33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part II)

In order to bid a fond farewell to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the orange barn Penn State hockey called home from January 16, 1981 until February 16, 2013, here is the second half of a subjective opinion of the top 33 games in the building's history. The significance of the number 33, of course, is that the rink hosted 33 seasons of games. "33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part I)" covered numbers 17 through 33, while this one hits the top 16.

Unfortunately, due mostly to lack of documentation concerning Lady Icers and Ice Lions games, this list only includes contests from the Icers-to-NCAA men lineage, with sincerest apologies to all involved in the many fantastic Ice Pavilion games not involving the Icers or Nittany Lion men.

This post will also serve the secondary purpose of launching TYT into its offseason series of history-themed posts, dubbed "Breakout Past" during a period where I had to come up with a really lame title (preferably including a pun) for everything. Look for those each Thursday, starting next week.

16. Penn State 5, Towson 4 - January 22, 2005. In what would turn out to be the Icers' final championship of the Nittany Lion Invitational - a tournament created the season after the Ice Pavilion's opening - scrappy Towson played the Icers extremely tough until Brett Wilson's power play goal with 16 seconds left propelled PSU to victory. Wilson's heroics were only necessary because of three bad calls related to goals, including two apparent Icers scores that were waved off in the second period, the latter of which was a Teague Willits-Kelley effort that was ruled a goal by the referee on the play, setting off the horn... only to be overturned by a linesman 60 feet away. The brutal officiating included the other end of the ice, as the Tigers' Erik Dixon tied the game at 4-4 with 3:33 remaining despite the fact that the net behind goalie Paul Mammola was off the pegs for at least ten seconds prior to the puck's entry.

15. Penn State 4, Central Oklahoma 3 (OT) - October 15, 2010. Arguably, the 2009-2010 Icers were the best team of the Scott Balboni era, so when Jonathon Cannizzo scored late in the first overtime to eliminate PSU from championship contention by a 2-1 score in the 2010 ACHA quarterfinals after the Icers led 1-0 until just 89 seconds remained in regulation, it was quite a blow. While a regular-season win in the following campaign wasn't a full measure of revenge, it was still quite satisfying, especially after the Bronchos' Donald Geary forced overtime 23 seconds away from a Penn State win, perhaps inspiring a couple of "here we go again" eyerolls within the Greenberg throng. George Saad ensured that any similarities to the previous heartbreak ended there by making a fantastic play in overtime to take the puck off of the boards, work to the front, and score. In what - at best - is a footnote to history, the Icers' second home game following the NCAA elevation announcement was a primary motivator of the creation of this blog.

George Saad (center) celebrates his OT winner against UCO

14. Buffalo State 5, Penn State 4 - March 14, 1992. Two weeks after PSU failed to win the first-ever ACHA national championship on home ice (see number 8), the ICHL regular season champions - who went 14-1-1 in league play, the best record in ICHL history - were stunned by Buffalo State in the conference tournament opener. Chris Kruger, Bob Kowalski and Regis Marrale all scored in the third period for the Bengals, who survived a controversial finish to their win. Dave Murphy sniped in the last minute to cut the BSC lead to 5-4, then appeared to tie the game with one second remaining, a goal negated by a ruling that the Bengals had intentionally dislodged the net beforehand. The Icers were awarded a penalty shot, but ICHL MVP Andy McLaughlin was denied by goaltender Chris Economou, who would go on to win tournament MVP honors while leading his team to a championship game loss to Niagara College.

13. Penn State 3, Towson 1 - January 22, 2000. In one of the all-time great performances by a visiting goaltender at the Ice Pavilion, Towson's Derek Rabold stopped 52 of the 54 Icers shots he faced to win NLIT MVP honors, despite his team's loss in the championship game. Prior to Loren Remetta's empty-netter, heavily-favored PSU (which scored 12 on 84 shots against Rutgers the day before) only cracked Rabold twice - once with Jamie Weston's slap shot, and on the winner, a spectacular end-to-end play that saw Weston feed Neal Price at center to catch the Tigers in a line change. Price motored down the left side, then connected with Joe McArdle, who one-timed it home from the right circle.

12. Penn State 4, Hobart 3 - November 29, 1995. While games against NCAA Division III teams later became close to a 50-50 proposition, they were something a little south of that 18 years ago. That fact, combined with a 6-5 overtime win by the Statesmen during the 1994-1995 season, made this triumph noteworthy, even if it didn't directly count for ACHA positioning. The Icers faced second-period deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 before goals by Brian Rolli, Steve Hajek and Don Coyne over a 4:30 stretch late in the period put PSU ahead for good, including insurance against Hobart's extra-attacker answer with time winding down. "The loss to them last year left a bitter taste in our mouths," goaltender Jeff Crispino said, "so this win means a lot."

11. Penn State 6, Kent State 5 (OT) - February 17, 1984. Throughout the 1980s, Kent State - which sponsored an NCAA Division I program from 1986 until 1994 - was one of the Icers' toughest regular opponents. In 1983-1984, despite PSU's eventually winning the national club championship, the Golden Flashes won three of the four games between the two, and nearly took the fourth. Penn State trailed 5-3 late in regulation, but Art McQuillan scored on a backhander with 3:51 remaining to trim the deficit to 5-4, and Brad Rush tied the game roughly two minutes later off of Lynn Sipe's setup. Greg Powers then deflected a Glenn Cawood shot past Adam Brinker for the OT winner. "We've been in overtime before," Powers said, "and me, Art [McQuillan] and Clark [Dexter] go full force in overtime. We were pressing and getting our shots - you could tell it was gonna come. I told everyone on the bench, 'You don't have to warm up, because we're going to score.'"

10. Iowa State 5, Penn State 3 - January 23, 1999. In a preview of the infamous 1999 ACHA national championship game won by "vacated," the Icers and Cyclones met in the NLIT championship game, and the teams ranked first and second in the ACHA for the entire 1998-1999 season put on a show worthy of the pollsters' esteem. After Darren Anderson (one of the stars of "vacated's" title run, as it would turn out) gave ISU a 2-0 advantage on a 3-on-0 rush, Penn State answered three times to gain the lead in the third period: Jason Zivkovic on the power play, Rob Shaner's rebound putback and C.J. Patrick's slapper. The Cyclones, however, had their own rally against a shaky John Sixt with John Strama and Brian Paolello putting ISU back ahead, and Jeff Smith added an empty-netter.

Jamie Hettema scored in the first game at the Ice Pavilion

9. Penn State 6, Upsala 5 - January 16, 1981. A contest generally only remembered for the Ice Pavilion's opening and for the crowd of 1,450 that stood as the building's record for its first nine years was also a fantastic game in and of itself. Matt Glass became the first of many Icers to fill the net beneath Section E, but he was answered by the Vikings with just 45 seconds left in the opening period. Glass' second, along with tallies by Glenn DeStefano, Rush and Jamie Hettema gave PSU a seemingly-safe 5-2 lead late into the third period, before Upsala managed to score three times in the last 120 seconds of the game. DeStefano, however, also scored late and goaltender Jim Pollock shut the door just in time for the Icers to escape with a win that wasn't finalized until 1:00 a.m.

8. Iowa State 5, Michigan-Dearborn 3 - February 29, 1992. The only non-Penn State game on the list qualifies due to its heavy significance as the first championship game in ACHA history, and still the only national title won by the man, long-time ISU coach Al Murdoch, who ended up with his name on the trophy given to the ACHA's last team standing. The Icers were denied home-ice glory that year by Dearborn, as the Wolves bombed PSU 8-5 to earn their way into the final. Incidentally, the captain of that 1991-1992 Iowa State team was Bill Ward, who is now the girls hockey coach at National Sports Academy, the alma mater of current PSU women's team forward Emily Laurenzi.

