paratore (8-17-25 in 16 games)
Kelsey DeNardo (17-6-23 in 15 games)
Dana Bowersox (9-6-15 in 16 games)
Melissa Heisler (5-8-13 in 16 games)

Top goaltender:
Maria Sciacca (13-2-0, 1.32 GAA, 0.939 Sv%)

The Vulcans, an emerging power in D2, gained the nation's top spot in the poll this season for the first time in program history but, as mentioned, faltered in two of three meetings with West Chester (as well as against Delaware last month) to drop to second in the east in the final ranking. Impressively, Cal has earned a sweep at D1 Buffalo by 2-0 and 3-2 scores on October 20th and 21st, as well as a 4-2-0 ACHA record against teams at the tournament - the two wins over Penn State are joined by 1-1-0 marks against WCU and UD.

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3. Delaware

Record: 11-3-0
Head coach: Bobby Crystle
Goals scored per game: 4.64
Goals allowed per game: 2.07

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Wisconsin-Stout, 3:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. Alaska, 8:30 a.m.
March 8 vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 5:45 p.m.

Team website: http://www.udelhockey.com/w2/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Danielle Malysa (16-5-21 in 13 games)
Mari O'Leary (7-7-14 in 13 games)
Kimberly Blasnik (7-7-14 in 13 games)
Kaitlyn Smith (4-10-14 in 13 games)
Kelley Philbin (7-6-13 in 13 games)

Goaltender:
Sarah Ehrlich (10-3-0 record, 2.21 GAA, 0.888 Sv%)

Delaware joins Penn State as a team that, while claiming one of the east's bottom seeds, is still worthy of contender status - although they'll face a tough preliminary schedule that includes Alaska and UW-Stout, the top two western teams. Like PSU, Delaware has played tight games against West Chester and Cal this year, and in fact, gave the Vulcans one of their two losses February 9th on the strength of Danielle Malysa's goal with four seconds left in overtime (similar to how Penn State hung WCU with one of their two losses). A UD-Cal rematch at the DVCHC tournament resulted in a 2-1 Vulcans win despite Kelley Philbin's third period goal.


West Region

1. Alaska

Record: 6-0-2
Head coach: Scott Vockeroth
Goals scored per game: 4.38
Goals allowed per game: 1.25

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Penn State, 1:00 p.m.
March 8 vs. Delaware, 8:30 a.m.
March 8 vs. California, 7:45 p.m.

Team website:
http://www.uafwomenshockey.com/

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Cayla Wiita (7-9-16 in 8 games)
Rackell Kowalchuk (10-5-15 in 8 games)
Shawna Jusczak (5-2-7 in 8 games)
Brittany Stahle (2-5-7 in 7 games)

Goaltender:
Katrina Lydon (6-0-2 record, 1.25 GAA, 0.924 Sv%)

Alaska has played a pretty light schedule this season, due of course to their geographic isolation (they did play several games against local U19 teams to supplement their eight ACHA games). It would be unfair to say the Nanooks are not battle-tested, however. Six of their eight games have come against tournament teams Stout, Minnesota-Duluth and North Dakota State - and all were on the road, with none resulting in losses. UAF, which lost last season's national championship game to Stout, certainly has to be considered one of the favorites, particularly with Katrina Lydon, one of the ACHA's best stoppers, in net.

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2. Wisconsin-Stout

Record: 11-5-1
Head coach: Matt Morin
Goals scored per game: 3.60
Goals allowed per game: 2.13

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. Delaware, 3:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. Penn State, 10:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. West Chester, 8:00 p.m.

Team website:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/UW-Stout-Womens-Hockey-Team/236134433101216

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Lily Cranston (19-8-27 in 16 games)
Ashley Gibson (14-13-27 in 11 games)
Kara Fritsche (6-5-11 in 16 games)
Kerry Blomberg (8-2-10 in 9 games)
Alex Westman (3-3-6 in 16 games)

Goaltender:
Kaye Collier (9-5-1 record, 2.13 GAA, 0.903 Sv%)

The defending ACHA national champions have a little something to prove after a loss-tie home weekend against Alaska on January 26th and 27th cost them the West Region's top seed, but otherwise, they have performed well against a tough schedule that included several D1 teams, including Minnesota and Wisconsin. The Nanooks, however, were the Blue Devils' only D2 tournament opponent, as scheduled games against Minnesota-Duluth in December were forfeited in Stout's favor.

