PSU Seeking Fill-In For PIA Opener (Updated)

With the continued government shutdown leaving it unclear whether Army will be able to travel to Penn State on Friday to play in the first NCAA game at Pegula Ice Arena, College Hockey News' Mike McMahon is reporting that the PSU brass is sick of sitting and waiting (1, 2).

Yeeeeeah...probably a good idea at this point. The major sticking point, however, is that every Atlantic Hockey team has filled its NCAA-allowed maximum of 34 games this season. That leaves two fronts for attack:

1. Reschedule one of PSU's already-booked AHA games so as not to require another slot. Beyond Army, the Nittany Lions have home contests with Sacred Heart and RIT on tap for this year. Sacred Heart, however, is already set to play at UMass Lowell on Friday. RIT is available on Friday, but has home games on Thursday (Colgate) and Saturday (Michigan). Theoretically, if Penn State were willing to play the game on Sunday, the Pioneers would become available, as they're at home in Fairfield, CT against RPI on Saturday. One of those teams would have to play a rather painful three-game weekend, but it's certainly in the realm of possibility.
2. Pay some other team to drop one of their non-conference games to open up a scheduling slot for the opener. PSU hockey insider Mark Horgas claims that Connecticut, which swept the Nittany Lions last year in Storrs, CT, is a likely play in this category due to "key contacts" in the Huskies athletic department and UConn's present movement to grow their program. Connecticut doesn't open up until the 18th, and has road games with Minnesota State (October 18th and 19th), Boston University (November 17th) and Providence (February 11th) that could be likely candidates for "adjustment." It should be noted, of course, that UConn is just one of many options - AIC (last year's opening opponent), Canisius (Terry Pegula's other pet team), Holy Cross and Niagara are also available on Friday.

As always, stay tuned. Hopefully that's a light at the end of the tunnel we're seeing - either way, this news certainly beats monitoring Congress and Department of Defense bureaucrats.

UPDATE 10/8 7:45 A.M.: According to Buffalo Business First, Canisius has lined up as a possible replacement, thanks largely to their shared ties with Terry Pegula. Pegula, of course, is financing the presently under-construction HARBORcenter ice rink project in Buffalo, and the Golden Griffins will relocate there upon its completion next year.

“There has been some preliminary discussions,” confirmed Jason Venisky, Canisius associate director of athletics communications. “We will have to make a final decision by Wednesday.”

One interesting aspect to the story is that Canisius has applied to the NCAA for a special waiver that would allow them to add a game to their schedule without dropping one - a move that would put them over the NCAA game limit of 34. Could the NCAA wind up doing Penn State a bit of a favor to help the school pull off its varsity ice arena opener? That in and of itself would be quite a story.

The Golden Griffins, who went 19-19-5 a year ago and qualified for the 2013 NCAA Tournament by winning the Atlantic Hockey tournament title, are available on Friday but have to head back to the Buffalo area on Saturday for a game at Niagara.

PSU to Host Sacred Heart in November

UVM transfer Alex Vazzano will fortify SHU, which allowed more than five goals per game last year

Reciprocating an October 27, 2012 contest in Milford, CT that saw a 6-3 Nittany Lions win, Sacred Heart will visit Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, November 8th according to an official SHU schedule release. Game time is still TBA.

Following PSU's high-flying victory, which included six different players on the blue and white side of the scoresheet, the Pioneers went on to have a disastrous campaign - in fact they were winless in their first 28 games (0-26-2) before finally chipping off Holy Cross and Bentley in a four-day late season span on the way to a 2-30-4 (2-21-4 Atlantic Hockey) mark. Robert Morris dispatched SHU in two straight in the AHA playoffs to quickly and mercifully end their season.

If there is possible redemption for Sacred Heart in November, it rests in the idea that head coach C.J. Marottolo had a large senior class in 2012-2013, with nine departures from last season's 24-man roster. Not that the senior class was terrible - leading scorer Eric Delong and Kyle Verbeek, the son of NHL 500 goal scorer Pat Verbeek, were in that group - but when you're 2-30-4, a reboot can be a good thing. Notable newcomers include Alex Vazzano, a Vermont transfer who will attempt to stabilize the Pioneers' goaltending situation after serving his NCAA-required year in residence. SHU also brings in a massive freshman class that leans heavily on Canadian Junior A alumni like right wing Spencer Graboski, who teamed up with Penn State defenseman Dave Thompson for three seasons with the BCHL's Chilliwack Chiefs/Quesnel Millionaires franchise.

In terms of the big picture... well, we may now know the big picture. We have 20 Big Ten games, single games at home against Sacred Heart, Army, RIT and - maybe/hopefully - Boston College, as well as on the road against Robert Morris and in Philadelphia against Vermont. Toss in an away series with Air Force, the Three Rivers Classic, a home series versus Union and - again maybe/hopefully - with UMass-Lowell, and... guess what? That's 34 games, the maximum allowed by NCAA rules. The dates are still largely up in the air, but the opponents are now entirely known. Or I'll look like an idiot when the schedule is finally released. One or the other.

The single game on a Friday also leaves an obvious open question: what's happening on Saturday? Penn State football is on the road (at Minnesota) that day, so this isn't a single-game weekend aimed at ducking football, like the October 11th Friday-only PIA opener against Army preceding Bill O'Brien's squad's hosting Michigan on the 12th. There probably will be another hockey game on the 9th.

