Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams were back on the ice this weekend, facing a previously unbeaten ACHA Arizona State team and a #4 ranked Mercyhurst team respectively. The men split their 2 game series against the Sun Devils of Arizona State at home while the women dropped both of their games to the Mercyhurst Lakers up north in Erie.

In the first game of the men’s exhibition series against Arizona State, the Nittany Lions cruised to an 8-3 victory on the shoulders of emerging freshman forward David Glen. Glen, continuing his successes from previous weeks, recorded his first hat trick of the season, scoring three goals on six shots. Captain Tommy Olczyk also tallied his second goal of the season that gave Penn State the lead 2-1 just two minutes into the second period. Rounding out the scoring with a goal apiece were forwards Kenny Brooks, Michael Longo, and Eric Steinour and defenseman Luke Juha.  Matthew Skoff reprised his role in net Friday night and saved an easy 24 out of 27 shots. The men also dominated in the shot count for the night, almost doubling Arizona State 52-27.

Game two for the men didn’t go quite as smoothly; however, as they missed sweeping the Sun Devils thanks to a 3-1 loss Saturday night. Curtis Loik had the lone goal for the Nittany Lions, a shorthanded tally in the third, assisted by the captain Olczyk and defenseman Nate Jensen. Penn State switched it up in net with PJ Musico in between the pipes for this game but despite a great 27 save performance, Penn State couldn’t generate enough quality chances on Arizona State’s Joe D’Elia. The Nittany Lions outshot the Sun Devils 37-30 and won the faceoff battle easily but seemed to lack the drive to finish the game off, keeping Arizona State in the game long enough for them to capitalize on good opportunities. The weekend split puts the men’s record at 6-5-0 for the year.

The women came back Friday from their bye week last weekend to play a gritty and downright dangerous #4 ranked Mercyhurst team. Game one saw the Nittany Lions get shut out 5-0, despite great play from goalies Nicole Paniccia and Celine Whitlinger. Paniccia played the first 2 periods, giving up 4 goals on 33 shots, while Whitlinger came in to finish off the game in the third period, only allowing one goal on 27 tries. Combined, the duo went on to save 55 shots through three periods of play. On the offensive side, the women continued to struggle in the shot count, only getting 10 shots through on goal for the entire game. Team leaders Hannah Hoenshell, Birdie Shaw, and Shannon Yoxheimer combined for 6 of the team’s 10 shots.

While Saturday night resulted in a 7-1 loss, the women were able to snap Mercyhurst’s shutout streak with a lone goal from Jess Desorcie. Desorcie’s goal also gave Penn State a momentary lead early in the first period, before Mercyhurst was able to tie it up just four minutes later. Like Friday night’s game, the Nittany Lions were only able to manage 10 shots on goal, with forward Taylor Gross having 4 of the teams’ shots. Gross made her presence known in this game early on, managing to get a couple breakaways and assisting on Desorcie’s goal. There was one big positive that came out of Saturday night’s game; however, as Nicole Paniccia made some history with 64 saves, breaking the team’s record for saves in a game. The two weekend losses to Mercyhurst drop the women’s season record to 5-10-1.

The men and the women’s hockey teams will both be away next weekend, with the men traveling to Holy Cross to play 2 games against the Crusaders while the women head to St. Lawrence to face the Saints. Holy Cross figures to be a tough game, as the Crusaders are 7-4-2 and are coming off a tie game with Robert Morris from this past weekend. Likewise, the women will also be tested this weekend with an 8-7-1 St. Lawrence team hoping to rebound from a loss to Cornell University. The puck drops for the men on Friday night at 7:05PM and Saturday at 5:00PM and for the women at 7:00PM Friday night and 2:00PM Saturday afternoon. Make sure you follow me on Twitter if you’d like to get your daily hockey fix (along with other random things) and check back next week for another recap!

On Friday night in San Diego, the women’s soccer team faces national top seed Florida State in the semifinals of the College Cup, college soccer’s Final 4.  Penn State earned the trip to California by knocking off Duke 1-0 in last week’s regional final.  This is the first trip to soccer’s biggest stage for Penn State since 2005, and the program is looking to advance to the final for the first time in their history.  The game kicks off at 8:30, and can be seen live on ESPN3.com, with the winner facing the UNC-Stanford winner on Sunday at 4:00.