7. Niagara College 6, Penn State 5 (2OT) - March 12, 1988. In an ICHL semifinal matchup, Knights goaltender Jim Darling made 40 saves - eventually winning tournament MVP honors and leading the Welland, ON-based school to the championship - in beating the Icers. Penn State held a 5-2 lead at one point, but were unable to avoid ICHL elimination at the hands of Niagara for the third season in a row (including another 6-5 double-overtimer two years prior to this game). Payback would be sweet, and it would come the next season when PSU beat the favored Knights 5-3 on the way to the title (see number 3).

6. Penn State 4, Canton 3 (OT) - January 14, 1984. The SUNY school, then known as the Northmen, took an early 1-0 lead on a Mike Jones clapper 1:55 in, and were on the verge of running a flat PSU team out of the rink but for a series of shots ringing off posts and missing gaping nets. Even with puck luck seemingly on their side, Penn State still faced a 3-1 deficit entering the third period, but a Powers putback of a Sipe rebound, following a Jim Yablecki goal, brought the Icers back to even midway through the frame. Yablecki then won the game, and the championship of the third NLIT, 2:35 into overtime with a wrister off left wing. The goal almost never happened, as PSU survived a near-miss by Canton just six seconds into extra time: "The guy came breaking in on a 3-on-2," goaltender John Davis said. "He passed it right in front, and as he came by, he just took my skates right out from under me. They just shot it and I stopped it from the back of the net. The puck has to be completely over. I didn't think it was, it was close though."

Casey Bailey (18) scored PSU's first NCAA goal at the Ice Pavilion

5. American International 3, Penn State 2 (OT) - October 12, 2012. Without a doubt the only game that made the list based on the pre-game warmup, and the chills I (and undoubtedly others) got watching PSU get ready for an actual, honest-to-goodness NCAA Division I men's hockey game after decades of almosts and what-ifs. Nittany Lions hockey will see greater heights than an overtime loss to perennial doormat AIC, a result made possible by Ben Meisner's 61 saves and Jon Puskar's winner, but there will only be one first, and only one time experiencing the unique feelings it inspired.

4. Penn State 4, Oklahoma 3 (OT) - February 4, 2012. The Icers' aura of ACHA invincibility in the final season before making the NCAA jump had already been smashed by Delaware and Central Oklahoma by the time Oklahoma came to town late in the season, but after Shane Vordran capitalized twice on misplayed pucks by goaltender Matt Madrazo to give the Sooners a commanding 3-0 third-period edge, a palpable new height of concern among Penn Staters was reached. And promptly rendered moot by Justin Kirchhevel's two goals in the last five minutes of regulation sandwiching one by Taylor Holstrom. Saad was once again large in overtime, putting back a rebound of an Eric Steinour shot to cause the old barn to explode. "I've been here for a lot of great wins over the years," Joe Battista said. "This will go down as one of the greatest comebacks ever in this building." Third best, to be precise (the Icers never trailed in one of the top three games).

3. Penn State 8, Buffalo 6 - March 12, 1989. No less of an authority than Battista considers this game, for the ICHL tournament championship, the launching point for the success enjoyed by his program in the years that followed. The Icers, who had struggled in the conference since joining in 1985, took the unorthodox step of skipping the club national championships that season to focus on success in the ICHL playoffs after a fourth-place finish in the regular season standings (in those days, nationals preceded the ICHL tournament). The move paid off, although it certainly wasn't easy. Facing a 4-2 deficit entering the third period, PSU quickly tied the game, just as quickly fell behind by two once more at 6-4, then took advantage of a rare full two minutes of 3-on-3 hockey to once again pull even. John Ioia's rebound goal on a 2-on-1 with Lance Riddile at the 17:10 mark put the Icers ahead for good, with Brian Stevenson adding an empty-netter. Current women's head coach Josh Brandwene scored twice for Penn State on his way to the program's scoring record for defensemen.

1 and 2. Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) and Penn State 4, Ohio 3 (OT) - October 29 and 30, 2004. I mean really... could it be anything else? Essentially, take circumstances similar to that UCO game in number 15, add in the fact that the previous season's national tournament loss was in the championship game (as opposed to the quarterfinals), the juice of the best rivalry the ACHA has ever seen and a sellout crowd wearing white t-shirts, then multiply it by two. Michael McMullen scored the winner in Friday's game by cutting to the middle off left wing and putting back his own rebound, a goal that completed a rally from a 2-0 deficit with 10:33 to play. Kevin Jaeger was the hero the next night when he finished a hat trick on a breakaway resulting from Mike Carrano's lob over the Bobcat defense.

33 Seasons, 33 Games (Part I)

In order to bid a fond farewell to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the orange barn Penn State hockey called home from January 16, 1981 until February 16, 2013, here is the first half of a subjective opinion of the top 33 games in the building's history. The significance of the number 33, of course, is that the rink hosted 33 seasons of games. This post will cover numbers 17 through 33, with the top 16 to come in Part II.

Unfortunately, due mostly to lack of documentation concerning Lady Icers and Ice Lions games, this list only includes contests from the Icers-to-NCAA men lineage, with sincerest apologies to all involved in the many fantastic Ice Pavilion games not involving the Icers or Nittany Lion men.

33. Penn State 5, Air Force 1 - November 10, 2012. While it won't be remembered as a fantastic game in and of itself, it did end up as the best (with no disrespect intended to Alabama-Huntsville, the only other DI team to lose in the Ice Pavilion) NCAA-era win the barn saw. Matt Skoff stopped 31 of 32 Falcons shots in the game that arguably made him the lead goaltender for the rest of the season, and Max Gardiner assisted on goals by three different scorers.

32. Penn State 3, Rhode Island 2 (SO) - February 3, 2007. Ties were eliminated in favor of the shootout in ACHA Division 1 for the 2006-2007 season, and thanks to Nate Obringer's goal, along with Chris Matteo's blanking of the Rams in the skills competition, the Icers earned their first shootout win over the defending national champions. Perhaps even more significantly, the win completed a season sweep of URI, after the Rams spoiled Joe Battista's final game as head coach with a 3-1 win in the 2006 national championship game.

31. Penn State 8, Cortland State 7 - December 4, 1981. The Icers never led until the final three minutes of the contest, but still managed to upset NCAA Division III Cortland in a defense-optional affair that stands as the Icers' first win over an NCAA team. PSU faced two-goal deficits at 4-2, 5-3, 6-4 and 7-5, but Brad Rush and Clark Dexter scored the tying and winning goals 43 seconds apart late in the third period to turn the game on its head. The line of Toby Ritner, Joe Grainda and Matt Glass combined for five goals, while Battista had three assists to become the first PSU defenseman to crack the 100-point plateau.

Clark Dexter would go on to score the winner in this wild game against Cortland

30. Eastern Michigan 4, Penn State 3 - December 2, 2000. One day after Adam Patterson stunned the Icers in overtime, the Eagles proved the win was no fluke by doing it again the next day by an identical score. Penn State, which was without star players Alon Eizenman and Josh Mandel, battled back from a 3-1 deficit only to see EMU notch the first Ice Pavilion sweep by the visiting team since Erie College pulled it off on December 10th and 11th, 1993.

29. Penn State 5, Kent State 3 - February 1, 1986. In one of the Golden Flashes' final games before elevating their program to NCAA Division I status for the following season, the Icers got revenge for two early-season blowouts at Kent and an overtime loss the previous night with a highly-physical win. Rick Tullio and Lynn Sipe both scored in the first nine minutes of the game, and after KSU struck back with two in an 18-second span, Tim Holdcroft and Davis Mulholland restored the two goal advantage in the second period. Sipe added a second goal early in the third period to seal the result.

28. Rhode Island 5, Penn State 4 (SO) - February 5, 2011. In the first season following the announcement of the NCAA transition, the Icers very nearly missed the ACHA national tournament for what would have been the only time ever, thanks to a string of inconsistent results that lasted for most of the season. With numerous players and coaches from both sides missing this contest due to the 2011 World University Games, David Macalino scored the shootout winner for the Rams, the only goal in 10 total attempts, after the teams traded goals throughout a back-and-forth 65 minutes. However, the PSU side left the series confident that the three-point weekend (following a 4-3 Icers win the previous day) was enough to make nationals. "It feels like we got two wins,” Paul Daley said. "We played really well and made good adjustments. Coach [Josh] Hand [who took over bench duties with head coach Scott Balboni at the WUG] has had a super-positive mentality with us. The bench is upbeat. It’s had a great effect."

