Three Stars: April 29-May 5

Scott Wilson, a 2011 Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick, may lead his River Hawks into the PIA in the fall

3. Ryan Patrick Named Pegula Ice Arena Hockey Director
(gopsusports.com)

Former Icer Ryan Patrick is the new Hockey Director for Pegula Ice Arena.

Patrick will oversee and implement all aspects of the community's youth, student and adult hockey programs. He will manage the facility's learn to skate and play hockey programs, the youth amateur hockey program and the student and adult hockey leagues. In addition, Patrick will coordinate and organize youth hockey tournaments and high-level independent travel teams.

Patrick, who graduated in 2003, is the son of long-time NHL executive and Miracle on Ice assistant coach Craig Patrick, the brother of former Icers captain and 1999 graduate C.J. Patrick and the cousin of Curtiss Patrick, class of 2004, another former Icer who enjoyed a five-season career in professional hockey. Carrying that family tree a little bit further, Ryan's great-grandfather was Lester Patrick, who has a major trophy named for him and formerly an NHL division as well. Craig, Lester, grandfather Lynn, and great great uncle Frank (Lester's brother) are all in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while those four in addition to great uncle Muzz Patrick (Lynn's brother) have all won the Stanley Cup in some capacity. That's... uhhh... quite a legacy.

That stuff aside, maybe the most striking element to this, at least for me, is how it drives home the idea that a Pegula Ice Arena story no longer automatically equates to a Penn State hockey story, something that initially crossed my mind when that Sara Evans skating show was announced (and the reason this news didn't get a stand-alone post). Basically, that just means that the building is closer than ever to opening.

2. Penn State Selects XOS Digital for Hockey Technology
(PRWeb)

Slow news week when the coaches' video system is your second star? Yeah, pretty much. Still, it's important, and sounds pretty damn cool to boot.

XOS Digital designed both the men’s and women’s hockey video rooms as a one-stop video production center. Once complete, the facility’s video rooms will be fully equipped with edit stations and remote control systems for capturing video directly from the camera systems installed throughout the arena. The control system enables staff to capture HD practice and game footage from these cameras directly into XOS Thunder HD editing system for in-depth analysis.

The XOS Thunder HD platform enables the Nittany Lions to access all game preparation, including video analysis, reports, diagrams and other player development applications from a single interface.

With full audiovisual integration, the Nittany Lions are able to utilize new technologies that provide workflow automation between video editing systems, content distribution and coaching tools. The entire coaching staff will now be able to easily acquire, manage, distribute and display content throughout the facility including the varsity locker rooms, conference rooms, recruiting lounge, team lounge and coaches offices.

“How well we perform is a direct correlation to how well we prepare,” said Head Coach [Guy] Gadowsky. “It’s important to have the right resources and technology to ensure our preparation is efficient and effective. Individual player development is also critical to the team’s success, and our student athletes will be able to utilize these systems to propel them toward their goal of playing in the NHL. We are excited to enlist XOS Digital’s expertise for this project.”

1. 2013 / 2014 PSU Hockey Schedule?
(Blue White Illustrated)

It's just a message board rumor right now, but if BWI poster VaNtyLion is to be believed, 2013 Hockey East Champion and Frozen Four participant UMass-Lowell will be visiting the Pegula Ice Arena this coming season - obviously an instant highlight of the schedule.

Assessing credibility... well, the guy does sound like he knows what he's talking about for the most part. At the very least, he pays close attention, as he is aware of the Three Rivers Classic, the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff, RIT and Army. Issues? He has Air Force making a "return trip" to PSU when that series will be in Colorado Springs after the teams played at the Ice Pavilion back in November. Also, he states that Connecticut will be in town after January's series in Storrs, but tweets from Huskies hockey voice Will Moran laying out his team's non-conference schedule (1, 2) don't include PSU. It's entirely possible that UConn will visit PSU in 2014-2015 to reciprocate, though - one thing I've learned in doing this is that leaked information is never perfect. The only people who have every piece to the puzzle are the decision makers, and I'm pretty sure VaNtyLion isn't Billy Downey.

Verdict: Thumbs up, I buy it.

Speaking of scheduling things, Union beat writer Ken Schott "fully expects" the Dutchmen's already-known series at PSU to take place over Thanksgiving weekend. Makes sense I guess, since the 2012-2013 games at Union were also over Thanksgiving weekend.

Best of the Rest

Allie Rothman, Katie Vaughan, Carly Szyszko and Mary Kate Tonetti will lead the WIHC in 2013-14

2013-14 Executive Board Elected
(psuwihc.com)

Before parting ways for the summer, the Women's Ice Hockey Club elected its 2013-2014 officers, including Allie Rothman (president), Katie Vaughan (vice president), Carly Szyszko (treasurer) and Mary Kate Tonetti (secretary). Trust me when I say that no organization on campus has a better leadership group.

Wisconsin set for 10 home series during 2013-14 men's hockey campaign
(uwbadgers.com)

Want to know for sure who Wisconsin is playing? Here you go. No dates of course, as the Big Ten's entire schedule, when ready, will likely be released as one giant ball of... something. In other words, we're probably not going to know the dates of any of PSU's conference games before they're on GoPSUSports.com.

PSU looking to extend hockey fan base into area
(Williamsport Sun-Gazette)

This is a poorly written and researched (Penn State didn't play a single home game last year? Really?) article, but leave it to Joe Battista to say something to make me include it.

Aside from the monetary gift provided from the Pegulas, Battista said that they have raised an additional $10 million in private donations.

That's a new number, at least as far as I've seen, one that meets that "additional fundraising" goal set way back when the Pegula donation was first announced. Nice.

Former Penn State assistant athletic director Mark Sherburne hired by Lock Haven University
(PennLive)

It's really old news by now (I meant to throw it in last week and forgot), but long-time Penn State athletic department lieutenant Mark Sherburne has been hired as the new athletic director at Lock Haven. Sherburne, of course, spent ten days as PSU's acting AD during the initial fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal in November, 2011, after his former boss, Tim Curley, went on leave while under investigation for his role in the mess. He returned to his previous post as an assistant AD once the Board of Trustees decided that one of their own - Dave Joyner, who controversially moved directly from the board to the AD office - was better for the job, and was abruptly fired a few months later for withholding documents related to Curley.

And yes, that story is still bizarre, even more than one year later.

NCAA bans hashtagged fields, having solved all other problems
(SB Nation)

While my impression is that the vast majority of you are supportive of my covering the ACHA teams at some expense to the NCAA teams (because while it's not a pure zero sum game, it's close to one - any time I spend on the ACHA teams could be spent on the NCAA teams, hypothetically), I do get the sense that at least a few wonder why I bother. Well this, combined with things like that stinkbomb at North Carolina, offers at least a partial explanation, if you needed one. Really, NCAA? Hashtag legislation? Stick to exploiting student-athletes for billions of dollars, you're better at that.

