RIT Rematch Set For October 25

Casey Bailey's goal helped the Nittany Lions to a shock win at RIT last season

Guy Gadowsky's Nittany Lions will attempt to win a rematch of one of its biggest 2012-2013 victories on Friday, October 25th at 7:05 p.m. when they host RIT at Pegula Ice Arena (while a return trip from the Tigers was already known, the date and time of the game have now been confirmed by RIT's schedule release). The contest will be the day before PSU's trip to the Wells Fargo Center for the second Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff with Vermont.

It's easy to forget now given what happened subsequently, but on October 20, 2012, Penn State pulled off a stunning - particularly given the previous day's PSU result, which will not be directly referenced - 3-2 upset of the Tigers in their homecoming game before 10,556 orange-clad fans at Rochester's Blue Cross Arena. Curtis Loik, Casey Bailey and Max Gardiner were the Lions' goal scorers, but the win was highlighted by P.J. Musico's often-spectacular 40 saves, as well as by a late-game kill of a George Saad checking from behind major that presented a serious threat to Penn State's one-goal lead with 4:13 remaining.

If it had stood as Penn State's signature win of the inaugural NCAA season, that would have been perfectly acceptable to most. But later wins against Ohio State, Vermont, Michigan State and Wisconsin, combined with RIT's disappointing 15-18-5 finish, sort of pushed it into the background. Which is a bit unfortunate, because if nothing else, the throng that evening is still the largest hostile crowd ever faced by PSU (the better-attended of the two Wisconsin games drew 9,078, and the larger crowds later on in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia veered towards the Nittany Lions).

For their part, RIT has now lost the final remaining players from a 2010 fairytale ride to the Frozen Four, a small but vital senior class of forwards Jeff Smith and Adam Hartley, along with defenseman Chris Saraceno. With the vast majority of the team back, the former national champions at both the DII (1983) and DIII (1985) levels will attempt to return to their 2006-2012 form when, in addition to that Frozen Four, RIT won at least 19 games for six consecutive seasons and played in three consecutive Atlantic Hockey championship games. Two of head coach Wayne Wilson's incoming recruits on defense are worth an extra mention: Dustin Fostvelt spent four seasons with the AJHL's Spruce Grove Saints and played with Nittany Lions David Glen, Dylan Richard and Mike Williamson there, while Alexandre Perron-Fontaine was with Dave Thompson on the BCHL's Chilliwack Chiefs from 2011-2013 and prior to that joined Jonathan Milley on the 2010-2011 Pembroke Lumber Kings' national championship team.

There are now very few surprises left for Penn State's schedule release, whenever it eventually occurs. Twenty-eight of the Nittany Lions' 34 allowed games are now press-release official (the 20 Big Ten games, plus RIT, a home series with Union, stand-alone home games with Sacred Heart and Army, the Philly Faceoff and the Three Rivers Classic with Boston College, Robert Morris and Bowling Green). The other six games are likely to be a Pegula Ice Arena game versus those same BC Eagles - yep, for real - a trip to RMU, a home series against UMass-Lowell and a series at Air Force. The full rundown of the knowns and lesser-knowns, as always, is here.

Three Stars: June 3-9

3. Forty Players Invited to 2013 USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp
(usahockey.com)

The buildup to the selection of Team USA for the 2014 World Junior Championships is officially underway, as USA Hockey has picked 40 skaters for its August evaluation camp. From there, roughly 25 will be invited to training camp in December, with a few more being trimmed ahead of the event, which begins December 26, 2013 in Malmo, Sweden. Not surprisingly, given the talent flowing through the program and that Don Lucia will be the head coach of the team, five Minnesota Golden Gophers (Brady Skjei, Mike Brodzinski, Tommy Vannelli, Hudson Fasching and Taylor Cammarata) received invites.

When I see Brodzinski's name, I automatically think of Eamon McAdam, so what of the goalies? Well, they're still TBD. A bunch of them - McAdam included - are in Ann Arbor, MI right now (Sunday through Tuesday, to be precise) battling for invites to the evaluation camp. Those making the cut will be announced at the conclusion of the mini-camp.

2. Penn State's hockey team builds toward inaugural Big Ten season
(PennLive)

Often, I'm condescending towards stories built for a general audience. Not this one. Guy Gadowsky video, Pegula Ice Arena photo gallery, exploration of an underutilized angle with strength coach Robert McLean extensively quoted. Outstanding work, Mr. Leone. I'll even give bonus points for not automatically jumping on Tommy Olczyk for the player quotes. Read and enjoy, we're almost there.