My first instinct was to check Boston College's schedule, but that seems like a non-starter. The Eagles have the 9th open, but play at Boston University on the 8th and host Army on the 10th. They're not likely to zoom into Hockey Valley on an off day (after playing their archrival) between games in Boston.

The other two possible stand-alone games are, like Sacred Heart, return trips from 2012-2013 games: home against RIT and at Robert Morris, a trip easily do-able as part of a back-to-back. Neither school has announced its schedule yet, and neither has any known games that weekend. It's probably not a reach to think one of those games will fall on that Saturday, and if I was a betting man, I'd lean towards RIT because the date more closely mirrors the Nittany Lions' 3-2 win over the Tigers on October 20, 2012. PSU played the Colonials at the Ice Pavilion on December 15th last season and still has the December 13th-15th weekend available this year.

Three Stars: November 5-11

3. @TDC_MHockey
(Twitter)

According to ballots at the rink over the weekend, the three likely finalists for hockey's student section name are "The Roar Zone," "upROARing Nation" and "The Ice Den." There's also an "other" line - the official TYT endorsement is to use that line to write "these all suck horribly, try harder."

2. Blowouts against Sacred Heart shows Penn State's depth
(Beyond the Box Score)

New blog alert - and since it made the top three, it must be a Penn State hockey blog. Sure is. FoTYT Ross Insana, a junior broadcast journalism major, is behind the effort. As an HMA member, broadcaster for the women's team on ComRadio and an equipment manager for the Ice Lions, he's more than qualified to bring you some great stuff concerning all of our programs, so make sure to keep up with things over there. The linked post is his analysis of the recent PSU-Sacred Heart women's weekend.

1. Pegula Ice Arena Topping Off Ceremony
(Crawford Architects)

Yep, I'm being the bigger man and linking Crawford, even though they despise me. Something about leaking PIA renderings that their (now former, I believe) employee foolishly put on the internet last fall. Like they were nuclear secrets. It's a hockey arena, not Area 51. Anyway...

It’s a special moment for the Pegula Ice Arena [Friday], as the highest beam is put in place! The beam has the signatures of many of the workers, contractors, architects and staff who have worked on the project.

Best of the Rest

@PennStateMHKY
(Twitter)

Air Force coach Frank Serratore quickly reached legend status among Penn Staters with his postgame bombing run after his team won 5-1 on Friday night, but his talk Saturday morning during a Men's Hockey Booster Club brunch was also equal to that standard.

• He made us laugh, with one-liners like "You need a 28 ACT to get into the Air Force Academy...fortunately you only need a 13 ACT to coach there," "They don't give you scholarships at Fairbanks, they give you a gun and a fishing pole," and "You need to split an atom to get into Princeton." Later, while Guy Gadowsky was speaking, he let out a loud "YEAH!" followed by "Sorry, we have a thing with Army" when one of PSU's goals against the Black Knights was shown to the attendees.
• He made us cry, when he choked himself up talking about "like a son to [him]" Tommy Olczyk. Olczyk and Serratore's biological son Tom were roommates when both played for the Sioux City Musketeers from 2007 through 2009.
• He even gave us bloggers a little something, mentioning that Penn State would be visiting Colorado Springs next season.

Group takes tour of hockey facility
(statecollege.com)

On the surface, this is a rather ho-hum article about a PIA site tour given to PSU hockey VIPs. Blah blah blah state-of-the-art blah blah blah steep as code allows like Mr. Pegula wanted blah blah blah awesome, amazing and breathtaking. Nothing we haven't already heard or read 8,000 times in fluffy articles like this. But there's actually a rather disturbing new detail here.

In addition to the cyber cafe, there will be a pair of concession stands on both ends of the concourse. One will be named “Powerplay,” the other will be called “Zamboni.”

Sweet fancy Moses, those are awful names (and "Zamboni" is a trademark anyway). First the student section thing, now this? Not too late to change them, guys. Maybe give them names that sound like, you know, concession stands, instead of just throwing the first hockey-related term that came to mind up there. It's food, not word association.

Not called by name in the article? Tim Horton's. I imagine that went over up at HQ in Oakville, ON about as well as if a giant cup of Starbucks were Photoshopped into a picture of a Penn State hockey player. Ha...could you imagine someone trying to pull that?

Penn State Berks hockey team donates $450 to cancer society
(bctv.org)

PSU-Berks' ACHA Division 1 team gave its entire gate from an October 20th game against Lebanon Valley College to the American Cancer Society. I'm not far enough removed from the ACHA and "the struggle" to miss the significance of that - well done, Berks.

To Russia, With Pucks
(Let's Play Hockey)

Women's commit Laura Bowman was part of a group of Minnesotans (and Californians) who got to participate in sort of a hockey exchange program in Russia last month, which involved playing and practicing with the locals, as well as some sightseeing. Even better than that: photographs with professional hockey stars, including my favorite active NHLer KHLer (above).

Union's Grosenick Injured in Win
(College Hockey News)

While we're likely to know more today, there's at least a change that stud Union goalie Troy Grosenick will be out two weeks from now when the Dutchmen host Penn State. Some people hate news like this and issue a defiant "I want to beat them with no injuries so they have no excuses!" I don't. It's a fine line, but if the entire team wanted to pull their groin or something else not that terrible between now and then, I'd be okay with that.

