Ten Forgotten Stories of the Transition

Penn State's transition from ACHA to NCAA is nearly complete by every conceivable measure, as the public opening of Pegula Ice Arena and the inaugural season for the Big Ten, the last significant milestones, are just about one month away. With that in mind, here's a look back at ten obscure stories (plus two honorable mentions) that may have slipped from the memories of most observers over the three years - yes, it's been that long - since the university announced its intent to sponsor varsity hockey and thanks to the massive donation of Terry and Kim Pegula.

The nature of the stories, of course, is that they are easy to forget - and that includes by me. If you think I've missed something more deserving than what's listed here, let me know in the comments!

Honorable Mention: PIA Groundbreaking

While Pegula Ice Arena's groundbreaking event on April 20, 2012 - notable for Terry Pegula's announcement that he had upped his donation from $88 million to $102 million - hardly qualifies as a "forgotten story," one quirk of the proceedings does. The two men's players made available to the media that day to talk about the arena were goaltender Matt Madrazo and forward Justin Kirchhevel, neither of whom lasted on PSU's NCAA roster until its opening.

Honorable Mention: Pennsylvania Puck

On October 1, 2011 and following a healthy buildup, Pennsylvania Puck (papuck.com) officially launched with the promise of delivering the best coverage available of Keystone State hockey. Although it tended to be a bit too focused on the AHL's Hershey Bears, it came through for the most part with an interesting mix of behind-the-scenes features, how-to videos, first-person blogging and more conventional reporting (arguably its most notable Penn State-related article concerned then-broadcaster Steve Penstone).

Rather suddenly and after only five months, the site shut down, citing traffic and ad revenue that did not meet expectations. PA Puck still maintained Twitter and Facebook accounts that shared hockey news from around the commonwealth after discontinuing its site content, but on Monday announced that those would be stopped as well.

10. Reed Linaker

Given the way his story suddenly re-emerged in June, it's possible that Linaker doesn't qualify as "forgotten" right now, although he will certainly re-enter that territory in time. The skinny: Linaker committed in May 2011 and, as that made him the first pledge for the 2012-2013 season, he became the first pure NCAA player and first scholarship player in Penn State hockey history.

However, before his freshman season began, the Albertan abruptly disappeared from the PSU roster, and although he attended games in a suit, he never played in one. As it turned out, Linaker was not cleared to play by the university's medical staff due to a heart issue (Linaker, for his part, disputes the assessment) and was not allowed to join the team. He eventually left school and will sit out the 2013-2014 season while continuing to explore other college options both north and south of the Canadian border.

9. The Blowout at RMU

Contrary to popular belief, the Penn State women did not play Robert Morris for the first time on November 10, 2012 at the Ice Pavilion. The meeting in question actually took place the previous year, on September 23, 2011, at RMU's 84 Lumber Arena as an exhibition opener to the final Lady Icers season. Although PSU's team included future NCAAers Kate Christoffersen, Tess Weaver, Katie Murphy, Madison Smiddy, Lindsay Reihl and Cara Mendelson (Taylor Gross and Jess Desorcie didn't arrive until mid-season), the hosts scored early and often in a 12-0 shellacking.

The Colonials' goal scorers included players like Rebecca Vint, Thea Imbrogno and Jamie Joslin who would star against the Nittany Lions' NCAA entry the following year, while Murphy and current Women's Ice Hockey Club president Allie Rothman led the Lady Icers with two shots apiece. RMU went on to win the College Hockey America playoff title, so it's not like they were a terrible team.

8. The CCHA "Invitation"

In a bit of a bizarre maneuver - particularly since Penn State had not yet announced its intent to elevate hockey to varsity status - current Michigan State coach Tom Anastos, then the commissioner of the CCHA, told the Detroit News in August of 2010 that he'd love to have the school in his league. "They are a very attractive choice - very attractive," Anastos said. "They're in a different market than we're in, more and more U.S. players are on college rosters, and there's tremendous growth of the sport in Pennsylvania."

The quote actually hurt PSU in the public's estimation. One year earlier, the CCHA had rejected an application from struggling independent/cause célèbre Alabama-Huntsville, and in tandem, the two events led many to speculate that the 11-team league was "saving a seat" for PSU, to UAH's detriment. The CCHA met its demise after last season when the later-formed Big Ten took away Michigan, MSU and Ohio State (as well as Penn State) and other schools followed in jumping ship. Anastos, in all likelihood, saw that outcome in his crystal ball a couple years ahead and, without regard to UAH's application, was doing what he could to preserve his conference.

7. Tim Carr

Like Linaker, Carr was a first - along with Jake Friedman, he was the initial Penn State commit following the Pegula donation. Unlike Linaker though, Carr actually played at PSU, suiting up in three games as an Icers freshman in 2011-2012 and going 2-1-0 with a 2.00 goals against average, a 0.919 save percentage and a shutout of Rutgers. The product of Pine Bush, NY had enjoyed a great campaign with the EJHL's New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs the season before, earning a good chunk of minutes in a tandem with current Boston College netminder Brian Billett. As a result, many (guilty) pegged him as a significant contributor to the inaugural Nittany Lions, but he quickly fell behind Matt Madrazo and P.J. Musico in the Penn State crease and never recovered.

Over winter break and just before the Icers' outdoor game against Neumann at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, Carr transferred to NCAA Division III Western New England University. In a season and a half with the Golden Bears, he has compiled a 7-8-1 record, a 2.94 goals against average and a 0.919 save percentage.