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3. North Dakota State

Record: 14-4-1
Head coach: Garrett Gulsvig
Goals scored per game: 5.16
Goals allowed per game: 2.21

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. California, 3:30 p.m.
March 8 vs. West Chester, 8:45 a.m.
March 8 vs. Penn State, 5:30 p.m.

Team website:
http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/?u=NDSUHOCKEY-2&s=hockey&t=c

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Kacie Johnson (29-18-47 in 15 games)
Kaylee Lothspeich (14-21-35 in 17 games)
Jacqueline Johnson (8-22-30 in 19 games)
Ellie Dahl (13-6-19 in 19 games)
Brittany Johnson (11-8-19 in 19 games)

Goaltender:
Hannah Seitz (14-4-1 record, 2.21 GAA, 0.912 Sv%)

Following early-season struggles - NDSU started off 3-4-1 thanks in part to games against Alaska and Minnesota-Duluth - the Bison enter the tournament as one of the nation's hottest teams, as they ticked off 11 straight wins to close the regular season. They have one of the ACHA's highest-powered offenses, as Kacie Johnson's goal and point totals are second only to West Chester's Becky Dobson in D2, while Jacqueline Johnson (the leader), Kaylee Lothspeich and Johnson are all in the top five in assists.

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4. Minnesota-Duluth

Record: 10-9-1
Head coach: Paul Kessler
Goals scored per game: 3.30
Goals allowed per game: 2.80

Preliminary round schedule:
March 7 vs. West Chester, 1:15 p.m.
March 8 vs. California, 11:00 a.m.
March 8 vs. Delaware, 5:45 p.m.

ACHA website team page:
http://achahockey.org/team_roster.php?team_id=14140&league_id=1066

Leading scorers (goals-assists-points):
Liz Smith (7-12-19 in 18 games)
Katherine Johnson (7-12-19 in 14 games)
Steph Hale (12-5-17 in 16 games)
Allison Jonas (9-7-16 in 16 games)
Mia Marturano (9-4-13 in 18 games)

Top goaltender:
Katie Gilderman (6-0-1 record, 2.00 GAA, 0.905 Sv%)

Despite an unimpressive-looking record (that is artificially deflated due to the aforementioned forfeits to Stout), UMD can boast decisive wins against North Dakota State - 9-2 and 6-1 on November 10th and 11th - have played competitively with both Alaska and D1 power Minnesota, and also carry a roster that runs 21 deep. Mia Marturano had two goals in each of the NDSU wins, but a balanced offensive effort saw eight different goal scorers in the first game, and five in the second.

Breakout Past: 1992 ACHA National Tournament

The logo for the 1992 ACHA National Tournament at the Ice Pavilion. The first seven ACHA tournaments used identical logo designs, swapping out only the host's logo and color scheme, as well as the year of course. Delaware began the current practice of unique logos for each season in 1999.

Non-varsity hockey through the first 20 years of the Icers' existence was characterized by rules inconsistencies, a scattered collection of volatile conferences and (for two seasons, anyway) competing national championship tournaments. That all changed on April 20, 1991 when the American Collegiate Hockey Association was established.

Of the fifteen individuals who had a hand in the ACHA's founding, none would subsequently impact the organization quite like Penn State's Joe Battista and Al Murdoch, the man in charge of Iowa State hockey for the last 42 years. Both would also play integral roles in the first-ever ACHA national championship tournament, which was held - for the only time - at the Ice Pavilion from February 26-29, 1992.

The tournament format was pretty simple. Eight teams were invited and divided into four-team pools of the 1st, 4th, 5th and 8th seeds on one side, and the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th seeds on the other. The tournament's first three days were a round robin within each pool. On day four, the pool winners played for the national championship, while the pool runners-up played for third place. Stacked up on the fourth-seeded Icers' side of the tournament: No. 1 Michigan-Dearborn, No. 5 Ohio and No. 8 Navy. No. 2 North Dakota State, No. 3. Iowa State, No. 6 Eastern Michigan and No. 7 Arizona made up the opposite pool.

On paper, PSU's first game, against Ohio, should have been close. On the ice, it wasn't. The Icers rolled up a 6-0 advantage (31-12 in shots) through two periods and cruised home to a 7-1 win that included a Chris Cervellero hat trick and two goals from Ross Cowan, Cervellero's teammate both at PSU and with the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. Despite the fireworks, most credited the defense with the win.

"It was our best defensive effort all season, especially by the forwards," said senior co-captain [Mike] Messner.

"We're real pleased with the way we dominated the game," Battista said. "I don't think they ever had a chance."