Anyway, guess we won't be getting #OneTeam in Gretzky's Office at the PIA.

Vulcans hockey is back in good standing

Cal U will begin drug testing hockey players
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Cal (PA), after suspending their entire hockey program - including two men's teams and one women's team - over a massive pot bust involving two now-former players a couple weeks ago, has now restored everything back to normal, but with required drug testing for all players. Seems sensible to me.

The Vulcans' top men's team plays at the ACHA Division 3 level and in College Hockey East with Penn State-Altoona and Penn State-Behrend. The women's team, which competes in ACHA Division 2, was Penn State's first-ever opponent back in October and will join a new conference with the WIHC for next season. Both qualified for their respective ACHA national championship tournaments in 2012-2013.

Utah awarded 2015 ACHA National Championships
(universityofutahhockey.com)

At the ACHA annual meetings on Saturday in Naples, FL (which, as always, coincided with the American Hockey Coaches Association meetings), Utah was awarded the 2015 ACHA Division 2 national tournament, which will be played in Salt Lake City. Provided the Ice Lions don't win their first-ever national title this coming season, they'll win it there, book it.

The 2014 D2 tournament is likely headed to Ashburn, VA after the Northeast Region failed to produce a bid during its turn in the four-year cycle. That hasn't been officially announced, however, and is probably still subject to change.

The women's D2 tournament (as well as those for men's and women's D1) will be in Newark, DE this coming season.

News from 2013 ACHA Annual Meeting
(ouhockey.com)

Penn State is now out of the ACHA D1 game of course, but this can still be filed under "interesting to know:" the top men's division will no longer utilize the controversial coaches poll for rankings and will now rely on computers. Hooray for that.

Also, while the format of the national championships will remain the same, the scheduling will be different. The second round, which involves playing from 16 teams down to eight, will now be spread over two days, and the day off between the quarterfinals and semifinals has been eliminated. The end result is that the tournament (which will run from Thursday-Tuesday instead of Friday-Wednesday) will never have more than four games on any one day. That re-opens the possibility of hosting by facilities with only one sheet of ice, something that hadn't been possible since the tournament expanded from 12 teams to 16 in 2005.

Examining the Big Ten Network and College Hockey
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Possibly the biggest story of the last week was the report that each of the six Big Ten hockey schools will receive an extra $2 million per year from the Big Ten Network, in addition to the rather large annual haul all 12 (soon to be 14) member universities receive.

Undoubtedly, most who follow the Big Ten closely are aware of why BTN has been so profitable since its 2007 launch - its insistence on being carried on basic cable within the conference's footprint and the escalated subscriber rates in those states that make adding schools in large TV markets a smart idea. Still, this is a nice primer for those unfamiliar, and it takes things a step further by looking at the implications of the $2 million windfall (again, it should be said, if true) and even argues that we may be near the ceiling of all of this.

Time to drop college hockey's gentlemen's agreement?
(Bucky's 5th Quarter)

Should college hockey coaches back off of a potential recruit after he verbally commits elsewhere or continue to go full Urban Meyer on him? Here's one well-thought-out and discussion-provoking opinion.

Seriously, thanks again, UConn

Ex-Niagara coach MacKenzie to guide UConn women
(Buffalo News)

Chris MacKenzie will attempt to correct Connecticut's women's program after the ouster of Heather Linstad, as the Huskies have devolved into a dumpster fire over the last few years. One that proved quite beneficial for Penn State, in case you've never seen UConn transfers Nicole Paniccia, Taylor Gross and Jenna Welch play.

MacKenzie coached the women's team at Niagara, his alma mater, from 2009 until 2011. The Purple Eagles, of course, would have been one of the Nittany Lions' conference rivals in College Hockey America had NU not chopped the program in 2012.

USA Hockey takes preemptive strike at scandal
(UPI)

USA Hockey has a shiny new zero-tolerance program for abuse, called SafeSport. And Executive Director Dave Ogrean would like you to know that...

"The catalyst for it is absolutely and admittedly a byproduct of the horror of what took place at Penn State University with the football program and Jerry Sandusky."

Is that right? You sure it wasn't something strikingly similar to that, but slightly closer to home?

On Monday January 24th, 2011 USA Hockey's Executive Director Dave Ogrean received a very disturbing email from the parent of a member describing the extremely deviant sexual behavior of Massachusetts Maple Leafs coach Anthony DeSilva. Instead of following through and contacting local law enforcement authorities, Ogrean and USA Hockey allowed a sexual predator to fall through the cracks.

I realize that Penn State is going to be cited as an example of administrative failure by too many people to count for a very long time (in fact, I recently had to write a case study on the Sandusky reaction in one of my grad school classes, which was obviously rather difficult). I accept that much as the bed made on my behalf by others. What I do not accept is a hypocritical attempt to blame the Penn State bogeyman by someone who, when presented with nearly identical circumstances, apparently did little differently.

Basically, nice try, douchebag.

A Long-Awaited Return Game

As I'm sure most of you know, I take great issue with the handling (or, more to the point, lack thereof) of Penn State hockey history through official outlets. So I can't help but laugh at the irony when a small piece of that history is acknowledged, yet part of me wishes it wasn't.

The Penn State club team defeated Fredonia State, 5-4, in come-from-behind fashion Nov. 5, 2011. Penn State fell behind, 4-2, in the second period before scoring three straight goals, including George Saad's game-winner, to secure the victory. Current Nittany Lions Justin Kirchhevel (twice) and Jacob Friedman also scored.

In case you're skimming, note the date there: November 5, 2011. Several hours before the game, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz were charged in relation to the Jerry Sandusky scandal (Sandusky himself was indicted the day before and arrested that day).

I was at the Ice Pavilion to cover the match, and rather than enjoy what really was a fantastic comeback (Steve Edgeworth scored the tying goal on the power play, have to work him in for a mention since he no longer exists on any official level), I spent most of it wrestling with a question: should I ask Guy Gadowsky about the situation after the game? Anyone who fully understood where the next 13 months would take us, to be clear, is lying. But still, it was pretty obvious that this was a big deal - I mean, Gadowsky's boss had just been very publicly implicated in a child sex abuse scandal. How many times has that happened to you? I stood to gain something as well, since as the first person to connect the whole thing to hockey, that post probably would have received a fair amount of traffic.


Safe to say that the guy on the right had a better day last November 5th than the guy on the left.