6. Name The Student Section

Prior to and throughout most of the 2012-2013 season, there was a push from the fine folks in the athletic department to develop a name for Penn State's hockey student section. In addition to the standard social media solicitations, there were suggestion boxes set up at the Ice Pavilion during games. Given that we haven't heard a thing about it in roughly nine months, it's probably fair to consider the effort abandoned. And I'm fine with that. After all, PSU's well-regarded football student section doesn't have a name. The lesser-regarded basketball student section does have a name, one that does little other than draw out snarky hoops loyalists when an "ill-informed" journalist dares to use "Nittany Nation" in any sort of general context. To paraphrase noted vampire hunter Abraham Lincoln, better to remain nameless and be thought a fool than to come up with a really terrible name - The A-Team at Michigan State, for example - and remove all doubt.

5. The Shoot Twice Founders Club

The what? Yeah, pretty much. One early rendering of Pegula Ice Arena (below) included a large banner for the mythical association fronting the upper level. However, as I'm sure all of you know by now, the "shoot twice" end is, in actuality, home to the student section and not the Founders Club - and it looks nothing like what is depicted. Although the rendering quickly became dated, it remained a favorite among bloggers and media well past its sell-by date, possibly due to its showing a packed bowl with a game on the ice (something that was generally not the case with other, more accurate versions). The Founders Club was still receiving circulation as recently as January, even with the actual arena over halfway complete.

4. PegulaVille

In July 2012, then-junior John Romano initiated a movement for a student hockey campout, similar to the well-known Paternoville Nittanyville for football games. There was a Twitter account, which quickly gained a couple hundred followers. There was a Facebook page. There was some publicity, including a pretty cynical Three Stars entry on this blog and a much more positive turn in the Collegian that included quotes from Connor Varley. Then, shortly after the Nittany Lions' inaugural jersey unveiling event that September, it went poof faster than Keyser Soze and hasn't been heard from since.

3. Mark Johnson

The last, frantic days of the search for Penn State's first NCAA men's coach in April of 2011 were truly a spectacle, one that gained national interest as the college hockey world waited to hear which of finalists Guy Gadowsky, Scott Sandelin and Mark Johnson would get the nod.

The choice, obviously, ended up being Gadowsky, but Wisconsin athletic director and noted windbag Barry Alvarez stirred up controversy when he claimed days later that Johnson had received an offer from PSU and turned it down to remain the women's coach at UW, his alma mater. Was Gadowsky a Plan B, or even a Plan C (Sandelin and Minnesota-Duluth, his employer both then and now, remained silent on the issue)? Not so fast. A couple weeks after Alvarez's comments, Johnson went on the record to dispute his boss' claim of an offer and even said that he was relieved at not having to face a difficult choice.

2. The 2011-2012 Co-Coach Plan

When Gadowsky was hired, he did not directly replace then-Icers coach Scott Balboni. In fact, the two were listed as co-head coaches for 33 extremely awkward days. The idea, initially, was for Balboni to remain as the game-day, ground-level coach, allowing Gadowsky and his staff additional time to recruit while also evaluating players and implementing systems. Fortunately, sanity eventually won out: Gadowsky expressed a desire to take on the whole ball of wax, and Balboni obliged by resigning.

1. Jessi Hilton

While Penn State has had a couple of traditional major junior defections already in the forms of Thomas Welsh and Conor Garland, Jessi Hilton was sort of the backwards version of that. In early July 2011, and at the same time as Kenny Brooks, Hilton committed to PSU.

He was with the AJHL's Sherwood Park Crusaders at the time, but had previously played 12 regular season games with the WHL's Calgary Hitmen during the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons, which not surprisingly presented issues. Quietly, Hilton disappeared from the Nittany Lions' commit list just one week later, when the NCAA wouldn't grant his appeal concerning those "professional" games - even if the appeal was granted, he still would have had to sit out a full season plus 12 games. Fortunately, the Hilton story has a happy ending, as he wound up at the University of British Columbia (the CIS is okay with major junior participation and UBC, by the way, is where former PSU women's player Katie Zinn transferred) and scored 10 points in 22 games as a freshman last year.

UPDATED: Lost in the Flood

Josh Daley helped UW-Stevens Point to an upset of third-ranked UW-Eau Claire on December 1st.

UPDATED 12/23, 5:15 P.M.: The original version of this post did not include former Icer Dan Meiselman, now playing at NCAA Division III Connecticut College. Special thanks to Icers great Paul Daley for pointing out the omission.

Way back in the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons, a favorite pastime of bored bloggers and their friends was guessing which Icers and Lady Icers would make the jump to the inaugural NCAA teams. There were consensus picks (Tommy Olczyk, Bryce Johnson, Nate Jensen, Taylor Holstrom and Justin Kirchhevel were generally stipulated on the men's side once they were on the team) and also plenty of disagreement. But regardless of the various player assessments thrown out there, everyone seemed to be on the same page in one significant way: there would be bloodshed. Probably lots of it, with only a tiny number of players moving up and many, many more being discarded.

It didn't really play out that way, at least not to the extent envisioned. A grand total of 35 players who played for the Icers or Lady Icers between the donation announcement and the opening of the NCAA era didn't make it to senior day as a member of the highest-level team at Penn State. There are 24 players on one of the NCAA teams who played for the Icers or Lady Icers. The nature of that reality depends heavily on perspective, but I don't think anyone on the outside expected anything close to a 40 percent keeper rate. A good number of tough conversations and hurt feelings along the way were inevitable, but I think both coaching staffs deserve to be commended on their handling of the transition from a numbers perspective.