1. Idea of hockey game at Beaver Stadium being considered?
(WJAC)

The big story this week, of course, was WJAC's confirmation that Penn State officials have discussed Beaver Stadium hockey. I've hesitated to talk about it because...

1. This is news? How is anyone actually surprised? Penn State would almost have to be trying for it not to have come up on some level by this point.
2. I'm roughly 98 percent sure that discussion of Beaver Stadium hockey had already been publicly confirmed. At the very least, athletic department employees Gadowsky and Bill O'Brien openly talked about it at the 2012 Coaches Caravan, and I believe that I've heard the hypothetical Joe Battista laid out for WJAC before, either on or off the record.
3. "Considered" is quite a few steps from "it's done."

But I suppose it's time to get this out of the way. To begin sorting through it, here's what Battista said.

"What will probably happen eventually is that we'll play Penn State-Notre Dame, Penn State-Boston College, Penn State-Michigan, and then we'll also have Flyers-Penguins, Penguins-Sabres, Sabres-Flyers."

"Probably," "eventually," several possibilities for games being thrown around... yeah, sounds imminent.

The idea of the NHL's Winter Classic stacked on top of major college games is not unprecedented - the now-annual Frozen Fenway college event got its start in the aftermath of the Boston Bruins' 2010 Winter Classic victory over the Flyers, and numerous lower-profile college games (Penn State-Neumann on January 4, 2012, to name one) have also piggybacked on the NHL-installed ice. Now that the pros have decided to play something like 30 outdoor games per year, that would seem to open even more possibilities.

The WJAC report was complemented by the official men's hockey Twitter dipping its toe into the water and unintentionally showing that the idea may be a bit undercooked. In response to the question "What do you think of an outdoor game at Beaver Stadium?" it got...

Ouch. Maybe we should park this one until people are excited enough about Nittany Lions hockey to think of it ahead of the NHL when the Nittany Lions' Twitter asks a hockey question. Or until PSU gets a mention in more than three of the roughly six zillion news articles and blog posts on the topic this past week (seriously, even Black Shoe Diaries is fixated on the Pens-Flyers side to the story while the Penn State blog ignores the idea of a Penn State team's potential involvement). The downside to having a huge stadium is that a crowd of 80,000 is a success for most places but a failure for University Park. We're going to need a massive amount of excitement for the college game too, and right now, nobody seems to care about Penn State playing outside.

And maybe it's a pipe dream, but as a matter of principle, I'd love for the Nittany Lions to not have to be an undercard to an NHL game. Big Ten rivals Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin have all managed to hold highly-successful outdoor hockey games in their school football stadia without swimming in someone's wake, and my hope is that PSU is able to do the same. In fact, my preference is that the PSU and NHL games take place in different seasons (yeah, good luck with that one, I know).

Enterprising journalists have confirmed that yes, people have talked about Beaver Stadium hockey, at least the NHL version of it, both in the eastern...

The Flyers have had preliminary discussions about playing a regular-season game at Penn State's Beaver Stadium against their archrivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins, club president Peter Luukko confirmed Wednesday.

"We have spoken to the Pens and the league about expressing our combined interest," Luukko said. "Not sure if next year is a possibility. Penn State is very interested."

...and western...

"It would be great for Pennsylvania hockey," Penguins CEO David Morehouse said Friday.

The talks have been between Morehouse and Flyers president Peter Luukko, who confirmed them to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Luukko told the Inquirer that Penn State is "very interested" in being the site of such a game.

...halves of the commonwealth, and that PSU has been involved with those discussions on some level. Cool. Now don't blow it by letting the Sabres break up a potentially epic installment of the NHL's best rivalry (Terry Pegula, contrary to popular belief, bought an arena and some scholarships, not our souls) or by letting Luukko somehow cram his kid's team (Vermont) down our throats one more time on the NCAA side of things.

I'm hardly an outdoor game hater, and have made my position clear on one of the other occasions this came up. I just think we need to pump the brakes a bit. Everything is still very obviously in the earliest of stages, and the soonest this will realistically happen is 2014-2015. Beyond the things mentioned at that link, you're crazy if you think PSU will sacrifice an inaugural-season Pegula Ice Arena game, especially with no marginal benefit to doing outdoor hockey this year versus next year. Even a date 18 months from now assumes a positive resolution of things like the idea of 100,000 people parked in an icy mud pit (grass parking areas mixed with wintry precipitation) and the timing of Beaver Stadium's winterization.

