"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."

RIT Comeback Spoils Home Opener for Michigan

It looked like another routine opener for the Wolverines. The air was cold in Yost and the fans were decked in maize and blue, leading rousing cheers of "Hail to the Victors" and banging their cowbells in rhythm with a resounding "Go Blue!" from the student section. The men on the ice for Michigan had put up three goals in the first period, and were settling in for a home-opening blowout of the visiting team from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Michigan blew a 3-0 lead at home Thursday night. The Wolverines have lost 2 out of the last 3 home openers.

Michigan came flying out of the gate. Just two minutes into the game, Derek DeBlois buried a shot to put the Wolverines up 1-0 on the Tigers. Halfway through the period, Michigan tallied a second goal--this one on the power play--off the stick of Mac Bennett. Looking to salt the game away in the first period, Jason Trouba scored on the powerplay late in the period, putting Michigan up 3-0.

RIT finally found a bit of life at the end of the first period. Just 29 seconds after Trouba scored, the Tigers got a goal from Josh Mitchell, breathing a bit of life into the team. The score of 3-1 made the game manageable for RIT; but as the game entered the third period, the Tigers were starting to run out of time.

The squad from RIT scored three minutes into the final period thanks to Chris Saracino's first goal of the year. But the celebration was short lived. Michigan did what has becoming a trademark for them over the years--they squelched the hope of a comeback with a quick goal. Just two minutes after the Tigers pulled within a goal, Travis Lynch found the back of the net to keep the Wolverines' lead at two goals, 4-2.

Halfway through the third, the Tigers again pulled the lead within a goal. Elliot Raibl found the back of the net for RIT, making the game 4-3. Michigan still had the lead, but the three-goal cushion from the first period had disappeared.

But with only five minutes remaining in the game, the Tigers completed the comeback. Greg Noyes scored for RIT, tying the game 4-4 in front of a shocked Yost Arena. Michigan then took a penalty, giving RIT a chance to win the game in regulation. The Wolverines penalty kill took over, and managed to get the game into overtime tied 4-4.

It took all of 14 seconds for RIT to win the game in overtime.
Adam Hartley hit the twine for the Tigers, and the celebration ensued for the orange and black.

The loss was Michigan's second home-opening loss in the last three years.

Colgate Hockey Throttles Niagara

It was a crowd of barely over 700 fans. But gosh, did they get treated to an offensive explosion.

Colgate opened up the regular season tonight with a game against Niagara University and made the most of the home opener. The Raiders throttled the Purple Eagles by an incredible score of 10-2.

The Raiders made use of seven different goal scorers during the course of the game and put up a total of 35 shots. Colgate opened the scoring just over a minute into the game with a goal by Darcy Murphy.  The Purple Eagles tied the game off the stick of Giancarlo Iuorio halfway through the first period, but trailed 2-1 after the first period.

Colgate added three goals within the first four minutes of the second period, sealing the game away. Niagara goaltender Colby Drost was pulled just two minutes into the second period, with his team down 4-1. He was replaced for the remainder of the game by teammate Cody Campbell.

Colgate kept up its offensive attack on the new goalkeeper. Goal-scorer Billy Rivellini would add his second goal of the period at 10:51 of the second to put the Raiders up by four goals. The Raiders led 6-1 heading into the third period.

The Raiders added another onslaught of goals in the third period--four more, to be exact. Niagara made it a 10-2 hockey game late in the period on a powerplay goal by Michael Benedict. Little consolation for the Purple Eagles, as the hometown Raiders celebrated their 10-2 season opening win. Robbie Bourdon, Kurtis Bartliff, and Rivellini all had double goals for Colgate.

Colgate gets a road test this weekend, as they travel to Miami (OH) to take on the Redhawks in Oxford, Ohio. Niagara plays host to the Mercyhurst Lakers on Saturday night.

College Hockey Pre-Season Highlights

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

College hockey season is about to be back in full-swing in only a matter of weeks. Exhibition games open up next Saturday, while the official season-openers start the week after.

New Hampshire didn't rank to start the year, but has potential to make a statement this season.

I'm excited. I've waited over five months for this.
Drop the puck, already.

USA-Today released the preseason polls earlier this week (which is the start of my excited and nervous jitters for this season to start). There weren't a ton of surprises up at the top of the table. Boston College. Minnesota. Michigan. You know, the usuals.

On the flip side, some surprises included UMass-Lowell landing a top ten spot, while NCAA runner-up Ferris State dropped from 2nd to 14th to start the year. Clearly, the underdogs in last years tournament are still just that--underdogs. Meanwhile, Notre Dame snagged the final top-ten spot, projecting Jeff Jackson's Irish to have a better ending to this season than last year's squad had.

Boston College. Michigan. Notre Dame.
Let's take a sneak-peek at them, shall we?

The Eagles from BC are undoubtedly the strongest team in the nation. I mean, they are the defending national champions, after all. But it's more than just winning the NCAA title (does that sound crazy? stay with me). It's how they won. And the how of how they won is a little number crunching that looks like this: 16-2. That's how badly they outscored their opponents during the NCAA tournament. That's...that's just unheard of.