27. Penn State 7, Michigan-Dearborn 5 - November 12, 1994. In the early and middle 1990s, Michigan-Dearborn, a former NAIA power - until the NAIA stopped sponsoring a hockey championship after 1984 - that was coached by none other than current Michigan State NCAA coach Tom Anastos from 1987 through 1990, emerged as the Icers' biggest rival (notably, it was UM-D who halted the Icers' championship hopes in 1992, the first and only time PSU hosted the ACHA national tournament). Suffice it to say, it was not a friendly rivalry. In an ending that foreshadowed a somewhat similar event five years later, the game was called with 4:31 remaining after a shoving match between Icers goalie Jeff Crispino and the Wolves' Jesse Hubenschmidt. That exchange capped a 13-penalty period for Dearborn, including game misconducts to head coach Joe Aho and assistant coach Edward Forman.

26. Penn State 5, Eastern Michigan 5 (OT) - December 3, 1999. The Icers, despite holding a 3-1 lead in part thanks to Paul Sealock and Brandon Cook both scoring their first career goals, fell victim to an EMU rally that saw Dan Maszatics and Craig Morton each score twice, with Morton's breakaway backhander standing as the equalizer. The result, combined with an Eagles win the next day, and a sweep at the Ice Pavilion the next season (see number 30), gave rise to the idea of an Eastern Michigan/Penn State-ruled ACHA that never really materialized, at least from the EMU end.

Nate Obringer was all of the offense in a 1-0 shutout of Lindenwood in 2005-2006

25. Penn State 1, Lindenwood 0 - November 18, 2005. There was no way to know it at the time, of course, but a single series at the Ice Pavilion would turn out to be the only meeting of these two ACHA titans. Since the association's 1991-1992 founding, either Penn State or Lindenwood has appeared in 17 of the 22 championships games, winning a combined seven titles. The more established dynasty came out on top of the newcomers, as Paul Mammola (this game's goalie) and Matteo (in net for a 2-0 win the next night) put together a weekend shutout of the Lions. Obringer's goal with 5:47 left in the third period of the series opener represented all of the Icers' offense - but it was all that was needed thanks to a stout defensive effort, despite the absence of senior blueliner Matt Wallace due to injury.

24. Penn State 5, Fredonia 4 - November 5, 2011. In a game played against the backdrop of the emerging Jerry Sandusky scandal - Sandusky, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz were arrested and the infamous grand jury presentment was released earlier that day - the Icers rallied from a 4-2 second-period deficit against the NCAA Division III Blue Devils, with Steve Edgeworth's power play blast tying the game early in the third period and George Saad potting the winner at 5:46.

23. Penn State 5, St. Clair College 4 - February 14, 2003. In an era when the Icers largely toyed with ACHA opposition, games against Canadian Colleges Athletic Association schools like Windsor, Ontario-based St. Clair provided a sound challenge for the dynastic PSU team. On this occasion, Curtiss Patrick's backhander with a defender draped on him with 3:03 remaining provided the margin of victory, while Bill Downey registered his 100th career point on a goal earlier in the game. Significantly, this was the final home win for a senior class that won ACHA national championships at the end of each of its seasons in blue and white.

22. Penn State 6, Canton 5 (OT) - February 14, 1982. With a fresh, new ice rink on campus, the Icers initiated a four-team in-season tournament called the Nittany Lion Invitational, which would become a staple of the team's schedule over the next 25 years. The inaugural championship game, though, remains a classic. Penn State trailed 5-3 with less than 90 seconds remaining, but much like Lynn Sipe three years later (see number 17), Glenn DeStefano singlehandedly tied the game by scoring at 18:48 and again at 19:11. Rush then scored the OT winner on a slot wrister following a Norm Jacobs faceoff win. In victory, Icers coach Jon Shellington one-upped his college coach, Canton bench boss Terry Martin.

21. Niagara College 6, Penn State 5 (2OT) - February 28, 1986. In 1985, Penn State significantly upgraded its schedule by joining the International Collegiate Hockey League, a conference that, over PSU's seven seasons of membership, would play a key role in elevating the program to new heights. The Icers' first appearance in the ICHL playoffs would provide a glimpse of the challenge to come when Niagara raced out to a 5-1 lead after two periods. PSU would rally to force overtime, but it was for naught, as the Knights ousted the second-seeded Icers in a second 10-minute extra period. The loss spoiled the idea a highly-anticipated championship-game meeting between Penn State and St. Bonaventure, which won the ICHL's regular season title.

20. Penn State 4, Buffalo State 3 - February 19, 1994. Former ICHL rival Buff State elevated to NCAA Division III in 1993-1994, but the Icers still managed to get one last shot on the Bengals thanks to Don Lamison's hat trick, as well as his crucial blocked shot in the dying moments to preserve the win. "Here's what you have to understand about the kind of player Don Lamison is," Battista said. "Not only does he have three goals and an assist, but he blocks that shot with about a minute left, and then clears it out of the zone. That says a lot about him, and those are the kind of plays that win championships."

Tim O'Brien scored twice in taking down top-ranked Illinois

19. Penn State 5, Illinois 4 - January 17, 2009. Top-ranked Illinois, which enjoyed the only perfect season in ACHA history in 2007-2008, fell twice in a row to the number three Icers for the Illini's third and fourth losses in two years. In the back half of the series, PSU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on two goals from Tim O'Brien and another from Steve Peck. Illinois would rally to tie the game at four, but Lukas DeLorenzo potted the third-period winner after intercepting just in front of the Illini net. "I was just forechecking their defenseman and I got my stick to the other side," DeLorenzo said. "I put my stick in the lane and luckily I walked in on a breakaway."

18. Delaware 3, Penn State 2 - February 5, 2000. Around the turn of the century, the home series with the Fighting Blue Hens was always notable for its coinciding with alumni weekend, thanks in no small part to the fact that former Icers Josh Brandwene and John O'Connor were on the UD coaching staff. On this occasion Brandwene, who of course got his white hat out of storage later to become the NCAA women's coach at PSU, spoiled the ceremonies of the day and led Delaware to its first win over PSU in 30 tries, dating back to the 1978-1979 season. Travis Bradach's goal off of Mark Scally's stick with 12 seconds remaining in the second period held up as the winner, while Lance Rosenberg made 56 saves for the Hens.

Scoring dynamo Lynn Sipe provided heroics in fantastic contests against Kent State and Ohio

17. Penn State 6, Ohio 5 (OT) - January 19, 1985. By most accounts, the 1990 National Invitational Tournament meeting that saw PSU pull off a massive upset in Athens was the launching point of the Icers-Bobcats rivalry, but there's a pretty strong case to be made for this game, the third of four consecutive overtime games between the teams. Penn State trailed by two with just 23 seconds remaining, before Sipe got to work on a pretty unlikely natural hat trick (to go with another goal he had scored earlier). First, he poked home a power play rebound to pull the Icers within one. Then he deflected home a Jeff Speece clapper to tie things up. At 7:06 of the 10-minute overtime period, Sipe banked in a wrister off of OU goalie Lindsey Nonnemacher's mask. The win gave PSU the title in the fourth Nittany Lion Invitational.

Breakout Past: La Vie of Penn State Hockey (Part II)

Here's the conclusion to the look at old Penn State yearbooks that I began last week. A couple reminders: my comments are in italics between rows of periods, and the "previous work" referenced throughout means the data generated from Daily Collegian archives that allowed me to produce a schedule/results page for the original varsity hockey team.