We'll give Dan Vecellio and BSD the last word.

Battista told me that no formal talks with any teams had taken place from Penn State's end and that no commitments to any groups (teams, owners, etc.) had been made. The school was still in the exploratory phase and still researching whether a game at the stadium is even feasible considering parking and "winterizing" the stadium like they do every year as had been reported before. So, don't put too much stock into these stories just yet.

Yeah, that.

Best of the Rest

Kate Christoffersen before (left) and after (right) running a marathon

Lake Placid Marathon & Half Marathon
(coolrunning.com)

Kate Christoffersen, the Lady Icers original who played her senior year as an NCAA Nittany Lion in 2012-2013, ran a marathon on Sunday. Hey, if you have what it takes inside to come back from a career-ending concussion, why not?

She actually did quite well too. From start line to finish line, she only required 3:48:02, or 3:48:20 when measuring from the starting gun (the latter is the actual time used to rank the runners, which seems silly in this day and age). That was good for 85th place of the 327 runners overall, or sixth among females between 20 and 29 years old.

Save the Date: Summer Social
(psuboston.org)

If you're in Boston on June 29th and want to hang out with Battista and/or hear him speak (he's quite good at both of those things, trust me), here's your chance. Advance tickets are $40 for members of the Greater Boston Chapter of the alumni association, $45 for non-members, and $50 at the door.

Big Ten continues to expand its horizons and Purdue needs to catch up
(The Exponent)

Sometimes I forget that Purdue is in the Big Ten. Way to matter at things that aren't engineering, Purdue. Anyway, they're still broke and not adding sports like hockey or lacrosse, if you needed that.

Sidney Crosby’s sister carving her own hockey path in goal
(The Globe and Mail)

The headline says it all... Sidney Crosby's sister Taylor is a pretty well-regarded goalie, one good enough to get invites to Hockey Canada U18 camps. She's entering her senior year at Shattuck-St. Mary's, where she posted a 2.04 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage last season.

Hey Taylor, if you're looking at colleges, I can name one fairly close to your brother's team... geez, wouldn't that be something?

Admit it: for a split second, you thought about Laura Bowman doing the Happy Gilmore swing

2013 State Golf Tournament Qualifiers
(mshsl.org)

Laura Bowman is a Minnesota Ms. Hockey semifinalist by winter and a Minnesota state golf tournament qualifier by spring. She's okay at sports.

The Minnetonka High School senior emerged as one of five individual qualifiers from Section 6AAA and will compete for the AAA (the largest division) state title on Tuesday and Wednesday at Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids, MN. For the "small world" file: on day one, she'll be playing with Lakeville North's Brianna Vetter, the younger sister of 2014 commit Christi Vetter.

Amy Petersen, Bowman's long-time linemate and a fellow incoming PSU freshman, also doesn't suck at golf, as she finished 29th at last year's state tournament.

Koelmel Named President of HARBORcenter
(Tumblr)

After Pegula's Buffalo hotel/restaurant/ice rink project hyped a "major announcement" that many (guilty) assumed was the long-awaited "Canisius will play its home games here" unveiling, they instead introduced John Koelmel as the facility's president. Koelmel is a former CEO of First Niagara Financial Group, the entity which happens to have its name on the arena in which Pegula's Buffalo Sabres play. Moving on...

Rocha Named Academic All-America
(goarmysports.com)

Cheyne Rocha, a senior defenseman at Army last season, was one of just two men's hockey players nationally to be named first-team Academic All-America. As mentioned here numerous times before, he is also the son of former Icers assistant coach Larry Rocha and Penn State lacrosse legend Candace Finn Rocha. They did an okay job raising him.

Rocha, who commissioned as a second lieutenant two weeks ago and posted a 4.20 grade-point average, is the first Army hockey player to earn the national academic honor as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. He registered the highest grade point average of the 15 first-team choices.

Rocha, who won the Senior CLASS Award for ice hockey, was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and is a three-time Atlantic hockey Association Academic All-Star. The 2013-14 team has not yet been announced.

A native of Rye, N.H., Rocha missed just two games this season when he interviewed for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. In addition to play as a defenseman, he was instrumental in starting the House of Blues, an awareness campaign for prostate cancer. He is also active with the Special Olympics and Neighborhood Knights, a group of hockey players who perform community service in and around West Point.

An engineering management major, Rocha will enter the Engineers branch of the U.S. Army and begin his service in Fort Carson, Colo.

