Three Stars: October 10-16

Still waiting for my free t-shirt.

3. Icers' goal remains same in transition year
(Pennsylvania Puck)

If you're not on the PA Puck bandwagon yet, you need to get there. They've been pumping out a quality PSU piece once a week. I can barely keep it together pumping out five crappy pieces a week, and I don't cover other teams.

2. Solid Start
(The View From the Booth)

Steve Penstone did some great work this week - adapting pretty well to a tough setup for the games at Illinois, grinding out fantastic intermission interviews with Ed Olczyk and Teddy Hume...so here I'll link the one thing he's done in the last week that I don't think I linked anywhere else: interviews with Bryce Johnson and Guy Gadowsky.

1. Penn State men's ice hockey getting a start with new coach
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

Whatever happens, please don't ever let me lose perspective on just how cool it is that Penn State hockey is now worthy of conversation in major papers. Oh and hey, there's a video too, in which we find out that The Namesake wants the "rockingest" arena in college hockey.

Other famous "rockingest" things in history: Ellie's birthday party for Craig. That one didn't end so well.

Best of the Rest

Lady Icers prepare for College Hockey America conference
(Daily Collegian)

Freshmen fitting in with Lady Icers' team
(Daily Collegian)

The Collegian decided to write two articles about the Lady Icers this month. Wasn't really expecting that.

Cycling the Puck with Dave Sottile
(Pennsylvania Puck)

Remember that fundraising we were doing that we haven't heard anything about in a while?

“Our goal is to raise another $10 million,” [Joe] Battista said. “We’ve raised $3 million in addition to the Pegulas’ gift. We have a goal of – at minimum – raising $7 million more, and that helps put us into the area where as long as we’re filling the building, keeping the ice rented and selling merchandise, we’re going to be able to meet our goal.

“Our goal is for the building to be self-sufficient and the hockey programs to be self-sufficient, and that’s quite a goal,” Battista said. “Right now, 20 of the 36 scholarships fully endowed.”

My only question there: is it just me or is fundraising lagging a little after a hot start? Battista's words seem to make it pretty clear just how tight of a rope the program will be walking to remain self-sufficient, so hopefully that $7 million is coming. As well as all of that other stuff that also needs to happen.

Sux 6: The best things to do in Siouxland (Oct. 13-19)
(Sioux City Journal)

I'm not going to complain that the Journal ran a picture of last year's team calling it this year's pink jerseys. Not when Tommy Olczyk (center) and Matt Skoff (far right) are included. Also, as current or former Muskies, both apparently like boobs.

1. The Muskies heart pink, and boobs!
$3 of every ticket goes to Breast Cancer Awareness for this Pink in the Rink Musketeers vs. Lincoln hockey game. Happening at the Tyson Events Center, the puck drops at 7 p.m. Saturday. Be sure to wear pink.

ECAC Hockey Journal: Opportunity trumps loyalty
(hockeyjournal.com)

This guy's not a fan of what happened with ECAC coaching changes this past offseason, which obviously involved Gadowsky. I'm not a fan of this guy, so we'll call it even.

@JLPegula
(yfrog)

Surprise visitor at Icers practice last Wednesday: The Namesake, and a guy who holds his coat.

Actually, the other guy is Cliff Benson, a Penn Stater and new chief development officer for the Sabres. But if I had a few billion, I'd hire a guy to carry my coat and give him a fancy title (like, say, "chief development officer") too.

Vees land scholarships to prestigious schools
(bclocalnews.com)

I dare you to find more fail in one paragraph.

Another Vee committed is forward Curtis Loik, who will join the Penn State Littany Lions. The Littany Lions, which will play at the NCAA Division l level for the first time in the fall of 2012 as an independent program. The following year they will move to the newly created BIG 10 hockey conference, joining Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Loik is excited to be part of the new program guided by coach Guy Gadowski.

@PaulyyyyD
(Twitter)

The day before beginning the weekend set at Illinois, the team got the VIP treatment at a Blackhawks vs. Jets game.

You disappoint me, Jake Friedman.

A miracle rally for RIT provides 6-5 win
(Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

Next year’s Brick City Homecoming opponent is Penn State, the upstart Division I program that was founded by Terry Pegula’s donation.

In 2013, Michigan comes to downtown Rochester. Yeah, I say the Tigers program is gaining in stature. When you can get the big boys to come to you, you’ve arrived.