On the other side of the country, the Penn State women’s volleyball team starts their quest for a 5th national title in 6 years when they face Binghampton in Rec Hall tonight.  The Lions enter the NCAA tournament as the top seed nationally with a 29-2 record.  The match begins at 7:30, and the winner will face either Bowling Green or Yale in Rec Hall on Saturday at 7:30.  The Falcons and Bulldogs match starts at 5:00 tonight.

Penn State’s men’s basketball team looks to rebound from a tough loss to Boston College on Wednesday night in the Big 10/ACC Challenge when they face Penn on Saturday afternoon.  Pat Chambers’ squad struggled to score for much of the game vs. BC, until a late 18-1 run nearly brought them all the way back from a  20 point deficit.  DJ Newbill and Jermaine Marshall scored 22 and 25 points respectively, but with Brandon Taylor in foul trouble much of the night, PSU could not find a 3rd option on the offensive end.  Penn enters the game 2-5, coming off a win against Binghampton on Wednesday.  The game tips at 2:00 in the Jordan Center, and can be seen on ESPN3.com.

In hockey, the men’s team is at home in Greenberg Ice Pavillion this weekend for a 2 game exhibition series against Arizona State on Friday and Saturday.  The Sun Devils remain a club team in the ACHA.  Both of those games start at 7:30. The women’s team is on the road for a 2 game series against #4 Mercyhurst.  PSU enters with a 5-8-1 record, while the Lakers sit at 12-1-0.  Game 1 starts at 7:00 tonight, with the series finale at 2:00 on Saturday.  Mary Clarke will have a full recap of all of the action on the ice next week right here on VBR.

The Lady Lions return home to the Jordan Center on Sunday afternoon to face Farleigh Dickinson at 2:00, coming off their first defeat of the season.  Penn State fell 69-65 to Miami in the women’s Big 10/ACC Challenge on Thursday night in Florida.  The Lions rallied late to tie the game at 65 on a Maggie Lucas three, but the Hurriances scored the final 4 points to knock off 6th ranked PSU.  Penn State hits the road again next week for a huge matchup against #2 UConn on Thursday, December 6th.

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Despite losing both their games to eighth ranked Union this past weekend, the Penn State men’s hockey team has to feel good by the play of two up-and-coming freshmen. Both forward David Glen and goalie Matthew Skoff had great weekends for the blue and white; Glen leading the Nittany Lions with a team high seven goals for the season and Matthew Skoff with two career games in a row in net.

The team’s first lost came on Saturday night where Penn State was shut out 2-0 in Schenectady, New York. For almost 30 minutes, the men held off Union’s attack without a goal but forward Wayne Simpson was able to turn the score in favor of the Dutchmen nine minutes into the second period. From there, Union held on and eventually tacked on an empty net goal within the final minute of play to cement their win. Even though the Nittany Lions were outshot 22-42, David Glen lead the team with 4 shots on goal for the night. Game one against Union was also a career game one for Matthew Skoff, as he saved a career high 40 shots on goal in the loss.

Game two for Penn State was another in the loss column, this time by a score of 4-1.  Union got a lot of good chances and capitalized early in the first to put the pressure on the Nittany Lions. However, with only fifty seconds gone by in the second period, David Glen netted his team leading seventh goal of the year to tie the score at one apiece. While this game was closer in shots – still leaning in Union’s favor at 38-46 – and intensity wise, Union eventually pulled ahead in the third period off a power play goal from sophomore defenseman and this year’s Philadelphia Flyers draftee, Shayne Gostisbehere. Union tacked on two more goals in the third, one even strength goal and one empty netter to put the game away. Despite the loss, Matthew Skoff had another career game with the Nittany Lions, this time saving 42 shots in between the pipes. With the two losses this past weekend, Penn State’s record drops to 6-5-0 for the season.

The coming weekend will see both teams in action, as the women will return from their bye week to play two games against Mercyhurst – who are 12-1-1 this year. Both games against Mercyhurst are away and will be played Friday night and Saturday afternoon in Erie, Pennsylvania. The women’s last game was a win against Lindenwood two weeks ago and coming off a bye week, they should have great energy against a powerful Mercyhurst team. The men will return to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion this weekend to play an undefeated ACHA team in Arizona State on Friday and Saturday night. Coming off the tough losses to a great Union team, expect the men to take this week to regroup and come out with a great team effort this upcoming weekend.

