Penn State Posts Victory in Pegula Premire

Penn State University dominated the ACHA while I was a undergrad student there during the early 2000's. Under the tutelage of Joe Batista, the quaint hockey rink housed a lot of memories for me as well as the team. Now that the team has been upgraded and introduced to the Division 1 level of sports, it's time to make many more memories in the new Pegula Ice Arena.

I've had the honor of serving as the Public Address announcer in the Greenberg PSU Ice Pavilion for womens' hockey and now that I've come to see what the mens and womens teams have developed into, it's become an exciting time. When I was in Penn State back in April of 2013, there wasn't much to report on. The arena was still waiting to be built and the land around it still needed to take shape.

Fast forward to today where the Penn State Nittany Lions men's hockey team have christened the new 6,000 seat arena with a big win over Army. (Yes, even I didn't know Army had a hockey team too.)

Go check out the game report by Go PSU sports with all of the game highlights at the new arena.

[Via: Go PSU Sports]

Penn State University Becomes Division 1 Hockey in 2012-2013

After spending years of dominating the ACHA wining many national titles, the long overdue upgrade of the Penn State Ice Hockey program is set to become a NCAA Division 1 competition. After having served time involved with both men's and women's programs, I am estatic to read that this program will soon compete against the very best of the Big Ten.

Primary donors Terry Pegula and wife Kim Pegula were also on hand [at press conference] and will be giving the university $88 million. The gift is the largest act of philanthropy in Penn State history.

I can only imagine that the $88 million dollars must also be including the rink that had been rumored to be built across from Holuba Hall and the Bryce Jordan Center. This announcement has also proven my theory that the campus has been in a perpetual "under construction" mode as it continues to provide the best and up-to-date education with the most up-to-date facilities available.

I congratulate the Penn State mens and womens program for their tremendous step forward to building a great legacy of producing student athletes. Now, the next step is to start pooling the Pennsylvania hockey talent that have been escaping to Ohio State and other schools for the opportunity to play at the next level.

[Via: Penn State Daily Collegian Online]

Flyers to Play Penguins at Penn State

No other blogger and hockey fan is more excited at the news that has been floating around suggesting that the NHL may do another outdoor "Winter Classic", but this time, raise the drama and put it on a "neutral site". I would be first in line and would sure as heck fight for some press credentials to welcome all of my fellow hockey fans to my "adopted hometown" of State College, PA.

Philadelphia center R.J. Umberger, who is from Plum, agreed.

"Just imagine how intense and fun that would be in an outdoor game," he said. "To play at Penn State there, the fans from Pittsburgh and Philly, it would be insane, probably one of the best games in NHL history."

When I lived in Penn State for close to 8 years, I would often "fight" for bragging rights and push for territory when the Maginot line of hockey is fought in the middle of the vicious Pens vs. Flyers rivalry.

"I've been up to Penn State for some football games," coach John Stevens told the Philadelphia Daily News. "The atmosphere up there is just unbelievable. It's a great town. It's halfway between Pittsburgh and here. It's an ideal situation. You'd get fans from both teams."

But there are some things that people should consider before this becomes a reality. They first need to make sure that the hype and ratings are safe and profitable to NBC. Secondly, they have to realize that Joe Paterno runs Beaver Stadium like a dictator. For the set-up to get all the equipment, cameras, and the boards to stabilize, there is going to be an awful lot of holes and tearing up of the precious football sod that is so valuable to the perennial top ranked NCAA football program.

I know how these things work with the politics of Penn State administrations. You need to convince them before the Flyers and Penguins can sit down and negotiate a game.

[Via: Pittsburgh Post Gazette]

Hockey Fanatic on a Road Trip

Okay, so this the latest edition of my vlog - which has been in post-production for a while. Thank you for your patience. I took myself out on the road and captured some video as best I could by myself.This is highlights from the Norwin vs. State College hockey game at the Penn State ice rink on November 8th, 2007.

I would also like to salute the Vault Door Productions for their Yeoman-like efforts to upload and computer edit this video here.

Penn State Moves to New Conference Next Season

Concerned with continual dominance every year by the Penn State Icers, the ACHA has announced the forming of a new conference within the ACHA called the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League.

This brand new conference will contain the charter members of Navy, Drexel, Delaware, Rhode Island, Scranton, and Penn State as a Division 1 collegiate league. Each team next season will play 20 league games with 4 games each against each other (splitting 2 home and 2 away). The really good teams will then fight it out in a 4 team playoff setting hosted next season by the US Naval Academy (#1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3) in February 15-16th.

The current Penn State team stands ranked at #2 (18-3-0, 17-1-0 ACHA) looking for their final National Championship in the ACHA. They trail only Illinois University in the national rankings.

Penn State Icers are No-Names

Just like the football team, the other sports teams at Penn State University prides itself on honor, discipline, and athletic sportsmanship. The University strives to provide character building in its student athletes and most of the time its done by example.

The previous coaching regime had built a legacy of a strong honorable tradition. To reinforce this mindset, the PSU Icers hockey team will go this season without the names on their jerseys.

"It was an internal decision that I made because I wanted us to continue with the school tradition of playing for the name on the front of the jersey and not the names on the back," head coach Scott Balboni said.

But the move to change the team's look has yet another motive. 20 of the 28 players on this years team are underclassmen. They hope that this will start a chemistry to build on for years.

"We have a lot of guys who are able to step into leadership roles," Jordan said. "There are some really good leaders on this team, so I think it is a joint effort and I'm just the one with the 'C' on my jersey."

The winning tradition is certainly well known among Pennsylvania hockey fans. PSU dominates the ACHA-Div. 1 every year. If they don't win the National Championship, then they place second. In 2006-07 season, the Icers did well on opening weekend (1-1, 1-0 ACHA). But tonight, the team makes their home debut against Scranton and Navy on Sunday.

[Via:PSU Daily Collegian]

Visit from brother allows for trip to ice rink

My brother Dave came to visit me here in State College on Sunday. So, I talked him into going ice skating with me at the PSU Ice rink (and yes.. it's not the last time, like I previously reported). I wound up meeting a Coach who was there to help teach little kids how to skate and wound up giving pointers to help my skating technique... like bending at the knees more and skating backwards. It felt great to be able to share my favorite sport with someone I care about like my brother. Normally, I go skating on my own. I wonder if I can talk a date into going someday?