"Big boys" before we play a single game? I'll take it.

Lucia signs contract for 3-year extension
(Rink and Run)

The Minnesota coach is still not fired. Quite the opposite, actually.

Breakout Past: Goalie Masks

On Tuesday, new Penn State goalie Tim Carr tweeted a preliminary sketch of his mask artwork.

That mask suffers from some kind of undiagnosed sickness (that's a compliment, trust me), although Carr may end up replacing the outdated logo on his left side with an S, per Nick Seravalli's suggestion (even better: make it an S inside a keystone like one of my go-to lids).

Carr's design gave me an idea: use this week's Breakout Past to put together a gallery of some of the other great masks that have adorned Penn State tenders over the years.

Please accept my apologies for the quality of some of the photos - without having the university archives at my disposal, I had to resort to scanning pictures from old programs.

Going plain white might be seen as non-committal (or a financial consideration, if you know how much artwork costs), but it's a look that works at Penn State, as Tara Wheeler (left) or Matt Madrazo (right) can tell you.

Teddy Hume would like you to know that gray also appears on the PSU jersey.

Mark Scally (pictured here with the the ECHL's Texas Wildcatters) had a choice of headgear that contributed to his nickname - Dominik. He wore a blue version of the Hasek bucket at PSU.

The Dukes of Hazzard and this mask were both born in the 70s.

Chris Matteo's mask drew its inspiration from Gollum, of the Lord of the Rings series. The left side had the scene of Gollum looking though the bars in Moria, while the right side had a full-body representation. The words “My Precious” were written across the bottom front.

Scott Graham (left) and Paul Mammola (right) both borrowed from the look made famous by Joe Paterno's football team.

Katie Vaughan keeps people out of her crease with a scary dragon.

Early Icers goalies were clearly fans of the geometric law of vertical angles.

Nick Signet looks pretty calm considering the vicious-looking guy on his head.

Quite possibly the Penn State answer to the iconic Gerry Cheevers mask, however...

...Larry Lightbody, shown wearing his mask, thinks kids today are soft.

Nationals Day 2/Penn State 3, Robert Morris (IL) 1

Collegian summary // Collegian recap
Onward State recap // VFTB highlights // Black Shoe Diaries recap
Team press release // Box score

For some teams, the season ends with jubilation, a happy team photo, and the handing out of a trophy. For most it ends quite differently.

I couldn't help but think about the half-circle of the Icers season while I watched this game. Remember October 8th? It was the first appearance of Penn State hockey at home after the big donation announcement. A packed Ice Pavilion, including the Pegula family and Dr. Spanier witnessed an 11-0 dismantling of Drexel. High hopes and good feelings with an eye on the future was the order of the day.

On March 6th, the story was quite different, and a lot more depressing. I counted about 30 people in the bleachers at puck drop. I was apparently the only one who even noticed the team take the ice, based on the applause. On the Icers' second goal, by Dom Morrone, the PA announcer read from the wrong roster and gave credit for the goal to Robert Morris' No. 19, Dave Bauer. Nick Fina (No. 27) and Geno Malone (No. 23) got the assists. The whole progression sort of felt like This Is Spinal Tap - next up, opening for a puppet show.

Let it be known that 2010-2011 Penn State hockey died in this snazzy venue.

My next thought went to the seniors. I watched Teddy Hume carefully throughout the warmup and as the game progressed and couldn't help but feel a little bad for him. I'm sure this season hasn't played out how he would've liked, but he should hold his head high. For all the struggles, he went out like a champ, against Rutgers and now Robert Morris. He's one of the best Penn State has ever seen. I just wish he could have gotten the shutout. But then again, maybe imperfection is fitting in a way.

Chris Pronchik was another guy who had a fantastic game. Yeah, there was the goal, a first-period shorthanded (how else?) tally from Marek Polidor (who else?) that held up as the only one of the game into the third period, but the Eagles had no answer for his speed all game long. Whenever PSU was threatening, there's a pretty good chance it was because No. 9 was beating a guy to the outside and drawing a penalty, coming hard on the backcheck to steal the puck and turn it around, or something else that involves speed and effort.