Open Letter: CHL & NCAA
(The Pipeline Show)

I seriously doubt that there is anyone better than TPS when it comes generating discussion around the major topics affecting junior hockey. Their latest gem is this open letter from Josh Mervis, the owner of the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks, discussing whether granting NCAA eligibility to former major junior players would be good for college hockey.

For what it's worth, I happen to agree with Mervis - more options remaining open for players would make all parties better off and enhance both products in several ways.

NAIH announces Conference alignments
(Tumblr)

The NAIH is still a thing. Huh. An 18-team thing, but still a thing.

It's too bad their only plan was essentially "troll the ACHA." I really wanted it to take off, if only to force the ACHA to improve in some areas, mostly relating to the enforcement of its stated rules and standards.

PS. When I went to double check all of the links in this post...

Yeah, I wish.

UConn Hockey Coach Bruce Marshall Takes Medical Leave
(Hartford Courant)

Finally, best wishes to Bruce Marshall, head coach of future PSU opponent Connecticut, who has taken an indefinite medical leave of absence. His specific ailment remains undisclosed, but the Courant reports that it is not life threatening.

Assistant David Berard will serve as top Husky on a temporary basis.

Penn State-Sacred Heart Photo Gallery II

Photos from Saturday afternoon's Penn State-Sacred Heart women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Freshman forward Micayla Catanzariti

Junior forward Taylor Gross

Freshman forward Jill Holdcroft attempts to bat one home

Catanzariti is denied by SHU goalie Mandy Montgomery

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell dangles the defense

Gross (24) gets ready to cruise past the bench after a goal

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen scored her first career goal

Holdcroft was again stout both defensively and offensively

Junior forward Jenna Welch scored her first PSU goal, but not her first NCAA goal

Welch

Freshman forward Birdie Shaw was great on the PK

W: Penn State 8 vs. Sacred Heart 2

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

In some ways, the 8-2 thrashing Penn State (4-5-1, 0-3-1 CHA) laid on Sacred Heart (3-6-0, 1-6-0 NCAA) Saturday afternoon resembled the 6-0 result from Friday evening. The Nittany Lions, in completing a first-ever NCAA sweep, were largely in control throughout and never seriously threatened past the middle of the second period. PSU put 64 shots on net, just two shy of Friday's 66.

Yet in a couple of important ways, it was very different. Unlike the Hannah Hoenshell / Shannon Yoxheimer show on Friday, the eight goals Saturday came from eight different players, with Kendra Rasmussen, Jenna Welch, Madison Smiddy and Emily Laurenzi all recording their first goals of the season. For freshmen Rasmussen (whose tally technically stood as the game winner) and Laurenzi, the goals were career firsts. Welch obviously scored at UConn, so this was merely her first at Penn State. Smiddy scored for the Lady Icers last year, but today marked her first goal at the NCAA level. The other goals came from more typical suspects like Yoxheimer, who scored from a sharp angle off left wing to open the game's scoring with 5:54 left in the first period.

Another difference was the pushback offered by the Pioneers, who got two past Nicole Paniccia after being shut out Friday. Thirteen seconds into the second period, and eleven seconds after Lindsay Reihl's hooking penalty expired, Melissa Robbins (probably SHU's best player this weekend) tied the game at one. The Nittany Lion response, however, was swift and decisive as Taylor Gross, Rasmussen and Jill Holdcroft all tallied in a 3:23 second-period span to regain the advantage at an ultimately insurmountable 4-1. Holdcroft's goal was particularly noteworthy - for the second straight game, she dispossesed a Pioneer and took it in herself. Jess Desorcie then answered SHU's Whitney Henderson off a rebound from a Gross shot to make the score 5-2 after 40 minutes.

Welch's goal, along with Smiddy's power play point blast and Laurenzi's with eight seconds left closed the scoring.

Next week, the road gets a little tougher as defending CHA tournament champ Robert Morris rolls into town for a Saturday-Sunday series, the Nittany Lions' final Ice Pavilion matches of the semester.

Penn State-Sacred Heart Photo Gallery

Photos from Friday evening's Penn State-Sacred Heart women's game. All are by and courtesy of Steven Hass. Click for full size.

Freshman forward Hannah Hoenshell celebrates one of her three goals

Hoenshell and freshman forward Emily Laurenzi (20) were all smiles Friday night

Freshman forward Jill Holdcroft started and finished a breakaway goal

Holdcroft and freshman forward Micayla Catanzariti (10)

Freshman forward Kendra Rasmussen had a fantastic game

Freshman forward Katie Zinn observes Hoenshell's hat trick goal

Hoenshell...yep again

Freshman goaltender Brooke Meyer saw her first career action in the third

Senior defender Lindsay Reihl congratulates Meyer on the win

Freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer was once again on the scoresheet - twice

W: Penn State 6 vs. Sacred Heart 0

 

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

Daily Collegian Shannon Yoxheimer goal video

Daily Collegian Jill Holdcroft goal video
ComRadio recap

Hannah Hoenshell recorded the first hat trick of the NCAA era, while Nicole Paniccia and Brooke Meyer combined on the first shutout of the NCAA era, as Penn State won at home for the first time in the NCAA era, 6-0 over Sacred Heart. The Nittany Lions are now 3-5-1 (0-3-1 CHA) while SHU drops to 3-5-0 overall and 1-5-0 against NCAA competition. The teams square off again Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m.

