Breakout Past: 2003 WUG T-Shirt

Normally, a simple t-shirt would be beneath this series. This one merits an exception though, as it has both historical and entertainment value in its depiction of the Penn Staters who represented their country in the 2003 World University Games in Tarvisio, Italy. The 2003 edition of the bi-annual event was the second since USA Hockey recommenced participation using some of the ACHA's best players.

The shirt itself is just a plain white t (hey there Delilah) with the pictured design on the front. I have no idea who drew Joe Battista and former Icers Bill Downey, Josh Mandel, Neal Price and Curtiss Patrick, but he or she did a pretty decent job with the four players and their wildly varying hairstyles. Here's proof.

If you need a caption, I guess I was wrong.

The depiction of Battista is interesting however, to say the least. While it's possible that he chewed some Three-Course Dinner Chewing Gum and turned into a giant blueberry at some point just prior to finalizing the shirt, I prefer to think of the blue oval as decorative and of Battista as resembling another classic character.

I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL JOEBA!

Not pictured on the shirt: new women's hockey coach Josh Brandwene, an assistant on the team - although Battista's first recruit at Penn State was disqualified from cartoonification by virtue of his being a Delaware Blue Hen head coach at the time. But for what it's worth, Battista recently described having Brandwene next to him in that tournament as one of his favorite coaching memories.

Despite the presence of the two great coaches, Team USA didn't fare very well at the games, going 0-5-0 and finishing 11th against some tough competition including the Czech Republic, Finland and Canada. Individually though, the Penn State contingent proved to be worthy selections as Price (1-2-3), Patrick (1-2-3) and Mandel (1-1-2) were three of the team's top four scorers. Patrick, as tends to happen with him, was also second in penalty minutes with 10.

From a team standpoint, it did get better for Battista and his quartet of players that season upon returning stateside, in the form of the Murdoch Cup. But that was a different post.

Picture It

Note: This is NOT a Pegula Ice Arena rendering. It's the Branson (MO) Convention Center, which shares an architect with the PIA (Crawford Architects) and has a giant wall of windows "facing Mt. Nittany."



Three Stars: May 30-June 5

Joe Battista, new women's coach Josh Brandwene, athletic director Tim Curley. Photo: Jay Horgas

3. A Winnipeg-Like Second Chance For These College Hockey Cities?
(BC Interruption)

A Boston College blog attempts to find the college hockey equivalent of Winnipeg. Philadelphia (which lost Villanova and UPenn) and Chicago (Illinois-Chicago) are given mentions for reasons connected to PSU or the Big Ten. My personal vote? Kent, OH.

2. New coaches for Steel
(St. Albert Gazette)

Reed Linaker's junior team brought in a couple assistants for this coming season, both with strong ties to junior hockey in the St. Albert area. No, I'm not sure why I gave a place ten miles from Edmonton credit for having its own "area."

1. Women's hockey coach brings Penn State legacy
(The Daily Collegian)
New Penn State women's hockey coach Josh Brandwene has Hershey roots
(PennLive.com)

Among the deluge of Brandwene write-ups, these two stood out to me - one of its writing and the other for its reporting/attempt to dig a little deeper into the coach's background. Kudos to both, enjoy the linkage.

Best of the Rest

David Donnellan to Attend UW-Eau Claire
(UWECBlugolds.com)

Remember a week ago when I brought this guy up? Yeah, forget about that. Obviously, since he's going to his hometown DIII school, it probably means that PSU wasn't interested in the former Western Michigan blueliner.

Leaverton leaves Colorado College, seeks transfer
(USCHO)

Meanwhile, the other transferring defenseman I mentioned is still, as of Friday, in a holding pattern trying to decide between PSU and OSU. I'm going to go ahead and assume interest from both sides on this one, otherwise it would be a pretty easy call, I would think.

Notre Dame considering joining Hockey East
(Bangor Daily News)

Could the Irish be the first team from the decimated CCHA or much-less-decimated WCHA to find a stable conference arrangement? Hockey East makes sense for a lot of reasons, Catholicism for one, as Providence, Merrimack and Boston College of HEA share that religious affiliation. Furthermore, the existing conference plus Notre Dame makes for a nice TV product that includes large east coast markets and a school that's loved and hated everywhere simultaneously. With NHL broadcaster Versus both seeking to get into college hockey AND now affiliated with ND's partner NBC...well, this almost makes too much sense to happen.

pjmusico
(yfrog)

2011 goaltending recruit P.J. Musico got a split second of fame on TMZ Thursday evening and has the picture to prove it. He's carrying the green board.

I'll see your TMZ and raise you a Penn State hockey webcast.

Hockey Players For Kids
(HP4K.org)

Oren Eizenman, brother of Icers legend Alon, is involved with a charity event in a couple weeks, so check it out if you're in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area. More information:

The HP4K Classic is a way to formally bring together members of HP4K, various hockey celebrities and local talent for a day of fun. Come see HP4K members like Darroll Powe of the Philadelphia Flyers, Erik Condra and Colin Greening of the Ottawa Senators, and Mike Moore, who played this year with the San Jose Sharks. The night will include auctions for jerseys and memorabilia, and will raise awareness for HP4K and our community initiatives around the world.