That night, I decided that I was a blogger, not a journalist. I didn't ask, and I'm glad I arrived at that decision. Gadowsky's a smart guy and undoubtedly would have refused comment, meaning that I would have trashed a fair amount of goodwill points for no good reason beyond journalistic principle and page clicks worth about $16,000 in internet money.

So that's what Fredonia State means to me - that internal struggle and, in my pre-video camera, pre-Quality Inn wifi days, joylessly transcribing quotes at a Starbucks the next morning while taking frequent breaks to attempt to figure out what, exactly, the whole thing meant for Joe Paterno.

Good times.

Needless to say, six weeks later than planned - thanks so much, Hurricane Sandy - I'm ready to re-wire my associations with Tuesday night's deceptively important return trip by the Icers Nittany Lions to Fredonia's Steele Hall at 7:00 p.m.

While this season isn't about wins and losses, the odd weeknight night road game comes at a vital time in the schedule. Somewhat quietly, Penn State (7-8-0, 5-6-0 NCAA DI) has lost six of eight. The last three in that string have been particularly brutal: a home loss to ACHA team Arizona State and two losses at Holy Cross, one despite holding a two-goal lead with 5:17 remaining, the other a 4-1 disaster that ended with the home team's student broadcasters questioning the maturity of the Nittany Lions and their fans.

A tough home game with Robert Morris awaits on Saturday, followed by a rematch with the Colonials on December 28th at the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh, with either Ohio State or Miami on tap for the tournament's second day. Simply put, there's not a lot of breathing room built into the schedule, which adds a great deal of importance to Tuesday night's clash as a "get healthy" type situation. However, according to assistant coach Matt Lindsay, and as reported by StateCollege.com's Ben Jones, the losing hasn't hurt the program's progress.

"It's a learning experience," assistant coach Matt Lindsay said Monday following practice. "You've got a lot of guys playing their first year of Division I college hockey, so again it's an experience.

"I don't know that it feels like a grind at all. With exams coming up and a lot of hockey in a short amount of time, I think our guys have so much energy and enthusiasm being our first year that I don't think that, at least mentally, that the grind comes into play. I think they're just excited about playing the next game and showing people what they've got. I don't get the sense at all that they're struggling to get up for games by any stretch."

Given Lindsay's track record, it's pretty hard to question his assessment. And given the admittedly shorter track record of his Penn State team, there's no reason to think things are an issue at this point - guys like Curtis Loik and Tommy Olczyk work hard regardless of game situations, so why wouldn't that extend to the bigger picture?

Believe it or not, this isn't the first time this season the Blue Devils have hosted a team in its first NCAA year of a transition from ACHA Division 1. Canton, 7-3 losers to the Icers at the 2010 ACHA championships, lost to Fredonia 5-2 in their first NCAA Division III game on October 19th. According to a puck I bought on eBay a while back, former Icers ICHL rival and current-season Nittany Lions opponent Buffalo State played their first home game after elevating to DIII against the Devils as well. I guess Fredonia likes their name in other people's record books. Hey, whatever it takes to get the word out, I guess.

Speaking of the Devils, they're undoubtedly looking at results like Buff State's 3-0 win over PSU that same night as the Fredonia-Canton game and thinking "hey, maybe we can get healthy here." While head coach Jeff Meredith's crew is 5-7-0 overall (3-5-0 SUNYAC), the team has lost five of its last six (including a 7-3 home loss to BSC, in case you're one of the six people who believes in the transitive property in sports). It's fair to say that it has struggled to find offense in the wake of the graduation of Bryan Ross, who finished as the fourth-leading scorer in program history. The Blue Devils have been held to one goal or fewer in half of their games this season, and needed overtime to pot a second score in one other. Mat Hehr has taken over the leading scorer mantle with four goals and eight points, while reigning SUNYAC Rookie of the Week Taylor Bourne has four goals of his own.

Taylor Bourne leads a strong group of Fredonia freshmen. The former Olds Grizzly bumped up against PSU leading scorer David Glen and his Spruce Grove Saints quite frequently in the AJHL from 2009-2012. Photo: Jerry Reilly/Fredonia State

In spite of his team's recent skid, Meredith does feel like his team showed improvement in a split with Elmira last weekend.

"There are a few areas of our game," he said, "that still need some shoring up, namely, our special teams. I thought our first 10 minutes (on Saturday) was the best start of the year. We generated chances, and a lot of them but just was not able to finish them.

"The encouraging thing is that we are getting those chances where six weeks ago we were not. I think there is a lot to be optimistic about and I think the guys are feeling it as well."

In net for the Devils, all three goalies return. Jeff Holloway played last season's game at PSU, surrendering five goals on 27 shots, but Mark Friesen, who has a 3.36 goals against average this season, is the regular starter.

Three Stars: September 10-16

3. Meet #25 Katie Murphy
(YouTube)

I debated whether to headline Murphy on this week's entry reserved for the women's YouTube countdown since I also popped her in below for something else, but I couldn't help it, because we have something very important in common. Third question, if you really need to know (it violates a self-imposed TYT rule to directly say it).

Also this week: Birdie Shaw, Jenna Welch, Sarah Wilkie and Emily Laurenzi.

2. Penn State sports facilities projects on hold
(Centre Daily Times)

In a somewhat under-the-radar story, intercollegiate athletics pulled $25 million from plans to upgrade the extremely-dated McCoy Natatorium and add to the tennis facilities. The student-run committee responsible for spending the facilities fee charged to each University Park student quickly responded by removing their $30 million from the equation as well. The stated reason for the athletic department's move was, in fact, the NCAA sanctions.

This situation illustrates precisely why I'm still keeping my eyes and ears open for potential impacts of the sanctions on hockey despite the party line, which is to point out that the consent decree with the NCAA doesn't allow cuts from non-football sports. The athletic department in this case isn't chipping directly at the swimming and diving teams' budgets, but at the facilities budget, so it's not a violation. I'm fairly certain that those teams aren't particularly happy about this news, though - it surely hurts them from a competitive standpoint, as McCoy is already well below par compared with peer institutions. The bottom line, the reason I included this, is that this illustrates how the consent decree is not ironclad protection for non-revenue sports.

It's interesting...if you had asked me before all of this whether I'd rather have $102 million for hockey from one guy or $102 million for hockey from, say, 50 guys, I would have taken the second option every single time. It's not that I'm not grateful to the Pegula family, of course I am. This blog is named after my gratitude. Terry Pegula, while I don't know him personally, seems as if he has a sincere desire to use his vast fortune to grow the sport of hockey for the right reasons (obviously, there's plenty of evidence of that well beyond State College). He's engaged in the fruits of his generosity, but only as a matter of interest - I don't see him as a micromanager, the type of donor who would call up Joe Battista to demand that someone be fired. I'm just generally wary of being indebted for life to one single guy who, as a result, has largely unchecked power over the program, regardless of that guy's identity.