1942 La Vie (1941-42 season)

Coach.............................Art Davis
Captain.....................Larry Lightbody
Manager.........................John Clarke

VARSITY SQUAD

L. Lightbody, J. Dufford, E. Johnson, M. Fedock, T. Goodwin, B. Anthony, R. Hill, S. Sussman, A. Gladstone, W. Freesland, K. Herrick, T. Cauffman, R. Templin, J. Burford, J. Fisher, W. Bitner, D. Steva, A. Bitner, F. Bernbaum, T. Heberling

SEASON’S RECORD

Penn State.............7 Carnegie Tech..........0 Away
Penn State.............3 Georgetown.............5 Away
Penn State.............3 Carnegie Tech..........2 Away
Penn State.............5 St. Josephs............1 Away
Penn State.............4 Franklin and Marshall..1 Away
Penn State.............4 Lehigh.................2 Away

Penn State’s ice hockey players, without any home rink, and with practically no ice on which to practice, compiled another remarkable record under the coaching of Dr. Art Davis. Although six lettermen returned from last year, the majority of the squad was green, and the only practice session held were the actual games played.

Perhaps the outstanding player on the squad was Captain Larry Lightbody, the goalie. It was Lightbody’s steadiness which carried the icemen through to victory on many occasions, and it was this same expertness and steadiness which enabled the Lions to make a fine showing against the two non-college opponents on the schedule.

Only one college team was able to defeat the Penn State hockeymen. Georgetown handed the Lions a 5 to 3 defeat in an early season contest in Washington, D.C. College opponents defeated were Carnegie Tech (twice); St. Josephs College, F. and M., and Lehigh. Games were played in Hershey, Johnstown, Washington, D.C., and Youngstown, Ohio.

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The only discrepancy here is the presence of games against the Hershey Jr. Bears and the Navy All-Stars in my previous work, which is supported by recaps given in the 1/16/1942 and 3/12/1942 Daily Collegians.

That one is pretty easily explained by La Vie and its repeated qualifier of "college" games - they simply weren't counting those two tilts. While I understand the sentiment to consider them as exhibitions, they were never expressed as such in the Collegian, and playing non-college teams was not at all out of the ordinary at the time. In fact, the Jr. Bears are a former conference foe.

Since no dates and locations are given for the remaining games, I was only able to verify scores, opponents and sequence - all of which were dead on what I already had.

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1944 La Vie (1942-43 season)

Coach.............................Art Davis
Captain........................Ted Cauffman
Manager.......................Paul Panneton

VARSITY SQUAD

R. Bacher, F. Bernbaum, W. Bitner, J. Burford, T. Cauffman, A. Gladstone, R. Herr, B. Levy, J. McKechnie, S. Skuta, D. Steva, S. Sussman, B. White, E. Williams, H. Yocum

RECORD

Feb.  8 – Penn State.............4 Drexel.................0
Feb. 16 – Penn State.............4 Drexel.................1
Mar. 13 – Penn State.............0 Baltimore All-Stars...11
Mar. 14 – Penn State.............1 Washington All-Stars...5

The Penn State ice hockey team was limited to competition in only four games after several opponents dropped the sport for the duration.

In their first game of the winter season, after only two weeks of practice, the Nittany icers defeated the Drexel Engineers, 4 to 0. Acting Captain Cauffman pushed two goals past the Engineer cage watcher, which the other Lion wingman, Bernbaum, was credited with two assists in the game.

Two weeks later, the Penn State squad met the Drexel stickmen at Hershey and again sunk the Philadelphia team. This time the score was 4 to 1, with McGreger tallying the Drexel lone marker in the last period. Cauffman and Bernbaum again played excellently and they accounted for two markers each.

The regular season completed, the Lions then moved down to Balitmore to meet the Baltimore All-Stars in a game which saw the Nittanymen suffer a 11 to 0 defeat. The icers were completely outplayed by the fast All-Stars.

The stickmen met the Washington All-Stars on the next night in Washington, D.C. Again an All-Star squad proved too much for the Penn Staters, and they lost, 5 to 1. Captain Cauffman scored the lone tally for the Lions.

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Four games, and not only a confirmation of everything we knew, but some added detail - the scores of the pretty unsuccessful trip to the Baltimore-DC area.

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1944-46 La Vie (1943-44 season)

Ice hockey ran into the usual problem of keeping its outdoor rink in condition for competition, and succeeded in playing only two matches – both away from home. The pucksters were licked in both encounters, losing to Cornell and Army. Mild weather forced the postponement of all home matches.

SEASON OF 1944

Feb.  5 – Penn State.............1 Cornell................7 Away
Feb. 26 – Penn State.............3 Army..................18 Away

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Hockey wasn't the only extracurricular activity affected by World War II - La Vie also was suspended for the duration after the 1944 edition, then a consolidated 1944-46 volume was published once the war was over.

One of the advantages of games against still-active teams is that another source of information exists: media guides. Army's 2010-2011 version verifies their shellacking of PSU (overlooked by my Collegian search), while Cornell's insists that the score was 8, not 7, to 1.

While I do have two extra games in my records, unlike last week, I can definitively prove that they happened. First, here's the 12/17/43 Collegian on the game against the Jr. Bears on December 15th.

And here's the game against the Army Air Corps, from the 1/21/1944 edition.

Elsewhere in that same Collegian, this one was referred to as a "practice game," so feel free to assign it less weight than the other games if you wish. However, for the sake of completeness and because there isn't a consistent way to identify such games, I'm going to include it in the 1943-44 record.

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1947 La Vie (1946-47 season)

Coach..........................James O’Hora
Captain.......................Fred Bernbaum
Manager.......................Richard Yoder

LETTERMEN

Fred Bernbaum, Lloyd Black, Theodore Cauffman, John Egan, John Fast, Arthur Gladstone, Thomas Goodman, William Levy, Richard Neilson, Cliff Sullivan

RECORD

Jan. 18 – Penn State.............0 Colgate................14
Jan. 27 – (Game cancelled with Georgetown)
Jan. 29 – (Game cancelled with Lehigh)
Feb.  1 – (Game cancelled with Cornell)
Feb. 12 – Penn State.............3 Army...................12
Feb. 15 – Penn State.............4 Georgetown.............11
Feb. 22 – (Game cancelled with Colgate)

The Nittany Lion ice hockey team ran into bad luck with old man weather and opposing pucksters as Penn State’s first squad since 1943 took the ice. Seven games were scheduled to be played, but the cold weather didn’t come around at the right time and four contests had to be canceled. With practically no practice, the Lion puckmen took on three opponents and lost all games by decisive margins.

Jim O’Hora, new addition to the football coaching staff, was selected to head the hockeymen for the 1947 season. The return of veteran players helped very little as Colgate, Army and Georgetown sank the Blue and White pucksters. The first game was to be played on New Beaver Field, but the cold weather didn’t hold out and the contest was shifted to Hamilton, N.Y., where the Lions proceeded to drop a 14-0 game to a powerful and undefeated Colgate team.

Three games in succession were canceled with Georgetown, Lehigh and Cornell, and it wasn’t until February 12 that Penn State traveled to West Point to take on the Cadets. The Lions pushed three goals into the net, but Army in turn tallied 12 points to win the contest, 12 to 3. Three days later Penn State journeyed to Georgetown and dropped an 11 to 4 game to the Hoyas. The classic with Colgate on February 22 failed to materialize when the weather once more warmed to melt the ice.

....................

One minor conflict to close things out, the date of the Georgetown game, which stands (for now) as the last varsity game at Penn State.

The above is from the 3/6/1947 Collegian, and refers to the game as having happened "Monday night." March 6th was a Thursday that year, making Monday the 3rd.

I often wish that someone had thought to ask Jim O'Hora - who died in 2005 and is best known to people under 50 years old for his appearance in the Sensational Sixties football highlight video - about hockey. While he only coached three completed games and is generally forgotten as a hockey personality, I think he would've had some interesting thoughts on the closure of this chapter of PSU's hockey history. At the very least, he's good at explaining how the play-action pass beat Ohio State in 1964.