In the interest of remembering the contributions of those 35 players who did not use up their eligibility due, at least in part, to the transition process (obviously, there are differing sets of individual circumstances in each case), let's put all of their names out there.

From 2010-2011 to 2011-2012

Men: Forwards Andrew Duval, Mike Broccolo, Joe Zitarelli and Alan Clark; defensemen Mac Winchester, Ryan Erbe and Kevin Miller; goaltender Dan Ivanir.

Women: Forwards Michelle Clarke and Lindsey Shuler.

From 2011-2012 to 2012-2013

Men: Forwards Tim Acker, Josh Daley and Dan Meiselman; defensemen Ryan Seibolt, Steve Edgeworth, Forrest Dell and Brandon Russo. Additionally, goaltender Tim Carr transferred from Penn State in the middle of the 2011-2012 season.

Women: Forwards Abbey Dufoe, Kirsten Evans, Katharine Gausseres, Denise Rohlik, Sydney Sherman, Carly Szyszko; defenders Lisa Frank, Paige Harrington, Julie Horn, Allie Rothman, Ashton Schaffer and goalies Katie Vaughan, Sarah Eisenhut and Mary Kate Tonetti. Forward Christina Hurle left the team right around the time Carr did on the men's side, with forwards Sam Summers and Alex Warren-Caldwell also appearing on the roster at the beginning of the season but not at the end.

So what became of them?

It might make this post a little anticlimactic, but the majority (19 of the 35) simply elected to retire - the word they like to use - and finish their Penn State degrees while still being invited to hockey parties. Not a bad way to go out.

Most of the remaining 16 are playing for PSU's ACHA Division 2 teams, the Ice Lions and the newly-formed Women's Ice Hockey Club. Since both teams receive regular coverage here and it would be at least partly redundant for me to talk about them in any great depth, I'll just list their stats so far this season.

First up, the women, who are 4-1-1 at winter break and ranked No. 5 in ACHA WD2.

No.	Name	GP	G	A	Pts.	PP	SH	PIM
14	Carly Szyszko	6	2	1	3	1	0	2
6	Mary Kate Tonetti	6	1	2	3	0	0	4
9	Ashton Schaffer	6	0	3	3	0	0	0
20	Allie Rothman	6	0	2	2	0	0	2
18	Alex Warren-Caldwell	2	0	0	0	0	0	0

No.	Name	GP	Rec.	Min.	GAA	SO	GA	Sht.	Svs.	Sv%
1	Katie Vaughan	5	3-1-1	238.17	0.86	1	4	98	94	0.959
31	Sarah Eisenhut	3	1-0-0	70.77	0.72	0	1	19	18	0.947

Now the men, who wrapped up their fall semester 13-4-1 (5-0-0 MACHA North) and ranked No. 4 in the Southeast Region of ACHA D2.

No.	Name	GP	G	A	Pts.	PP	SH	PIM
46	Joe Zitarelli	18	9	12	21	1	2	6
3	Brandon Russo	18	7	14	21	3	0	28
24	Mac Winchester	18	8	12	20	6	0	28
73	Mike Broccolo	18	6	13	19	1	0	4
77	Forrest Dell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

A very limited number, just four to be precise, sought to continue their hockey careers away from Penn State. Here's an update on how they're doing.

Josh Daley

Forward // 6'2", 185 pounds
Pittsburgh, PA

At Penn State: Daley looked to be one of the stars of the 2011 recruiting class, but never really got consistent ice time during his season with the Icers, playing in just 11 games (and often as a spare forward). He scored twice in a season-opening 12-1 rout of Lebanon Valley on October 7th, 2011, but was rarely heard from after that, putting up just four points over the rest of the season. When he was left off of this season's NCAA roster, he elected to transfer to NCAA Division III Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

After Penn State: At UWSP this season, Daley has played in seven of 13 team games - although he's become a lineup regular of late by playing in the last six after participating just once in the first seven. He has a goal, two assists and ten penalty minutes in all, with the goal and one assist coming in the first period of an 8-0 rout of Wisconsin-Stout on December 7th. As a team, the Pointers are 7-5-1 (4-3-1 WIAC), with the undisputed season highlight coming on December 1st via a 4-3 overtime win against UW-Eau Claire, the third-ranked team in the nation.

Tim Carr

Goaltender // 5'10", 170 pounds
Pine Bush, NY

At Penn State: Along with Jake Friedman, Carr was considered one of the first two "NCAA" recruits, since the pair were the first to commit to play for PSU following the NCAA transition announcement - meaning, of course, that they were the first to come in specifically to take a shot at playing for the DI team. However, he quickly fell behind P.J. Musico and Matt Madrazo on the goaltending depth chart, and departed for NCAA DIII Western New England during the semester break of the 2011-2012 season. Carr played in just three games as an Icer - a 6-2 win at Rhode Island on October 28, 2011, a 9-0 blanking of Rutgers on December 3, 2011 and a 4-3 loss at Liberty on December 9, 2011.

After Penn State: At ECAC Northeast-leading WNE (4-1-0 conference record, part of a 6-5-0 overall mark), Carr has blossomed into a very solid goaltender and is one half of a 50-50 rotation the Golden Bears deploy, with Eric Sorenson picking up the remaining minutes. On the year, Carr is 4-2-0 with a 3.06 goals against average and a 0.915 save percentage. His save percentage ranks first among all ECAC Northeast goaltenders, while his goals against average is fourth. In Carr's two conference games so far, his numbers are even better: 1.50 and 0.958, both tops in the league. He was named the ECAC Northeast's goaltender of the week on November 20th after a 41-save effort in a 2-1 win over Salve Regina on November 17th.