That said, I've now come around to thinking it's beneficial to have that one guy, at least at this particular moment in history. While the power that Pegula holds can very easily be detrimental under a different set of circumstances, it's reality that just about every athletics and facilities expenditure is under intense scrutiny right now. In that climate, I think it's vital that hockey has an extremely high-profile (largest private donation in Penn State history, celebrity stemming from his ownership of the Buffalo Sabres) backer capable of scaring Dave Joyner and cronies away from harming hockey in a way not possible from fifty $2 million donors - who are also not of one mind and would likely be split on something like repurposing their donations from "hockey only" to "general" if asked. It's not off-the-map crazy to suggest that a hypothetical involving more evenly-distributed donations would have resulted in abandonment of NCAA hockey at Penn State shortly after last November.

1. Penn State Hockey 2012-13 Season- Enemies
(YouTube)

PSU law student Aaron Griffin, who immortalized himself as the sixth person to ever buy student tickets for NCAA hockey at Penn State, assembled this unreal primer on the opposition this season. I'm going to eventually type a lot of words about these teams, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a five-minute video is worth...I don't know, probably more words than I'll have for you.

Best of the Rest

Is that Toaster? I don't think I've ever used Toaster. I like Sutro and X-Pro best.

kpegula
(Instagram)

Hey, remember that time Terry and Kim Pegula donated $88 million (at the time) to Penn State to build an arena and endow scholarships so that the men's and women's ACHA programs could elevate to NCAA Division I? Of course you do, especially since I've already discussed it in this post. Remember how they were given customized Icers jerseys at the press conference on September 17, 2010?

Well, the white one is in good hands, those of Terry's and Kim's daughter Kelly. I wonder if Jessie has the blue one.

Penn State Unveils New Look
(The Pipeline Show)

I'm not going to link every opinion out there concerning the new jerseys, but this one was more detailed than most, and also provides counterpoint to my own opinion.

The TPS guys, before you get too mad at them over this, have been absolutely fantastic to the Penn State program so far, including an hour-long studio appearance by Guy Gadowsky in July and previous interviews of both Gadowsky and freshman forward Reed Linaker. This post still counts as good publicity as well.

College Hockey Roundup: Penn State’s New Threads, NBCSN Schedule, Culture at BU
(The United States of Hockey)

This jersey opinion from Chris Peters generally reflects the non-PSU consensus in my observation: simple, sharp and classy, although maybe a little boring. He did toss in a couple of curious comments, though.

The one deviation from traditional hockey jerseys is the smaller numbering resting a little higher than normal on the shoulders, which is an interesting look. We’ll see how that shows up on the broadcast (As a part-time broadcaster, shoulder/sleeve numbers are crucial to identify unfamiliar players).

The placement of the so-called "TV numbers" is due to the structure of Nike hockey jerseys - one would think that Peters would have noticed that as a guy blogging about Nike-outfitted USA Hockey. Observe:

Clockwise from top left: the Nikewear of Penn State, USA Hockey, Michigan State and Hockey Canada.

As you can see, there's sort of a wedge-shaped area right at the shoulder junction which, due to the way the jerseys are put together, is the best, most convenient place for those numbers. It also limits their size to the space between the top and bottom seams (looking at the edges of the numbers in relation to those seams above, PSU's numbers may be smaller than others, but not by much at all if that's even the case). These weren't design choices made by Penn State out of the blue, and the placement is certainly something Peters should have seen before in his part-time broadcast work (you can almost see him huffing his own fumes as he dropped that parenthetical in, because FastHockey is just like NBC).

While the “We Are Still Penn State” signs might make you (and me) a little squeamish...

Wait, hold up Chris...I thought we were talking about hockey jerseys, not what you ridiculously labeled the "Sandusky-Paterno" scandal and your uninformed opinion of our reaction to it. Stick to fluffing NTDPers and Ryan Kesler while receiving entirely too much credit for it bud. Actually, you can keep being a hack if you want, that's ultimately not my concern, but at the very least, maybe you should try digging a little deeper into the hack toolbox than "express disapproval of Penn State in an unrelated story to try to win over the audience and generate clicks...and make sure you sneak the name 'Paterno' in as well." That one's been dulled from overuse.

Both of those...views are wrong.

Well, they're opinions, so they can't really be wrong...but yeah, yours are anyway.*

Oh, almost forgot...

Hope you puke.

* Yes, I know that last quote is well out of context. In fact, it's from an entirely different subsection of the post.

@t_wea36
(Twitter)

The women's team enjoys conditioning sessions enough to pose for team photos to commemorate them. Really nothing not to like about this group.

katie_murphie
(Instagram)

Speaking of the Lady Icers Nittany Lions women, Katie Murphy and Lindsay Reihl had a little skate baking party Thursday night (for those who don't know, baking new skates helps break them in so that they fit better, and look good, feel good, play good). Of course, skate baking parties are a lot more fun when you're working with these:

Aligning D-III men’s title game with Frozen Four has pros, cons
(USCHO)

Understandably, the powers that be in Division III are concerned with the lengthening of the season required to play their national championship game on the Friday of the Division I Frozen Four weekend. That said, figure it out, because the proposal, which would be effective with the 2014 event in Philadelphia, is a fantastic idea.

Outlook’s NCAA 2012-13 Preseason Women’s Hockey Awards
(outlookhockey.com)

There's probably no need to click through, as PSU gets completely skunked on the preseason CHA awards here. Well, unless you want to learn about some of the top players elsewhere in the league I guess.

LVC ice hockey preview: Goalie Matt Turner
(Stack the Pads)

Matt Turner will bring his sick mask to the Ice Pavilion on October 5th to face the ACHA's Ice Lions. And Derek Meluzio will bring his sick goalie previews to Penn State in the near future to give us a first look at what the troika on the Nittany Lions roster will be wearing.

Pegula Ice Arena Sneak Peak 9/14/12
(Big Froggy 101)

I struggled with the decision to share this because of how completely amateurish they make my PIA photos appear, but holding it back would have only cubed my amateurishness factor, right? Oh well, some country station gets access to the site that I don't for whatever reason. I'll survive. Here's a taste of what the link offers:

Perspectives on Recruiting

According to some, if Guy Gadowsky found a way to win at Princeton, he can find a way to win at PSU.

What are the implications of Penn State's NCAA sanctions on hockey recruiting? Really, at this point, it depends on who you ask. Let's take a quick spin around a representative set of opinions, starting on the pessimistic end of the spectrum.