Breakout Past: La Vie of Penn State Hockey (Part I)

Last weekend, as all Penn Staters know, was Arts Fest. One of my favorite things to do while walking the sidewalk sale is a quick stop at the Hintz Family Alumni Center - where every La Vie yearbook ever exists for public consumption - to see my dad, a former student manager for our basketballers.

And so a great family tradition of wearing a tie while others play sports was born.

Anyway, this past weekend, I did something different, when it suddenly occurred to me that hey, I write a blog about Penn State hockey, and I bet they have stuff about old hockey teams in these yearbooks. So that's how I ended up photographing a bunch of 70-year-old pages in Hintz's large reception area. I felt like a spy until they tried to set up some lemonade and water on the table I was using.

Here's the text of everything about PSU's original varsity team in the yearbooks. There were pictures too, but you can pretty much see how that goes above. Also, I altered my usual style to make this easier to read - my commentary is in italics (and between rows of periods). I'll try to resolve all discrepancies between La Vie and that time I read a bunch of old Collegian articles as well. From this point on, I'll refer a lot to "my records" (or similar phrasing), meaning the end result of putting together the old Collegian articles, shown here.

1940 La Vie (1939-40 season)

PARTICIPANTS

William Stohldrier, Manager
Oscar Smith, Captain

J. Dufford, P.R. Dowler, D.M. Irwin, M.J. Gates, J. Bachman, R.P. Johnson, Larry Lightbody, C. DeLong, M.P. Fedock, G.S. Wolbert, W.C. Garrett, R. Omalecki, S. Matula, J.C. Robbie, C.S. Herrick, R. Magerum, F.G. Bowman, A.W. Bitner

SEASON’S RECORD

                                                     P.S.  Opp.
Dec.  8 – Pennsylvania..........at Hershey.........   1     4
Jan. 12 – Hershey Junior Bears..at Hershey.........   1     4
Jan. 27 – Hershey Junior Bears..at State College...   1     6
Feb.  2 – Hershey Junior Bears..at Hershey.........   3     7
Feb.  3 – Princeton.............at Princeton.......   0     4
Feb. 10 – Huntington, W. Va.....at Huntington......   3    12
Feb. 11 – Charlestown, W. Va....at Charlestown.....   3     9
Feb. 16 – Duquesne..............at Johnstown.......   1     4
Feb. 27 – Lafayette.............at Hershey.........   7     2
Mar.  1 – Lehigh................at Hershey.........   8     2
Mar.  8 – Carnegie Tech.........at Johnstown.......   4     1

....................

Right up front, we have one missing piece of information filled in (the score of the game actually played at PSU) and a number of conflicts, mostly concerning dates. I'm sticking with the Lafayette game on March 12th, as opposed to February 27th. The March 1st Penn State Collegian indicates that a Lafayette game was scheduled for the 27th but it "was called off when the Leopard outfit was unable to travel on the dangerous highways" (it seems likely that the 3/12 game was a makeup for that). Likewise, I'm going to maintain that the score of the March 8th game with Carnegie Tech was 4-0 as reported in the March 12th Collegian, not 4-1.

As a general rule, I'm going to side with the thing written within a few days of the games over the thing written at the end of the academic year on items like scores and dates. So it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm also sticking with the Charleston game as having happened on the 9th instead of the 11th. But the yearbook wins on the date of the Duquesne game - it was reported as taking place at "8 p.m. tomorrow" in the 2/16 Collegian, but the recap of PSU's defeat referred it as taking place "last Friday," and the 16th was a Friday.

....................

PSU succeeded in playing a home game on these tennis courts in 1940.

1941 La Vie (1940-41 season)

LETTERMEN

G.S. Wolbert, J.M. Dufford, B.D. Anthony, L.N. Lightbody, M.P. Fedock, R.P. Johnson, G.H. Gates, E.J. Maslow, J.E. Fowler, A.W. Bitner, W.C. Garrett, C.S. Herrick, R.W. May (Manager)

SEASON’S RECORD

Dec.  6 – Penn State.............3 Carnegie Tech..........1 Away
Jan. 17 – Penn State.............6 Temple.................1 Away
Jan. 25 – Penn State.............3 Carnegie Tech..........1 Away
Feb.  7 – Penn State.............5 Temple.................3 Away
Feb. 28 – Penn State.............2 John Carroll...........3 Away
Mar.  6 – Penn State.............3 Hershey Junior Bears...5 Away
Mar.  8 – Penn State.............4 Georgetown.............4 Away
Mar. 15 – Penn State.............4 Lehigh.................1 Away
Mar. 21 – Penn State.............2 Georgetown.............3 Away
Mar. 28 – Penn State.............5 Franklin and Marshall..3 Away

In its first year as an official college team, Penn State’s ice hockey squad concluded a successful season in spite of many handicaps. The squad again had the misfortune of losing valuable practice on account of unfavorable weather conditions, and were therefore forced to journey to Johnstown for scrimmage sessions.

The season was highlighted by victories over Temple, Carnegie Tech, and Lehigh, and by the game with John Carroll, in which State held the unbeaten Clevelanders to a 3-2 victory.

Throughout the season, John Dufford and Peany Gates led the puck chasers in scoring, closely followed by defense star Fowler. Goalie Harry [sic] Lightbody turned in many brilliant saves throughout the season and was given the Outstanding Player Award. George Wolbert was elected honorary captain for the year.

....................

This season is the biggest mess of the lot, and I'm not talking about the fact that we're bragging about losing to John Carroll by one. The yearbook contains two games not included in my research, while I have two games they don't.

First up, let's tackle that Temple game on February 7th. There was definitely a game scheduled for the next day as a part of a Winter Sports Carnival (along with figure skating, skiing and ice sculpting), but it was called off due to weather. A game between the same teams on the 7th was never mentioned in the Collegian. But what's more likely, the yearbook fabricating a game out of thin air, or the Collegian overlooking one in the buildup to the Carnival? I'll count it.

I'll also include PSU's 3-1 win over Carnegie Tech on January 25th. The Collegian didn't publish between January 19th and February 2nd of 1941. Hockey articles appeared on the day before (recap of the 1/17 Temple game) and after (previewing that carnival) the hiatus with no mention of an additional game between the two. So I'll again assume that the yearbook staff didn't simply invent a game.

On the other side of things, evidence for my two extra games appears a little flimsy on second look. The 2/21 game against Carnegie Tech was based on a preview article, coupled with a later mention of PSU's undefeated record. I should know better than to assume that game took place with circumstances being what they were back then.

I need pictures to explain the 12/13 Lafayette game in my records.

The left-hand article, from November 16, 1940, mentions a game with Lafayette to be played 12/13. On the right is a passing reference to a "Lafayette triumph," published on January 8, 1941. But there's a problem. Look at what came out just eight days after that last article.

Idle since beating Lafayette on December 6th? Opening triumph? Everyone is in agreement than PSU beat Carnegie Tech on 12/6 by a score of 3-1 to open the season. The Collegian even published a box score (John Dufford scored twice, Peany Gates once). My suspicion, therefore, is a simple case of mistaken identity after the fact. It's not like the writer could do a quick fact-check on the internet. This theory, of course, means that the Lafayette game on the 13th never happened.

It all adds up to good news, since the April 23, 1941 Collegian and all other accounts I've seen insist that the team's record was 6-3-1 for the season.

Two other minor issues were resolved in favor of previous work. The score of the March 6th game was 5-2 for Hershey instead of 5-3, and the March 21st and 28th games were flip-flopped here, as F and M was played before Georgetown.

....................

So there you have it. Your takeaway: it's pretty hard to get a handle on all of this stuff. I'll hit the last four yearbooks, and their decidedly smaller number of issues, next week.

