Good Berger

As first reported by none other than 2013 forward David Goodwin, forward Chase Berger, his "good friend," has joined Penn State's recruiting class of 2015. He's the second to commit for that year, after New Jersey's Alec Marsh did so in March.

Chase Berger

Forward
St. Louis Amateur Blues (MWEHL)
6'0", 180 pounds
St. Louis, MO
DOB 11/14/1994

EliteProspects.com

Season   Team                   Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM
-------------------------------------------------------------
2009-10  STL Amateur Blues U16  Mdgt   37   11    9   20    8
2010-11  STL Amateur Blues U18  MWEHL  38   10   19   29    4
2011-12  STL Amateur Blues U18  MWEHL  40   19   19   38   26
2011-12  Tri-City Storm         USHL    2    0    0    0    0

That Goodwin broke the news is hardly a surprise. Berger is from St. Louis and spent the last two seasons playing midget major for the St. Louis Amateur Blues, the same team Goodwin called home from 2008-2010. 2012 defenseman Joe Lordo, still another St. Louis native, is also a former Blue. Goodwin, of course, plays for the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers and was teammates with 2012 goaltender Matt Skoff this past season. A former Muskie, PSU sophomore forward Tommy Olczyk, also played with Skoff.

There you go: Berger to a current Penn State player in three degrees. Recruiting is, in fact, all about connections. In case you didn't know that. Want another connection? Sure, I can do that.

Berger's older brother (one of them, he's the third of Dan and Cindy Berger's five sons) is Princeton junior Jack Berger. I shouldn't need to tell you who recruited Jack to Princeton.*

* I'd like to point out that this isn't the first mention of the Berger family on TYT. In the course of sharing this story about Jack's exploits as the living definition of student-athlete in Three Stars last October, I said "Incidentally brother Chase, mentioned as being better at his age than Jack, is a late 1994 birth year playing midget major for the St. Louis Amateur Blues. He's also on the affiliate list for the USHL's Tri-City Storm, which drafted him this year. Just in case our APR needs a bump." I don't mean to toot my own horn, but hey, toot toot.

Described as a "talented, versatile forward" Berger is expected to finish out high school in St. Louis next year before joining the Storm in 2013-2014. While in Kearney, there's a good chance he'll team up with 2014 defenseman Kevin Kerr, who was drafted seventh by the team in the USHL Futures Draft on May 1st (Kerr still stands a chance of being picked for the U.S. National Team Development Program). Berger was called up to Tri-City for a pair of late-season games and managed four shots on goal.

He's managed a lot more than that with the Amateur Blues and with St. Louis University High School. Berger helped the latter to a 22-3-3 record in 2011-2012 and an appearance in the Mid-States Club Hockey Association Challenge Cup final. In a 5-3 win in the front end of a two-legged semifinal matchup, Berger scored the last two goals of the game. In all, he had 18 goals and 12 assists for the Jr. Billikens.

His goal scoring total ranked second on the the Amateur Blues this past season, as did his three game winners. Berger scored two of the team's five shorties. He got hot late in the year with 13 points in his last nine games. In 2010-2011, St. Louis plowed through the league at 30-2-8 and advanced to the USA Hockey 18U nationals. Berger scored the opening goal of his team's only win of the tournament, 4-1 over the Colorado Thunderbirds, and added an assist in a loss to Mid-Fairfield.

Breakout Past: 1985-86 Icers Preview

The following article was taken from the September/October 1985 issue of The Penn Stater, PSU's alumni magazine and spotlights the "Ice Hockey Club" as it prepared for the 1985-1986 season. In its first go as a member of the brutally-tough ICHL, and behind 38 goals apiece from Lynn Sipe and Greg Powers, PSU finished 17-16-3 and in fourth place at the National Invitational Tournament under head coach Jon Shellington.

By the way, if the writer's last name sounds familiar, it's because he's the father of incoming women's recruit Jill Holdcroft. Jill's uncle Bob is also a former Icer.