Nick Seravalli stepped in between Polidor and Chris Cerutti pretty effectively, and he's a guy that I hope to see with an increased role next season, as he's been great coming down the stretch. Tim O'Brien, the guy normally centering that line, didn't play. I'm not going to fully comment on that one without all the facts, but I sincerely hope that another all-time Icer great wasn't denied a final game in blue and white for something other than an undisclosed injury. The Bauer...err Morrone line (including Paul Daley and Mike Broccolo) was great too, but you don't need me to tell you that. The defensive effort was one of the best of the season, even with Brian Dolan, who had emerged as one of the unit's best, in warmups for this one as well.

The game ended rather quickly and with little fanfare. The Icers are the ACHA's 11th place team, which I guess is better than being 12th, but I'm still not sure how to handle the strange creature of the consolation game. I hope to not have to figure it out again next year.

Quarterfinals

Box score // Delaware press release

Originally, I was going to do these in chronological order, like yesterday. This game changed that. Because while I've witnessed a lot of hockey games in my life few, if any, were better than this one. It qualified as a good game all along, but drank some tiger blood and became great in the last minute of regulation, when the Hens' Brandon Weiner scored twice with the goalie out on pretty identical-looking plays to tie up a game that had looked like it had slipped away from UD. I ran into Kyle Drury just outside the locker rooms during the (first) overtime intermission and got my second-ever exclusive with him:

Me: How about that one?

Him: Holy shit!

Yeah, pretty much. And the two overtime periods somehow managed to one-up that by offering the most intense, heart-stopping hockey of the tournament so far. Heart-stopping? Yes. There were three power plays in the overtimes (two for UD) and myriad chances in each. SJ Broadt stopped two breakaways - I was convinced it was over each time, but he came up clutch. My dog in the hunt was on its way back to State College, but I was still on edge until a parked-in-front Kevin Miller put it home with just under eight minutes left in the second overtime.

Think I'm exaggerating how great of a game this was? Check out my Twitter feed after getting back to the hotel.

Miller: What a win for @UDHockey after double overtime #notbuiltforthis

Josh Weiner: Speechless. Most incredible sporting Event I've been apart of. Down two with a min left and tie it up. Win in 2OT.

Dave Lombardi: Just finished the most exciting game of my life, @UDHockey 5-4 win in 2OT. Can't believe I was on ice for GWG, was taking 15 second shifts!

Josh Weiner again: @kcmiller12 @ColonelBrundon @2dogs1SJ were the heroes but what an effort by the whole squad. Let's get it tuesday. #final4

Andre Menard: Most exciting game I've ever been a part of @UDHockey here we go #final4

Ryan McDonald: The feeling I am experiencing right now is the reason I play hockey. Most exciting game of my life!

Nick Lepore: Too tired to realize what just happened. Unreal game though just a real barn burner out there.

Good luck to Delaware on Tuesday. Had they lost, the final four would've been three schools I never would've heard of without the ACHA and Ohio. That's reason enough to get their back.

Ohio press release // Box score

The Bobcats have to be one of the most schizophrenic teams out there - the score graphic above provides a nice little illustration of how this one went. When they're on, they're absolutely capable of justifying my championship prediction. They're sturdy defensively behind the lead pair of Steve Osacky and Zack Barbis, have a great goalie in Blake MacNicol, and a ton of forwards with clearly-defined roles, including some big-time scorers. Despite all of this, after they came out flying in the first period, Oakland controlled the second. It could have been even worse than 3-2 after two, as the Grizzlies hit a post flush on a power play and had a goal questionably waved off in addition to the two they scored that period. Here's the Ohio recap to finish it out:

With Oakland closing in, it was up in the air about how the third period would be played out.

Everyone in Fred Rust arena quickly knew the answer.

Thirty-three seconds from the opening puck drop in the third, Pilmore put the ‘Cats up 4-2 on a set-up from Zack Barbis.

The momentum was shifting Ohio’s way.

Five minutes later, Defenseman Jake Holzemer lit up a shot that beat Pikunas to increase the lead to 5-2. Schultz collected his second assist of the day and third of the tournament while Holzemer has now scored in both tournament duels.

Thirty-seven seconds after Holzemer lit the lamp, Agnew poured salt on the Grizzlies’ wounds with a hat trick! Ben Gilles earned the assist.