Will Gadowsky Raid Princeton? (Part II)

As advertised in Part I, here are the 2012 and 2013 Princeton commits on Heisenberg's site. Even if you think it might be late in the game to flip a 2011 guy (and that's rational), I'd have to think these guys are completely in play at this point - especially since they'll be able to jump straight into playing NCAA hockey with PSU.

I'm leaving off 2013 center Garrett Skrbich - his commit date is shown as May 2nd, so I feel safe speculating that Guy Gadowsky was not a strong reason he chose Princeton, since Gadowsky was no longer there at that point.

Just a reminder: I have no information whatsoever on any of these, really, I'm just tossing Princeton's commit list out there for daydreaming purposes. It may ultimately mean nothing but a waste of all of our time, but they're definitely guys to keep in the back of your mind until further notice.

2012

Jonathan Liau

Forward
Omaha Lancers (USHL)
5'9", 174 pounds
La Canada Flintridge, CA
DOB 1/17/1992

USHL Player Page

Mike Ambrosia

Forward
Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)
5'9", 170 pounds
Chatham, NJ
DOB 5/25/1992

USHL Player Page

Kyle Rankin

Forward
Kanata Stallions (CCHL)
6'1", 194 pounds
Kanata, ON
DOB 3/3/1993

CCHL Player Page


2013

Ben Foster

Forward
Choate Rosemary Hall (prep)
6'1", 180 pounds
Darien, CT
DOB 3/27/1993

USHR Team Stats Page ($)


Tommy Davis

Defenseman
Delbarton School (prep)
6'2", 190 pounds
East Hanover, NJ
DOB 9/4/1993

USHR Team Stats Page ($)

Will Gadowsky Raid Princeton? (Part I)

If you're a loyal reader and/or just pay attention to this stuff, you know the story of CJHL player of the year Zach Hyman. He committed to Guy Gadowsky's Princeton program, then decommitted when PSU hired Gadowsky. The pipe dream of Hyman following Gadowsky was officially squashed by Andrew Dzurita of Lions 247, who spoke with the prospect and found that the Florida Panthers (who own his NHL rights) won't let him go to Penn State. That's fair - Hyman's stock is on the rise and (I don't mean this disrespectfully) no NHL team wants to see their guy waste a year in the ACHA.

But that whole situation got me to thinking: would Gadowsky poach other players from his former school? That doesn't seem like a tremendous stretch with not just Gadowsky, but also Keith Fisher and Matt Lindsay relocating to State College. And remember, Princeton's an Ivy League school, so there's nothing like a letter of intent tying these guys down.

Here are Princeton's current 2011 commits, per Heisenberg. One, forward Tyler Maugeri, is apparently now going to Nebraska-Omaha in 2012, but all indications are that the remaining six are still Tigers as of now. I'll list the 2012 and 2013 recruits in part two. It may also be worth pointing out that two of these guys - Aaron Kesselman (with Tim Carr) and Ryan Benitez (with Josh Daley) - were teammates with current PSU recruits last season.

Aaron Kesselman

Forward
New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs (EJHL)
5'11", 188 pounds
Mays Landing, NJ
DOB 10/13/1991

EJHL Player Page

Tucker Brockett

Forward
Chicago Steel (USHL)
5'7", 170 pounds
Shaker Heights, OH
DOB 10/15/1990

USHL Player Page

Ryan Benitez

Goaltender
Waywayseecappo Wolverines (MJHL)
5'11", 174 pounds
Denver, CO
DOB 11/24/1990

Eliteprospects.com Player Page

Tom Kroshus

Defenseman
Westside Warriors (BCHL)
6'1", 182 pounds
Calgary, AB
DOB 8/20/1992

BCHL Player Page

Kevin Mills

Defenseman
Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)
6'1", 201 pounds
Calgary, AB
DOB 9/11/1990

BCHL Player Page

Aaron Ave

Defenseman
Omaha Lancers (USHL)
5'8", 173 pounds
Chandler, AZ
DOB 4/7/1991

USHL Player Page

Natty Light (Part II)

The thrilling conclusion to the mess I started yesterday, previewing the ACHA national championship tournament by examining my Hockey101.com pool selections in detail.

Quarterfinals

3. Ohio (27-6-2) vs. 6. Minot State (26-2-3)

Sunday, 10:00 a.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

Quite simply, I want to see the Beavers perform at nationals. When they've made it, I've always felt they were ill-prepared for the grind of rapid-fire games by their "traditional" schedule. But as I mentioned yesterday, those rules are out the window. Now we get to see if they can win two tough games on consecutive days, because as much lip service as I've given their schedule, they haven't really done that this year - series opening wins against Oklahoma and Arizona State were tarnished by shootout losses the next day.

I also have a vested interest in seeing Minot play as many games as possible, just in case one of these beauties is on an eight-year cycle with them or something like that.



A bunch of western Canadians and a chippy Rust Belt contingent? Hey, more unlikely gongshows have happened. The game won't be that great though.

Pick: Ohio, 4-1.

2. Davenport (33-6-4) vs. 10. Penn State (22-10-1)

Sunday, 1:00 p.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

In sort of a bizarre way, I think the Icers got a little bit of a break receiving the 10 seed after being ranked 11th in the ranking that determined the tournament participants. Davenport's a great team without a doubt, but (spoiler alert) I'm not convinced that they're better than Ohio. Even if they are, the results of PSU's last games with the Bobcats wouldn't have inspired visions of the semifinals, had that matchup happened here.

Davenport fans are excited about the idea of being outside of Michigan for more than just a weekend.

That said, don't make the mistake of thinking DU is not extremely talented, tough and battle-tested - I'm not exactly thrilled at the idea of playing them either. This is a team that has won three straight D2 national championships, then took three of four points from two-time defending champ Lindenwood in just their second weekend as a D1 team. Defenseman Jeff Slusser is last year's D2 tournament MVP, and he's joined by six teammates who previously played in the NAHL, including goaltender Phil Graveline (who shares duties with former St. Mike's Buzzer Joe D'Elia), Adam Kuhn, who has 66 points this year, and Phil Wendecker, a 6'3" shutdown defenseman. Oh and every single player I've mentioned in this post except Slusser is a freshman. Yikes. I haven't even gotten to the big guns yet, like Jonathan Juliano, Brit Ouellette, Bobby Collar...I'll stop there, scary enough as it is.

Sorry guys, I'm just not seeing the Icers as a semifinal team. I think Penn State can play with - and therefore beat - anyone, but when was the last time PSU demonstrated consistency twice in a row against good teams? (Answer: last season.)

Pick: Davenport, 3-1.

1. Lindenwood (29-3-0) vs. 8. Arizona State (27-7-4)

Sunday, 4:00 p.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

Now that the two-time defending champs are actually going to do enough to get some stink on their equipment, I can talk about them a little bit. If Penn State was the model for the "new ACHA," which now includes a bunch of well-run club hockey programs (matching equipment and everything!), Lindenwood's been the model for the "new, new ACHA," which essentially means ACHA programs are treated as varsity programs by the university, but for the technicality of scholarship money. Some would point out that LU works around that technicality, but I'm not going to engage that here.

What I will say is this - the Lions have dominated the ACHA in a way not seen since the Icers from 2000 through 2003. And they're showing no signs of slowing down. They've been the No. 1 team in D1 for the last twenty-five rankings, which of course includes the last two national championships. Former USHLer Colin Long is one of the best defensemen out there, and fellow 2010 Second-Team All-American Cory Spradling leads the offensive effort, along with Grant Gorczyca from the World University Games team.

Arizona State's a good team, but Lindenwood eats "good" for breakfast.

Pick: Lindenwood, 6-1.

4. Adrian (31-6-2) vs. 5. Delaware (29-5-2)

Sunday, 7:00 p.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

I think Delaware rolls here, and I think it's surprisingly easy. Because as much as Adrian has a reason to be upset, so do the Blue Hens. It's easy to forget now, with the way both teams have played this year, but Delaware and Rhode Island were last year's Iowa State and Illinois, traditionally good teams that fell victim to the autobid. UD's snub was particularly egregious, as they were denied a spot in the field of 16 despite a 10-2-1 spring semester record, including a 4-2 win against the then-No. 2 Icers down the stretch. This year, they look to be on the road to redemption, and other than a bad loss to Liberty (blame the pink jerseys), the Hens have only lost to Penn State and Rhode Island. I'm sure they are thinking national championship on home ice, in front of a crowd including people who aren't their parents.