Over the second half of last season after transferring, Carr posted a 2.49 goals against average in five starts and went 2-2-1 for a team that finished 14-12-1.

Tim Carr is now one of the DIII ECAC Northeast's best goaltenders at Western New England.

Paige Harrington

Defender // 5'11"
Mansfield, MA

At Penn State: Harrington was part of a huge 13-player freshman class for the Lady Icers last season, and unlike Daley and Carr, she was an every-game player at PSU, appearing in 26 contests. While the extremely well-liked and sturdy defender only scored one goal during the season, it was a spectacular end-to-end rush that stood up as the winner against Vermont on February 19th and helped clinch the ECWHL regular season championship. Despite those heroics, she was omitted from the inaugural NCAA women's roster and transferred back home to Massachusetts.

After Penn State: Now with ACHA Women's Division 1's UMass, a one-time ECWHL nemesis of the Lady Icers, Harrington has clicked to the tune of a goal and five assists in nine games. This time around, her goal was in defeat (5-4 at Liberty on November 9th), although Harrington hasn't done a ton of losing this season. UMass is ranked No. 7 in ACHA WD1, thanks to a 8-3-1 record that includes a pair of wins over the University of New England, a first-year NCAA DIII program. In the ACHA, UMass rallied from two goals down to tie No. 5 Northeastern 2-2 on November 30th. One week later, they beat No. 1 Rhode Island 2-0, with Harrington assisting on a shorthanded goal to open the scoring.

Dan Meiselman

Forward // 6'2", 205 pounds
Winnetka, IL

At Penn State: The big forward was part of the gigantic 2011 recruiting class, via the EJHL's Capital District Selects. In 14 games as an Icer in 2011-2012, he put up six goals and six assists. Two of those goals were the first scores in a 3-0 win at Oklahoma on January 7th that was pretty important to getting the season back on track after PSU lost two in a row (the Citizens Bank Park game against NCAA DIII Neumann and a shootout stunner against Central Oklahoma) to begin the spring semester. He also had a pair in a 13-2 rout of Rutgers on December 2, 2011, and goal-assist efforts in a win over West Virginia on January 20th and a loss at Delaware on November 18, 2011. Like Daley and Carr, Meiselman took the DIII route after missing on a shot at playing DI, winding up at Connecticut College.

After Penn State: At the New London, CT school, Meiselman has appeared in just one game this season, a 3-2 overtime loss at Williams on December 1st. The Camels, clearly suffering the effects of not having former women's player Jess Desorcie (who, of course, pulled a reverse Meiselman, going from CC to PSU) around anymore, are just 2-5-1 (1-4-1 NESCAC), although they did manage a road tie with 12th-ranked Middlebury on November 30th.

Three Stars: February 7-March 4

3. NCAA men's hockey tournament TV schedule is released, and fans might not be thrilled
(startribune.com)

As the headline states, the TV schedule for the NCAA tournament was recently released. Previously, the championship game was on ESPN with the semifinals on ESPN2. Now they're on ESPN2 and ESPNU, respectively, and NCAA hockey fans are upset. While I do understand that losing a bit of what you had before hurts, I submit that they need to watch a few games on FastHockey or UStream before they complain. Me? I'm still mindblown by the fact that Penn State hockey will be on "real" TV at some point.

2.Five schools to help expand college hockey’s reach
(Shooting For The Show)

A fascinating take on schools that would help grow college hockey - in the event that someone with $88 million shows up on their doorstep.

My list? Despite both cities previously hosting failed DI programs, I think outposts in Chicago and Philadelphia would do well today as large hockey-loving cities that don't have DI in the immediate area. I'd like to see UPenn back (here's a nice read on the history of Quakers NCAA hockey). Their rink is still there and not out of line capacity-wise with the current Ivy programs. I sincerely believe that Delaware (also near Philly) and Rhode Island could step into Atlantic Hockey right now with their current barns, although neither school can handle the year-to-year operating costs (UDel, in particular, is gashing programs).

If you want to stretch the "hockey footprint," I've also seen a ton of growth in some of the ACHA programs in the south, Alabama notable among them. However, I think everyone down there is a little frightened of Huntsville's situation, so it's going to take a lot (of $$$) for someone too far south or too far west to make a move.

1. Pegula Ice Arena: Ruskin 'Constuction is on Schedule'
(YouTube)

Here's the latest on the PIA construction, courtesy of StateCollege.com. Annnnnd boom goes the dynamite.

Best of the Rest

Kristen DiCiocco was the MVP of the CHA tournament.

Robert Morris relishes College Hockey America tournament title
(pittsburghlive.com)

Badgers earn No. 1 seed, host Mercyhurst on Saturday
(Wisconsin State Journal)

Quick CHA update: Robert Morris ended Mercyhurst's death grip on every conference title ever with a 3-2 win over the Lakers in the league tournament's championship game. Brianna Delaney, who also scored in RMU's season-opening win over the Lady Icers, potted the eventual winner late in the second period.

The Colonials' win is a nice result from a PSU standpoint because it clearly establishes the quantity of ground to be made up before the women's team will compete for the CHA crown. And some of that territory has already been gained, thanks to mid-season additions Taylor Gross and Jess Desorcie as well as a nice looking early signing class highlighted by Emily Laurenzi, Celine Whitlinger, Sarah Wilkie, Shannon Yoxheimer and Jill Holdcroft.

