Men's Jersey Countdown: #21 Ricky DeRosa

Freshman - Forward - 6'1" - 185 pounds - Aston, PA

Ricky DeRosa isn't the most hyped member of Guy Gadowsky's freshman class. He's not an NHL draft pick, he's never played in a major international tournament like the World Junior A Challenge, and he didn't win a league championship in junior with the NAHL's Port Huron Fighting Falcons. Chris Heisenberg even omitted DeRosa on his otherwise excellent spreadsheet of college commitments. But take a closer look at the Philadelphia-area native's time with the Falcons after a trade from Amarillo in the middle of their 2010-11 inaugural season, a pathetic 6-46-6 campaign. By the time DeRosa was done, he had captained Port Huron to consecutive playoff appearances while also finishing his career as the top scorer in the team's short history. His coaches, to a man, praise his work ethic, community service, leadership and other intangibles. Basically, think Tommy Olczyk with a bit more offense. And don't be surprised if he follows Olczyk in wearing the third letter of the alphabet on his chest at some point.

Career Statistics (2010-11 with NAHL Amarillo Bulls, 2010-13 with NAHL Port Huron Fighting Falcons):
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2010-11 (AMA)	25	7	3	10	30	3	0	1	-
2010-11 (PH)	17	1	3	4	6	0	0	0	-
2011-12	59	8	28	36	39	1	1	0	-
2012-13	59	14	28	42	48	3	2	1	-
NAHL Career	160	30	62	92	123	7	3	2	-

Hockey Valley Homecoming

If tweets from Penn State hockey players arriving on campus for fall semester don't get your blood pumping, you may be an empty, red seat and should probably head over to Columbus. Enjoy.

You may be wondering about Jordin Pardoski at this point - after all, I used her photo at the top. Well, she gets her own category.

Let's get 'er going.

Penn State Confirms Koudys, Richard, Williamson and DeRosa Additions

Patrick Koudys, an RPI transfer, becomes PSU's second NHL draft pick (Washington, 5th round, 2011)

Penn State officially announced the additions of forwards Rick DeRosa (Port Huron - NAHL) and Dylan Richard (Spruce Grove - AJHL), as well as defensemen Patrick Koudys (Muskegon - USHL) and Mike Williamson (Spruce Grove - AJHL) on Monday afternoon.

Given that we've been talking about these guys for a few months - they committed between November (Koudys) and March (DeRosa) - I'll assume that you already know something about them. But if not, here's the post on each from the time of their pledges.

Koudys: PSU Lands Former Engineer Koudys
Richard: Richard to Join Linemate Glen in 2013
Williamson: All Saints Day
DeRosa: Philly Native DeRosa Picks PSU

For status checks and updates throughout this past season, refer to the Commit Cycle series as well.

With that in mind, we'll skip to what's new, specifically Guy Gadowsky's first public comments on the four.

On the group as a whole: "This group will be a great addition to the incoming student-athletes we added during the early-signing period. Patrick Koudys and Mike Williamson add size and strength to our blue line, while both Dylan Richard and Ricky DeRosa bring high levels of character and hockey-IQ to our forwards."

On Koudys: "Patrick has experience at the NCAA level and is a big, solid defenseman who takes pride in being a tough person to play against. He takes care of his own zone first and fits a need very well for us."

On Richard: "Dylan has an extremely high hockey-IQ both offensively and defensively. He's a winner and a tremendous leader who always plays for the team. His habits will quickly transition to Penn State."

On Williamson: "Mike has great feet with a huge shot from the point. He will be a welcomed addition to our blue line."

On DeRosa: "Ricky's known as a high-character guy. He has a great work ethic and is known for being a 200-foot player who will work hard in all three zones."

These additions join November's early-period signings - goaltender Eamon McAdam, defenseman Dave Thompson, forwards David Goodwin, Zach Saar and Eric Scheid - to form a robust incoming class (Koudys and Scheid, the two transfers, will be a junior and a sophomore respectively, the others will be freshmen of course). Ahead of any possibly-on-the-way subtractions, the roster presently sits at 29: 4 goalies, 9 defensemen and 16 forwards.

Three Stars: April 1-7

3. Men's Hockey Announces 2012-13 Team Awards
(gopsusports.com)

Team MVP and Freshman of the Year: David Glen. Top Scorer: Casey Bailey. Top Defenseman: Nate Jensen. Player's Player: Connor Varley. Top Student-Athlete: Tommy Olczyk. There, saved you a click.