Alaska-Anchorage down to finalists for second time in coaching search
(Western College Hockey Blog)

Sure enough, despite the ouster of athletic director Steve Cobb, Alaska-Anchorage's gongshow of a head coaching search is marching forward. Even more surprisingly, they found five people who want easily the worst job in Division I right now.

@hockeyjcu
(Twitter)

John Carroll, a university in suburban Cleveland for those who don't know, has won the bid to host the ACHA Men's Division 1 National Championships in 2015. It will be the fifth time that the tournament has been held in the state of Ohio since 2003, and the fourth go for the Buckeye State in a nine-year stretch back to 2007.

This coming season's D1 tournament will be in Newark, DE, while D2 is in Marlborough, MA. The D2 men will head to Salt Lake City in 2015, and the D1 and D2 women join the D1 men at UDelly in 2014.

The Blue Streaks previously hosted D1's best in 2009, a tournament which saw the Icers bounced in the semifinals by Illinois (the Illini went on to lose the championship game to Lindenwood) but not before PSU earned nationals bragging rights over Ohio for all eternity. That year's tournament was probably best remembered, however, for the Zamboni exhaust incident that forced the evacuation of the rink, sent 100 people to the hospital (as a precaution, nobody to the best of my knowledge was seriously affected) and forced a couple games to be suspended and completed the next day, including one involving Penn State Berks. Hopefully they got that checked out at some point in the last few years.

Greer Chosen in QMJHL Draft

A.J. Greer, a commit projected to become a Nittany Lion in 2015 or 2016, was selected in the 11th round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft (193rd overall) by the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Saturday afternoon.

Because the Huskies' website doesn't have an English side and because my high school French was never that good, let's have some fun with Google Translate:

In the eleventh round, the pack was initially selected Anthony John Greer. This Quebec was not there. It currently operates in the United States.

"The pack," I'm guessing, is an informal nickname for the team, "initially" refers to the fact that Rouyn-Noranda had two picks in the 11th round, and "this Quebec was not there," means, I'm assuming, that Greer was not present at the draft (the original word used was "quebecois," or "person from Quebec," so that one's a minor translation error). In the context of the rest of the article, where several picks were on site and quoted directly or indirectly, the statement actually does make sense.

Anyway, it's the second time Greer has been taken in a draft over the last couple months, as the USHL's Des Moines Buccaneers made him the 66th pick in the fifth round of Phase 2 of that league's draft on May 7th.

Greer, a Repentigny, Quebec native, has seen his reputation grow quite a bit since electing to operate in the United States, at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, NH this past season. The sophomore power forward helped the Wildcats to a spectacular 27-3-0 campaign by finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 19 assists. KUA, which featured ten NCAA Division I commits, stood as the top-ranked team in New England prep hockey for most of the season but was stunned by Gunnery in the quarterfinals of the Stuart/Corkery Tournament.

Two seasons ago, Greer helped College Esther-Blondin to the Quebec midget AAA title and a silver medal at the Telus Cup, Canada's midget national championships.

Just to address the first question I'm generally asked when something like this pops up: Is Greer in imminent danger of joining former PSU commits Thomas Welsh and Conor Garland in major junior? Probably not. When it comes to junior drafts, signability is a major consideration when making picks, and Greer's position as the 193rd of 253 is a good and generally accepted indication that QMJHL teams don't view him as particularly likely to eventually show up - especially when contrasted with his USHL slotting.

Also, allow me to run his tweet after hearing of Garland's defection to the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats one more time.

Reaction to the selection on the Rouyn-Noranda Facebook page, roughly translated, compared him to Louis Leblanc, a 2009 Montreal Canadiens first-round draft pick who played at Harvard in 2009-2010 before defecting to the QMJHL (with the then-Montreal Juniors, now known as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada) the following season and finally going full-time pro in 2011-2012 with the Habs and the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs. There might be a bit of wishful thinking involved there, although that's acknowledged in the concluding comment, which more or less says "it's a good pick if he changes his mind, if he doesn't, no harm done."

It is, however, important to remember that Greer is 16 years old and isn't even scheduled to hit Hockey Valley for 2-3 more years, so never say never. As Andy Johnson of Wisconsin SB Nation blog Bucky's 5th Quarter reminded me, this is the reality in the big-time college hockey. It's what we signed up for.