Davenport press release // Box score

Does anyone want to think about what happens if Penn State ends up in this game? Me neither. I obviously have a lot of respect for the ESCHL champs, which is what makes this result so stunning. There's a very large, very obvious and very disturbing question in play here as well - have the Icers and their presumed equals fallen this far behind the top of the ACHA? That's probably not something that can be answered right now, or maybe even before we're out of the ACHA's top level, but this game was not a good indicator on that front. Davenport recap:

The line of Sean McKenzie (Howell, Mich.), Matt Morang (Dearborn, Mich.), and Jeff Slusser (Kentwood, Mich.) powered the Panther offense this afternoon as DU pummeled the University of Rhode Island Rams 9-1 in the National Quarterfinal game.

The Panthers started off quickly as DU scored there first three shots on goal as McKenzie, Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.), and Sean McWhorter (Lansing, Mich.) put the #2 seed up 3-0 within five minutes of the game. McKenzie scored from below the goal line off a URI defender to give the Panthers the early lead. Bobby Collar scored another highlight reel goal as DU senior shelved a pass from Kyle McDowell (Toronto, Ontario). McWhorter put DU up by three as he unleashed a wrist shot from the slot on the powerplay.

Later in the period, Collar took advantage of a URI miscue as the forward deked the goaltender for the shorthanded tally.

The second period was much of the same as DU continued the onslaught. McKenzie completed the hattrick as the Panthers also received goals from Brandon Davis (Hartland, Mich.) and Morang. Despite giving up a powerplay goal, the Panthers led after 40 minutes of play, 8-1.

Lindenwood press release // Box score

Given that this one was pretty squarely opposite the Icers game, I'll have to pass on offering any original thoughts. Here are Lindenwood's:

The Lindenwood men’s ice hockey team defeated Oklahoma 4-1 on Sunday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the ACHA National Tournament. This win was the fifth victory over the Sooners this season for the Lions.

Lindenwood jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period, thanks to two goals from Grant Gorczyca. The first goal was assisted by Bret Morrell, while the second came from a pass by Jeremy Meletti.

The only score in the second period was netted by Colin Long, who received a pass from Alex Roth.

Meletti got on the scoring sheet, with Gorczyca returning the earlier favor, assisting along with Cory Spradling on the goal. Oklahoma scored a short-handed goal late in the game to lessen the deficit, but it was not enough to threaten the Lions’ lead.

Robi Cavallari stopped 15 shots between the pipes for Lindenwood. The Lions converted two out of seven power plays in the win. 

Consolation Games



Ninth-Place Game

Box score

Thirteenth-Place Game

Box score

Fifteenth-Place Game

Box score

Final Tournament Placement

1. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
2. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
3. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
4. Lindenwood/Davenport/Ohio/Delaware
5. Adrian
6. Rhode Island
7. Oklahoma
8. Oakland
9. Minot State
10. Arizona State
11. Penn State
12. Robert Morris (IL)
13. Stony Brook
14. Canton
15. Slippery Rock
16. Rutgers

Remaining Schedule

Semifinals

Tuesday:
Davenport vs. Ohio, 5:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena
Lindenwood vs. Delaware, 8:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

Final

Wednesday:
Lindenwood/Delaware vs. Davenport/Ohio, 7:00 p.m., Fred Rust Ice Arena

Weekend Observations: Robert Morris

Collegian Fri. summary // Collegian Sat. summary // Collegian weekend recap and sidebar

Onward State weekend recap // Friday VFTB highlights // Saturday VFTB highlights 

Friday team press release // Saturday team press release

Friday box score // Saturday box score

Sometimes when the Icers are playing, these posts just snap together in my head. I've identified what I feel are the storylines common to the two games, I know how to connect them, all that's left is to double-check a few plays I've scribbled in my notebook to verify what I saw, and the post is up a few hours after the Saturday game ends. And with a couple minutes left in the second period of yesterday's game, this was feeling like one of those...

...then the unthinkable happened, and it completely changed the content and tone of this post.

We'll get to that in a minute, but first, let's look at where we stood as time wound down in the second. The Icers won Friday night in rather ugly fashion. Which was perfectly fine in my book - those weekends against Delaware and Rhode Island, combined with some struggles by teams near us in the poll, earned us some leeway in the style points department. PSU actually trailed 3-2 with under four left in the second. That lasted until Paul Daley corralled the puck near the blue line on the power play, gave it to Dom Morrone, went hard to the net, and got it back just in time to tie the score against a completely lost Robbie Fallick. Nick Seravalli won two consecutive draws to start that power play (the second immediately preceded the goal), just one piece of what I thought was a good weekend for him.