2. Keystone State of Mind
(College Hockey News)

Ahead of the Pittsburgh Frozen Four this weekend, CHN wrote a love letter to the growth of hockey in Pennsylvania, which includes plenty on Penn State, including quotes from Guy Gadowsky on his issues going out to eat during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It also tossed in a...

More than 12,000 fans flooded the gates both days to see Penn State hockey play in Pittsburgh for the first time. (emphasis added)

...which bothers me a little (pretty sure "Penn State hockey" has played in Pittsburgh numerous times before). Unlike some people I could name, I'll assume the writer in this case meant well, so I'll overlook the error when scoring the piece as a whole.

1. Pegula Ice Arena Virtual Tour
(YouTube)

Another pretty easy call for top star honors, because after all, gotta squeeze things like this in before the actual arena makes them obsolete (and it's pretty close to doing so). How could one not be pumped after watching that... right, commenter Ryan Progin?

I think the arena is disappointing.

Oh, okay.

Best of the Rest

Prisuta on Pucks: Wait 'Til Next Year
(rmucolonials.com)

From the not-at-all-surprising department, the agreement for Robert Morris' stand-alone game at the Ice Pavilion this past December included a return trip for 2013-2014.

Next season’s [Colonials'] non-conference schedule will include two games at Lake Superior, a home-and-home series against Ohio State, a home game against Penn State and the second annual Three Rivers Classic at CONSOL Energy Center (Boston College, Bowling Green, RMU and Penn State).

Of course, we know that we're getting two home and two away against each of the other five Big Tenners, a total of 20 games. The Three Rivers Classic has been public knowledge for quite some time. There will be single home games with Army (the PIA opener) and RIT, a home series with Union and one at Air Force (all of which make sense, as each reciprocates a piece of the 2012-2013 schedule). All in all, that's 29 games against the NCAA limit of 34, so we're fairly close to knowing all of the opponents, although exempt games - Canadian exhibitions, trips to Alaska or contests with the National Team Development Program to cite three common examples - probably will push our game total over 34.

Shane Conlan: Probably salty about the weekend's hockey scores.

Miller's OT-winner advances Fighting Falcons over Tomahawks
(nahl.com)

In a story that touches two favorite topics of TYT - future Nittany Lions and the Johnstown Tomahawks - incoming forward Rick DeRosa played a key role in ending the inaugural season of Central PA's NAHL entry in a winner-take-all first-round game three Sunday afternoon. The Tomahawks led DeRosa's Port Huron Fighting Falcons 3-1 with 7:01 left in regulation until the Aston, PA native deflected a power play shot home. He then assisted on a back-door play to tie the game with the Falcons just 35 seconds from elimination, allowing Ian Miller to pot the overtime winner. Port Huron will begin a North Division semifinal series against Soo on Friday.

The vanquished Tomahawks, who ended up with a 27-21-12 record and a fifth-place North Division finish, count PSU football legends Shane Conlan and Jack Ham as part of their ownership group.

Jensen has the ‘heart of a lion’
(redwingscentral.com)

Need a rooting interest for the Frozen Four? You could do a lot worse than St. Cloud State, which features Nate Jensen's cousin Nick, himself an outstanding defenseman. SCSU, as you should know by now, also had former Icers coach and new athletic operations special assistant Morris Kurtz as its athletic director for 27 years.

Of course, there's that whole NCHC thing, so if you go with Quinnipiac, Yale or UMass-Lowell (or all three, for that matter), I won't blame you.

Saad’s maturity growing fast with Hawks teammates
(Chicago Daily Herald)

Brother of George is having a Calder Trophy-worthy season with the Chicago Blackhawks and earned this fun feature that includes shoutouts to both big brother and Tommy Olczyk.

'Blame me,' Lucia tells fans upset with Gophers' early NCAA exit
(Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Time for the "troll the Big Ten" portion of the post. In an annual Minnesota tradition, Gopher fans are all whiny about a great season (a 26-9-5 record, a WCHA regular season co-championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance in this case) and want coach Don Lucia fired. Because SURELY, if the flagship program in the State of Hockey wasn't run by a total idiot, nobody would ever... zzzzzz. Lucia, to his credit, is trying to go Mike Gundy and deflect the heat from the college kids. COME AFTER ME! I'M A MAN! I'M 40!



Bucky's no-shows: An end-of-season update on Badgers ticket usage
(The Capital Times)

Apparently nobody cares about Wisconsin hockey enough to show up anymore. While their announced crowds (tickets sold) averaged 9,521 for the season, and ultimately, that's what counts since it drives revenues...

Men's hockey (6,996)...posted the lowest average actual attendance figure [based on tickets scanned] for their sports in the seven years of data kept by the athletic department.