If you're one of those people who lies awake at night worrying about these things - and really, you shouldn't be, defections are an occasional fact of life and often unpredictable - there's some good news. Of Penn State's recruits beyond this year's freshman class, only Greer, 2014 D Bo Pellah (Spokane Chiefs - WHL) and 2014 F James Robinson (Moose Jaw Warriors - WHL) reside on the protected list of a major junior team (according to the best available knowledge, as the lists aren't readily published).

Breakout Past: Penn State vs. Georgetown, 1/24/1942

Today's starting point, quite obviously: a pass for Penn State's January 24, 1942 game against Georgetown, a part of Penn State University Libraries' Special Collections, just to get the credit in right at the top.

It's not really a "ticket," per se, based on the fine print. This document was to be exchanged, along with fees and taxes, for a ticket at the box office at Riverside Stadium in Washington, DC. It was issued by Riverside's advertising department, so it's probably fair to call it a promotional effort - hand out a bunch of passes to get people in the door, then hope they all buy peanuts.

To support that view, the pass also included an attached note.

Unfortunately, a search for more on Joseph E. Rice was fruitless (he may have attended PSU circa 1919, but that's unconfirmed), but the generic greeting and stated goal gives off the impression that Rice flooded the Penn State community in DC with passes and hoped a few would show at the game.

The Daily Collegian offered unusually robust coverage of this one, as judged against the standards of the time, including a preview story on game day:

---

Handicapped by thawing weather conditions which have kept them idle for the past week, the Lion stickmen will seek to upset a favored Georgetown University squad tonight in Riverside Arena, Washington, DC.

Undefeated, untied Georgetown boasts a veteran lineup which has averaged the astounding record of eight goals per game in [four] victories this season. Last week, they humbled a strong University of Pennsylvania team, 4-1.

Tonight's lineup will again have Captain Larry Lightbody guarding the nets, and Bert Anthony and Tom Goodwin at the defenses. Mike Fedock and Earl Johnson will fill the wing spots, and Johnny Dufford will be at the center position.

---

As both the Collegian and the pass note, the game was contested at a facility called Riverside Stadium, situated along the Potomac in the northwest quadrant of Washington. Constructed in 1938 and 1939 as the United States recovered from the Great Depression, Riverside was a massive complex that hosted all manner of sport in its time. The main arena seated approximately 6,500 for basketball (roughly 1,500 fewer for hockey) was briefly home to the cagers from both Georgetown and George Washington Universities in the early 1940s, as well as a professional hoops team in the American Basketball League called the Washington Heurich Brewers, after a neighboring brewery. An adjacent football field hosted the DC public schools' football championship, and boxing and roller skating were also big draws at Riverside. And of course, there were frozen-water events like the Ice Follies, the Washington Eagles of the old Eastern Hockey League, and Georgetown's team, which began play in the 1938-1939 season before gaining university support the following year.

Riverside Stadium's heyday was remarkably short-lived - only about four years or so - thanks largely to competition from the cross-town Uline Arena, which opened in 1941. Uline, among other things, hired away Riverside's arena manager, then brought in an American Hockey League team (the Washington Lions) that helped force the Eagles out of business in 1942. Uline, which became the site of the first U.S. concert by The Beatles in 1964, stole college hockey as well, as both of the Nittany Lions' contests in the national capital following 1942 took place there. By late 1951, when the federal government sued to take over Riverside to house the then-new CIA, it was used exclusively as a roller rink. The CIA departed for Langley, VA in 1961, and both Riverside and the Heurich Brewery were razed to make way for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Watergate complex and the jumble of freeway ramps that surrounds the area.

Before discussing the specifics of the match, I need to let you know that the three accounts I have - the Collegian, the Washington Post and the Washington Star - differ from each other in many respects. Lineups, times of the goals, identities of those with assists and penalties, and even the sequence of the goals (according to the Post, PSU tied the game at one before GU went ahead 2-1, while the other two say the Hoyas were up 2-0 at one point) are inconsistently reported. All three agree on the goal scorers, but that's about it. Rather than give you three different versions of the same events, I've tried to identify the most likely truth on a case-by-case basis, usually helped by consistency between two of the three write-ups, but admittedly sometimes based on gut instinct.

Georgetown's Bill Deegan (center) paced the Hoyas' attack

Anyway, the game itself, at least from the Penn State perspective, mirrored Riverside Stadium's life in that a promising start against the powerful Hoyas fell apart quickly and definitively in the late going. While Georgetown jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead thanks to goals from Bill Deegan and John Cassidy, PSU battled back through Ted Cauffman and Earl Johnson to level the game headed into the third period.

Then Deegan took over.