It'll be nice to have actual big-game atmosphere for the big games. Yeah, I'm looking at you, John Carroll.

Call it a delayed catharsis after working out the home pressure in the first round, call it Whalers love for coach MF Schurman, call it playing to my audience of Blue Hens, or call it a gut feeling. But I'm calling it.

Pick: Delaware, 6-2.

Semifinals

2. Davenport (33-6-4) vs. 3. Ohio (27-6-2)

Tuesday, 5:00 p.m.*
Fred Rust Ice Arena

As stated, and as much as I complimented them above, I'm less than fully confident that Davenport makes it to this spot - if Rhode Island beats Penn State in the first round, I could very easy see semifinals of URI-Lindenwood and Delaware-Ohio. ESCHL pride.

As for this one, there's actually some series history this season to reference: back in early October, DU collected two wins at Bird Arena, one in a shootout.

The host Bobcats got on the board with two consecutive goals in the opening period.  DU's Ben Dykstra (Kentwood, Mich.) then cut the margin in half late in the first with a power play goal to make the score 2-1 heading into the first intermission.  DU outshot the Bobcats 14-5.

After a scoreless second period, Dykstra then opened the final twenty minutes with a short-handed goal after DU fought off a 5 on 3 power play for Ohio.

Unfortunately, the tie would be short-lived as the Bobcats scored to go up 3-2 but their lead did not last long either as Davenport's Phil Wendecker (Westland, Mich.) tied the game with the first of his two third period goals for the rookie.

With only five minutes remaining, the host Bobcats scored a goal that looked to be the game winner but Davenport hung tough and with only 1:35 remaining, Wendecker scored the equalizer to send the game into overtime.

The extra period was not enough to decide the winner so the two teams went to a shootout.  Davenport got goals from Jeff Slusser (Kentwood, Mich.) and Ben Dykstra (Kentwood, Mich.) and held the host team to zero goals on two shots for the shootout victory.

The Panthers completed the sweep on Saturday.

Ohio got on the board with the only goal in the opening period but DU came back strong in the second with three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead after forty minutes of play.

Scoring for Davenport were Sean McWhorter (Lansing, Mich.) and Tyler Forbes (Toronto, Ontario). The rookie Forbes had two of the three goals as they quickly took the crowd out of the game.  Two of DU's three goals came via the power play.

The third period saw many exciting plays and hits as the intensity continued inside Bird Arena but it was the scoring from Adam Kuhn (Southgate, Mich.) and Justin Smith (Sarnia, Ontario) that iced the game for the Panthers as they did allow two Bobcat goals but the host scoring was not enough with DU getting out of Ohio with a two game sweep.

Despite those results, I'm still picking OU. Why? Quite simply, I think they're trending in the right direction, I think they're a team that's well-built for a playoff run...and Davenport lost to Michigan-Dearborn this semester. I just can't put a team that loses to Dearborn in the final, this isn't 1996.

Pick: Ohio, 2-1.

1. Lindenwood (29-3-0) vs. 5. Delaware (29-5-2)

Tuesday, 8:00 p.m.*
Fred Rust Ice Arena

There's no question Delaware is capable of hanging in with Lindenwood, but will they? The problem from the Blue Hens' standpoint is that they have a tougher road to get to this point than any other top-five team, and not by a little. They're the only one to draw a non-autobid in the first round (one that's playing well too), and they're the only one who likely has to play another top-fiver in the second round. UD's vaunted depth will certainly be tested, should they get here. Lindenwood, on the other hand...well, they have Slippery Rock in the first round. I'm thinking if my LU enrollment goes through in time, I might be able to take a couple shifts in that game. Then, as mentioned, Arizona State, a good team, but probably a cut below Adrian (or Penn State/Rhode Island for that matter).



Ultimately, I think another brutally-edited video, like this one from September 24th, goes on Lindenwood's YouTube account.

Pick: Lindenwood, 4-1.

* Times based on Delaware making the semifinals and getting the late game. Which semifinalists play at which times is TBD.

Championship Game

1. Lindenwood (29-3-0) vs. 3. Ohio (27-6-2)

Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

Well, there you have it 18 games (including consolations, which I haven't addressed here because I've been going on too damn long as it is, thanks for reading the whole thing) over four total days to give us a rematch of the CSCHL championship game. Nicely done, me. And nicely done, ACHA, if it happens, because this one would have more entertainment potential than probably any other possible pairing.



There's not a whole lot left unsaid at this point, so I'll just present the season series between these teams:

January 28, 2011: Lindenwood 5 at Ohio 1
January 29, 2011: Lindenwood 4 at Ohio 3
February 20, 2011: Ohio 4 vs. Lindenwood 0 (CSCHL Championship - Bensenville, IL)

Maybe it's more a desire to see anyone but the Lions win it more than any actual logic behind this one, but...

Pick: Ohio, 3-1.

Natty Light (Part I)

The ACHA D1 national championship tournament gets started Saturday morning from Newark, DE, home to the University of Delaware and its ice rinks. And as usual, Hockey101.com is conducting a tournament pool to determine who is the smartest/luckiest person following the ACHA. I'm not too proud to admit that my pool entry completely sucks every single year. But since I'm not afraid of a little accountability and the beaks that go with it, I thought I'd approach my preview of nationals by sharing my selections as well as some of the reasoning that went into them.

Here are some quick looks at each first-round matchup, with the rest of the tournament based on my probably-faulty predictions following in Part II tomorrow.

First Round

3. Ohio (27-6-2) vs. 14. Canton (26-7-1)

Saturday, 10:00 a.m.

Fred Rust Ice Arena

This is really hard for me to do, but I have to give the Bobcats some credit. At various points in time, possibly on this blog, possibly not, I've called them overrated, tournament chokers and implied that they have relations with farm animals. And none of that is true. Well, maybe the last thing is, I don't have first-hand knowledge, and OU does not get the benefit of the doubt from me.

One thing that's undeniable though: OU is deep. And not in the way that is usually meant - balanced scoring - but in a way that's even more beneficial come tournament time, they have outstanding role players. Guys like Billy Hemann, Jared Fuhs and Alex DiMassa are stout defensive forwards, while Michael Schultz and Tyler Pilmore provide a lot of scoring. And as we know, look out for Brett Agnew on the power play. Thanks largely to these guys and goalie Blake MacNicol, Ohio is coming off of a CSCHL tournament championship game shutout of Lindenwood and is flying high coming into nationals.

With a 4-0 win over the Lions on Sunday, [head coach Dan] Morris said his team is in a good place heading into the American Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament.

"Psychologically we had to get over the hump and beat a team like Lindenwood," Morris said. "We played in some tight games this weekend and we did a good job of closing them out."

ECHL regular season and tournament champion Canton is capable of keeping this game close - they took Kent State to a shootout, and the Flashes were occasionally competitive with CSCHL rival OU. A stretch? Probably. But Jimmy Merrow gives them the goaltending to be able to hang in long enough to pull off the stunner if the Bobcats take the Kangaroos lightly.

Pick: Ohio, 5-1.

6. Minot State (26-2-3) vs. 11. Oakland (23-11-5)

Saturday, 11:00 a.m.

Gold Ice Arena

You know Minot State, right? They're that team that plays a schedule of about 20 games, each a couple weeks after the last, all against Dakota College at Botteneau. While geography and finances will always limit their schedule, this year that assumption is a little bit off - their resume includes wins over tournament teams Stony Brook, Arizona State, Oklahoma and Robert Morris (IL). It also includes zero regulation losses against ACHA teams. Not bad. Kale Dolinski and Kent Lillejord put up the points, but goalie Wyatt Waselenchuk might prove to be the guy who makes the difference. Head coach Wade Regier:

If you could categorize us as one particular thing we're definitely speed and kind of one of those things that we're very, very deep with depth and we got three lines that can come out with speed.

