"We Are": Penn State Hockey Off to Good Start

Penn State's Casey Bailey scores the first D1 goal for the Nittany Lions.
(Photo from: http://pennstate.247sports.com/Article/Penn-State-Hockey-Earns-Split-95911)

Penn State didn't have to wait long to get it's first-ever win at the Division I level.

The Nittany Lions were on the verge of a winless weekend in the school's first season playing at the top  level of college hockey. After a 3-2 overtime loss to American International on Friday night, Big Blue found itself once again locked into a five minute overtime period.

The result this time would be different for Penn State, thanks to David Glen's second goal of the game. The PSU left winger cradled a pass from Kenny Brooks on the right wing, firing the puck past goaltender Ben Meisner from just outside the left hashmark and into the top of the net. Penn State mobbed a pumped-up Glen along the sideboards, celebrating the program's first win at the Division 1 level.

                                  Penn State earned an overtime win with this goal by David Glen.


Confidence was running over into this past weekend for the Nittany Lions--perhaps a bit too much. Surprisingly, especially after the big overtime win against American International, Penn State was shut out by Division III opponent Buffalo State. Reality check, anyone? The loss was probably enough for head coach Guy Gadowsky to choke on his spearmint gum.

Credit to the Nittany Lions, though. They went back to Division I opponents with a road game against RIT on Saturday night--the RIT Tigers, of course, coming off a huge upset of #3 Michigan the weekend before. The Tiger offense managed to shut down the Big Blue Machine on offense, allowing just 22 shots.

But you know what they say--champions find a way to win. Sophomore goaltender PJ Musico stepped up to the plate and rebounded from the previous loss, stopping 40 of 42 shots for the Nittany Lions. And despite only managing 22 shots, Penn State still found the back of the net three times, upsetting the RIT Tigers 3-2 in their own building.

Penn State is off to a great start in their first season at the NCAA Division I level.
(Photo from: http://thankyouterry.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-snails-pace-of-ticket-sales.html)

Nobody is claiming that Penn State will have a championship season...or even make the NCAA tournament for that matter. That's going to be a long-time coming, and there are multiple kinks for Guy Gadowsky to get out of the system. One big question for Penn State is how their defense will hold up once they get into the heart of the schedule--five of the eight Nittany Lion defenders is an underclassman. This will bode well for Penn State's defensive future (Musico is also an underclassman at goalie for PSU), but could prove costly during this first season at this level.

One positive for Penn State, however, is that the offense is already finding ways to score, averaging just under a respectable three goals a game. Impressively, Penn State has put up an incredible number of shots on their opponents--American International's Ben Meisner faced 63 shots on Friday night alone. The Nittany Lions are averaging 41 shots per game in their first four games.

Keep that up, and Penn State will be making some noise in the NCAA.
The Nittany Lion is on ice and ready to roar.

And the white and blue faithful are screaming out, with frosty breath, that "We are...Penn State."