Penn State Officially Announces Midnight Practice

Kenny Brooks, Tommy Olczyk and Curtis Loik were introduced to the crowd at last year's event

Penn State has confirmed and announced details on what was more or less widespread knowledge for a while: there will be a midnight public practice to officially open the men's hockey season this year.

The event, which begins Friday night at 11:30 p.m. (doors open at 11) in Pegula Ice Arena, is designed to coincide with the NCAA's first allowed day for full team practices, Saturday October 5th. Therefore, the Nittany Lions will hit the ice right at midnight for an hour-long session. Afterwards, fans are invited to join in a public skate with the players.

Friday-Saturday's gathering follows the successful initiation of one of Penn State hockey's newest traditions last year at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.

Here's the full release:

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Fans will have the opportunity to watch the 2013-14 Penn State men's hockey team for the first time at Pegula Ice Arena the night of Friday, Oct. 4. The practice is free and open to the public.

Doors to the new, $90 million facility will open at 11 p.m. Friday (Oct. 4) and fans will have the chance to receive giveaways and complimentary food (while supplies last), courtesy of The Pointe. Practice will then run from midnight until 1 a.m. during the early-morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 5. Following practice, fans are welcome to join the team on the ice for a free public skate from 1-2 a.m. Fans who have their own skates are encouraged to bring them.

Prior to the start of practice, each member of the Nittany Lions will be introduced and head coach Guy Gadowsky will address those in attendance. The practice will be the team's first official session of the season as NCAA rules stipulate Oct. 5 as the first day for organized team practices.

In 2013-14, the Nittany Lions will face a challenging schedule with at least 19 games against teams that have reached the NCAA Frozen Four since 2009. Included in the team's 34-game regular-season slate are six opponents ranked in either the preseason USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine or USCHO.com polls. Penn State will also play a 20-game conference schedule in the first year of the Big Ten.

Single-game tickets for the 2013-14 season go on sale Thursday, Oct. 3 and can be purchased by visiting the Bryce Jordan Center Athletic Ticket Office weekdays 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. or by calling 1-800-NITTANY. Single-game tickets in the main bowl start at just $15 per game. The Nittany Lions season opener against Army is sold out.

Schedule of Events - Friday, Oct. 4

11:00 p.m.: Doors open (giveaways, complimentary food while supplies last)
11:30 p.m.: Festivities begin
Midnight-1:00 a.m.: Practice
1:00-2:00 a.m.: Free public skate with the team

Men's Jersey Countdown: #9 David Goodwin

Freshman - Forward - 5'10" - 179 pounds - Des Peres, MO

Freshman playmaker David Goodwin is among the latest in a string of mature leaders with underrated talent brought in by Guy Gadowsky during Penn State's foundation-laying NCAA years. As a USHL rookie in 2010-11, he helped the Green Bay Gamblers to the Clark Cup finals, but for most of the last two seasons, he's played for below average teams - and still produced. The Gamblers traded Goodwin to the Sioux City Musketeers early in the 2011-12 season, where he went on to finish third on a 29-30-1 team in scoring despite not being on the roster from the beginning of the year. He was named Sioux City's captain at the beginning of last season, but departed for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders via trade after 18 games. Still, Goodwin wound up among the top scorers on the 25-30-9 Riders with 30 points in 46 games. The St. Louis-area native is part of a burgeoning PSU pipeline from the Show Me State, including Nittany Lions defenseman Joe Lordo and 2015 commit Chase Berger.

Career Statistics (2010-12 with USHL Green Bay Gamblers, 2011-13 with USHL Sioux City Musketeers, 2012-13 with USHL Cedar Rapids RoughRiders):
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2010-11	57	9	17	26	18	4	0	0	-
2011-12 (GB)	11	4	6	10	2	0	1	2	-
2011-12 (SC)	47	17	22	39	35	6	2	0	-
2012-13 (SC)	18	5	8	13	14	1	1	0	-
2012-13 (CR)	46	8	22	30	18	1	0	0	-
USHL Career	179	43	75	118	87	12	4	2	-

Women's Jersey Countdown: #2 Jeanette Bateman

Sophomore - Defender - 5'6" - Greeley, CO

One way to know that Jeanette Bateman is an effective defender is through the test generally applied to offensive linemen in football: she tends to go unnoticed. But effective she is, or she wouldn't have joined Jordin Pardoski, Paige Jahnke and Lindsay Reihl in the group of Penn State blueliners who dressed for every game in 2012-13. In 30 of the last 31, Bateman could be found on the right side of Jahnke, maybe PSU's most effective tandem - they ranked second and third on the team in blocked shots, behind only human waffleboard Micayla Catanzariti. The three-sport athlete in high school was the first player in Penn State's NCAA history with a three-assist game (January 4th against Chatham), and she scored her goal in a win over Sacred Heart on October 20, 2012. Bateman is also an outstanding student. The biomedical engineering major was co-salutatorian at Greeley West High School and is notable as one of several Nittany Lions likely to end up somewhere in medicine following graduation.