Despite losing the CHA championship for the first time, Mercyhurst was still given an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and will be the sole conference representative. The Lakers will open with top-seeded Wisconsin on Saturday. Because the conference does not have enough teams to receive an autobid, RMU gets to be the rare squad that ends its season with a win.

P.S. Assistant coach Gina Kearns' alma mater (Boston University) also made the NCAA tournament by winning the Hockey East championship in overtime against Providence. Just in case you don't want to root for the Evil Empire of Erie.

Where I'm casting my lot.

@AndyBaggotWSJ
(Twitter)

Andy Baggot continues to overkill the Big Ten tournament story long after I can honestly say that I stopped caring. Still, he has credibility on the issue, and I'm happy with this outcome:

PSU Hockey Eligibility Matrix
(Google Documents)

While I linked Andrew Dzurita's attempt at projecting future PSU men's rosters once before, it's well done enough to get another run. Also, he's now linked to his articles about the players.

Tim Carr: Career Statistics
(USCHO)

After seeing only sporadic action in the first month following his transfer to Division III Western New England from Penn State, Tim Carr worked his way into regular duty with a string of strong performances. Over the five appearances following his debut, he gave up seven goals in 268:43 - a 1.56 goals against average. While he then gave up five in a season-ending loss to Wentworth in the ECAC Northeast tournament last Wednesday, he still finished as the team's leader in GAA (2.49) and save percentage (.928). And hey, the coaches like Carr enough to start him in a win-or-begin-your-offseason game.

Three Stars: January 30-February 5

The Ice Lions seniors and head coach Josh Hand

3. Gadowsky says identity players are most important for Icers
(The Daily Collegian)

Sometimes it's tough to give the Collegian their due for the great work they're doing this year (on the men's side, anyway) because articles frequently become dated after the games over the weekend and before I run these posts on Mondays. Grinders, shot blockers, leaders and faceoff guys, however, never get dated.

2. Penstone marks decade as Icers’ voice
(Pennsylvania Puck)

PA Puck took a break from writing about the Hershey Bears' use of foam rollers to cover another team beyond the cursory "give the scores on Monday, and Mercyhurst had a couple CHA players of the week." Crazy, I know. The subject: new Icers Hall of Famer Steve Penstone.

1. On the Fly, Feb. 3
(hockeyyall.com)

First star goes to the Ice Lions, who beat Pittsburgh 4-3 Friday and Monmouth 9-0 Saturday to improve to 24-2-0, a record that includes an active 19-game winning streak. It wasn't easy though, particularly in that first game.

The Ice Lions, ranked No. 2 in the ACHA DII Southeast Region, found themselves trailing 3-0 to the No. 12 Panthers seven minutes into the second period. At that point, head coach Josh Hand made a goalie change to Ryan Demuth, and the Lions roared the rest of the way.

Mac Winchester fired a shot into the top corner of the Pitt net to trim the Panthers’ lead to 3-1 and set up another goal as the Lions closed to 3-2 at the second intermission.

Chris Lewis and Austin Wagoner scored in the third period to complete the comeback. No such drama was necessary the next night as PSU rolled to an easy senior night win.

The Ice Lions will next play St. Joseph's at home on Saturday. But more importantly, votes for the next D2 ranking are due that day. The significance of that particular poll is that the top two teams in each region earn an autobid to the ACHA national championships, while teams ranked 3rd through 10th play off February 24th-26th to determine the other half of the sixteen entries. Penn State, given its current position as the southeast's No. 2 team, its recent spotless record, and its head-to-head win over southeast No. 3 UMBC (3-1 on December 2nd) seems to be a lock to qualify for nationals.

Best of the Rest

@Cmen12
(Twitter)

Lady Icer fans Chris Kunitz and James Neal were at Boston's Prudential Center over the weekend. They ran into Jess Desorcie, Cara Mendelson and Tess Weaver, who graciously agreed to take a picture with them.

Former Wayne State women's players find home at Mercyhurst
(goerie.com)

It's nice to know that former Warriors Jill Szandzik and Gina Buquet are able to play out their college careers at one-time College Hockey America rival Mercyhurst. Others weren't quite as fortunate after the WSU program was ripped out from under them last May.

CBS Sports Network Signs Multi-Year Deal with National Collegiate Hockey Conference
(denverpioneers.com)

Well, there you go. The NCHC, the conference formed solely to attract a television deal, will be on a channel I don't get at least 18 games per year. And allegedly, the conference is paying for production costs. Congrats, guys.

More than anything I think, the NCHC was guilty of overestimating its value to broadcasters before nuking the college hockey landscape. Hockey people look at the conference and see some great programs. But most people look at the conference and see MAC teams, branch campuses, schools they've never heard of, and North Dakota. Fair? Probably not. But it's the hard reality of the situation. Hockey on TV in the U.S. has always been an uphill battle. Hockey played by Colorado College and St. Cloud State on TV in the U.S. is close to impossible.

Before you write off my opinion as Big Ten homerism, please note that I've questioned how lucrative hockey on Big Ten Network will be as well.

The Dark Side of Sports: Exposing the Sexual Culture of Collegiate and Professional Athletes
(amazon.com)

Former Icer Nick Pappas wrote a book that promises to be a pretty engaging (and topical) read.