It would be tough to argue that a contest featuring a 66-18 shot margin was, well, much of a contest. Sixteen of the 18 Nittany Lion skaters recorded at least one of the 66, led by Hoenshell's 11. Another 16 finished with at least a +1 rating (the two missing players on each stat were different). While Hoenshell will deservedly get the headlines, this win was without question a balanced effort.

Hoenshell opened the scoring 7:16 into the game by poking home a rebound that managed to rest unseen between Pioneer goalie Alexius Schutt's legs for a couple seconds. Her other two goals were much prettier, involving combinations of wheels and dangles that are quickly becoming commonplace from the former Alliance Bulldogs scoring dynamo who missed the early part of the season with an ankle injury. Complementing the Texas native were two goals from Shannon Yoxheimer and Jill Holdcroft's first college tally, a heady defensive play that turned into a spectacular solo breakaway effort. Jess Desorcie and Emily Laurenzi each had a pair of assists.

Contributions from beyond the scoresheet were numerous, however. I thought the line of Kendra Rasmussen, flanked by Jenna Welch and Tess Weaver had a great game. Despite not recording a point, the trio was offensively dangerous - combined, they generated 17 shots - and also drew the first two penalties of the night. While the defense didn't have much do in this tilt, the pair of Paige Jahnke and Jeanette Bateman continued to be sturdy with a dash of offense, while Lindsay Reihl was instrumental in shutting down several Pioneer rushes.

Here's the live blog from this first game of the series:

Bigger Than It Looks

In some ways, this is a boring home weekend jammed in before a huge one where 2012 NCAA tournament team Air Force and 2012 CHA tournament champ Robert Morris come to the Ice Pavilion.

But in other ways, and quite frankly ones more important than optics, it's vital.

The Calm Before the Storm

For the women (2-5-1, 0-3-1 CHA), who will play Sacred Heart (3-4-0, 1-3-0 NCAA Division I) tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., there's a simple reality that has followed and will follow them all season: first-year DI programs with 17 freshmen don't have much room for error. That sentence can refer to moments within games - for instance, the missed clearing attempt that led to the tying goal in a draw with RIT the last time out - or it can refer to the schedule as a whole.

Home games against Sacred Heart that precede games against the reigning league champs and six straight road games to close out the fall semester certainly qualify as "no margin for error" in the larger context.

Jeanette Bateman scored her first career goal two weeks ago at Sacred Heart

The Nittany Lions and Pioneers, of course, met just two weeks ago and split. SHU held on for a 2-1 win on October 19th before Penn State bounced back the next day behind six different goal scorers. It should be said that PSU held a decisive shooting advantage in both games.

Still, Sacred Heart is sort of the Alabama-Huntsville of women's hockey. They struggle to schedule as an independent, and as a result, generally play a mix of DI, DIII and ACHA teams (recall that they hosted - and split with - the Lady Icers last season). In their only game since their hosting PSU, they were blanked 4-0 by DIII St. Anselm. Make no mistake, even as a first-year DI with 17 freshmen, Penn State is ahead of Sacred Heart on the food chain. And given that reality, anything less than a home sweep would hurt, particularly considering what the next five weeks has in store. In short, it's a possible get-right weekend, and the Nittany Lions need to take advantage of it.

Penn State, as usual, will rely heavily on CHA Player of the Month nominees Shannon Yoxheimer (six goals, two of which came against SHU) and Nicole Paniccia (2.64 GAA, 1.51 in the two games with SHU) to continue to build on the momentum from that 2-2 tie with favored RIT last Friday. On the other hand, no Pioneer has more than three points in their five games, although the one with three is Sara Hanna, who recorded two of them - featuring a game-winning goal - against PSU.

Dirt on Their Shoulders

The men, on the other hand, have some things to prove against an NCAA Division III team.

I could probably end the post right there, couldn't I?

The Nittany Lions (4-2-0, 4-1-0 NCAA DI), on balance, have been a pleasant surprise this year. Following an opening overtime loss to AIC - one that could easily be written off to drawing the hot goalie card in the form of 61-save man Ben Meisner - PSU has rolled off four straight wins against DI competition. Included in that run are the back half of the AIC series, the huge win at RIT's homecoming in front of 10,556 fans and a sweep at Army and at Sacred Heart last weekend. No, those teams aren't Boston College, Michigan and Cornell (even RIT, a solid program most of the time, has been disappointing so far), but for PSU to be consistently reeling off wins against any DI program is a major achievement six games into the NCAA era.

But there's that one game.

That game, of course, is a 3-0 shutout at the hands of DIII Buffalo State (1-1-1, 0-1-1 SUNYAC), Saturday night's opponent, on October 19th at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. From a BSC perspective, the game was a program definer in front of a record crowd. From a PSU perspective...ugh. I'm sure you'll appreciate my leaving out the finer points of what transpired that evening.

Casey Bailey and Penn State's forwards will again seek to swarm an opposing goaltender - although hopefully with better results than against Ben Meisner and AIC in the last men's game at the Ice Pavilion.

