Penn State Edges Minnesota in OT

Simon Mack scored on a wrist shot just over three minutes into overtime to lift host Penn State to a 4-3 win over Minnesota in Big Ten action last night before 6,577 on-lookers in University Park, Pa. The No. 15 Nittany Lions also stretched their unbeaten streak, which dates back to Feb. 7, to seven games.

Brodie Ziemer had two assists for Minnesota (23-8-4 overall, 14-6-3 Big Ten), which fought back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to force the OT. Former Penn State netminder Liam Souliere made 28 saves for the Golden Gophers, who fell one point behind Michigan State in the race for the top spot in the Big Ten.

Aiden Fink and Jimmy Dowd, Jr. set up two goals apiece for the Nittany Lions (18-11-4, 9-10-4), who also got 31 stops from Arsenii Sergeev. It was also the 400th career collegiate victory for Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky, the only coach the program has known since it joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 2013. The two schools will close out the 2024-25 regular season tonight in a rematch at Pegula Ice Arena.

ADDENDUM: Behind two goals from Matthew Wood and 30 saves from Souliere, Minnesota defeated Penn State, 5-3, in the rematch on Saturday to claim a share of the Big Ten regular-season crown. Michigan State still earned the first seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, while Minnesota will host seventh-seeded Notre Dame and fifth-seeded Penn State will visit fourth-seeded Michigan in the best-of-three quarterfinals next weekend.

Princeton Edges Army West Point, 4-3, in OT

Adam Robbins' goal with 27 seconds remaining in three-on-three overtime was the game-winner, as Princeton edged visiting Army West Point, 4-3, in a non-conference contest on Monday night at Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. 

Army's Joey Baez had tied the game with just five seconds remaining in regulation, with goaltender Gavin Abric (25 saves) pulled for an extra attacker, before Robbins won it. Princeton's Ethan Pearson finished with 27 stops, including a spectacular diving glove save on a 2-on-1 rush to keep the host Tigers ahead at the time by a goal.

Princeton's Kevin Anderson opened the scoring early in the first period with his first career NCAA goal, before Brent Keefer tied it less than five minutes later. Jack Cronin connected on a power play late just four seconds before the first intermission to put the Tigers back on top, before Rick Lyle tied it again early in the second stanza for the Black Knights (7-18-1 overall). Kai Daniels then scored on a partial breakaway less than four minutes later to make it 3-2 for Princeton (7-11-2), and the score remained unchanged until Baez tied it on a one-timer from the left circle with time winding down.

Princeton defenseman Noah de la Durantaye finished with two assists, as did Army blueliner Mac Gadowsky, son of former Princeton and current Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky. The Black Knights outshot the Tigers, 30-29, but finished 1-for-7 on the power play. Princeton, which snapped a six-game losing streak with the victory, went 1-for-2 with the man advantage.

Controversy Over Penn State 409 Decals

Looks like some more trouble is emanating from Happy Valley.

The Penn State University men's hockey team wore “409” decals on their white helmets (as shown) last Friday for its game against visiting Big Ten rival Michigan State, after the NCAA ruled that it was restoring 111 wins to late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. Those wins had been taken away following the NCAA's investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse incidents on campus that came to light in recent years.

Penn State was also stripped of a number of football scholarships, and was not permitted to participate in bowl games for four years. The latter stricture was lifted this season, as the Nittany Lions triumphed, 31-30, over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.

Paterno again ranks first among NCAA Division I football coaches with a total of 409 career victories. Some have taken Penn State hockey coach Guy Gadowsky to task for the 409 decals, however, saying that wearing them was an affront to Sandusky's victims, and perhaps ignored any possible role that Paterno may have played in covering up his former assistant coach's crimes before he himself was fired from his longtime position.

Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour apparently wasn’t happy with the decals, either, as she expressed on Twitter. The next night, Penn State claimed a 5-2 win over MSU at Pegula Arena in which the Nittany Lions wore gray third jerseys and non-standard blue helmets, apparently without any “409” decals.

Having known Gadowsky, and having also covered Princeton University for several years when he was coaching there, I find it hard to believe that he would have done such a thing with complete disregard for the Sandusky victims. If anything, it was a show of solidarity with the rest of the Penn State community.

Could the decal gesture have been taken the wrong way? Sure it could have. Despite the NCAA lessening the sanctions it imposed on the football program, rightly or wrongly, there are still deep wounds running through the campus. Some people may take a long time to heal regarding what happened, and others may never be fully whole.

Taking away or restoring wins to the football program isn’t the key issue, it’s helping those people who were hurt. Wins in the end are intangible, just something marked down on paper or kept track of on a computer. The real question is, is Penn State truly working to ensure that incidents like Sandusky’s never happen again? 

I don't think that Gadowsky, a husband and father as well as a coach, did this with malicious intent. Whether or not Paterno knew what was going on or covered things up—and it's hard to believe he didn't—he’s always going to be associated with Penn State, for good or bad. I wouldn’t put his statue up again, but he will always be associated with the school due to his longevity, if nothing else. Some supporters will still defend him and his record to the death, especially against perceived outsiders.

When it's all said and done, the decals may have rubbed some people the wrong way, and it's probably good they’ve been removed so as not to keep potentially antagonizing those individuals who didn't agree with their placement in the first place. Penn State still has a long way to go.