Elite-level athletes are placed upon heightened pedestals in societies world-wide. At the same time, there is a dark side to these glorified competitors that remains hidden from those outside of exclusive athletic circles. Dr. Nick Pappas' athletic background in collegiate and professional sports has provided insider access, enabling him to uncover an array of disturbing sexually deviant and aggressive behaviors, which have silently thrived for decades in many athlete cultures. These findings, expressed through the athletes' own words, are the result of more than 10 years of cutting-edge research involving in-depth interviews with 142 collegiate, minor, and major league athletes from five prominent U.S. sports.

Tambellini Commits To North Dakota
(The College Hockey Blog)

PSU lost out on the son of Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini.

Vernon Vipers (BCHL) forward Adam Tambellini took an official visit to North Dakota during the series with Minnesota and liked it enough to the point where he decided Grand Forks was the best place to continue his hockey career. He’ll enroll either next year or in 2013. Tambellini is third on the Vipers in both goals and assists, and picked UND over Minnesota, Michigan and Penn State.

Nichols 5, Western New England 1
(USCHO)

Ex-Icer Tim Carr played in his second game at NCAA Division III Western New England College on January 28th. Starter Eric Sorenson was run from the game early after allowing three goals on Nichols' first seven shots, but Carr settled things down in relief by stopping 32 of 34 shots in 52:35 of action.

@MarkHorgas
(Twitter)

Since it's now the week leading up to Icers alumni weekend, here's Hall of Famer Don Coyne with Jaromir Jagr at the Pittsburgh Penguins' 1999 training camp.

Three Stars: January 9-15

Women's coach Josh Brandwene (far right) and staff masterminded a historic upset.

3. UW Athletics statement on future WIAA events
(uwbadgers.com)

We've known for quite a while that the Penn State men will be playing at Wisconsin's Kohl Center next season. What we didn't know were dates. As of now, though, we know that the games are scheduled for February 22nd and 23rd, a Friday and Saturday. The bad news: they might be rescheduled to the 24th and 25th, a Sunday and Monday, to accommodate the state high school wrestling tournament.

Just because it's fun to do: October 20 at RIT, October 30 at Fredonia State (DIII), November 23 at Union, November 24 at Union, February 22 at Wisconsin, February 23 at Wisconsin. And of course, several other games without confirmed dates.

2. On the Fly, Jan. 14: GT Defends at Classic; 15 for Ice Lions
(hockeyyall.com)

We're back from break and yep, the ACHA D2 Ice Lions are still cruising. A 7-2 home blowout of Pitt on January 7th was followed up this past weekend with a successful trip to Virginia. On Friday, Joe Zitarelli's hat trick powered PSU to an 8-2 win over Liberty. Virginia Tech on Saturday proved a tougher test, but the Ice Lions emerged from a shootout as 5-4 victors. Penn State has now won 15 straight games, going all the way back to October 21st.

1. W: Penn State 3-3 at Sacred Heart (NCAA DI) 4-2
(Thank You Terry)

I realize that it's a little shameless giving myself first star - except I'm not giving it to myself, I'm giving it to the women's team. You'd never know it from asking the Collegian or Penn State Sports Information*, but they did something kind of big on Saturday. I can't fix their inexcusable lack of acknowledgement, but I can give my post about it one more go.

* Tip of the hat to the Icers' Twitter and Steve Penstone (during the men's game broadcast on Saturday), both of whom gave the win its due.

Best of the Rest

The next NCAA outdoor game venue?

Badgers vs. Gophers at Soldier Field? Eaves intrigued by offer
(madison.com)

Penn State-Neumann has come and gone. So have Frozen Fenway (UMass, Maine, the Dartmouth women, DIII Norwich, Union and Boston College were the winners of those games) and the Frozen Diamond Faceoff (Michigan defeated Ohio State 4-1). Naturally, this means it's time to talk about next year's outdoor games. A Miami-Notre Dame, Wisconsin-Minnesota doubleheader at Chicago's Soldier Field? Sure, why not?

Upperclassmen post big numbers in ECAC West
(USCHO)

One final (?) note from the Icers' outdoor game: Neumann tendy Ross MacKinnon was awarded with USCHO's ECAC West Goaltender of the Week accolades for the period including his outing against PSU.

Arizona hockey having success after drastic off-season change
(Arizona Daily Wildcat)

With wins against Iowa State, Oklahoma, and Ohio this season, the Arizona WILDcats are well on the way back after the painful but necessary coup against Leo Golembiewski during the offseason. Prediction: they sneak into nationals and make a pretty good team sweat.

...it's also documented fact that jerseys with official school logos are 58 percent better looking.

Lindenwood taking lumps at DI level
(ncaa.com)

Speaking of other teams, the LU women continue to struggle mightily in their DI debut season at 4-21-0. Will Penn State do better? I think so. While the Lady Lions were the class of the ACHA before moving up, PSU has had much more time to prepare for the jump and already has more NCAA experience on the roster than did Lindenwood.

Hamilton breaks away in the final period to claim a 5-1 victory over Western New England
(wnegoldenbears.com)

Former Icers goalie Tim Carr made his WNEC debut last Tuesday in a 5-1 loss against Hamilton. He stopped 33 of 37, but four third-period goals from the Continentals (one on an empty net) proved the difference in the game.

VIDEO: Savannah Tire Hockey Classic: South Carolina beats The Citadel
(Savannah Morning News)

Michael Jonas, a Penn State graduate who didn't play hockey while an undergrad, is now playing for ACHA Division 3 South Carolina in grad school. And he scored four times in a Gamecocks win over The Citadel at a showcase in Savannah, GA

NCAA Tournament Primer
(College Hockey News)

Get yourself educated and purchase a calculator - the NCAA Division I men's tournament works a lot differently than the ACHA (thankfully).

