Psu lions

[Lion fan]

What is going on with PSU this year? Can they turn things around in the second half?

[Rightnut]

Re: Psu lions

I see the question of not so much turning things around, but continuing to develop a young program. With excellent support and top notch facilities, I assume that this is a program on the rise or should be. The question is will they continue to improve.

[Lion fan]

Re: Psu lions

Not sure where your coming from men's team is producing wins and moving north guy doing a good job girls program is moving south. Not sure if the dynamics are the same but the results are clearly different. Girls still can make a run but not much time left in this season

[Rightnut]

Re: Psu lions

Not coming from anywhere - just observing from the outside. If you just wanted to bash the girls' team why didn't you just come out and do it from the outset rather than this passive aggressive approach? Not sure you can draw any conclusions from comparing men's programs to women's programs.

[Reggie44]

Re: Psu lions

Any thought of joining the WCHA?

[truthbetold]

Re: Psu lions

Coaching. Period.

[HockeyEast33]

Re: Psu lions

Coaching. Period.

Can't speak to the women's coach Brandwene (been some negative press on this forum in the past but I don't have any insight - seemed to be coming from disgruntled friends of cut players). However, the men's coach Gadowsky is a true treasure - he made Alaska-Fairbanks successful and coached Princeton into the NCAA tourney twice and converted a half dozen of his Princeton players into NHL players (previously unheard of). He is the real deal and it does not surprise me in the least that the men's team is showing success. Not sure if that is a fair comparison for Brandwene.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: Psu lions

I think Brandwene's primary focus is on having the team at its best for the conference tournament, since the CHA champ automatically moves on to the national tournament now, and he uses the regular season to adjust things for that. That's the impression, anyway. He doesn't have a roster of Olympians, so he's never going to get that level of play out of his team and be ranked and have flashy regular season stats, etc, but he does have a team that has every bit as good a chance to win the CHA as anyone else in the conference. It looks a lot like how it is with RIT during the regular season, and RIT is always a force at the conference tournament in spite of their regular season record.

[HockeyEast33]

Re: Psu lions

He doesn't have a roster of Olympians, so he's never going to get that level of play out of his team and be ranked and have flashy regular season stats, etc,

OK - so I gave Brandwene a pass on the men's coach comparison. But I TOTALLY do NOT agree with the above statement. With Penn State's facilities, academics, and resources (both financial and otherwise), there is NO reason that Penn State cannot attract Olympians. The only missing ingredient in the recipe at Penn State is success/tradition. A good coach should be able to create that over time (not Union time, but reasonable time ) given Penn State's other attractions - which is what Gadowsky has done on the men's side. This is entirely possible on the women's side as well and I would go so far as to say EXPECTED at an athletically focused school like Penn State.

[EastFan1]

Re: Psu lions

I think Brandwene's primary focus is on having the team at its best for the conference tournament, since the CHA champ automatically moves on to the national tournament now, and he uses the regular season to adjust things for that. That's the impression, anyway. He doesn't have a roster of Olympians, so he's never going to get that level of play out of his team and be ranked and have flashy regular season stats, etc, but he does have a team that has every bit as good a chance to win the CHA as anyone else in the conference. It looks a lot like how it is with RIT during the regular season, and RIT is always a force at the conference tournament in spite of their regular season record.

Not trying that hard during the regular season. Interesting strategy.

[Puckdrop14]

Not trying that hard during the regular season. Interesting strategy.

And RIT had Binnington which made a huge difference.

[Rightnut]

OK - so I gave Brandwene a pass on the men's coach comparison. But I TOTALLY do NOT agree with the above statement. With Penn State's facilities, academics, and resources (both financial and otherwise), there is NO reason that Penn State cannot attract Olympians. The only missing ingredient in the recipe at Penn State is success/tradition. A good coach should be able to create that over time (not Union time, but reasonable time ) given Penn State's other attractions - which is what Gadowsky has done on the men's side. This is entirely possible on the women's side as well and I would go so far as to say EXPECTED at an athletically focused school like Penn State.

This is true- but what is a reasonable time? It looks like their record has improved each year since going D1. Is it just that it's not been fast enough? Is 3 classes enough to make a determination?

[Lion fan]

Re: Psu lions

4 years is plenty of time to evaluate a head coaches ability. He lacks basic coaching skills and his ability to connect with recruits around the country is not good. The only people that would benefit from the current coach being retained by PSU are the teams in the CHA. Not a single team in the CHA have the resources available to them like josh has. Conservatively speaking without change this program could be 10years away from any type credibility. Losing tradition is harder to shake than a winning tradition is to create.

[hocper]

Re: Psu lions

4 years is plenty of time to evaluate a head coaches ability. He lacks basic coaching skills and his ability to connect with recruits around the country is not good. The only people that would benefit from the current coach being retained by PSU are the teams in the CHA. Not a single team in the CHA have the resources available to them like josh has. Conservatively speaking without change this program could be 10years away from any type credibility. Losing tradition is harder to shake than a winning tradition is to create.

Lion Fan - you have 4 total posts and they're all directed negatively at PSU (specifically Coach Josh). It's obvious you have an issue with him and only posting when they are in a tough spot. You weren't posting when they beat BU earlier this year or when they had over 15 wins last year. I could be wrong but my best guess is your a former player (who was released) or parent who has an axe to grind. We get it you don't like him!! The CHA is a tough league. Any team can win on any night. Some of those programs have a ton of winning tradition over PSU. Have there been injuries? Bad breaks? To my knowledge recruiting is taking place 2 years in advance so.....maybe it takes 6 years to get a good read (with recruiting anyways)

[Rightnut]

Lion Fan - you have 4 total posts and they're all directed negatively at PSU (specifically Coach Josh). It's obvious you have an issue with him and only posting when they are in a tough spot. You weren't posting when they beat BU earlier this year or when they had over 15 wins last year. I could be wrong but my best guess is your a former player (who was released) or parent who has an axe to grind. We get it you don't like him!! The CHA is a tough league. Any team can win on any night. Some of those programs have a ton of winning tradition over PSU. Have there been injuries? Bad breaks? To my knowledge recruiting is taking place 2 years in advance so.....maybe it takes 6 years to get a good read (with recruiting anyways)

Recruiting is now 4 years out. Freshmen are being offered and committing but that's a who 'nother discussion. But it goes to the point that it's hard to evaluate because PSU is just starting to get the recruits to campus that it began recruiting after going D1.