One of the more curious aspects to that game is that the Bengals are not an elite DIII program like St. Norbert, Oswego, Norwich or even future opponent Neumann. In fact, since opening their season with the win over PSU, they've only managed a loss and a tie at home against SUNYAC rivals Brockport and Geneseo. But for that one night, they were world beaters.

Guy Gadowsky has admitted to a possible focus issue in that game, with the showdown in Rochester looming the next day. And while the rematch might set up in a somewhat similar fashion with Air Force in town next weekend, it's probably a safe bet that PSU will be out for blood. Here's what the coach told the media Thursday afternoon on that point.

"It's interesting, we're not going to say much but we're interested in the response from the locker room. I think they might be pissed and I think they'll want to atone for what happened last time."

At momentum-shifting points in games, David Glen, Kenny Brooks and Curtis Loik tend to be on the ice. The trio (which was actually broken up in the last game, against SHU) has added offense to their usual grinding efforts that don't always appear on the scoresheet, with six goals and 14 points so far. P.J. Musico has starred in net - he's been the goalie for all four of PSU's wins - and he's been aided greatly by defensemen Nate Jensen, Mark Yanis and Luke Juha. From Buffalo State's standpoint, they'll need another big game from Kevin Carr in net if they hope to shock the higher-division team for a second time.

M: Penn State 6 at Sacred Heart 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

StateCollege.com recap and PIA tour video

GoPSUsports.com Guy Gadowsky postgame comments

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

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Army, Sacred Heart Pose Interesting Challenge

Senior forward Eric Delong and his Sacred Heart teammates will be a test of Penn State's focus.

On the day the season started, I said that I believed that the Nittany Lions would be roughly equal to a middle-of-the-pack Atlantic Hockey team. This just might be the weekend that either confirms that prediction or establishes a new set of expectations.

Admit it: you're not entirely sure what to make of this team, particularly after last weekend, which saw PSU shut out by a Division III team followed by a win over a solid RIT program the next evening in front of 10,556 people partial mostly to the Tigers. I certainly don't know how to assess things just yet, and I'd like to think I follow the team closely enough to make that call if it were possible.

This weekend presents two more AHA opponents on the road, Penn State's fourth and fifth games against the conference: Army at 7:05 p.m. tonight and Sacred Heart at 7:05 p.m. tomorrow night. No video will be available for the two games, although audio streaming will take place through GoPSUSports.com All-Access and live stats will be available for both Friday and Saturday as well.

Neither Army nor Sacred Heart are generally in the top half of the league standings - in fact, they were the bottom two last season - but they're exactly the type of team that a top "conference" side should dispatch, while a middle-of-the-packer might give an inconsistent effort and split.

Army might be the most fascinating opponent on the entire schedule, and not really for any of the reasons I just discussed. Last season, Penn State's slogan was "Honoring the past, celebrating the present, roaring into the future," and no program touches all three of those elements quite as definitively as the Black Knights.

It's well known to most by now that Army opposed Penn State's 1940-1947 varsity program twice, winning 18-3 on February 26, 1944 and 12-3 on February 12, 1947. The Icers also played two games in the series, losing 6-4 on November 21, 1980 (Army records omit this game as an exhibition) and 10-3 on March 6, 1982 in a tournament at Kent State, the only game not played in West Point.

Cheyne Rocha, Army's senior captain, has prominent Penn State connections through his parents.

The present and past tie together rather uniquely in the form of Black Knights captain Cheyne Rocha, a senior defenseman. Rocha's father Larry was an Icers assistant from 1982 through 1985, who notably served as head coach for PSU's 1984 national championship run when Jon Shellington was unable to make the trip to Arizona. Cheyne's mother? Candace Finn Rocha. The then-Candy Finn was one of the best athletes in Penn State history. A four-time All-American in lacrosse, she also helped the Nittany Lions to a pair of national championships (1979, 1980) and was a two-time winner of the Broderick Award as national player of the year (1981, 1982). She was elected to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998.

The future? Well, in the immediate future, there's tonight's game of course. But less than one year from now, on October 11, 2013, Army will be the opponent when the Pegula Ice Arena opens.

So really, I'm not sure that a single program can claim to be tied so closely to Penn State hockey at so many different stages. Robert Morris has something of an argument thanks to a pair of games with the Icers and a shared stake in the Three Rivers Classic going forward, but they can't go back to the 1940s. Cornell and Colgate played the 1940s team and could appear on future schedules, but both are missing a connection with the Icers. The reverse is true for the handful of current NCAA DI programs who have a history with the Icers but not the 1940s team, most notably Alabama-Huntsville, Canisius and Mercyhurst. The Big Ten opponents will obviously be a crucial part of the future, but none have been a part of the past.

Beyond all of that though, the Black Knights have a team that looks to be improved from the one that finished 4-23-7 (3-19-5 Atlantic Hockey) last year, ahead of only Sacred Heart in the league. Already, Army is 1-0-1 in the AHA on the strength of a win-tie series with the Pioneers, good for an early first place position. They were surprisingly competitive in the IceBreaker tournament in Kansas City - despite dropping both games, they played within a goal of national power Maine thanks to a stellar 50-save performance from goalie Rob Tadazak.