Carr Transfers To Western New England College

When the Icers announced that everyone was to dress for the game at Citizens Bank Park Wednesday, it was a great gesture. But when those numbers didn't include goaltender Tim Carr, it raised an obvious question.

Today, that question has been answered, as Carr confirmed to Lions 247's Andrew Dzurita that he has transferred to Western New England College, an NCAA Division III program.

This would normally be the part of the post where I'd write a eulogy on Carr's Penn State career, but the reality is, there's not that much to write. Carr played three games as an Icer, the first of which was October 28th at Rhode Island when he stopped 19 of 21 in a 6-2 win. He followed that up with a 15-save shutout of Rutgers on December 3rd and a 4-3 loss at Liberty on December 9th (a game in which the issues extended well beyond the goaltender). He also leaves us with one of the great PSU masks of all time.

Carr, of course, committed to Penn State last February 28th and, along with Jake Friedman, was considered one of PSU's first recruits with NCAA potential. It's probably worth noting that this happened nearly two months prior to Guy Gadowsky's hiring, so it was a likely "no promises" situation, and it became apparent rather quickly that Carr was buried behind Matt Madrazo and P.J. Musico. With guys like USHL goalies Matt Skoff and Eamon McAdam coming in the next couple years (and with Madrazo, a sophomore, being the furthest into his career of the group), the depth chart wasn't getting any better for him in the future, either.

He came to PSU from the EJHL's New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs, where he carried a 2.40 goals against average for the league champs. Now though, that NCAA potential will be played out at the DIII level where he'll join 14 other former EJers with the Golden Bears. The Pine Bush, NY native's old and new schools actually have a small bit of series history, with the Icers taking 12-3 and 6-1 decisions in 1999-2000 and 2001-2002.

Same here. Best wishes, Tim.

M: Penn State 3 at Liberty 4

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

The error-prone Icers played their worst game of the season and opportunistic Liberty was more than happy to make them pay for it in a 4-3 Flames victory in the front half of the semester-closing series.

Despite an uneven first 40 minutes, PSU was still in a good position to win, up 3-2 thanks to yet another shorty from Justin Kirchhevel, a Rich O'Brien blast and Paul Daley doing what he does in front of the net. However, the game swung around on an long, but empty, stretch of power play time bridging the second intermission, much of it with a two-man advantage. It seemed almost inevitable that PSU's slim lead wouldn't hold up after that, and sure enough it didn't, thanks to Brent Boschman and Jake Hannon goals midway through the third.

Penn State, now 13-2-0, and 15-5-3 Liberty will go at it again Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

M: Penn State 9 vs. Rutgers 0

Collegian recap // Official site recap // Box score

Black Shoe Diaries recap

A lackluster second period was sandwiched by first and third periods borrowed from Friday night as the Icers (13-1-0) rolled to a 9-0 win over No. 21 Rutgers to complete the weekend sweep/blasting.

In this affair, Tim Carr recorded his first Icers shutout with a 15-save effort. PSU once again received balanced offensive output, with seven different goal scorers headed by two each from Michael Longo and Chris Cerutti. The team flexed its depth muscle and received numerous contributions up and down the lineup with the entire Kurt Collins-Eric Steinour-George Saad line sitting this one out, as well as Nate Jensen and the injured Taylor Holstrom.

Three Stars: August 8-14

3. Cru prepare to make roster
(Sherwood Park News)

Most junior teams are right on the cusp of camps and preseason (in fact, by the next Three Stars, Jonathan Milley's Pembroke Lumber Kings will have played an exhibition game), so before we move forward with tracking the progress of recruits who didn't play major junior, here's one more look back at Jessi Hilton - the recruit that wasn't - and his squad.

"We've got a strong goaltender in Pat Terriss and returning players like Jesse Koch and Jessi Hilton, so expectations are high," [head coach Tim Fragle said]. We want to have a good season this year and finish in that top-four position in the North Division to get home ice."

Hilton stepped up as the team's captain approximately halfway through the season, with the departure of former captain Josh Lee, who was traded to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons.

He'll have big stats to live up to this season, having earned 50 points in his 60 games played, managing 28 goals and 22 assists.

2. Linaker focused on winning
(St. Albert Gazette)

Okay, now we can get on to probably the most informative and comprehensive thing written about a PSU recruit to this point - and it's one of our best, Reed Linaker. He's poised to break almost every St. Albert Steel scoring record, provided he stays healthy, which has been an issue in the past. Here's the big Penn State quote from the article.

“It was pretty much talk to me and sell me it. They offered me a scholarship right way so it was kind of hard not to say no,” said Linaker, who will check out the Penn State campus for the first time in early September. “I had some serious talks with Wisconsin, but I figure going to Penn State would be a pretty cool experience. Obviously I can put my own stamp on the program and maybe be the face of the program with some hard work over the next few years. If I work hard, I have the opportunity to be a go-to guy there, so I love that.”

Oh, and there's this: Linaker has a well-regarded, hockey-playing younger brother, Cole. If PSU wants to get serious with the 1995 birth year, they'll have to keep him away from the WHL's Kelowna Rockets, who own his draft rights (6th round, 2010). But maybe the shot at playing a couple years with his brother turns the tide, who knows.