The HP4K Classic will be held at the Gale Centre, 4171 Fourth Avenue, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, June 23, 2011 at 7:30 P.M. Tickets are $5 at the door; kids under 12 get in free! All proceeds from admission, merchandise sales and donations will be used to fund future HP4K programs as well as support local Niagara youth hockey organizations.

In case you need a quick Oren update since I posted about him last November, he ended up with 6 points in 33 games with the AHL's Connecticut Whale. He was loaned to the ECHL's Elmira Jackals on March 10th, teaming up with former RIT goalie and Whalers fan Jared DeMichiel and his epic Twitter account. Eizenman finished the season with 23 points in 20 games for the Jackals in two separate stints (6 points in 8 games during the more recent one).

Breakout Past: Battista Named New Icers Coach

With all the coach hiring going on around here lately, I thought it might be appropriate to flash back to September 1, 1987 and a pretty significant hire in Penn State's hockey history.

Click for a readable size

What I find pretty interesting about that article is how completely unassuming it is. I'm not saying that I expected Collegian writer Dave Sottile to predict where we'd be 25 years later, but one reason I find it fun to look at the past is the ability to observe things as they were while also knowing how they turned out.

Was there any indication that we were bringing in a man who would give his entire adult life to building Penn State hockey, ACHA-style into a better organization than many varsity programs? The guy who would eventually get that elusive varsity status for Penn State (make no mistake about it, there's no Terry Pegula without Joe Battista)? No, not really. As far as anyone knew, we were getting a capable coach, a Penn Stater, experienced for his age, and respected by his players - maybe he'd put in a few seasons before finding something else to do with his life, like so many other ACHA coaches.

Yet here we are. Sure, there was a somewhat inauspicious start with double-digit losses in his first two seasons, but that was followed by a surprise national title in 1990 and five more of them later as Penn State lapped the rest of the ACHA (a few times over) by the early 21st century. Battista ended his coaching career on a run of nine straight ACHA championship game appearances. The wins, losses and ties added up to 512-121-27, but anyone who's been within 100 miles of the program knows that his record is a woefully inadequate way to explain how much he meant to the program during that time. And that's before considering his greatest contribution to Penn State, one that's still in process through his associate athletic director position.

In 25 years, when people go back and read articles about the hirings of Guy Gadowsky and Josh Brandwene, will they be similarly amazed at our obliviousness to the extent of the greatness in our midst? It's hard to think otherwise right now.

"A Special Place"

New women's coach Josh Brandwene, wife Leona and daughter Sophie.

BTN.com full video // GoPSUSports transcript // GoPSUSports Brandwene interview
Fight On State recap // Jay Horgas photos (Facebook login required) // AP recap
View From The Booth Post (Brandwene and Battista interviews)

"I'm humbled, I'm honored to be here - as all fans of this great place know, it's that type of place that when you spend a couple minutes on campus, and at a sporting event...really any event at the university, you can't help but want to be a part of it."

With those words Josh Brandwene, the first NCAA women's coach in Penn State history, re-introduced himself to the PSU community prior to a 20-minute press conference this morning.

In listening to Brandwene speak, it's hard not to draw some parallels between this morning's event and a similar one to announce the hiring of men's coach Guy Gadowsky on April 25.

Much like Gadowsky, one gets the sense that Brandwene saw the Penn State job as a higher calling - he admitted that he wanted the job going back to the day of the announcement of the Pegula donation and said that he is "thrilled beyond words to be back," a reference to his hall-of-fame career as an Icers defenseman from 1987-1991.

On his last visit to Penn State, "I had a chance to walk through campus," Brandwene said. "And it was really neat just to have all the memories from sort of the total student-athlete experience come rushing back and really have an opportunity to be a part of that, have a positive impact on another generation of Penn Staters, which is really special."

"I'm honored to be one of the many people here who makes a difference at this place."

Furthermore (and also like Gadowsky), Brandwene is a proven program builder - notably including ACHA reclamation jobs like West Virginia, Delaware and Michigan-Dearborn. "Over my 20 years as a head coach, I've prided myself on the challenge of building a program," he said. "I'm really looking forward to the challenge here."

Another person eagerly anticipating events to come is soon-to-be-senior forward Dana Heller. "This is such an exciting time for our team," she said. "I can't wait to meet Coach Brandwene and get this season underway."

In many cases, men's and women's programs operate competitively with each other, but Brandwene put to rest any concerns with how the two programs would interact by saying that the two programs will enjoy "good synergy" at Penn State. "The culture that exists between those two programs is incredibly important," he said to a crowd that included PSU's men's coach.

Next up: recruiting. Brandwene observed the growth of the women's game and pointed out that "there will absolutely be a national and international focus to what we are doing here." He plans to begin recruiting this weekend, but that's only part of his approach to the first days of his tenure.

"It starts with program culture, and when you have a positive program culture in place, really everything builds from there, in terms of the type of people we're going to have involved in the program," he said.

"Then, the goal is to be as competitive as we possibly can as quickly as we possibly can."