Check out the highlights of this weekend here, courtesy of GoUnionHockey on YouTube and thanks to Thank You Terry on Twitter for finding the highlight reel. Give them a follow on Twitter, along with myself, for more Penn State hockey action! See you all next week for a rundown of the games as both teams get back to the ice!

While the men’s hockey club had the weekend off, the women’s team faced off against a winless Lindenwood team. The women played two games in Saint Charles, Missouri – one on Friday night and the second Saturday afternoon – and split their series against a tough Lindenwood team.

Game one for the women came on Friday night where they were handed their eighth loss this year by a score of 5-1. Jill Holdcroft scored Penn State’s only goal of the game, which came on the power play to tie the game at one each in the first period. However, Lindenwood took the lead early in the second and then never looked back. The 5-1 win for Lindenwood was their first win this season and their first CHA win as well. Nicole Paniccia was in goal for the Nittany Lions, as per usual, and saved 32 out of 37 shots for the night. On the reverse side, Lindenwood goalie Nicole Hensley had a relatively easy game as she saw only 16 shots from the Nittany Lions through three periods.

Saturday afternoon’s game had a much different look to it as Penn State came out and won 3-2 in an explosive comeback effort. The win for the Nittany Lions was their first CHA win this season and also halted their three game losing streak. Jill Holdcroft, Taylor Gross, and Emily Laurenzi each scored a goal in the win on Saturday afternoon and Shannon Yoxheimer had 2 assists to round out the day. The women were down early in the first but Holdcroft’s goal – her second for the weekend and second on the power play – tied it up before the end of the first period. The second period passed by scoreless and the third saw Lindenwood come out and score early to take another lead but this time, Penn State was able to push back. A quick score to answer Lindenwood’s goal came from Taylor Gross – her fourth of the year – and with less than six minutes to go in the game, Laurenzi netted a power play goal to put the women up 3-2. Goalie Nicole Paniccia came up big in net, saving 28 out of 30 shots for the team. The team itself also put up 33 shots, effectively doubling their shot count from Friday night. This past Saturday afternoon’s comeback win raised the women’s record to 5-8-1 for the season and to 1-6-1 in the CHA.

The women take next weekend off for Thanksgiving and will play again at Mercyhurst on Friday the 30^th and Saturday the 1^st. Mercyhurst is a powerhouse this season and as of today have a 12-1-1 record on the year. Both games should be difficult tests for the Nittany Lions but expect them to play with great energy with having the weekend to rest. As per my recap last week, the men will resume play from their weekend off at Union next Saturday and Sunday. Union is also coming off a bye week and their record currently sits at 6-2-1 this season. The men will be back at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion at the end of the month to face Arizona State for a pair of games.

Unfortunately, there are no video highlights of the weekend games to be found on YouTube. However, if highlights do appear, I will definitely link them to my Twitter account so you can watch them if you would like. That being said, happy Thanksgiving to all Victory Bell Rings readers and I hope you enjoy whatever food and festivities you may have this week! Stay tuned as next week I’ll recap the men’s team and look ahead at both team’s end of the month games!

Penn State’s hockey teams had a full weekend on their hands. The women’s hockey team went 0-2 this weekend against Robert Morris while the men’s hockey team split their series 1-1 against Air Force. Combined, the two hockey clubs went 1-3 in their weekend games.

Friday night’s 5-1 loss against Air Force seemed to tilt more in Penn State’s favor than the score showed. The loss snapped the Nittany Lions four game win streak and while they led in shots 35-24, won 4 more face-offs, and had 4 less penalty minutes than Air Force, they were only able to net one goal in sixty minutes of play. However, that lone goal from junior forward Justin Kirchhevel was Penn State’s first club shorthanded goal of the year. PJ Musico was in goal again for the Nittany Lions and stopped 19 shots through three periods. This was his first loss in goal this year and is now 4-1-0 this season.