1. Meet Assistant Coach Keith Fisher
Meet Assistant Coach Matt Lindsay
Meet Director of Hockey Operations Bill Downey
(YouTube)

GoPSUSports has come up with literally five men's hockey articles and one video since the aftermath of Guy Gadowsky's hiring. Three of the articles were announcements - the hirings of the three subjects of these videos, and the Scott Balboni resignation. Another was an admonishment concerning NCAA rules.

So it's nice to finally get some fresh content beyond what's absolutely necessary from the official site, even if it's just 9:28 spread over three interviews. Steve Penstone, incidentally, spent 5:45 with Downey alone, scooped the people who hand out the access by nearly two months, and asked questions that demonstrated knowledge of the subject (the best moment of the three videos was the completely serious "what brings you to Penn State" inquiry at the beginning of the Downey interview).

Why Fisher at the top? Why not?

Best of the Rest

O'Handley pleased after Black Hawks camp
(wcfcourier.com)

One more recruit-related article, this one on 2013 goalie Eamon McAdam's team. Waterloo's USHL entry just completed an orientation camp, and reading between the lines, it doesn't sound like the goalies did too well. Here's head coach/general manager P.K. O'Handley to explain that one.

"As far as the goalies, I liken the goalie position at this time of the year to maybe a golfer who has had the winter off. Now all of a sudden you are thrown into a competitive environment and you're going to struggle from time to time.

"We're going to score because we have more skill. I wouldn't read too much into all the goals we allowed this week. I'm certainly not. We did not put in any form any kind of team defense. It was fairly wide-open out there.

"Plus, I don't think these guys were ready for [former Black Hawk and UMass Minuteman and current Worcester Shark] James Marcou [who participated in the camp] to be barrelling down on them."

Waterloo figures to carry veterans Jay Williams and Eamon McAdam as its top two goalies this year, but Petersen, the Waterloo native, also will factor in when he arrives back.

Big movements on campus
(Pennsylvania Puck)

A new site, Pennsylvania Puck (papuck.com), takes its shot at summarizing PSU's DI program to this point.

The site is launching in the fall, although it's obviously posting articles and it has a pretty active Twitter account (not to mention a pretty flexible definition of "launch"). Semantics aside, I'm intrigued. If it's done right, with a good deal of focus on minor, college and junior hockey, I think it could be a fantastic addition to the internet.

Indians ready for another winter of Snow Days
(indians.com)

Fenway may host UMaine hockey
(Portland Press Herald)

Penn State and Neumann continue to work on the proposed game at Citizens Bank Park, but six other schools are set (or at least reportedly set) to play outdoor games at other baseball stadiums. Michigan-Ohio State at Cleveland's Progressive Field is finally official for January 15th. Eight days prior, a doubleheader of New Hampshire-Maine and Vermont-UMass is everything-but-official for Fenway Park.

Is Joe Paterno Influencing the Climate?
(statecollege.com)

I could not run the same study on Joe Battista's hockey teams when he was coaching cause they never had any down years, show-off that he was.

Yeah, Joe Battista was kind of okay.

The_TimmyC
(yfrog)

Tim Carr's mask continues to just crush it.

2011-2012 Women's Ice Hockey Tickets
(rmu.edu)

Getting into the Lady Icers' season opener at Robert Morris on September 23rd will cost most people $7. If you're in the Pittsburgh area, or even if you're not, get to it.

DII Penn State Plucks DI Assistant to Fill Head Coach Slot(hockeyyall.com)

Because it's a quiet week, I'll pass around this Josh Hand piece one more time. By the way, the origin of the link is truly one of the best college hockey sites out there. It's specific to non-varsity hockey in the south, but since the Ice Lions are actually in the Southeast Region of ACHA D2...basically, it works out quite well for us.

Curtis Carr was once one of the ACHA's most dynamic players at Kent State. Now he's rapidly rising through the coaching ranks.

Carr joins coaching staff at Merrimack College
(ushl.com)

As a general rule, I only give coaching moves involving the Big Ten or CHA a mention here, but I'm definitely willing to make an exception when an ACHA guy quickly moves up the ladder. Carr was a former player (1999-2003) at Kent State, then moved into coaching with the Golden Flashes as an assistant (2003-2004) and head (2004-2006) coach.

Probably as much as any individual, Carr was responsible for KSU's rise from the waste left over from their failed NCAA program - the Icers beat them 65-5 over the first six meetings after the loss of varsity status in 1994, through the 1998-1999 season - into a respectable ACHA entry with two nationals appearances as a player and one more as a head coach.

Since leaving his alma mater, Carr had been with the Youngstown Phantoms for five seasons, rising from an assistant coach with personnel and development responsibilities to head coach and general manager during the 2010-2011 season. Notably, he helped the Phantoms move from their previous home in the Tier II NAHL to the Tier I USHL in 2009. Now he's an assistant with an on-the-rise Hockey East program that went 25-10-4 and made the NCAA tournament last season. Not a terrible career track.

N. Dakota ready to drop Fighting Sioux
(espn.com)

I routinely take jabs at NoDak, but regardless of the circumstances or your opinion of them, you have to feel for the vast majority of Sioux fans who are obviously passionate and well-intentioned (basically, meaning that they like the nickname but aren't racists). I really don't know how I'd react if "Nittany Lions" was suddenly - or not so suddenly, since this has been going on for a couple years, after all - ripped from PSU.

That said, if the Sioux people were of one mind and approving of the nickname, this is never an issue. Miami somehow survived without "Redskins," and UND will be fine as well.

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.