The win was a significant body blow in what was already a burgeoning rivalry. Earlier in the season, OU beat PSU 5-4 in overtime to hand the Icers their first-ever opening-round loss in the Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament, the four-team showcase played at the Ice Pavilion from 1982 through 2006. The ACHA tournament win, though, gave Penn State an 8-7 lead in the all-time series with the Bobcats.

Junior forward Chris Cervellero, a Philadelphia native, scored five goals in the first ACHA National Tournament, including a hat trick against Ohio.

Navy, which lost 7-2 to Michigan-Dearborn in their opening game, presented a much sterner test for the Icers the next day.

The Midshipmen took a 2-1 first-period lead thanks to some PSU penalty trouble. Navy's Tim Fetsch tied the game at one on the power play, and the Middies' Steve Roberto gave his team the short-lived advantage during a 5-on-3 situation. Cowan stuffed home a rebound two minutes after Roberto scored, and the Icers responded with two more unanswered - from Cowan and senior sniper Andy McLaughlin - in the second to win 4-2.

"We didn't come out as emotionally charged as last night," senior defenseman Geoff Martha said. "We were a little drained. As the game wore on, we got a lot of shots on goal and stayed disciplined."

"I think we persevered," Battista said, "which I think is a good characteristic for a hockey team. I said all along this was going to be a tough battle for us."

While Martha argued that "it's good to have a close game" in a tournament situation, in hindsight the tight win over the tournament's lowest seed stands out more as a bad omen than anything. The Icers were bombed 8-5 by fellow 2-0 team Michigan-Dearborn in the final game of the group round robin to end their national championship quest.

PSU actually went up 2-0 early on goals from Cervellero and McLaughlin before the Wolves pumped through five consecutive to lead by three after 40 minutes. The Icers pulled within 6-5 at one point thanks to a pair of Dave Murphy goals and a slapper from defenseman Erik Lightner during a frantic third period that saw 19 PSU shots, but UMD snuffed out the comeback with two late goals.

Being forced into consolation territory gave the Icers an extremely tough draw: the North Dakota State Bison. While largely irrelevant today thanks to funding issues since the mid-1990s, NDSU was at one time the undisputed king of club hockey. They won the U.S. National Collegiate Club Hockey Championship tournament over Alabama-Huntsville in 1985 (UAH's last year of club hockey before elevating to NCAA Division II), and when that tournament dissolved, moved over to the National Invitational Tournament, winning in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1991, They would later add the 1993 and 1994 ACHA championships to arrive at a best-ever eight claimed club national championships, one ahead of PSU's final tally of seven.

But in one of the more underrated Icer victories ever, Penn State rode 35 Andy Dumas saves to a 5-1 thumping of NDSU. Facing a 1-0 deficit in the second period, Brad Russell and Murphy scored 19 seconds apart, followed by third-period markers from Cervellero, Cowan and McLaughlin (on an empty net) to blow the score open.

"The whole game we kept saying, 'Hey, let's win it for the seniors,' " Battista said. "They came in with a win in this building. They are going out of this building with a win."

"We just decided we didn't want to lose no matter what," Messner said. "Third place feels so much better than fourth."

Messner, Martha, McLaughlin, Dumas, and forward Rich Filar had the unique honor of playing their final Ice Pavilion games at nationals and were the quintet of seniors behind that motivation.

Ross Cowan (top left) was named to the 1992 all-tournament second team, while (clockwise from top right) Cervellero, Geoff Martha and Andy Dumas were honorable mentions.

Top-ranked Dearborn would ultimately get their comeuppance immediately following PSU's consolation win, as Iowa State bested the Wolves 5-3 for the championship. To this day the ACHA's first title is still the only one claimed by association founding father Murdoch, who would eventually have the trophy named in his honor. In 1999, Murdoch briefly possessed a second title, then was ingloriously forced to give "his" cup back four months after a 6-4 title game win over the Icers, when it was discovered that star Cyclone forward Darcy Anderson had played professionally (PSU women's coach Josh Brandwene, incidentally, was the ACHA's president at the time and handed down the order to vacate the 1999 championship).

As an interesting footnote, the 1992 ACHA national championship tournament games did not close Penn State's season. When the Icers were members of the International Collegiate Hockey League from 1984-1992, the conference's playoff took place after the national championships. Perhaps deflated from the failure to defend their home ice two weeks prior, ICHL regular season champ PSU was upset 5-4 by Buffalo State in the first round of the tournament.