Cold Cash Keeps Hockey on Ice

by Tim Holdcroft '86

The term student-athletes generally conjures an image of athletes who attend classes in the morning, suit up for practice every afternoon, study at night, and have games on weekends. That's all true for members of the Penn State Ice Hockey Club with one major added responsibility - financial. They must run their own program, pay $250 per player to participate, and generate two-thirds of the budget required to operate the sport. That additional imperative brings a third dimension to the image, making the Penn State ice hockey player a student-athlete-businessman.

Thanks to the single-minded dedication of its members, the Ice Hockey Club has been growing both on and off the ice and recently has experienced a renewed enthusiasm among team members, club officers (some of whom do not play hockey), various corporate sponsors, local hockey enthusiasts, and alumni.

The students have been nurturing their relationships with each of these groups through some very creative and personal projects. Among recent highlights have been the spring and fall Mini-Hockey School, entirely organized and instructed by club members, and the launching of an Alumni Booster Club for the future development of the entire hockey program.

Richard Herr '47, Lancaster, heads the Boosters and reports that the Club already is receiving generous support from a number of alumni. One such booster is Ned Kocher '53 of Mansfield, Pennsylvania, who has arranged through his business, N.K. Enterprises, for the team to purchase equipment at greatly reduced prices.

"It's time," says Kocher, "that more alumni take notice of this professionally run student organization and step forward to offer their support. The students have brought recognition to the University through their own creativity and efforts. We can assist, not just financially but with professionalism and expertise on how they can better operate the club."

Currently, Kocher is working with club members to enhance their marketing efforts and invites other alumni and friends who are interested in offering their time and talents via the Booster Club to volunteer. The place to write is Ice Hockey Club, #10 Intramural Bldg., University Park, PA 16802.

As for professionalism, it has been demonstrated on the ice as well as in the business of running Penn State Ice Hockey. After coming off a tough first-semester start last year against such Division I powerhouses as Notre Dame, Michigan-Dearborn, Kent State and a strong Alabama club team, the Nittany Lions finished with an impressive 21-11-3 record. A seven-game winning streak opened the second semester and included a slashing of rival Cortland State, 10-3, and exciting 5-4 overtime victory over Ohio University for the PSU Invitational title, and a first-place finish in the Navy Crabpot Tournament. A respectable but disappointing second-place finish in the Club Team National Tournament at Northwestern closed the season.

Recapturing that national club title in Arizona is just one of the team's many goals for the coming year in which it will participate for the first time in the International Collegiate Hockey League (ICHL) and will play in six college tournaments. That's a schedule that promises to make each of their 40 games a must-win situation. The schedule, with league games denoted by asterisk:

October
*18-19 Niagara Col.
25-26 at Kent State

November
1-2 at Brockport Tourney (St. Michaels/N. Adams State)
*3 at Niagara U.
8-9 Iona
*13 St. Bonaventure
15-16 PSU Invit. at RPI (Holy Cross/Westfield/Canton)
22-23 Michigan-Dearborn

December
1 Hill School
*4 Niagara U.
*6 at Buffalo State
*7 at Eric C.C.

January
*10 at Niagara Col.
11 Navy
17-18 PSU Invit. (Ohio U, Alabama, Canton ATC)
25-26 at Navy Crabpot
31-1 Kent State

February
*5 at St. Bonaventure
*7 Buffalo State
*8 Erie C.C.
13-15 at Ohio U. Tourney
*21-22 U. of Rochester
*23 at St. Bonaventure
25 ICHL 1st-round playoff date
28-1 at ICHL Championships

March
7-8 at National Club Championships

THE AUTHOR: Tim Holdcroft '86 is a right winger on the hockey team as well as vice president of the Hockey Club. It's only fitting that he's also an outstanding student in the College of Business Administration.

Robert Morris Joins 2012-13 Schedule

Derek Schooley will lead RMU into the Ice Pavilion on December 15th - and into a possible second matchup against PSU at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.