Up front, senior Andy Starczewski is the offensive leader with seven points already this season. Sophomore Zak Zaremba will be expected to chip in as well, and freshman Joe Kozlak is off to a quick start in his four-game-old collegiate career. Rocha and John Clark provide senior leadership on defense, while Maurice Alvarez (a former teammate of PSU freshman Jonathan Milley with the CCHL's Pembroke Lumber Kings) is more of an offensive blueliner.

Sacred Heart certainly presents the less exciting of the two opponents, but as mentioned, one that cannot be overlooked if Penn State is to establish the sort of consistency that is the hallmark of good teams. There hasn't been much to boast about with the Pioneers' season so far, with blowout losses at Providence (8-2) and Bentley (7-1) followed by the weekend with Army. That series began with a 5-2 Knights win at West Point powered by a Starczewski hat trick. The teams then moved to Milford, CT and the Milford Ice Pavilion where they literally took turns scoring, the last goal coming from Army's Kozlak with 33 seconds left in regulation of an eventual 4-4 tie.

Senior Eric Delong and sophomores Drew George and Brian Sheehan lead the scoring charge for Sacred Heart - the trio has five of the team's nine goals so far this season after combining for 33 of the Pioneers' 84 in 2011-2012. Another significant player is Kyle Verbeek, the son of my all-time favorite hockey player, Pat Verbeek, who scored 522 NHL goals with the Devils, Whalers, Rangers, Stars and Red Wings. So no, I'm not going to apologize for taking the rare chance to do this:

Goalies Andrew Bodnarchuk and Steven Legatto have split time in net, with neither boasting a goals against average south of five.

Following this weekend, Penn State will return home for a Saturday-only weekend against Buffalo State, that very same DIII team that embarrassed the Lions last weekend to raise the questions introduced at the beginning of this post. While PSU will surely be out to make a point then, the trick, of course, is to not let it affect what happens today and tomorrow.

W: Penn State 6 at Sacred Heart 1

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

Daily Collegian recap

Josh Brandwene's primary goal this season is to improve every day, and for the team to be playing its best hockey of the season at tournament time.

Things like "better" and "progress" aren't always easily measured. In fact, as recently as Friday's series opener, I argued that a 2-1 loss to Sacred Heart could be considered forward movement. No rationalization is needed, however, when the Nittany Lions move from that defeat into a 6-1 win the next day to snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 2-4-0 (0-2-0 CHA).

The offensive explosion from a team that had only scored seven times in the previous five games (and just twice after the season-opening 5-3 win over Vermont) was thanks mostly to a suddenly-lethal power play. After going 0-for-19 to start the season, it connected three times in the first 32 minutes of the game to give the Nittany Lions more than enough offense.

That's not to say that the game didn't have a few tense moments, though. Taylor Gross and Shannon Yoxheimer scored on PSU's first two attempts with the advantage to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. However, early in the second period, and on a SHU power play...

Casey Stathopoulos (Waltham, MA) knocked in loose puck on a scrum in front of the net, set up by Sara Hanna (Lino Lakes, MN) and Sarah Delaney (Whittman, MA) at 4:03.

Fortunately...

Penn State answered about eight minutes later, once again on the power play, as Jeannette Bateman knocked down a clearing attempt at the blue line and skated in for an unassisted goal at 12:00.

Jess Desorcie and Hannah Hoenshell tallied 26 seconds apart early in the final period to crack the game open, and Jordin Pardoski added a finishing touch with 1:39 remaining. Madison Smiddy and Jenna Welch each had a pair of assists in the contest.

Notably, Nicole Paniccia started in goal Saturday to break up what had been a straight rotation between her and Celine Whitlinger to this point. Paniccia didn't give Brandwene any reason to regret the move, stopping 25 of 26 Pioneer attempts.

While the flood of NCAA-era firsts has slowed significantly six games into the season, this game still provided a healthy share, including:

• As mentioned, the power play goals were the first three.
• Bateman, Hoenshell and Pardoski all scored their first collegiate goals.
• The game was Hoenshell's PSU and NCAA debut after she missed the early stages of the season with a sprained ankle.
• Desorcie's goal was her first at the NCAA DI level.
• Cara Mendelson also made her NCAA debut, and is now able to say that the Nittany Lions do quite well when she plays.
• Lindsay Reihl notched her first NCAA point, an assist on Desorcie's goal.

The Nittany Lions return to the Ice Pavilion Thursday and Friday for what should be a fascinating series with RIT, last year's NCAA Division III national champions who are also playing their first season at the DI level. The Tigers are 3-3-0 following a 3-0 win over Yale at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena Saturday afternoon, just before the PSU men upset RIT in the nightcap.

Inaugural NCAA Women's Schedule Released

Tess Weaver has scored an overtime winner against a team PSU will play four times this season. Photo: PennStateWomensHockey.com

UPDATE 5/17, 11:00 A.M.: I've added the CHA tournament dates to the schedule.

The College Hockey America website has posted PSU's schedule for the coming season. Asterisks denote CHA conference opponents.

Without further ado, here it is. Meet me after for more post.

October 2012

Fri. 5 at Vermont
Sat. 6 at Vermont

Sat. 13 vs. Syracuse*, 2:00 p.m.
Sun. 14 vs. Syracuse*, 2:00 p.m.