That goal was important on a number of levels. For starters, it ended yet another power play mini-drought - the Icers finished 1-for-7 Friday, then went 2-for-6 Saturday, so maybe that ship's getting righted. More importantly, it gave PSU momentum for a third period where goals from the two World University Games returnees and Daley (finishing a hat trick) were enough to put the game away.

None of this was all that surprising - Robert Morris had demonstrated the firepower to hang with good teams for two periods before falling apart (see Delaware in December, and PSU in January). The Icers are so good in the third period that they get articles written about it.

These two trends came to a tidy convergence on Friday - and if you had asked me, they were about to again on Saturday after a wild second period that included four goals in the first 5:46. It all started to unravel with an interference call to Daley at 16:32 (Steve Penstone's thoughts on it: "You've gotta be kidding me.") and Kory DuMond banging home a rebound at the end of what had been a mostly harmless power play to that point. Bryan Chiavetta (who had an okay weekend, I suppose) won a battle to foil a clear in the near corner, then was next seen cycling in the opposite corner of the zone, then taking the shot that generated the rebound.

The real backbreaker was the next one though. Following a George Saad turnover and some mass confusion, Luke Bennett found the puck in the high slot and beat Teddy Hume cleanly with just two seconds left. I'll spare you the details of the rest. Suffice it to say that the following period was arguably the Icers worst of the season and that the Colonials finished off a run of five straight goals.

So what went wrong? I'm still not sure, but here are a few possibilities.

• I think the decision to start Hume on Saturday was a mistake, plain and simple. I want to be diplomatic because he didn't get to 58 wins by accident - he's been one of the great Icers goaltenders. But this year, he just hasn't had it, particularly when "it" refers to the puck after the first shot. Since playing well against Ohio on October 22nd, Hume has started five games and has been pulled in three of them. He completed the November 12th game against Rhode Island (19 saves on 24 shots - nothing to brag about) and the November 20th game against Towson (three goals against versus the lowly Tigers, again...). He also had mop-up duty against Delaware on December 4th, playing well in relief of Matt Madrazo. Given all of that, I wouldn't have trusted him in a game we had to have, regardless of the opponent. Save sentimentality for Rutgers on senior night.
• The mistake was compounded by not pulling him after the second period.
• The intensity level of the weekend probably wasn't helped by people like me constantly preaching that the worst was over. I'm not the only one who felt that way - the UStream broadcasts had about half as many viewers as last weekend. I generally hate when people play the "effort" card, but you can't help but wonder if some of that thinking seeped into the room - before we make Hume and Balboni the scapegoats, let's not forget that Friday's result was less than satisfying as well.
• Also, some credit's due to that Robert Morris top line, particularly the duo of Chiavetta and Bennett. Those guys are outstanding and they produce - and not just against the scrubs. And in case you're wondering (I did):

  Chiavetta looked at Rhode Island, Robert Morris and some Division III schools when he came time for college. The choice wasn’t that hard to make.

  “Robert Morris had a young program with a lot of potential, and I liked Pittsburgh,” he said. “I wanted to grow with the program, and I had an opportunity to make an impact as a freshman.”

  Chiavetta was talented enough to play for the Colonials’ varsity men’s ice hockey team, but he felt playing club hockey was better for him.

  “I had an opportunity to play on the varsity team, but they had a lot of seniors at the time,” Chiavetta said. “I just did what was best for me.”

Some positives that were obscured by all of this:

• The Mike McDonagh-Morrone-Daley line has fairly quickly developed great chemistry - this was perhaps never more evident than their first shift of Saturday's game, where the three combined on a spectacular passing play that was unfortunately denied by goalie Phil Salerno.
• I mentioned this already, but Nick Seravalli had a good weekend, both on (goal and an assist) and off the scoresheet.
• The 12 goals against notwithstanding, a couple members of the defense corps - the pairing of Brian Dolan and Carey Bell in particular, but also Rich O'Brien with three goals - had good weekends. Kevin Miller returned to the lineup and helped the struggling power play.