Career Statistics:
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2012-13	35	1	4	5	12	1	0	0	0
NCAA Career	35	1	4	5	12	1	0	0	0

Government Shutdown to Jeopardize PSU Games?

Will Pegula Ice Arena look like this at 8:00 p.m. on October 11th?

Federal government shutdowns, such as the one initiated today due to political haggling over the funding and implementation of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are sort of a funny thing in that nobody really thinks it has an impact on their lives until it does. After all, "essential services," like the prisons, postal service and armed forces remain unaffected.

Then there are sports. On Tuesday, the Naval Academy posted this brief release to their website:

As a result of the government shutdown, the Department of Defense has suspended all intercollegiate athletic competitions at the Service Academies.

The Naval Academy will cancel contests as appropriate and notification on Saturday's football game against Air Force will be made public prior to 12 noon on Thursday.

Tonight's soccer game against Howard has been cancelled. It is not known at this time if the game will be made up or not.

As of this post, similar releases have not been posted to Army's and Air Force's websites. Those two, of course, are the opponents for the first three games of the men's hockey season, with the Black Knights coming to Pegula Ice Arena on October 11th - just ten days from now - and PSU traveling out to Colorado Springs, CO for a two-game series with the Falcons on the following weekend.

The Daily Collegian's Darian Somers jumped on his horse and immediately confirmed that, according to Penn State, "everything is status quo." Should the shutdown continue, and given the timing of the decision on the Navy-Air Force football game, I imagine "status quo" will remain the case for another week or so before a call needs to be made.

For reference, the last federal government shutdown, spanning 1995 and 1996, lasted 21 days. A repeat of that would probably kill the hockey games, although the good news is that a majority of shutdowns throughout history have lasted less than one week.

UPDATE 10/1, 2:35 P.M.: The Air Force Academy has released a statement containing possible good news for the Nittany Lions' series on October 18th and 19th:

At this time, travel for all intercollegiate athletics is cancelled - this includes the Air Force-Navy game on Saturday, 5 Oct.

The Air Force Academy Falcons will attempt to play all home intercollegiate athletic contests but those may be cancelled, as well. Academy officials are working with Mountain West Conference officials, those teams the Falcons were scheduled to play and officials at The Department of the Air Force to make up as many games as possible.

UPDATE 10/2, 1:45 A.M.: As things stand right now...

• Army has begun cancelling sporting events "in accordance with a directive from the Department of Defense," including a men's soccer game on Tuesday and a women's soccer game on Wednesday, with the statement that "any other changes to the Army Athletics schedule will be announced as they become available."
• Because people really like sports, they have begun brainstorming ways to fund service academy sporting contests without government money. Some combination of conference fees, ticket revenue and TV money could be used to save the Air Force-Navy football game on Saturday, and should that go off, it could provide a model for playing other games while the government remains closed.

Women's Jersey Countdown: #3 Cara Mendelson

Junior - Forward - 5'6" - Pittsburgh, PA

Cara Mendelson didn't play much in 2012-13 - just two games - but there's little doubt that she's an important part of the Nittany Lions' depth. She's adept at playing both forward and defense, a bit of flexibility that allows Josh Brandwene and his staff added security against the inevitabilities of hockey. And it has to be said that with Mendelson in the lineup, PSU did quite well last season: 2-0-0 with a 6-1 win at Sacred Heart on October 20, 2012 and a 4-0 home victory against Division III Chatham on January 5th. The Steel City Selects product spent her freshman season with the Lady Icers and was a key component of an outstanding group of blueliners that helped PSU to the ECWHL regular season championship. She scored her first collegiate goal on October 28, 2011 against California (PA) and was in the lineup for the Lady Icers' stunning upset of NCAA DI's Sacred Heart on January 14, 2012. Mendelson was one of six Lions to earn Academic All-Big Ten accolades last year.

Career Statistics (2011-12 with ACHA Lady Icers):
Season	GP	G	A	Pts.	PIM	PP	SH	GW	GT
2011-12	26	1	3	4	2	0	0	0	0
2012-13	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
ACHA Career	26	1	3	4	2	0	0	0	0
NCAA Career	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0