(By the way, message board "experts" need not apply here. I actually did look at USCHO in an attempt to pull a reasonably intelligent opinion to share. No such luck.)

Negative Impact

CBS Sports ran this piece on Monday, and while the subject was Patrick Chambers and Penn State basketball, the applicability of everything said to hockey should be pretty obvious. Both sports are in the same boat as not directly involved, but guilty by association. The writer talks about sitting next to PSU associate coach Eugene Burroughs at a showcase, seeing the logo on his shirt, and thinking "Sandusky, child rape, coverup." He concludes that if that was his first reaction, surely most potential recruits would see it the same way. The most compelling part of the article, though, was this opinion:

"It will affect [basketball] recruiting in the short-term," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, who already knows what Chambers soon will learn, that it's difficult to recruit to a ruined brand even if the damage done wasn't your fault. Drew, in 2003, took the challenge of rebuilding the Bears program rocked by a murder and coverup under former coach Dave Bliss.

"The people who only know of Penn State what they're reading nationally probably aren't going to be interested in going to Penn State right now," Drew said. "So Penn State might have to rely more on prospects and families who know more about Penn State than what's in the news -- maybe people who had relatives or family members go there, or just people who have spent some time on the campus before all this -- because those people will probably be more inclined to see more than just this situation."

Possible Negative Impact, But Ultimately Okay

College Hockey News managing editor Adam Wodon called into The Pipeline Show Tuesday night to discuss The Scandal's impact on hockey (here's the show's archive page, with downloadable MP3s of each segment - segment one, before Wodon was on, is also worth a listen).

Between the three people involved in the conversation - co-hosts Dean Millard and Guy Flaming were the other two - the consensus seemed to be that recruiting may (or may not, there was some hedging) be hurt on some level in the short run, but in the long run, the program will come out fine. Wodon, at one point, said that "it may take them a little longer, perhaps, to become a power than they might have anticipated," which sort of captures both sides of the coin - power status is still on the table, but delayed. He followed it up with this gem:

"[Gadowsky] recruited to Princeton and they won the ECAC championship and made the NCAA tournament. If he can do that, I'm pretty sure he can still recruit to Penn State."

Ouch, sorry Princeton.

Freshman forward Jonathan Milley and Sheldon Keefe won big at Pembroke.

A Speed Bump

On Wednesday, Pembroke Lumber Kings (CCHL) President/GM/Head Coach Sheldon Keefe tweeted this:

Guy Gadowsky, Matt Lindsay and the staff of Penn State's new D1 hockey program are the perfect people to help rebuild the pride at PSU.

No, he wasn't directly talking about recruiting, but as a guy in charge of a Junior A team (not to mention his specific mention of ace recruiter Lindsay), what do you suppose his context is? Even if the comment wasn't a "recruiting" comment per se, recruiting, whether consciously or not, probably played a big part in developing that opinion. At minimum, it's nice to see some confidence from someone representing a group with a great amount of influence on the process.

Keefe and the Lumber Kings, by the way, were the 2011 RBC Cup winners as the Canadian Junior A national champions. Nittany Lions freshman Jonathan Milley scored both goals in the title game win over the Vernon Vipers.

No Effect

I won't claim to be supremely plugged into the world of uncommitted players to the point where I can deliver any kind of large sample. But the father of one, Edina (MN) High School senior Anthony Walsh, told me recently that "the football mess leaves Anthony no less interested in PSU." I think that statement's important not just for the "no less interested" part, but for the "football" part as well. Clearly, some out there are able to see this as implicating something less than the entire university.

Here's a nice highlight reel of Walsh at his Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) tryout. For more, check out the YouTube channel of 55rudyrudy.



It...Helps? What?

The article that ties everything together and inspired me to do something beyond just dumping this all in Three Stars is this USCHO piece, posted late Wednesday and quoting Guy Gadowsky extensively on the NCAA fallout. Here's his take:

“When [recruits] see how the student body and our athletics program is dealing with this going forward, I think it will mean even more to come here,” he said. “In a strange sense, it’s certainly not going to be immediate, but by the way Penn Staters deal with this, Penn State hockey will become even more attractive.”

Good with me.

Just so I'm not seen as misrepresenting what he said, Gadowsky did also mention some level of concern from both players and parents, but that those issues are usually smoothed over with a campus visit or even a quick reassurance.

I think ultimately the final word, at least for now, is "we'll see." But it is encouraging that, even in close proximity to the worst of days, most still seem to believe in Penn State hockey's potential.

Brandwene, Gadowsky Issue Statements (Updated)

In the first public comments from a "hockey" person since the NCAA and Big Ten sanctions were announced yesterday, women's coach Josh Brandwene released the following statement Tuesday afternoon.

---

Yesterday, the NCAA levied sanctions against Penn State for a failure of leadership that occurred in the past. As the women's hockey coach and a Penn State alumnus, my thoughts and prayers continue to be with the abuse victims and their families. Nothing can change the past, but I am confident of a better future, and I support the commitment the University has made to protect children.

Moving forward, I am also pleased that the Penn State administration has made a full and continuing commitment to support every Penn State varsity sport, including women's hockey. At Penn State, we are one team.

Penn State remains a great university. Looking ahead, I am thrilled with the women's hockey program we are building. The student-athletes who have committed to being a part of this new program are academic and athletic exemplars, and their character is something of which we can all be proud. I am grateful to have them as a part of the Penn State family.

Together we are committed to serving as community leaders and creating a world-class program built on the principles of respect, dignity, pride, and all-out effort. I'm counting the days until we get started!

---

Later in the afternoon, men's coach Guy Gadowsky joined Brandwene in voicing his commitment to the task ahead.

---

As you know, yesterday the NCAA imposed unprecedented sanctions on Penn State for failures that occurred in the past. I am motivated by the professionalism and positive nature in which Football Coach Bill O'Brien is dealing with the recent NCAA ruling. Penn State Hockey stands behind Coach O'Brien, our great University and the best student body in the nation. We are excited to move forward together to build a better Penn State.

One of the greatest things I have learned here is that the Penn State student body is unrivaled by any. I can't wait to see how they rally around the athletic department and show the nation what we are all about.

I greatly appreciate the numerous notes of encouragement that I have received from our alumni and supporters. After speaking with Mr. Pegula, I can assure you that he -- with me and our entire staff -- is totally committed to building our varsity hockey program and supporting our student-athletes as we prepare to compete in Division I and the Big Ten.

---

Hopefully this pair of statements (note that Terry Pegula's support was also mentioned in Gadowsky's version) definitively puts to rest the unfounded speculation I've observed concerning the future of the hockey programs or their personnel. And hopefully, you're as excited as I am to see these guys coach NCAA hockey at Penn State this fall.