Ouch. The Nittany Lions' game in Madison on February 25th - PSU won that game, because yeah, I'm going to slide that in - was a primary culprit with an announced crowd of 9,078 but an actual crowd of 5,338. This data, by the way, was obtained through an open records request, since public universities that aren't Penn State have to comply with those.

Jets sign collegiate defenceman Jacob Trouba to contract
(The Globe and Mail)

Michigan blueliner Jacob Trouba went pro after a single season in Ann Arbor, declining to join a long list of star Wolverines players who have left college with a degree, like... ummmm... eh, nevermind.

@Billy_Downey
(Twitter)

Just to end this thing on a positive note...

Nice.

Philly Native DeRosa Picks PSU

Port Huron Fighting Falcons (NAHL) forward Ricky DeRosa announced Tuesday night, via Twitter, that he has committed to play at Penn State for the 2013-2014 season.

Ricky DeRosa

Forward
Port Huron Fighting Falcons (NAHL)
6'1", 189 pounds
Aston, PA
DOB 2/9/1992

EliteProspects.com

Season	Team	Lge.	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM
2010-11	Youngstown Phantoms	USHL	1	0	0	0	0
2010-11	Amarillo Bulls	NAHL	25	7	3	10	30
2010-11	Port Huron Fighting Falcons	NAHL	17	1	3	4	6
2011-12	Port Huron Fighting Falcons	NAHL	59	8	28	36	39
2012-13	Port Huron Fighting Falcons	NAHL	52	11	23	34	48

First off, the tweet itself:

Here's the obligatory press release quote from his current coach.

"We couldn't be happier for Rick," said Fighting Falcons Head Coach and General Manager Michael Gerson. "Penn State is getting a great player and a better leader as they get their program off the ground. With Rick's family living about three hours away it's a great fit for everyone involved."

It may come as a surprise to some - especially those who gloss over things without considering circumstances - but DeRosa will be just the third Guy Gadowsky-recruited Pennsylvanian on the team, joining Matt Skoff and Connor Varley (well, tied for third with Perkasie's Eamon McAdam and Glen Mills' Dave Thompson, also arriving for next season). The Aston native attended and played for Cardinal O'Hara High School, winning the Flyers Cup (the eastern PA high school championship) and the overall state championship in 2010. Simultaneously, he played for Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, and was one of the top forwards on a team that was the Atlantic District champions and runners-up at the 2010 USA Hockey Tier I 18U national championships.

His exploits earned him a selection in the 2010 USHL Entry Draft, 92nd overall by the Youngstown Phantoms, although he never stuck in Ohio, playing just one game in the 2010-2011 season. The left-handed shot has instead spent most of the last three seasons in the Tier II NAHL. Although other Nittany Lions (Justin Kirchhevel immediately comes to mind) have played significantly in the NAHL, DeRosa will be the first NCAA-era player to arrive at PSU directly from the league.

He played 25 games with the Amarillo Bulls in 2010-2011 before being traded to Port Huron in February, 2011, and he's been with the Michigan-based franchise ever since. The Falcons sputtered to a 6-46-6 finish in DeRosa's partial season (also the first year the team existed) but they turned it around with a 38-19-3 mark last season. This year, with a 25-24-4 record, the DeRosa-captained outfit is battling for a playoff spot into the home stretch of the regular season.

DeRosa reads as sort of a Tommy Olczyk type of player, who doesn't put up huge numbers, but will be of tremedous value both in the room and on the ice as a leader. Stop me if you've heard this before...

"He's a lead by example guy," [former] Falcons coach Bill Warren said. "He says all the right things at the right time in the room. He does a nice job with the younger guys. Does a nice job off the ice with the community service activities, going to schools.

"He's one of those guys that you want as a leader on your team."

And it's not like he's devoid of offense. He's the leading scorer in the (admittedly short) history of the Fighting Falcons, his 23 assists and 34 points are both team highs this season, and he's also capable of dropping what you'll see 1:16 into this video:



Despite all of that, as well as participating in the recent 2013 NAHL Top Prospects Tournament, scholarship offers were a bit slow in coming, although he received interest from Holy Cross, Princeton, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan Tech, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan, Bowling Green and Bemidji State at various points over the last two years.

The Nittany Lions now have what should be a pretty full roster for next season, assuming there aren't any moves the other way, which can't be ruled out at this point, of course. With DeRosa, this year's 15 forwards will become 16, 17 if counting ghost player Reed Linaker. This year's eight defenseman are scheduled to grow to nine (not a terrible idea considering how the season progressed with respect to the blueliners' injuries), while there are (in theory, anyway) four goalies.