The results, however, turned us all back into scoreboard watchers, if only briefly. It all worked out in a way that means the Icers' tournament hopes are probably not in jeopardy - but we will be playing a better team in the first round than we would have otherwise. I'll get more into that tonight or tomorrow with the final Scoreboard Watching feature.

Weekend Observations: Ohio

Collegian weekend recap // Athens Post weekend recap // Athens Post blog (Friday and Saturday) // Friday box score // Saturday box score // Photos

So what now? I don't know. I do know what not now - a hotel room in Newark, DE. I haven't booked one yet. I thought about doing it this week, I didn't, and I'm now glad I didn't. Not because I don't think the Icers will be there, I still do, but there's that little twinge of doubt now. The twinge of doubt that comes from the master plan you had laid out for the semester derailed on the first weekend.

Some of you are probably asking "what's the plan now, genius?" I'm going to get out of the plan business for a little bit and just say that we gotta win games. Plain and simple. The Icers visit Robert Morris (PA) next weekend, and the Colonials are a dangerous team. I'll get into why a little bit more as the week goes on, but you can start with the fact that they manage 4-5 goals against the likes of Rhode Island and Delaware with some regularity. So get two wins there, then we can start talking about the big picture again.

Okay, as much as I don't want to, I have to talk about the games. It's the unpaid job I hired myself to do, after all. If you don't want to read about the games, here's a link to a video of a talking (and swearing, fair warning for the kids) cat. Enjoy.

I really don't have too many answers right now, and there wasn't all that much good to take from either game. I'm still a little stunned as I'm writing this. But let's talk it through and see what comes out. I'll start things off by tooting my own horn a little. On Friday, I said:

The ability of Penn State to break through [OU's penalty-killing forwards] with a sort-of-struggling power play might be the key to these two games.

Yeah, pretty much.

Bird Arena has a neutral zone about the size of Greg Windsor, which really makes games there play out almost like that inferior sport of basketball - you generally have to be able to create offense and defend it in the half court to have success. And this is multiplied by about a billion when you have an extremely physical game filled with penalties. In other words, you're going to need to cash in your power plays, and Penn State didn't, going an anemic 1-for-13 over the two games. The one came in Friday's third period, after the game was probably lost, when Chris Cerutti redirected Tim O'Brien's point shot (shortly after Dominic Morrone made a great play to keep it in the zone, I always like to point those out).

It seemed like we struggled with OU's aggressive forecheck for long stretches - when we established ourselves in the zone, we were able to move the puck effectively and get it towards the net, but that didn't actually take place very frequently.

Flipping that around a little bit, Penn State took entirely too many bad penalties, defined for my purposes as retaliation. Kevin Miller was a culprit in that department Saturday, taking three of them. I'm sure you're aware of the phenomenon of "beer muscles," but to me, Ohio's always had "Bird muscles." In that barn, in front of those fans, and especially when playing Penn State, they're a different team than when they come to the Ice Pavilion or when we happen to meet at nationals. The bad penalties sort of indicate to me that we weren't ready for the Bird muscles and weren't ready to fully match their intensity, especially on Saturday.

Some guys that did: the line of Morrone, Chris Pronchik and Paul Daley set a good tone early on Saturday. Tim O'Brien, who always brings it, was in on all three goals over the weekend. I thought Carey Bell stood out among a group of defensemen that had a pretty rough go of things generally. Penn State was outshot 86-42 for the two games - I'm not sure when I last saw that stat that lopsided against the Icers, if ever.

The ongoing goaltending saga was once again a storyline as well. I don't know how to psychoanalyze goalies, I'll get that out right up front, but here's what I saw out of Teddy Hume on Friday: a goalie that can still play, but still has pretty fragile confidence. He was good at the outset - really good actually - as OU dominated early. He was in control, out in the white ice, reading plays well, not giving up rebounds. Even after the first goal, he remained unrattled. That came about because the Icers missed chances to clear, and two great passes and a flat-footed defense later, Michael Schultz was alone in front, where he made a nice move around Hume.


The weekend in a nutshell: Right before that first goal Friday. Puck circled. Taylor Cera is the closest, but he had just changed direction off the boards and lost the race to a closer-to-full-speed Tyler Pilmore, who is a couple seconds away from an assist here. You can also see Nick Rostek lurking behind the defense. By the way, is there another good ACHA team that relies on their top guys as heavily as Ohio?