The senior, who (according to the Post) was set to join the Marine Corps after graduation - remember, Pearl Harbor was less than two months before this game - ripped off a natural hat trick in the third period, giving him four goals in all and putting the game out of the Lions' reach. In the days before the late-1950s Montreal Canadiens inspired the now-taken-for-granted rule that ends minor penalties after a power play goal, Georgetown scored four times with the man advantage according to the Collegian, despite the fact that PSU only took three penalties all game long (given the times of the goals, it seems likely that the first four Hoya scores, possibly occurring during just two different PSU penalties, were the ones referenced). John Dufford pulled a late goal back from Johnson's assist, but it only served as window dressing.

Here's an attempt at a box score - once again, sort of a composite of three varying accounts.

Lineups
Penn State
Goal: Lightbody; Left Defense: Anthony; Right Defense: Goodwin; Center: Dufford; Right Wing: Johnson; Left Wing: Fedock; Spares: Steva, Cauffman, Templin, Burford, Fisher, Hill, Heberling, Sussman.
Georgetown
Goal: O'Neill; Left Defense: Perpich; Right Defense: Yukna; Center: Deegan; Right Wing: Cassidy; Left Wing: McQueeney; Spares: Conway, Routh, Werder, B. Burnet, J. Burnet, Pander, Fullam.
First Period
Scoring
1. Georgetown, Deegan (J. Burnet), 7:45; 2. Georgetown, Cassidy (Pender), 8:15; 3. Penn State, Cauffman (Dufford), 10:45.
Penalties
1. Penn State, Johnson (tripping); 2. Georgetown, Perpich (tripping).
Second Period
Scoring
4. Penn State, Johnson (Fedock), 15:02.
Penalties
3. Penn State, Johnson (tripping).
Third Period
Scoring
5. Georgetown, Deegan (Pender), 7:10; 6. Georgetown, Deegan (Cassidy), 8:10; 7. Georgetown, Deegan (Cassidy), 17:50; 8. Penn State, Dufford (Johnson), 18:30.
Penalties
4. Penn State, Fisher (tripping); 5. Georgetown, Conway (interference).

"The Best College Hockey Game of the Season," as hyped by the pass? Maybe not, but regardless, the defeated Penn State squad garnered respect. According to the January 28, 1942 Collegian, "the Lions were adjudged 'the strongest visiting collegiate team' to play in Washington's Riverside Stadium thus far this season."

This Washington Star photo of the game was captioned: "Goalie Larry Lightbody of Penn State took this shot by John Conway (6) of Georgetown on his cranium in order to save a point. It was useless pain as the Hoyas carried off the laurels, 5 to 3, at Riverside last night.

Mr. Rice, by the way, was extremely successful in his attempt at getting a good crowd to the game. Attendance figures given ranged from "more than 4,000" (Star) to 4,600 (Collegian), with the latter account stating that 1,000 Penn State alumni were there. Six weeks after the game, the Post (which revised its initial count of 4,200 to 4,600 by that point) called the throng the largest ever recorded for a hockey game at Riverside Stadium and, in previewing PSU's return to DC to face the Navy All-Stars on March 10th of that season, said that Penn State "has established itself as far and away the best collegiate box office attraction to ever appear on local ice." Toss in the fact that Georgetown's band was at the game, and it's probably not a stretch to call the affair one of the great atmospheres in Penn State hockey history, even today.

Georgetown improved to 5-0-0 with the win, while the loss dropped the Nittany Lions to 1-2-0, although Art Davis' charges would go on to win four of their final five games to finish 5-3-0. Perhaps the commencement of U.S. involvement in World War II made it predictable, perhaps not, but following the season, the 1940-47 varsity era included just nine more official games, with only two of those ending in wins.

NHL Pre-Draft Rankings Include Four Penn Staters

Here's a rundown of how Penn Staters and Penn Staters-to-be have fared in the various pre-NHL Entry Draft guides.

In all, ten rankings of reasonable depth (one-round mock drafts - who doesn't have one of those - need not apply) were checked for this post. Rankings are often constructed a little bit differently from each other, so to help with context and comparison, here's how everyone listed the prospects.

NHL Central Scouting Services: 210 North American skaters, 130 European skaters, 35 North American goalies and 10 European goalies, with no combined list.
International Scouting Services: 200 skaters and 20 goalies, with no combined list.
Future Considerations: 210 players in a combined list.
HockeyProspect.com: 210 players in a combined list.
The Hockey News: 100 players in a combined list.
McKeen's Hockey: 120 players in a combined list.
The Hockey Writers (War Room): 120 players in a combined list.
The Hockey Writers (The Next Ones): 210 players in a combined list.
Bob McKenzie: 75 players in a combined list, plus five honorable mentions.
Craig Button: 75 players in a combined list

All rankings are the respective organizations' final pre-draft issuance.