In the course of discovering games for Penn State's inaugural NCAA men's schedule, one thing has been in short supply: quality home games. Sure, there's the first home series with American International and the November clash with a tremendous Air Force program. Beyond that, however, the Ice Pavilion slate contains only a smattering of non-NCAA games.

That situation has been alleviated a little bit, as confirmed with the addition of a December 15th game against Robert Morris to the Atlantic Hockey Association composite schedule.

Long-time Icers fans surely remember PSU's 3-2 win over the Colonials on October 8th, 2005 behind three points each from Lukas DeLorenzo and Michael McMullen and 41 Paul Mammola saves. RMU got their revenge a year later to the tune of 6-0, helped by a pair of Sean Berkstresser tallies. As one might expect though, Derek Schooley's program has done a lot of growing up since those formative years of a program that only joined NCAA Division I in 2004-2005.

Schooley, a one-time Head Coach Candidate and the man in charge of RMU for their entire NCAA life, guided the program through the demise of their original conference, College Hockey America, and into Atlantic Hockey for the 2010-2011 season. He's also earned a reputation as a giant killer, thanks to the following belt notches:

• January 7, 2007 - One season after losing to the Icers, Robert Morris beat No. 2 Notre Dame 4-2. Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed that season, and was a year away from a run to the NCAA championship game.
• October 12, 2007 - The Colonials score a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Boston University en route to winning the Nye Frontier Classic in Anchorage, AK. BU was ranked No. 8 at the time and featured many of the players who would help the Terriers to the 2009 national championship.
• January 8-10, 2010 - Beginning with a win in the College Hockey Showcase, RMU sweeps No. 1 Miami, the team that was less than a minute from a national championship the previous season before BU's stunning comeback.

Not bad for a program (now) with eight seasons in the books, and one that offers the Atlantic Hockey limit of 12 scholarships, two-thirds the NCAA limit of 18.

The Colonials enjoyed their first winning season (18-12-5) in 2010-2011, then went 17-17-5 last year with a senior-laden team - 11 in all, including starting goalie Brooks Ostergard and the top four scorers on the team. Notable additions for the coming season include right wing Mac Roy, an Alabama-Huntsville transfer, defenseman Evan Moore, who played with PSU's Joe Lordo in Sioux Falls (USHL) last season and Chase Golightly, who put up 43 points in the BCHL as a defenseman.

The tilt on the 15th may only be the first of two with RMU in December. The AHA schedule has also added the "Pittsburgh College Hockey Tournament" at the Consol Energy Center. For now, the only lines under that header are "TBD vs. Robert Morris," but Joe Battista has previously indicated Penn State's involvement. Notably, the tournament takes now takes place over two days - in previous years, it has been a single-day showcase.

In all, PSU is now up to 29 known games, 28 of which count against the NCAA's 34-game limit. Twenty of the 29 are against NCAA DI opposition, within the range of 20 to 22 given previously by Battista. For the complete volume of known PSU games, visit TYT's dedicated schedule page.

Eight Icers Earn ACHA Honors

Tommy Olczyk is a finalist for the ACHA D1 Rookie-of-the-Year award.

With a large, talented and successful freshman class last season it shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but the Icers were represented twice on the ACHA's all-rookie team in the form of goaltender P.J. Musico and forward Tommy Olczyk. Another first-year ACHA player, forward Justin Kirchhevel, was given third team ACHA All-American honors.

Olczyk was also named a finalist for the ACHA's Division 1 Rookie-of-the-Year award, along with Lindenwood's Steve Brancheau, Minot State's Michael Jordan and Oakland's Dustin Hopfner.

Olczyk, from Long Grove, IL and the son of former NHL player and coach Ed Olczyk, came to PSU from the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers this season and immediately emerged as a team leader and one of the team's best all-around players. His 24 goals led all Icers, and his four game-winners notably included an early third-period strike to help PSU to a 6-3 ACHA tournament win over Oklahoma in what turned out to be the final Icers win ever.