That was frustrating. But Hume shrugged it off and continued to stand tall, even stoning three decent shorthanded chances on one PSU power play late in the first. The backbreaker, to me, was the second goal, five minutes into the second period. This time, Pilmore finished off a scamble in front that started with a Zack Barbis blast from the point on the power play. Two more goals shortly after - Zach Tisdale collecting garbage on the backhand, and Schultz with his second off a clean faceoff win by Rostek 17 seconds later - and Hume was done.

Matt Madrazo came in and shut the door the rest of the way, then started and finished Saturday. The kid played his guts out too - Tim Thomas style - and his 38 of 42 stat line (along with 19 of 19 Friday) doesn't do him justice. He even managed to block out the OU fans in Section C telling him various things he allegedly likes to do with donkeys long enough to pull off something that has to be a highlight for any goalie - making a save so fantastic that the goal judge deems it impossible and activates the red light anyway. In between the great saves was Schultz from Pilmore three times, Barbis with a laser that Madrazo actually got most - but not enough - of, and Jared Fuhs on an empty net.

Remember at the beginning of the post when I said I was out of the plan business? Well, just in case you aren't:

7. Rhode Island - Split vs. West Chester, 4-2 and 3-4
8. Minot State - Idle
9. Oklahoma - Idle
10T. Oakland - Spilt vs. ACHA D2 Grand Valley State, 3-5 and 4-1
12. Robert Morris (IL) - Swept vs. No 14. Iowa State, 2-3 and 0-3
13. Illinois - Split at No. 1 Lindenwood, 1-6 and 3-1
14. Iowa State - Sweep at No. 12 Robert Morris (IL) 3-2 and 3-0

I'd call that textbook "muddled" (nice game there Saturday, Rhody), but probably a net loss for the Icers, with Illinois taking down No. 1 (ending a 17-game winning streak in the process) and ISU sweeping a quality team. Like I said before though, none of this matters if we don't start collecting Ws in a hurry.

Reminder to OU fans: In two years, we'll have an NCAA program and construction of the best facility in the country underway. You, on the other hand, will still be in the ACHA, will still choke at nationals every year, and will still be completely irrelevant, except when people are confusing you with Ohio State.

Finally, one more thank you is in order to Steve Penstone for inviting me on during the first intermission of Saturday's broadcast - I sincerely hope your equipment survived my nasally voice! For the uninitiated: here's the recording, my segment starts 36:45 in.

In Defense of Teddy Hume

Today's Collegian article went above and beyond the typical mid-week "Icers say taking penalties is bad," "Icers looking to curb-stomp somebody," or "Icers have balanced scoring" articles - yep, we now have a full-on goaltending controversy:

The coaching staff has yet to announce who will be starting and who will be backing up against West Chester on Friday night.

It's not like it was hard to see this coming. Teddy Hume was pulled from his last two starts after giving up  five goals on 17 shots against Ohio in a 6-3 loss and three on 18 shots against Liberty in a game Penn State rallied to win 7-3. Freshman Mathew Madrazo then got the start in the Icers' last game and played well, despite a 3-2 loss to Liberty last Friday. Even back at the Blue-White game, while Hume was the clear-cut starter going into the season, coach Scott Balboni almost went out of his way to say Hume was on a short leash in an otherwise glowing piece:

That said, if Hume falters at all, Balboni said there are three capable goaltenders — senior John Jay, sophomore Dan Ivanir and freshman Matt Madrazo— ready to step in and play if needed.

Ooooh, foreshadowing in hindsight. Here's what I said about Hume's struggles recently:

By the way, yes, I'm fully aware that Hume has been pulled in his last two starts. I didn't even mention it in my Ohio Weekend Observations, nor did I mention it until now in this post, because I really don't consider it an issue. Hume is a great goalie who was largely victimized by bad play in front of him. Period.

Admittedly, I've softened a little bit on that over the last couple days. One thing always happens in a goaltending controversy, without fail. Fans of the incumbent goalie will talk about how bad the team is defensively, point out that X number of goals were caused by turnovers, etc. while fans of the other guy will point out that hey, you're still allowed to make saves after turnovers, great goalies bail out their team once in a while. I was guilty of falling into that trap, because I'm a fan of Hume's. It's never quite as clear-cut as you want to believe though.