First, the usual caveat: 30 different NHL teams do the drafting, not McKeen's, The Hockey News, or any single entity unilaterally ordering all available players.

With that out of the way and in summary, incoming goalie Eamon McAdam stands as the only player where it can be said that selection is considered likely. In the six guides that assigned him a numerical rank against all other players, his average placement was 104th, or in the middle of the fourth round. NHL Central Scouting considers him to be one of their top 101 overall, as evidenced by McAdam's invitation to the NHL Scouting Combine. International Scouting Services labeled him as a second-rounder.

Rising sophomore defenseman Mark Yanis (in his second year of draft eligibility), along with incoming defenseman Mike Williamson and 2014 defense commit Bo Pellah have also received attention. However, as each only appears close to the end of one ranking, their being picked has to be viewed as something of a longshot. At the same time, it does need to be said that only five lists are deep enough to incorporate the conclusion of the draft and a Penn Stater not named McAdam appears in three of those. So while individually, their chances might not be fantastic, the odds of one of the three going may be fairly decent.

All seven rounds of the draft will take place on Sunday, June 30th at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Any PSU-affiliated picks will join forward Max Gardiner (2010, 3rd round/74th overall by St. Louis) and defenseman Pat Koudys (2011, 5th round/147th overall by Washington) as NHL prospects on the Nittany Lions.

Eamon McAdam's performance in showcase events has boosted his draft stock

Eamon McAdam

Goaltender
6'2", 185 pounds
2012-13 Team: Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)

NHL Central Scouting Services: 6th North American goalie (additionally, McAdam was one of 101 players invited to the NHL Scouting Combine by CSS, which would seem to place him in their top 101 overall)
International Scouting Services: 3rd goalie
Future Considerations: 106th, 7th goalie
HockeyProspect.com: 144th, 8th goalie
McKeens Hockey: 97th, 10th goalie
The Hockey Writers (War Room): 113th, 7th goalie
The Hockey Writers (The Next Ones): 92nd, 7th goalie
Craig Button: 74th, 7th goalie

Scouting Reports

International Scouting Services: McAdam is a good sized goaltender with good upside for the future. He is not the most athletic goaltender but does a good job of keeping his shoulders back and playing consistent angles. He can struggle at times by making his own mess. He needs a lot of polish but his upside is very intriguing and will be a good investment for the NHL club who selects him. McAdam is verbally committed to Penn State University however the London Knights still own his OHL rights. Size/Strength: Very Good; Athleticism/Ability: Good; Glove: Very Good; Blocker: Good; Lateral Movement: Average.

Future Considerations: McAdam is a big stopper with some very interesting professional upside. Immediately, you notice his great size; seals off his posts very well but altogether he doesn’t utilize his frame all that effectively. He arcs out toward the top of the crease when he goes to move post to post, pulling away from the goal line. He challenges the shooter and his size will force puck carriers into taking lower percentage shots. He can have nights where he struggles fighting the puck and having a hard time nabbing it clean, kicks out numerous rebounds, scrambles and flops around in the crease. McAdam really battles and never gives up; gets his mind right after letting in a bad goal. He shows impressive resiliency. His vision and tracking of the puck is great and compliment great athleticism and reflexes. His athleticism is key to his professional upside. He could stand to just play more positionally and let his size do more of the work instead of over committing and rolling around in his crease. NHL Potential: Starting Goaltender

HockeyProspect.com: Eamon got his developmental push out of Team Comcast in 2009-2010 where he made the jump to the junior hockey ranks splitting time between the USHL’s Waterloo Blackhawks and the NAHL’s Austin Bruins. Eamon received a fair amount of starts for a player who was just 16 to start the season in 2011-2012 and increased his starts again this year getting a lot of exposure and recognition early thanks to his participation at the Junior Club World Cup in August. Eamon has proven to cover the lower part of the net very well. He gets around post to post moderately well and shows good second effort on rebounds. He struggles a little with high shots because he has a tendency to go down a little too early. McAdam also benefited from playing at the World Jr. A Challenge. Eamon is slated to join Penn State University this fall of 2013. January 23, 2013, USHL Top Prospects Game (Muskegon, MI): Had a great night. Very athletic goaltender. Positionally sound and showed the ability to make desperation saves including one unbelievable goal-line glove stop. Communicated well with his teammates, barking commands and warnings to help.