Saturday’s matchup was a much different story because this time, Penn State pulled out a 5-1 victory over Air Force. Not only was I in attendance for this game (may I add that combined, Penn State hockey is 2-0 this season when I visit their games), according to this tweet from the Daily Collegian’s Men’s Ice Hockey twitter, former NHL star turned coach and current United States Hockey Hall of Famer Eddie Olczyk was in the house for the game. His son, Tommy Olczyk, is the captain of the men’s team and celebrated his 22nd birthday on Saturday. Even though the captain didn’t put up any points in Saturday’s win, five different Nittany Lions scored, including David Glen. As a freshman, forward David Glen currently leads the team with six goals this season. Matthew Skoff – now 2-2-0 for the year – started in net for the Nittany Lions and faced 32 Air Force shots, allowing one goal early in the third. Also, two of Penn State’s five goals were empty netters within the last three minutes of the third period. The weekend split improves the men’s team record to 6-3-0 less than a quarter into the season.

The women also played out a hard fought series against Robert Morris this past Saturday and Sunday. In Saturday afternoon’s 7-1 loss, freshman forward Shannon Yoxheimer extended her seven game goal scoring streak with the only goal of the game for the Nittany Lions. While the team only put up 15 shots on goal in three periods, goalie Nicole Paniccia saved 36 shots for Penn State. Despite letting in 7 goals in the game, Paniccia has maintained a pretty sharp .925 SV% for the year. Sunday’s game went down the same road, with Penn State losing a tough game 4-1. Forward Micayla Catanzariti had the only goal this time in the third and it seemed to spark a late game comeback but Robert Morris held on for the win. Paniccia was back in net for the Nittany Lions and saved 49 out of 53 shots. This time the offense had 20 shots on goal and even though they are getting some chances, they definitely need to find more ways to get the puck on net in order to win. The two losses drop the women’s record to 4-7-1 on the year and 0-5-1 in the College Hockey America (CHA) league.

Both teams are headed on the road in the coming weeks. The women are headed on a 6 road game stretch and won’t be home again until January 4^th of next year. They play two conference games against Lindenwood next Friday and Saturday. Lindenwood is currently winless on the season but they are hungry for their first win so it should be a great matchup. As for the men, they have this weekend off but they will return to action with two away games against Union, who are 6-2-1 right now. The men will return home at the end of this month to play Arizona State on November 30^th.

Courtesy of GoPSUTV, you can watch highlights of both the men’s and women’s games on YouTube. Check out the men’s team highlights here and the women’s team highlights here. Next week, I’ll have a recap of the women’s games and a look ahead to both hockey clubs’ matches!

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Kicking off the weekend were the women on Friday night versus Sacred Heart. This was the first hockey game I was able to attend this year in person, and it certainly did not disappoint in a 6-0 win. It was a historic night for the program as well. The team recorded its first shutout of their inaugural Division I season thanks to the combined efforts of goalies Nicole Paniccia and Brooke Meyer and also their first hat trick this season coming from forward Hannah Hoenshell. Game two for the women came again against Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon.  Penn State got off to an early lead late in the first but Sacred Heart tied the game at one a piece 13 seconds into the second period. However, just a mere six minutes later Penn State would retake the lead and Sacred Heart would only score once more to put the final score at a commanding 8-2 win for the Nittany Lions. The two wins against Sacred Heart improved the women’s record to 4-5-1 on the season.

As for the men, they only played one game this weekend against a tough opponent in Buffalo State on Saturday night. Despite totaling 8 penalties for 16 minutes, the Nittany Lions were able to beat out Buffalo State 4-2 thanks in part to forward David Glen’s two goals, one of which tied the game near the end of the first to make the score 1-1. Young captain Tommy Olczyk also netted his first goal and point of the season about midway through the second that extended Penn State’s lead to 3-1. Goalie Matthew Skoff recorded his first win of the season as well, stopping 23 out of 25 shots on the night. Saturday night’s win also extended Penn State’s winning streak to 4 games and puts their season record at 5-2.

Looking ahead to this weekend, both the men’s and women’s teams will stay at home to play a total of four games within a three day span. The men will start the weekend play with two games against Air Force on Friday and Saturday night at 7:30PM. Air Force will come to Happy Valley with a 2-3-3 record off a 7 goal win against a formidable Holy Cross team last weekend. Meanwhile the women will play conference games against Robert Morris on Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 2PM. Last weekend, Robert Morris won a thrilling 3-2 overtime game against Vermont that put their record at 2-2-1 coming into this weekend’s matchup.