However, I still feel like you have to stick with him going forward. Here's why:

1. Until his last two games, Hume was playing tremendously. 6-0-0 record, 1.81 goals against average, 0.932 save percentage. He was at his best on October 22nd against Ohio, letting only one goal by during a game in which the Icers were badly outplayed for long stretches. The guy didn't go to bed that Friday night and forget how to tend goal.
2. A few Penn State goalies in the past have been game managers. Make the saves you're supposed to make, let the guys in front of you handle the rest. Hume is not one of those guys, he has the potential to steal games in a way maybe not seen at the Ice Pavilion since Mark Scally. Exhibit A for me would be the October 10, 2009 game against Ohio - check out the situations Hume and the penalty kill had in front of them there, from the second period to late in the third to overtime. The Icers really had no business winning that game, but they did, largely thanks to Hume. My reason for pointing this out: in the new ACHA, Penn State doesn't out-talent everyone else. The hard reality is that we're probably going to need our goalie to steal a game (or two) like that come March against the likes of Lindenwood or Davenport to win an eighth national championship. Hume's proven that he can be a guy who does that.
3. Who among the other three goalies has done enough to take the job? Madrazo did play well, yet not well enough to win. Dan Ivanir has barely been tested, as his two appearances were against a completely out-of-their-depth Drexel team and after Hume was pulled against Liberty, where he faced all of six shots in half of a game. John Jay was the guy off the bench against Ohio, stopping 14 of 15 in a game that was already lost. Good, sure, but job-stealingly good?

An Emotional Problem?

With this post, I'm going to do a little exploration on something I've been thinking about for a couple weeks, really, dating back to the Central Oklahoma games. One disclaimer before I start: None of this is meant to suggest that anything less than the highest level of intensity is needed to succeed in hockey. But that intensity needs to be productive intensity.

When my brother and I were kids, we'd often play one-on-one basketball in the driveway. We were pretty equal as players, but I knew I could get in his head and throw him off his game, which I often did. Nobody would question his intensity when he was throwing the ball at my head and storming inside. I probably won more often than I should have because of it. And if he tried to reciprocate? I'd laugh and keep playing.

That little glimpse in my childhood isn't meant as bragging (if anything, it makes me look like kind of a prick, which I was), just to point out that people handle emotion differently. It makes some people better, some worse. Same goes for teams as a whole - teams after all are just a group of people that (hopefully) are united around a common purpose.

I believe that the Icers are at their best when playing with smart, controlled intensity. When they're out to prove a point or make a statement, look out. For them. Let's examine:

Central Oklahoma

Paul Daley was one revenge-minded Icer:

“We want to bury them. We want to let them know that last season, the loss was a fluke and show them how good we really are.”

The result: A sweep for Penn State, although UCO is now 3-9-1 and both games were tighter than anything UCO had played against a decent opponent to that point (they did play a one-goal game with No. 2 Davenport over the weekend, so maybe that young team is maturing).

Ohio

Teddy Hume seemed preoccupied with the opponent's then-No. 2 ranking and the magnitude of the games.

“This is definitely our biggest series of the year. No questions asked, it’s always a battle when we face-off.”

and...

“They deserve the ranking. But we feel we deserve it too and we are going to try and take it from them.”

The result: The Icers get roughly one good period in two games, managing a split with the Bobcats.

Liberty

The Icers needed to one-up Liberty's physicality, according to Daley:

“In this game we’re going to be forced to play physical. We won’t have a choice, that’s just the way they are. We’ll try to outmatch them, be more physical than they are and hopefully we’ll just give them a taste of their own medicine.”

And in the aftermath of the Ohio series, he had this to say:

“This is not the Penn State team we are. Now, we have to go out and show the league what we're about.”

The result: See above, for the most part.

Honestly, I'm not sure whether I'm right about any of this - I could be reading too much into a few quotes, misreading context, jumping to conclusions. I readily admit that. And a disproportionate number of the quotes came from one guy (I easily could have used Daley for Ohio too), so maybe this isn't a "team" issue. But I do feel like the team that I've watched the last few weeks seems to favor putting opponents through the glass (as Rich O'Brien did against Liberty Thursday night), playing up to rankings and "showing people what they're all about" over precise execution and productive intensity, hallmarks of previous Penn State teams.