McKeen's Hockey: Set career highs in his second season - sharing duties with fellow draft-runner Cal Petersen .. led the Black Hawks to the final of last summer’s World Jr. Cup in Russia - and Team USA to gold at the World Jr. A Challenge (4-0, 2.18, .927) .. made biggest impression at the USHL Top Prospects Game, claiming MVP honours and delivering one of the year’s best saves .. Perkasie, Pennsylvania native will attend Penn State University this fall .. SCOUTING REPORT .. quick, hybrid goalie casts a solid net presence .. effectively deploys a good-sized frame to manage shooting angles - aided by efficient footwork and deceptive agility .. methodical and structured - reacts and makes decisions relying on his natural instincts and strong anticipation .. style blends poise and competitiveness .. persistence and hard working - won’t give up, sticks with plays .. patient staying up and not over-reacting prematurely .. mostly does a good job of tracking the puck, sustaining solid positions, and not losing the middle of his net .. moves easily post to post and is tough to beat down low .. flashes instantly into a wide and flexible butterfly .. can go flat when down and fully extended - and expose the upper corners .. stays aware - directs teammates about threats - and comforts with positive body language and the mental strength to bounce back after a bad goal.

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Mark Yanis' outstanding freshman year at PSU has earned him some draft consideration

Mark Yanis

Defenseman
6'3", 207 pounds
2012-13 Team: Penn State (NCAA)

Future Considerations: 164th, 59th defenseman

Scouting Report

Future Considerations: Yanis is a big, physical blueliner who uses his size to his advantage. He’s shown some flashes of offensive ability and moves well, but could improve his feet. By doing so, he can shore up some coverage lapses in his own end.

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HockeyProspect.com views Bo Pellah as a high-end puck mover

Bo Pellah

Defenseman
5'11", 150 pounds
2012-13 Team: Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)

HockeyProspect.com: 198th, 67th defenseman

Scouting Report

HockeyProspect.com: Pellah is a poised puck moving defenseman who provided a very strong offensive presence from the backend this season and made the power play look quite impressive with his smart decisions with the puck. Pellah does most of his damage offensively with his hockey sense and very impressive passes. He reads the play quite well, and displays good vision from the blue line. He can thread passes through small seams and be mobile to create some space and time to make a play. Pellah does not have a great shot, but he does a good job of getting them on net and creating rebounds by shooting low. He does not carry the puck too often, but does limit the turnovers that he commits and makes a pass or simply dumps the puck in when he feels pressure.

The issue with Pellah’s game his is lack of strength and defensive game. He still has a lot of weight to put on, and really lacks the upper body strength to physically handle players along the walls and in the slot. He has to become much stronger to have any sort of a chance to be a professional player one day. Defensively, Pellah is not particularly great without the puck. He does a good job of positioning himself, but when he has to engage physically, he gets beat time and time again, and bigger players easily get positioning around him.

Pellah is not heading to the NCAA until 2014, so he has a lot of time to develop physically and improve on his defensive game. He is definitely another project, and teams may pass on him this year, but if he can get stronger and be a better presence without the puck to go with his impressive offensive skills, an NHL team may sign him to a rookie contract in the future, or draft him this year and give him a lot of time to develop.

Sept 9, 2012, Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Langley Rivermen (BCHL): A smooth puck moving defenseman who had a very good game. So smart with the puck, and uses time and patience to his advantage. Not afraid to stickhandle and try to beat opponents one on one. Definitely has the skills to do so. A very good skater, could turn from one direction to another in a hurry. Pushes the pace of the game very well. Needs to bulk up and get much stronger. Was listed as 5’11, 139 lbs last year, but this year listed as 6’1, 165 lbs. Defensively, above average in terms of positioning, but play along the walls could improve a lot.

Really impressed with Bo Pellah (2013). His puck moving skills were by far the best out of any 2013 NHL Entry Draft eligible defensemen from this weekend. I was able to talk to his old major midget coach and he said Pellah has moments once in a while where he tries to put on a stickhandling clinic and gets caught and pays for it. Did not see that today, but could be evident later.

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Mike Williamson's versatility probably helped him get a nod from NHL Central Scouting

Mike Williamson

Defenseman
6'3", 195 pounds
2012-13 Team: Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)

NHL Central Scouting Services: 183rd North American skater, 71st defenseman