Fri. 19 at Sacred Heart, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 20 at Sacred Heart, 2:00 p.m.

Thu. 25 vs. RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
Fri. 26 vs. RIT*, 7:00 p.m.

November 2012

Fri. 2 vs. Sacred Heart, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 3 vs. Sacred Heart, 2:00 p.m.

Sat. 10 vs. Robert Morris*, 2:00 p.m.
Sun. 11 vs. Robert Morris*, 2:00 p.m.

Fri. 16 at Lindenwood*, 8:00 p.m.
Sat. 17 at Lindenwood*, 3:00 p.m.

Fri. 30 at Mercyhurst*, 7:00 p.m.

December 2012

Sat. 1 at Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.

Fri. 7 at St. Lawrence
Sat. 8 at St. Lawrence

January 2013

Fri. 4 vs. Chatham (NCAA DIII)
Sat. 5 vs. Chatham (NCAA DIII)

Fri. 11 at Union
Sat. 12 at Union

Fri. 25 at Syracuse*
Sat. 26 at Syracuse*

Tue. 29 vs. Princeton

February 2013

Fri. 1 vs. Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 2 vs. Mercyhurst*, 2:00 p.m.

Fri. 8 vs. Lindenwood*, 2:00 p.m.
Sat. 9 vs. Lindenwood*, 2:00 p.m.

Fri. 15 at RIT*, 7:00 p.m.
Sat. 16 at RIT*, 7:00 p.m.

Fri. 22 at Robert Morris*
Sat. 23 at Robert Morris*

March 2013

CHA Tournament

Fri. 1 - Sun. 3 First Round (Best of three, 6th place at 3rd place, 5th place at 4th place)

Fri. 8 Semifinals at 1st place (TBA vs. 1st place, TBA vs. 2nd place)
Sat. 9 Championship at 1st place (Semifinal winners)

I've created a stand-alone page with this information for convenient future reference.

Obviously, CHA opposition forms the core of the schedule, with four games each (two home, two away) against league opponents Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, Lindenwood, RIT and Syracuse. The Mercyhurst games will certainly serve as a measuring stick for the first-year program, as the Lakers have been the CHA's alpha dog throughout the league's history and have appeared in the NCAA tournament in each of the last eight seasons. At the same time, RIT is the not-really-defending Division III national champs, and they'll also make their Division I debut this season. Lindenwood went through their first-year growing pains in 2011-2012 (with an 8-21-0 record), and the pair of former ACHA teams in transition will make for an interesting matchup.

When stacking this schedule side-by-side with what's known of the men's schedule, one can see a couple shared men's/women's home weekends that will be must-attends for PSU hockey die-hards. Undoubtedly, one highlight will be that October 12-14 stretch where both teams play their first home games as NCAA programs. With the women playing on Saturday and Sunday afternoon against Syracuse, it's pretty safe to say that the men's games against American International will be Friday and Saturday night.

While that will be exciting for the history of the occasion, it may be topped by November 9-11. On Friday and Saturday night (again, I'm assuming those start times) the men play Air Force in what's likely to be their toughest home games of the season. On Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the women play RMU, the defending CHA tournament champions.

The Lady Colonials represent four of the ten games against teams faced by the Lady Icers last season. RMU clubbed Penn State 12-0 on September 23rd, but PSU fared much better against Sacred Heart on January 14th when Tess Weaver's overtime goal gave the Lady Icers their first-ever win against a DI program. A pair of ties against DIII Chatham (those games will count as exhibitions this year) complete PSU's track record against this season's opposition.

Out-of-conference series with Vermont, St. Lawrence and Union, as well as a stand-alone tilt with Princeton, round out the schedule. SLU was easily the best of the four last season. The Saints finished 24-10-4, a mark that included an ECAC tournament championship win over eventual Frozen Four team Cornell and the NCAA tournament appearance that accompanies it.

Atlantic Hockey Announces Eight New PSU Games

Air Force junior goaltender Jason Torf stopped 32 of 34 shots against eventual national champion Boston College in the NCAA tournament last season. He'll visit the Ice Pavilion on November 9th and 10th.

The Atlantic Hockey Association has posted its 2012-2013 composite schedule. Penn State, while not a member of the conference, could almost qualify as an honorary one by virtue of appearing 11 times.

Three of the games, the series on October 12th and 13th with AIC that will serve as PSU's first home Division I games and the October 20th tilt as RIT's homecoming opponent, were already known. Here are the other eight:

October 26 at Army, 7:05 p.m.
October 27 at Sacred Heart, 7:05 p.m.
November 9 vs. Air Force
November 10 vs. Air Force
December 7 at Holy Cross, 7:05 p.m.
December 8 at Holy Cross, 7:05 p.m.
January 4 at Connecticut, 7:05 p.m.
January 5 at Connecticut, 7:05 p.m.

The complete collection of known games for next season can be found here.

Without a doubt, the jewel of those games is the home series with Air Force. The defending AHA regular season and conference champs were 21-11-7 in 2011-2012 and have represented the league in the NCAA tournament for five of the last six seasons, including last year when Frank Serratore's crew lost 2-0 to eventual national champion Boston College in the NCAA Northeast Regional. The Falcons join Frozen Four team Union and Michigan State as 2012 NCAA Tournament teams on the Nittany Lions' (still feels weird typing that) schedule, and for what it's worth, sources have indicated that Air Force will be the premier opponent visiting the Ice Pavilion. Holy Cross is the only other new opponent with a winning record last season. The Crusaders were 20-15-4 overall, finishing 3rd in AHA.