Oakland sort of has the opposite reputation coming out of the Michigan-based GLCHL with the likes of Davenport and Adrian in their conference. It's partially for this reason that the Grizzlies could be seen as a chic upset pick, as they beat both of those teams in winning the conference's playoff championship. They're led on the scoresheet by Jordan MacDonald, as well as World University Games team members Kevin Kranker and defenseman Jacob DeSano but also like to boast of some great depth as well. This really could prove to be one of the best games of the tournament.

Pick: Minot State, 4-3.

2. Davenport (33-6-4) vs. 15. Rutgers (19-9-0)

Saturday, 1:00 p.m.

Fred Rust Ice Arena

Well, we had the chance to see Rutgers for ourselves last weekend. Anyone think they have a shot on the back of that one? If there is any hope for the Scarlet Knights, it's that Davenport, while supremely talented, hasn't been playing their best hockey down the stretch of their quest to pull a 2007 Oakland and win the Murdoch Cup in their first D1 season after years as a D2 juggernaut. First was an upset loss to those Grizzlies in the GLCHL championship game February 19th. Then, an even worse loss - a Senior Night clunker against D2 Michigan State, 4-3 in a shootout.

All of that said, no sale. Rutgers does have a little bit of punch with Jason Adams and the two guys who scored on the Icers (John Beatrice and Matt McDonald), but you need defense and goaltending to pull off an upset like this, and RU has neither.

Pick: Davenport, 11-2.

7. Rhode Island (30-4-1) vs. 10. Penn State (22-10-1)

Saturday, 2:00 p.m.

Gold Ice Arena

I'm not really sure what's left to be said about either team at this point. Obviously, if you read TYT, you probably have a pretty decent idea of the state of the Icers. Rhode Island has also received its share of run here as an ESCHL rival, and I'm pretty impressed with them. They have top-five talent and arguably have had a top-five season, even if their ranking doesn't reflect it. This disparity is due in part to their tendency to play down to competition, but as their last three games against Delaware showed, when something's on the line, they get themselves going at a high level. Defensemen Alan Dionne and Dan Lassik are the guys who drive the bus to me, but one of the deeper sets of forwards around and two effective goalies certainly don't hurt matters either.

The ESCHL champs have deep-run potential. Photo: URI official site

In a lot of ways, this has been a disappointing season for the Icers, there's really no way to sugarcoat it. We've seen weekends bad enough to send me digging into the history books (notably, the weekend in question was against Rhody), we've seen inexplicable losses to bad teams, and some general awfulness against good ones. The net result was a slot in the rankings worse than almost anyone can remember and sweating out a nationals bid, something once considered unthinkable.

On the plus side of the ledger, this is also a team that saw tremendous adversity following that brutal weekend in Athens to open the spring semester (including the departures of Tim O'Brien, Eric Steinour and coach Scott Balboni for the World University Games to go with a wave of injuries) and beat it down like Derek Boogaard. Gritty splits with Delaware and Rhode Island ensured a record 20th consecutive nationals bid, and PSU was clicking on all cylinders last weekend against Rutgers. I really have no idea which way to go with this one, so I'll go homer on you guys, sorry. If I'm wrong though, I wouldn't be surprised to see URI take down Davenport in round 2. Just hedging a little.

Pick: Penn State, 4-3.

1. Lindenwood (29-3-0) vs. 16. Slippery Rock (21-10-2)

Saturday, 4:00 p.m.

Fred Rust Ice Arena

Pepper Jack, are you serious?

Pick: Lindenwood, 13-0.

8. Arizona State (27-7-4) vs. 9. Oklahoma (28-15-1)

Saturday, 5:00 p.m.

Gold Ice Arena

Remember everything I said about Minot State above? Well, replace Dakota College at Bottineau with Arizona and a smattering of lower-division teams out west and you could be talking about ASU. And you'd be just as wrong in thinking that this year. In fact ASU played the Beavers, winning one in a shootout. A three-point weekend against Rhode Island, shootout wins against Ohio and Robert Morris (IL) and one of the regulation variety against Adrian are part of their record this season. Oh, and there's the small matter of the four games against the Sooners and a 2-0-2 record in those games. The undisputed star of the Sun Devils is leading scorer Joe Schweiger.

As for the Sooners, I'll be honest and say that I'm not completely convinced they deserve to be here with 15 losses, albeit against a brutal schedule. They do have Oakland's number, collecting two shootout wins against the Grizzlies in November, then two more of the more conventional variety in February. Other than that? Credit for a bunch of close losses and weekends where the other team came away happier is seemingly what got them in. Even in their shootout win over ASU in January, they blew a three-goal third period lead before recovering to take the skills competition. Proving me wrong about all of this will be largely up to goalie Matt Pombo (3.91 goals against average) and Blake Martin, a one-time Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA DI) transfer who leads the team in points...and penalty minutes.

Pick: Arizona State, 6-3.

5. Delaware (29-5-2) vs. 12. Robert Morris (IL) (26-9-1)

Saturday, 7:00 p.m.
Fred Rust Ice Arena

In the NCAA basketball tournament, the 5 vs. 12 matchup is famous for producing upsets. Since ACHA Division 1 went to the 16-team single-elimination format in 2005, the 12 seed hasn't done quite as much damage there, with a 1-5 record. Interestingly enough, the 1 came from Delaware, who upset Oklahoma en route to the semifinals in 2007.

This year might be different though. Robert Morris (IL) is coming into this thing having had to scratch and claw their way to the tournament as the last team in (thanks again, autobids), and they had to hold off long-time ACHA powers Illinois and Iowa State to do it. Playoff mode for them included wins over Arizona State and Ohio, with the latter probably serving as a death blow to the Cyclones' tournament streak. Senior goalie Dan Venet is good enough to frustrate Kevin Miller, Ryan McDonald and the rest of the Hens' firepower.

One other thing that might work against Delaware (another ESCHL foe of course, here's more reading) - home ice. It sounds counter-intuitive, but not since Ohio's run to the final in 2003 has a host team made any kind of significant noise at nationals. To be fair, Delaware's the best team to host since (and possibly including) then, so that little factoid might be completely meaningless. And with that Olympic sheet at Fred Rust, UD's advantage is a little greater than having the last change.

What evil lurks within?

Ultimately, I think Delaware cracks Venet. But I wouldn't be that surprised to be wrong about this one.

Pick: Delaware, 5-4.

4. Adrian (31-6-2) vs. 13. Stony Brook (22-13-0)

Saturday, 8:00 p.m.
Gold Ice Arena

Adrian's new to this rodeo, as the fourth-year D1 program burst on to the scene this year, compiling an impressive 6-4-1 record against tournament teams, including an eye-popping 2-1-1 against No. 2 Davenport.

This is also a program that's come a long way in a pretty short time - they lost to the Icers 16-1 as recently as the 2008-2009 season. If those aren't enough reasons to root for these guys, try this one on for size: they had their Senior Night cancelled because Buffalo couldn't be bothered to show up. You have to think that the four seniors - Tom Ciaverilla, Jared Semple, Chad Bonmon and Mike Yakamovich - will be hell-bent on earning a much more meaningful Senior Night in Delaware that includes some hardware.


Bruiser the Bulldog does not approve of programs that haven't mattered since the ICHL acting bush and screwing up his Senior Night.

Stony Brook, the ECHA champion, is highest-seeded autobid team, and for good reason. They played six games against Rhode Island and Delaware, the top two ESCHL teams, and while they went 0-6-0 in those games, the losses were by a combined eight goals. Clearly, this is not a team that's intimidated by the top tier. Closer game than many might expect, but the better team takes this one.

Pick: Adrian, 6-4.