#PennStateHockey

As I may have mentioned before, one way I stay informed on things is by routinely searching "Penn State hockey" and related terms on Twitter. I thought Monday night would be an awful time to check up on that, for obvious reasons. I was dead wrong - in fact, check out some of what I found:

Those ten tweets were retweeted a combined 43 times as of this post's publication which, as many of you know, doesn't capture the full scope of their circulation.

Even though at least a couple of those people are clearly from outside the Penn State community - the guy with "UConn" in his name shouting out UConn-to-PSU transfer Jenna Welch, for example - early indications certainly seem to be that in a bizarre way, The Scandal might ultimately become a good thing for support of the hockey teams. Several other sports may also benefit from the effects, but possibly because of hockey's clean slate at the NCAA level, it seems as if the programs of Guy Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene will see a disproportionate share of the fallout lift. (Out of curiosity, I searched "Penn State basketball" and "Penn State wrestling" as well, and while there was much of the same, hockey's results were the most universally positive in my opinion. Which is great, especially given the concerns I aired out last month.)

I do want to temper this enthusiasm with an admonishment, though. One of my least favorite things about hockey culture is the routine disdain for other sports. Basketball and soccer are usually the popular targets, but for obvious reasons with respect to Penn State, football is now in the crosshairs as well. You can see some bitterness towards football beneath the surface of a few of the tweets above, and I deliberately left out others that took a more direct shot.

If you're a Penn Stater reading this, I hope you realize that this is the time to rally around the entire university, football included. Of course I want hockey to be fantastically supported, but I want it to be because people love the sport and believe in the name on the front of the jersey, the student-athletes representing it, and the coaches and administrators running things. I don't want it to be because people are abandoning the football program en masse and suddenly need new games to attend as a social ritual. Let's rebuild our university, and indeed our collective psyche, in the most productive and supportive way possible - by building up, not tearing down.

NCAA, Big Ten Sanction Penn State

NCAA president Mark Emmert and PSU president Rodney Erickson bypassed the NCAA Committee on Infractions and the Penn State Board of Trustees, respectively, in acting. Concentrated power, indeed.

This morning, the NCAA announced sanctions for the Penn State football program related to The Scandal. The most noteworthy of these are:

• A four-year bowl and postseason ban.
• Scholarship restrictions to 15 per year (from 25) over the next four years and a total of 65 (from 85).
• Immediate eligibility for football players wishing to transfer.
• All wins from 1998-2011 vacated.
• A five-year probation period.
• A $60 million fine, which can be paid over five years.

Reportedly, the university worked with the NCAA to help design this punishment, and PSU president Rodney Erickson has signed a consent agreement and stated that he accepts the penalties. Basically, don't expect an appeal or a lawsuit.

Let it first be said that I could not disagree more with the NCAA's intrusion in this matter. It would have been more appropriately left to the criminal and civil courts, instead of some seemingly unilateral (or bilateral if you count Erickson, who probably just sat at the conference table with his head down most of the time) process that didn't involve an independent investigation of any sort. It relied instead on the Louis Freeh Report, biases, flaws - yes, there are many of both - and all, and on the wave of public opinion it inspired, mostly from people who read Freeh's conclusions without critical examination of the evidence used to support those conclusions.

In doing so, it handed down a punishment that harms numerous people who had nothing to do with any of this. I don't believe the punishment even has much of a deterrent effect, as the ringer PSU has and will continue to be put through from other corners is more than sufficient in that regard. It certainly won't change the "sports is king" culture prevalent at universities nationwide.

I'll leave it to the "overall" Penn State blogs to lace into the NCAA further, though. Hockey is why you're here, so let's get into some analysis of that end of things.

In my judgment, the most significant hockey-centric news came not from the NCAA, but from the Big Ten, which piled on a couple hours later with:

• Official censure.
• Conference probation during the five-year term of the agreement.
• Ineligibility for the Big Ten championship game for the term of the NCAA's bowl ban.
• Forfeiture of its share of the Big Ten's bowl revenue cut during the period of the bowl ban, estimated to be $13 million total.

If that represents the total of the Big Ten's punishment, crisis averted. I've maintained all along that the only punishment from this that would truly cripple Penn State hockey would be expulsion from the conference. Right now, it doesn't look like that is going to happen and Big Ten hockey will march forward as planned. Sorry about your luck, rest of the world (at least one media personality has called hockey a major reason why PSU didn't face that fate). Taking the broad view of things, it appears that the league has accepted the NCAA's punishment as appropriate and has more or less developed their sanctions to fit the spirit of the NCAA version.

College Hockey News may end up as the only entity outside of this blog (beyond fan forums, Twitter, etc. of course) offering analysis strictly from a hockey point of view. Here's part of what they had to say about NCAA sanctions, a hypothetical at the time the piece was written:

[It] would be a hit on the athletic department that could have trickle down ramifications for hockey, in terms of budget and recruiting, and so on.

I agree with that position, contingent on the appearance of the word "could."

The bottom line is this: we don't know. About any of that. The athletic department has been stashing away large surpluses for a while (including just south of $15 million 2010-2011), so it seems as if PSU is capable of taking what amounts to a direct hit of $14.6 million per year for five years without too much suffering. The longer-term concern, of course, is the continued profitability of the football program in light of the sanctions, which largely depends on their ability to remain competitive in spite of the scholarship limitations and possible coming transfers (I don't think the bowl ban will have a significant impact on whether people show up on Saturdays in October - the hard reality is that most bowls are meaningless, and I believe most people realize that). Football alone accounted for about $43 million of PSU's $116 million in revenue in 2010-2011, and that doesn't count items like Nittany Lion Club donations (the second biggest contributor at $18.5 million) that are largely based on football. A lot of non-revenue sports, if not in panic mode just yet, should at least be on notice.

Terry Pegula believes in the dream and in those guys to his left. He's not going to let either be hurt if it came down to it. So, uh, thanks again Terry.

But flipping back to hockey, the stated goal of administration is for it to be self-sufficient. That may or may not happen. Certainly, a paid-off arena and a boatload of endowed scholarships help on that front. If it's not self-sufficient, it becomes dependent on the athletic department's finances to some extent. If it is, administration could attempt to cut costs in order to turn that zero balance into a profit if things get tight enough. But as I've mentioned before, the average Big Ten men's hockey program costs $2.5 million year to run, and Penn State certainly has a guy capable of footing that bill in the absolute worst-case scenario. Terry Pegula won't let Penn State hockey face significant financial harm, I think that's more or less obvious to all.