The original Nittany Lions varsity program played at Army on December 26, 1944, losing 18-3. Additionally, the Icers do have a little bit of history with several current Atlantic Hockey teams. During the formative years of the Robert Morris program when RMU was a member of College Hockey America, PSU beat the Colonials 3-2 in October, 2005 before losing 6-0 the following season. Current AHA teams Mercyhurst and Canisius were frequent Icer opponents in the 1980s and 1990s when the pair of now-DI programs were members of Division II.

As much fun as speculation on the Lions' first DI schedule has been, it's likely that we're close to the end, at least in terms of discovering DI opponents. Joe Battista has indicated that PSU will play 20-22 DI schools in this inaugural NCAA season, and this latest news brings us up to 19 such games. Furthermore Atlantic Hockey, the only (for now) mid-major conference in DI, represents the likely source for a large percentage of games. Roughly half (22 of 45) of the schools in the other DI conferences have formally announced their schedules. From here on out, most new opponents are likely to be a smattering of ACHA Division 1 (Ohio will visit the Ice Pavilion, while Arizona State and Oklahoma have been subjects of speculation) and NCAA Division III teams, as well as confirmation of the four games with the U.S. National Team Development Program.

With that in mind, there's a lot to like about the schedule. Air Force, along with Michigan State, Union, RIT and Wisconsin represent a nice collection of "reach" games (with the added bonus of getting the Falcons at home), while the lower division games will ensure that PSU doesn't go 5-28-1, setting a negative tone for the NCAA era. In between lies a stout collection of lower-tier AHA programs that will also help provide Guy Gadowsky and his staff with a barometer of where the program stands entering the Big Ten in year two.

W: Penn State 3-3 at Sacred Heart (NCAA DI) 4-2

Sacred Heart Friday recap // Sacred Heart Saturday recap

Friday box score // Saturday box score

Forget next year. Penn State has a Division I women's hockey program right now.

To be sure, PSU's ascendancy isn't official just yet. But a 3-2 overtime triumph over NCAA Division I Sacred Heart Saturday afternoon showed that the Lady Icers - as resilient of a team as you'll find, steeled by ten previous games against NCAA opposition - have no intention of waiting any longer.

The best part? It's tough to call it in upset, despite the difference in sanctioning designation. This one didn't follow the usual upset formulae, including the one where a team hangs around and gets a fluky goal late or the other one where the underdog jumps out to a surprising lead and barely withstands a furious rally. Saturday's game was neither of those things. PSU outshot Sacred Heart 29-28 and never trailed. In fact, the Lady Icers held the lead for all but 23:16 of an overtime game. Sound like a scrappy upstart to you? Me neither.

Sara Chroman gave Penn State an early lead by burying a carom off the end boards that fooled Pioneers goalie Alexius Schutt. After maintaining that tenuous edge through the last half of the first period and most of the second (including through three PSU penalties), SHU leading scorer Nicole Palazzo won the draw immediately after a Lindsay Reihl tripping call and took it in herself to level things with just seven seconds remaining in the second period.

One way to beat a Division I team is to have a Division I-caliber scoring line on your side. PSU decidedly has that in the new Tess Weaver-Jess Desorcie-Taylor Gross alliance. It was "Descoresie" from Gross giving Penn State a 2-1 lead just 15 seconds into the third period - a gigantic goal that stemmed Pioneer momentum and kept the Lady Icers in control of the game. Palazzo's second, with 8:32 remaining, forced overtime.

However, that only set the stage for that line's third member, Weaver, to be the hero on this occasion. With a tie only 16 seconds down the road, she lifted Penn State to victory off of a scramble in front and the rebound of a Desorcie shot. Desorcie very nearly ended the game 3:08 earlier, but she was denied by Schutt on a rare overtime penalty shot after SHU defender Maura Leahy was whistled for throwing her stick.

Twitter reaction from the stopper and half of the defense that combined to hold Sacred Heart to two goals on 28 shots? You got it.

We probably should have seen that something special was in the works after Friday's game, despite a 4-3 setback, since Penn State was able to trade blows with the NCAA foe. After a scoreless first, Desorcie answered Leahy's opening goal within five minutes. Carly Szyszko (who will be in the teammate hall of fame someday if there is such a thing) gave PSU a brief lead late in the second, but it was answered by a barrage of three Pioneer goals in 114 seconds bridging the second and third periods. Desorcie pulled the Lady Icers within one on the power play with 16:11 remaining, but the comeback was left uncompleted. Mary Tonetti, who got the nod in net, made 39 saves.

The Lady Icers, now 6-11-2 overall and 5-3-0 in ACHA competition, will now focus solely on non-varsity competition the rest of the way. Next week, it's ACHA No. 1 Northeastern in Boston, followed by another trip to the Bay State to visit the Huskies on February 3rd and 4th. No. 4 Liberty comes to the Ice Pavilion January 28th and 29th, and a third trip to the Beantown, this time for No. 6 Massachusetts, is February 10th and 11th. Daunting? Maybe. But maybe not quite as much for an NCAA team.