Both hockey clubs will have difficult matches against good teams this weekend and if you would like to go out and support the teams, the games are held at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion on campus. Tickets for the men’s team are $10 for adults, $5 for youth 12 and under, and $5 for students (cash only) and all women’s games are free to the general public.

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With Penn State hockey getting closer and closer we wanted to take some time to keep you up to speed with everything going on around campus. While VBR’s coverage of hockey will increase with the arrival of the season, we turned to the internet’s go-to for all things Penn State hockey for this update. Kyle has been a great asset for every Penn State hockey fan and you should be sure to check out his site here.

Are you excited about Penn State’s coming NCAA men’s hockey team but unable to keep up with things since the announcement of Terry and Kim Pegula’s $88 million donation last September? Amidst the never-ending PSU sports news cycle where even the month of June is fair game for hiring a basketball coach or announcing football games with Pitt, that’s perfectly understandable. And it’s why I’m here – to quickly bring you up to speed on the program’s progress in some key areas. (more…)

Surprisingly Joe Battista (Director of Hockey Operations, and general God) has been open about Penn State’s spending when it comes to the coaching search and it isn’t what you might have suspected.

“A lot of these coaches don’t understand, while we are going to be very competitive, we’re not going to go out and break the market to get someone,” Battista said. “We’re just not simply going to pay outrageous sums of money for coaches.”

So that’s a bit of a buzzkill. Penn State picks up an 88 million dollar gift and won’t pay a coach enough money to get a good one to show up? Well, first off it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Penn State is counting their coins. Outside of a legitimate economic struggle, Penn State has always paid their coaches less than their cohorts across the country. Some of this comes from Penn State’s belief to put athletics in it’s place while most of it comes from Penn State’s love to take giant baths in tubs of it’s own money. (more…)

Carr who will play for the Icers next year but will not lose a year of eligibility expressed his excitement to Lions247:

“It feels great, it is something special, to be a part of something like Penn State is unbelievable,” said Carr in a phone interview on Wednesday. “Coming to a school like Penn State, with the reputation they have for athletics, and the plan they have for the Division I ice hockey team, it is going to be something special.”

Currently Carr splits time with goalie Brian Billit who will be headed to the college hockey powerhouse Boston College next season. In Carr’s 20 starts he has put together a very respectable15-2-3 record along with a 2.44 GAA and a 91% save percentage. All things considered those a solid numbers that will only improve or in the very least solidify with a year of work in the Icer program. (more…)

In return the lobby of Pegula Ice Arena will be named after the Silvis family and the couple will co-chair the Penn State Ice Campaign Committee that is working towards raising another 10 million dollars to complete various construction costs and program endowments. (more…)

The buzz within the higher ups of the press puts Mark Johnson on the bench when Penn State drops the puck. Johnson, the current Wisconsin Women’s hockey, and United State’s women’s hockey coach, is more famously known for his role in the “Miracle on Ice” where he scored 2 goals in the United State’s upset of the Soviet Union. Athletic Director for Ice Arena Operations Joe Battista has already been in contact with several coaching candidates where Johnson is reportedly a front runner. While this could not be confirmed or denied when asked about Johnson’s future with Penn State: (more…)

The ball began moving a few years ago when Terry Pegula met with Joe Battista in 2006 over dinner to discuss the possibility of making Penn State a Division-I hockey school.  While it took several meetings with the university and hours of thought by the Pegula family a donation has finally been signed in ink. The donation will be used for scholarships (18 men, 20 women) and the construction of a ice hockey arena. The new arena, which would hopefully seat 6,000-8,000 people and cost around $80 million to build, will be situated on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive directly west of the Bryce Jordan Center. (more…)

In a move that will significantly alter the college hockey landscape, the formal announcement of Penn State’s plans to launch of a men’s hockey program is imminent, sources tell Inside College Hockey. Multiple sources in college and junior hockey, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the plan; one source told INCH that the university will make a formal announcement this Friday. A Penn State spokesperson late last week declined to comment on the matter.

Full story here

On the outset that seems like a good idea, the Big Ten holds some of the nations best hockey teams, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, and Ohio State all have rich hockey history, and the addition of Penn State would allow them to finally create their own 6 team league. (more…)