The Eagles are the team to beat yet again this season. Watch out for a repeat as the champions.

Backstopping the Eagles is senior Parker Milner, who was basically a god-on-ice last year. He ended the year with a .937 save percentage, and posted five shutouts (three of those in a four-game span, as well as back-to-back shutouts to open the NCAA tournament). That's insane. What else is insane is that sophomore Johnny Gaudreau put up 44 points last season...as a freshmen. This kid is good. Scary good.

Heck, this team is good. Scary good.

Then there is the Michigan Wolverines. U of M is a perennial contender for both the conference and national championships. Last year, however, the Wolverines choked in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Cornell--an upset that caught just about everyone by surprise (despite Michigan losing the CCHA championship to Western Michigan). That sets the stage for doubters. This is true, especially when you consider the fact that goaltender Shawn Hunwick graduated, allowing either Janecyk or Dwyer to take over between the pipes for Michigan.

On the plus side, this team has a solid roster. It's been said that "Michigan doesn't rebuild, it reloads." And unfortunately for every team it plays, that is scarily accurate. It's a team with solid leadership, with 11 upperclassmen, and a solid set of young underclassmen joining or returning to the winged helmet. This team, as usual, has the potential to go deep.

The Wolverines have the talent to avoid an early tournament exit, and get their first title since '98.

The question is, will they choke again--or will that bad taste push them to claim the NCAA title.
A title, by the way, which has evaded them since 1998. It seems unreal.

Finally, we come to Jeff Jackson's Fighting Irish. Notre Dame seems to be fortunate to have such a high pre-season ranking (fortunate, you know, if pre-season rankings actually meant anything. No offense USA-Today). Notre Dame barely finished above .500 last year--they went 19-18-3. They were eliminated by Michigan with two-straight losses and failed to even make the NCAA tournament.

That's...that's horrible. For a storied program like Notre Dame, at least.
Maybe they need to add a "Goal-Scoring Jesus" outside the arena.

Notre Dame's offensive power and goaltending prowess should push them deep in the tournament.

However, here's why they are ranked 10th: they are solid. They can score. They can defend. And they have a flippin' leprechaun, for crying out loud (okay, maybe that's not the reason. This isn't "Robin Hood, Men in Tights"). But they have the return of senior goaltender Mike Johnson, who looked unbeatable during Notre Dame's 11-game unbeaten streak last season. The kid is solid.

Additionally, they have the duo of TJ Tynan and Anders Lee putting the Irish on the scoreboard way more than their opponents would like to see. They are virtually unstoppable. Oh yeah, and they've only been on the team for two years. Watch out for these guys.

Overall, am I making predictions at this point? Not specifically. We'll wait til after those tell-all exhibition games before I go out on a limb like that (note the sarcasm: exhibition games tell us absolutely nothing). But what I am saying is that these three teams are solid. So solid.

Expect me to still be talking about them when the tournament rolls around in March/April.
My guess is that they'll all be vying for a national championship.

-Josh

Skipping School: Early Contracts Injur Small-Market Teams

Every college hockey coach wants professional-level players. The flip-side to that desire, however, is that those NHL-caliber players tend to make the jump from college to professional before their senior season plays out.

Nowhere is this more noticeable than the smaller-market colleges/universities. In a market where it is a challenge every year to recruit, the players that have what it takes to make it to the top is hard to come by. And when those players do finally don the jersey of a smaller hockey school, it is hard to convince many of them to play out all four years.

It's an impact felt much more at schools such as Northeastern, Vermont, or Lake Superior State than it is at schools such as Minnesota, Michigan, or Wisconsin. While the classic line for the major schools has been "they don't re-build--they re-load," every player lost from minor schools leaves a hole to be filled...especially when the player is a step-above their teammates.

Lake State scores! Screenshot taken from YouTube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gUnw8tPRQI 

Northeastern will have a hole to fill this fall with the leaving of senior forward Steve Quailer. According to USCHO.com, Quailer acquired 63 points over three seasons with Northeastern. He has signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens.

The Vermont Catamounts have lost Zemgus Girgensons before he ever put on the Catamount jersey. Girgensons will sign a contract with the Buffalo Sabers as a first-round draft pick. Vermont will try to build without their stellar recruit.

Lake Superior State University lost two key players this summer. Senior Zach Trotman has signed a contract with the Boston Bruins, and will forgo his final year for the Lakers. Trotman was a solid anchor on defense for  the Lakers. In addition, LSSU lost junior forward Kyle Jean, who has signed with the New York Rangers. Jean was a force to be reckoned with at 6'4" and 212 lbs. According to lssulakers.com, Jean acquired 38 points in his two seasons at Lake State, including 24 points this past season.

These, and similar schools, do not have the option to simply re-load. They re-build. As legendary USA coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) said in the movie "Miracle":

"It's not about finding the best players. It's about finding the right ones."

--JoshE