Musico, an athletic goaltender from Orange, CA, rotated with Matt Madrazo for most of the season, but ended with a spectacular 1.51 goals against average and 0.925 save percentage. He had a pair of shutouts, including a 17-save effort in an 8-0 win over West Virginia on January 20th. He also stopped 22 of 23 in a 5-1 win over eventual national champion Delaware on November 19th, 2011.

Kirchhevel, a Brookings, SD native who transferred from Alaska-Anchorage, was half of a dynamic tandem as one of Olczyk's linemates for most of the season. He led the Icers in assists (37) and points (56), and also impressed defensively and as a lethal penalty killer. Two of his 19 goals game in the last five minutes of the February 4th game against Oklahoma, as PSU rallied from a late 3-0 deficit to win in overtime.

Olczyk, Musico and Kirchhevel will all join Penn State's inaugural NCAA Division I team in the fall.

Additionally, forwards Dominic Morrone and Chris Cerutti, as well as defensemen Dan Petrick, Dan Loucks and Rich O'Brien were named ACHA Academic All-Americans. Academic All-Americans are required to be in their junior or senior year and have a 3.2 cumulative grade point average. O'Brien will join Olczyk, Musico and Kirchhevel as a member of the 2012-2013 Nittany Lions.

This latest batch of award winners joins Lady Icers Lindsay Reihl, Sara Chroman and Lydia Scott, who were named Academic All-Americans on the women's side on April 16th. Morrone was also named to the ACHA all-tournament second team, while senior forwards Kurt Collins and Paul Daley participated in the ACHA Division 1 All-Star Game on March 17th.

Here is the full list of the ACHA Men's Division 1 All-Americans:

ASU Site Confirms PSU Series

Arizona State will be one of the rumored three ACHA teams to face Penn State's inaugural NCAA men's team this season, according to a poll on the team's website. The Sun Devils join Ohio to make up four of the possible six ACHA dates on the 2012-2013 schedule. Dates and location are not confirmed - really, this poll is all I know about it - but one would assume that the games are likely to be in the Ice Pavilion and during the spring semester when most NCAA Division I teams are locked into their conference schedules.

The TYT schedule page (go there for a full rundown of known games) shows November 2nd-3rd, November 16th-17th, November 30th-December 1st, January 11th-12th, January 18th-19th, February 1st-2nd, February 8th-9th and February 15th-16th as the remaining available weekends. The Ohio Bobcats will fill one of those February weekends, while four other dates will be filled by the U.S. National Team Development Program.

While "slumming it" back in the ACHA probably sounds somewhere south of appealing to fans excited to get on with Penn State's NCAA era, the Sun Devils do boast one of the most talented teams in non-varsity hockey. Last year's version finished 29-4-3 after being upset by Cinderella Oakland - that sounds vaguely familiar - in overtime in the second round of the national tournament. Furthermore, that team only had three seniors on it, and although one of them was star goaltender (and one-time Penn Stater) Mark Schacker, the Devils certainly seem like a team with the best in front of it. Coming into the season, they have to be considered one of the top two or three favorites for the Murdoch Cup.

Furthermore, ASU has already announced four forward recruits for the coming season: Brett Penner, Kyle Bowen, Kory Chisholm and Brian McGinty. McGinty is a transfer from NCAA DI Canisius, where he played nine games over two seasons. Chisholm and Bowen were three-year teammates with the Lloydminster Bobcats of the AJHL, the same league that produced incoming Nittany Lions David Glen and Reed Linaker. Penner comes from the SJHL and the Flin Flon Bombers, the same organization that gave PSU goalie P.J. Musico (the two were teammates in 2010-2011).

In other words, while an ASU win would represent a monumental upset, this is certainly a team capable of pushing back.

The big picture now lays out as Penn State having 27 or 28 known games on the schedule (depending on whether the Robert Morris tournament ends up using one or two), 26 or 27 of which count towards the NCAA's 34-game limit (one NTDP game is exempt). Basically, we're almost there. Oklahoma has been rumored as the third ACHA team, which leaves a handful of games for NCAA DIII teams and hopefully one more DI opponent.