Penn State Unveils New Sweaters

Penn State University is just weeks away from unveiling its new men's and women's NCAA hockey teams on ice. Earlier this week, both squads unveiled their new white home and blue road sweaters, as depicted online at USCHO.com.

The overall design for both teams is generally the same, except the women's team will carry a College Hockey America patch on theirs, below the left shoulder, as they will begin CHA play this season. The men's team will compete as an independent in 2012-13 before moving to the new Big Ten Conference a year from now with Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Both team's sweaters will feature a Nike logo below the right shoulder, and traditional hockey lacing in front below the neck.It's a nice, clean look, with the school's blue and white colors complimenting each other well. There's solid wide striping featured on both the sleeves and waist, and the well-known Nittany Lion head logo situated on the front.

For Penn State men's coach Guy Gadowsky, who originally comes from a pro background, it's similar to his previous two college stops. Alaska Fairbanks had the UAF logo on the front of its sweaters during his tenure there, while Princeton displayed the university shield while he was behind the bench at Baker Rink and actually kept the design last season.

The PSU women's team and coach Josh Brandwene will make their varsity debut first, when the Nittany Lions visit Vermont on Oct. 6-7. The men's team will swing into action a week later at home against American International College on Oct. 12-13.

Gadowsky Speaks on Penn State Situation

Guy Gadowsky, head coach of the Penn State University men's ice hockey team that will begin Division I play this fall, issued a statement on Tuesday regarding the NCAA's sanctions of the Nittany Lion football program.

Those penalties, which were levied for administrators covering up a child sexual abuse scandal that lasted over a decade, included a fine of $60 million, cuts in the total number of football scholarships over the next four years, no bowl/playoff games for the next four years, and the vacating of more than 100 of the program's overall victories from 1998 to 2011.

"I am motivated by the professionalism and positive nature in which (Penn State) Football Coach Bill O'Brien is dealing with the recent NCAA ruling," said Gadowsky, who previously coached at both Alaska Fairbanks and Princeton. "Penn State Hockey stands behind Coach O'Brien, our great University and the best student body in the nation. We are excited to move forward together to build a better Penn State. "

The full text of Gadowsky's statement can be found here at Penn State's athletic web site.

The Nittany Lions will begin their first NCAA Division I hockey campaign on Oct. 12-13 at home against American International College, with the second game to be played in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Penn State Gearing Up for This Fall

Got to speak to an old friend in former Princeton coach Guy Gadowsky last month, regarding his getting the new Nittany Lions ready for the inaugural NCAA Division I campaign at Penn State University this fall. The story of the transition from club power to varsity newcomer is now up at USCHO. I imagine it it won't take him long to have things running smoothly as PSU gets ready to join the nascent Big Ten Hockey Conference in 2014.

Coaching Carousel: Good Luck, Gads

The coaching carousel in NCAA Division I hockey has been a veritable merry-go-round the last few weeks, especially where the ECAC is concerned. Clarkson recently released George Roll, while Nate Leaman shifted from Union to Providence, and was replaced on the Dutchmen bench by assistant and former Friar skater Rick Bennett. Speaking of Hockey East, UMass Lowell alum Norm Bazin is now in charge of his alma mater.

The nascent program at Penn State, though, which will (finally) start intercollegiate play in late 2012, made perhaps the biggest splash of all by hiring Princeton's Guy Gadowsky over the weekend to be its first-ever varsity head coach. Gadowsky led the Tigers to both ECAC and Ivy League titles and their first-ever back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths in his tenure, along with consistent Top-20 recognition, after inheriting a team that had won just five games the season prior to his arrival from Alaska Fairbanks. He also oversaw a similar reclamation effort during his time at UAF, and led the Nanooks to the brink of the big dance.

Having regularly covered Princeton from Gadowsky's second season on up until this past winter, I'll admit I have some mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, I'm genuinely happy for him. He's paid his dues and brought the Tigers some success, and deserves to have an opportunity like this at a big-name, Big Ten school. I'm sure he's gotten a bump in pay and will have more resources to work with, including a new 6,000-seat arena. Plus, how many coaches could resist the lure of being able to start a Division I program from scratch? (Although according to Monday's press conference that officially introduced him at Penn State, he doesn't consider it to be starting from scratch.)

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/042511aac.html

Selfishly, more than a small part of me wishes that he was staying at Princeton. I'm sure a lot of Tiger fans do, after what he was able to accomplish there the last seven seasons. He's always been a class act, and always been gracious with his time for post-game interviews. Heck, sometimes he'd even apologize to me if I was waiting to get a quote or two because he was busy talking to a recruit or something along those lines. Not that a D-I coach had to apologize to me, but that's the kind of person he is.

He really is a genuinely nice Guy, and having a common link to UAF was neat, even if our respective tenures in Fairbanks were about a decade apart. Most people probably wondered what we were talking about when we discussed the Governor's Cup, which took place more than 4,000 miles away from central New Jersey, but it was nice to have that kind of rapport with him. It will be weird next year to walk into Baker Rink and not see him standing on the Princeton bench anymore; but rationally, I realize he's doing what he has to do, and as I said before, he deserves this opportunity. I hope his successor at Old Nassau can do half as well.

Onward and upward, then. I wish him and the Nittany Lions much success, and hope that sometime over its first couple of seasons, Penn State can make the trek from Happy Valley to Baker Rink for a two-game set. Thanks, Gads, and good luck out there.