Recruiting? Short of asking a representative sample of PSU targets how they feel, that's going to be a tough one to assess (I don't plan on doing that - I have no interest in calling uncommitted high schoolers at dinnertime to get a top five, then charging you to read the answer). Sure, we know of at least one case where it's been an issue, but if recruiting lags in the coming years, how much of it is this and how much is "new and (possibly) uncompetitive program?" We just don't have much of a track record from which to develop an intelligent opinion. In any case, Guy Gadowsky didn't seem overly concerned about it recently:

"I think there’s questions – as soon as it broke, there certainly were questions, and rightly so, parents called and had questions about it. Once it was established – Mr. Pegula was great. He came out and said, ‘look, I believe 100 percent in Penn State and what they do, and I am more committed than ever to have the best college hockey facility, I’m committed to that.’ In fact, he stepped up and added more money, and his commitment is fantastic. And I think once that was made public, nothing else was brought up."

I don't really believe the technicality of NCAA and Big Ten sanctions in place significantly changes anything. This has been in the news cycle more or less constantly since last November, and people have already made up their minds on whether to see Penn State as something larger than The Scandal.

Football is certainly the most visible part of Penn State, and has been for a long time. It can even be argued that, despite everything the school has going for it in terms of programs and research, football was the single largest contributor to PSU's academic reputation as well. If you accept that assumption - and I think most do - the school's institution-wide reputation has taken a major blow, regardless of women's volleyball, THON, or whatever "more than football" examples you want to throw out there. Sure we, as Penn Staters, know better, the world at large does not. Unfortunately, the world at large is going to be vital for the hockey programs in many regards, perhaps most importantly in recruiting, but also in terms of things like sponsorships.

At the same time, I think it's important to remember that each sport at a university has its own niche following and is perfectly capable of building a juggernaut program, and the larger following that goes with it, with or without football. Boston University does okay for itself in hockey without a football program, as one example. Several other highly-successful hockey programs operate at schools with an irrelevant football program or without one at all - in fact, it's pretty hard to find Big Football schools that even have DI hockey outside of the Big Ten. Seemingly, the only major impact in cases where football is diminished in some way is that hockey becomes more, not less, important. Sure, people like all teams associated with the school, but at the end of the day, they do compete for time, attention and dollars. And there are really only four college sports capable of enough interest to stand on their own merits (two of those, baseball and hockey, are largely regional, of course).

Penn Staters, most of whom share my opinion on these sanctions - I'll admit to unscientific sampling there - might also react in a way unanticipated by the NCAA: by increasing their support in an act of defiance. That may or may not include football, but it almost definitely would include basketball, wrestling, volleyball and yes, hockey. Certainly, this sign outside of Beaver Stadium over the weekend might represent some indication of that sentiment.

Penn State vs. The World? Fine by me. Fine by most of us, I think, and that's sort of my point.

Despite the unknowns, and there are many, I continue to believe that Penn State hockey can survive and thrive, in spite of these sanctions. In fact, I believe Penn State football will ultimately be okay too once the pound of flesh has been taken, but that's for a different blog.

Three Stars: July 2-8

3. SCSU hockey lands recruit Tedesco with ... the logo
(sctimes.com)

Toronto Lakeshore (OJHL) forward Dan Tedesco has chosen St. Cloud State over Penn State (as well as RIT and Sacred Heart).

It sounds like the St. Cloud State men’s hockey coaching staff had Daniel Tedesco with the logo.

The school’s logo shares similarities with the one used by the Montreal Canadiens. Despite living in the Toronto suburb of Maple, Tedesco’s family is has an affinity for the NHL team that has a big ‘C’ on its jersey.

“Our family is big Montreal Canadiens fans and as soon as I saw the (‘ST’ surrounded by a capital ‘C’ logo), I saw it as a sign that it was meant to be,” Tedesco said. “But I loved everything about the campus, the dorms, the rink improvements really impressed me. Every day we went by the rink, more walls were built up. It was exciting.”

I know of a school that also has a rink with more walls being built up every day. It has a nicer logo than SCSU too. Just saying. Fans of the school winning Tedesco's services, apparently, are displeased with the caliber of the programs recruiting him. I'm displeased with the caliber of program beating PSU for recruits, so call it even.

Anyway, Tedesco might still join the Huskies this coming season, depending on how things shake out with a couple of serious injuries to their forwards. If not, he'll go back to the OJHL for another year.

2. 150 Miles for a Cure...
(nationalmssociety.org)

Women's assistant coach Casey McCullion is new to Penn State, but apparently not to being a Penn Stater, as she's participating in a bike ride for MS on September 29th and 30th. In her words:

I've registered for Bike MS because I want to do something for the people who have been diagnosed, including my friend from Holy Cross (and riding buddy) who lives with MS every day. I want to do everything to prevent more people from learning what it means to live with this disease. Just as I did last year, I am dedicating my ride to him and hope that he will be able to join me (even if it's just for a few training rides)! Today, there is no cure for multiple sclerosis, and with diagnosis occurring most frequently between the ages of 20 and 50, many individuals face a lifetime filled with unpredictability.

This year I am going to take on the two-day challenge - 75 miles each way - a minor challenge compared to those fighting this disease. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society will use funds collected from Bike MS to not only support research for a cure tomorrow, but also to provide programs which address the needs of people living with MS today. Because we can fight this disease by simply riding a bike, because we have chosen to help thousands of people through a contribution to Bike MS, we are now getting closer to the hour when no one will have to hear the words, "You have MS."

If you're able, please consider supporting her in this most worthy endeavor.

1. @KPegula
(Twiter)

Here's your "billionaires are people too" moment for the week. Kelly Pegula tweeted the above picture on Thursday, captioned "My dad playing NHL..." If it's some kind of special team owner release of NHL 13 (available to us peons on September 11th), I don't want to know about it.

What I do want to know: how many of Darcy Regier's decisions he reverses in Be a GM. That would be juicy. Probably a lot.

Best of the Rest

Crawford Architects
(Facebook)

The PIA architects presented Joe Battista with what they called the "Project Passion Award," really just a custom bobblehead of the hockey czar, complete with his playing days afro swag.

I should note that the bobblehead is wearing a jersey different from anything that the Icers or the 1940s varsity team ever used (it does admittedly look similar to the last Icers jersey, minus the words "Penn State"). The smart half of my brain says that architects aren't in the leaking jersey design business, and that they probably just slapped a PSU logo on the front of a generic blue and white sweater...although it does bear an uncanny resemblance to a possible reverse design of this:

Hey, I'm not doing my job if I don't point these things out...

W 2012-2013 Schedule
(Thank You Terry)

On Friday, the women's team Twitter revealed the game times for the December 7th-8th series at St. Lawrence (7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.) and the February 22nd-23rd series at Robert Morris (7:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.). A quick check of the CHA website reveals that the January 25th-26th series at Syracuse had already been set for 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., meaning that all regular season game times for the women's team are now finalized.

Apologies for the self-linkage - the schedule on GoPSUSports.com was not updated for those three series as of the time this post went up.

2012 Golf Tournament
(Google Documents)

It sounds like the Icer Open is joining "attack the scoreboard end twice" on the list of Icers-era traditions relegated to the scrap heap as this year's tournament has been cancelled. While administration does plan to bring back a golf tournament in 2013, it will be part of a "Hockey Valley Weekend Experience" (your guess is as good as mine on that one) and will undoubtedly have a new name.

Also buried in the document: single-game tickets will be limited to a "limited number" of reserved seats, plus 300 standing room tickets. Of course, why stress over that when five-game packages - which cost all of $55 and include priority at the Pegula Ice Arena - still aren't sold out?

Would you send your son to Penn State?
(fairfaxunderground.com)

I suppose this was inevitable, but...

My son is a hockey prospect who is being recruited by several schools including Penn State. Given all of the other available opportunities, it seems pointless to even consider PSU.

Not that I really follow it, but from what I understand, recruiting for PSU football is going pretty well, and that particular program is obviously more directly tied in with current events. If they're surviving, I imagine this to be an isolated incident, and Guy Gadowsky confirmed that recruiting hasn't been an issue on Saturday. Wait, why is it pointless to consider PSU again? Worried about the negative association with the name of the school on the degree? That's fair, and admittedly a concern of mine as an alumnus...

It's really about the fact that since this story broke, it seems there was a great deal of institutional tolerance of Sandusky's crimes.

Oh okay...yeah, a few individuals is just like "a great deal of institutional tolerance." I hope you and your duster kid go somewhere else. Don't need anyone with your genes - or someone so weak-minded that daddy has to hit the message boards to pick a school for him - dragging the team APR down.

@NAIHockey/@KPegula
(Twitter)

KPeg makes a second appearance in this post. Why? For completely owning the NAIH, which is really representing itself as a professional, well-run organization in trying to...trying to what, exactly?

Kelly: Hey dad, something called NAIH said you should fire the whole scouting staff on Twitter.
Terry: NAIH?
Kelly: Yeah, I don't know what that is.
Terry: Well regardless, brilliant idea. I'll get on that as soon as I'm done unloading Derek Roy on Chel. Man it feels good to finally do that.

Seriously, that has to be pretty damn annoying. I saw her use that reply to someone else trying to suggest the Sabres go after Gabriel Landeskog (personal opinion: they should also trade Andrej Sekera and a first rounder to Edmonton for Hall, RNH and Nail's rights). Probably the best way to handle it.

Trouba sticks with word, will play for Michigan in fall
(The Michigan Daily)

Highly-touted 2012 Michigan commit Jacob Trouba, the ninth overall pick in last month's NHL Entry Draft by Winnipeg, was involved in quite a saga last week. First, the Daily, citing anonymous Ontario Hockey League sources, reported that there was only a 50-50 chance that Trouba will end up at Michigan. Then last Monday, citing a diffent OHL source, the paper said that the Kitchener Rangers offered Trouba $200,000 to break his pledge to the Wolverines. The story quickly escalated to the point that the Trouba family felt as if it had to issue a statement reaffirming his plans to head to Ann Arbor in the fall.

Rule number one when dealing with major junior: it's never over. That said, if Trouba does stick with the college route, I don't mind calling him one of my favorite players despite his choice of school. Kid's good enough that he may never face Penn State anyway, as he realistically could be a Jet by 2013.

Those people on the roller coaster aren't even looking. I'd look.

Hersheypark Arena Fire Contained; Roof Damage Should Be 'Easy To Repair'
(Broad Street Hockey)

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...fortunately on Thursday, they did get some water and did not let the motherf***er burn.

Hersheypark Arena is best known as the former home of the Hershey Bears, and many also know it as the edifice where Wilt Chamberlain dropped his NBA-record 100 points in a game. Some two decades before that though, it was the frequent home of Penn State hockey. What was then called Hershey Sports Arena hosted eight of 26 games played by the 1940-1947 varsity team with known locations (of 29 overall), and 16 of 43 with known locations (of 46 overall) when counting the unofficial teams that preceded the varsity years. Even without a Penn State team gracing the ice there since December 5, 1984, Hersheypark Arena probably still ranks in the top ten venues played by PSU hockey teams (just an educated guess - no way I'm taking on that project right now). Also, Mark Scally became the only Icer to ever start an NHL preseason game there. More on that later this week, I hope.

Basically, as a history geek and someone that appreciates one of the last true hockey barns still standing, I'm glad it's okay.

Expert says sanctions unlikely for Penn State

Penn State could pay tens of millions in Jerry Sandusky scandal fallout
(Centre Daily Times)

A couple of CDT items to close things out here, as well as follow up on Friday's post relating The Scandal to hockey. I know that the CDT is paywalling now - I'm still under my 15 pageviews per month limit for out-of-towners, fortunately, but that's why one of the articles is linked from a non-CDT site, in case you were wondering - so essentially:

1. A former NCAA infractions committee chair says that the association shouldn't punish PSU beyond what the legal system provides. He cites the idea that it's outside of the NCAA's scope and also argues that piling NCAA sanctions on to everything else would be "like shooting road kill." Great.
2. Penn State does, as mentioned in the comments to the TYT post, have liability insurance to pay Jerry Sandusky's victims. However, the insurer is apparently resisting payment of costs in at least one case and the amount of the school's coverage is unknown. A more sarcastic "great" fits here.
3. Anything beyond what insurance covers will be paid by interest revenues from loans given to PSU's self-supporting units. Since athletics is one of those self-supporting units, it seems as if its budget will remain safe from that specific expense, beyond the interest it was already paying anyway. Back to straightforward "great."

I think we're safe removing the direct legal costs from the "how does this affect hockey" equation, and I mentioned in the post that I haven't observed effects on operations (including recruiting, for example, despite the link above). That leaves the possible damages to hockey at a) A financial ripple effect from damage done to the football program, likely through lost ticket sales/donations, or possibly sanctions; b) NCAA or Big Ten sanctions that do something beyond simply bludgeon the football program and involve the entire athletic department. And of those, b) seems like a pretty remote possibility right now and a) will be impossible to fully assess for a while. There's also the matter of those $10-15 million surpluses that have been stashed away somewhere for a few years now. I'm not quite ready to start yelling "SUCK IT HATERZ!!!" but I am feeling a little better about my Penn State-affiliated distraction from Penn State than I was even a couple days ago.