2021-22 Penn State Nittany Lions

[ZedLeppelin]

I'll certainly admit to having rose colored glasses for RIT, but there's a lot stacked against them at this point. Ignoring last year, this is Brown's first real year, and more than half of the team are freshman. I've watched a couple of games so far, and they still have a lot to clean up, but show some good signs. Obviously the record and losing games impacts the player's mental state, and that's something you have to rely on the coaches and players to push past.
One of the biggest recruiting hurdles has to be the lack of scholarships. At this point, I think there is more D1 talent than D1 homes, so when not being offered a scholarship (at RIT or a D3 school), would a player rather play D3 on a championship team or D1 and lose the majority of the games? I can't answer that, but I suspect they'd rather win.
I think RIT being allowed to offer scholarships will only help recruiting (with a bit of a transition period), and I'm hopeful that the NCAA allows it. There apparently is a vote scheduled during the NCAA Convention in January to allow RIT and Union to offer scholarships like every other D1 Hockey Program (sans the military academies and maybe the Ivies?). Info in #10 here: https://www.uscho.com/2021/10/18/mon...n-scoring-run/

Here's a new (and long) interview with Celeste Brown on the "Champs App" YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIyiyO0x_1g

[Cornholio]

If there really is some kind of vote to let RIT and Union offer schollys, that is welcome news! My understanding is that when the NCAA forced schools to offer all their sports at the same division, schools that had mixed options like RIT, Union, RPI, St. Lawrence, Clarkson, if they allowed schollys for their D1 teams before they could still keep it but if they did not (and I guess RIT and Union did not), they were not allowed to do so going forward. Maybe a way to say that those schools were not really committed to their D1 sport and hoped they would drop to D3? Just guessing. The Ivies will never offer schollys - it is an Ivy thing and not an NCAA thing. If they Ivies wanted to offer, they could do so tomorrow since all their sports are D1 but goes against the Ivy creed that students should not be "paid" to play an extra-circular.

[mar7967]

If there really is some kind of vote to let RIT and Union offer schollys, that is welcome news! My understanding is that when the NCAA forced schools to offer all their sports at the same division, schools that had mixed options like RIT, Union, RPI, St. Lawrence, Clarkson, if they allowed schollys for their D1 teams before they could still keep it but if they did not (and I guess RIT and Union did not), they were not allowed to do so going forward. Maybe a way to say that those schools were not really committed to their D1 sport and hoped they would drop to D3? Just guessing. The Ivies will never offer schollys - it is an Ivy thing and not an NCAA thing. If they Ivies wanted to offer, they could do so tomorrow since all their sports are D1 but goes against the Ivy creed that students should not be "paid" to play an extra-circular.

The NCAA stopped allowing new schools who went D1 in a single sport to offer scholarships in 1983. Both of RIT's teams went D1 after that (2005 for the men, 2012 for the women), and Union was after that too, so neither school ever had a choice. The D3 conference that RIT and Union play in (Liberty League) as well as two other NY area leagues, as well as the 6 mens hockey conferences (and presumably their women counterparts), have written letters to the NCAA indicating support for the schools being allowed to offer scholarships.

[Reddington]

Another great link - easy to see why RIT picked her after listening to that podcast. I also noticed that Scott McDonald, a former RIT coach was at the BK Selects also after you brought up Colontolio. Celeste was talking about going to that school in Lake Placid and I noticed on the BK Twitter they were announcing 4 yr BK players going to D 3. That's crazy spending all that money to play D 3. It was interesting to hear Celeste talking about her doing it, so the prep school or sports school thing has obviously been going on for awhile. But, BK can say they have two ex D one women's coaches and that has to be a great selling tool for the program.

[ZedLeppelin]

Penn State announced the signing of two forwards, so if anyone has any scoop on either of them feel free to enlighten us. They're both from Minnesota - Katelyn Roberts, from Chaska/Chanhassen, and Maddy Christian, from Elk River.

According to College Hockey Commits, there should be three more signing, too.

[PuckLover]

Katelyn has looked like the best senior forward in Minnesota through the elite league season, in my opinion. Big, strong and fast, exceptional hands, very high end passing. Maddy Christian is a warrior - physical, fast, hard working, capable of scoring against anybody.

[ZedLeppelin]

Katelyn has looked like the best senior forward in Minnesota through the elite league season, in my opinion. Big, strong and fast, exceptional hands, very high end passing. Maddy Christian is a warrior - physical, fast, hard working, capable of scoring against anybody.

I did find a page (wish I'd kept the link) for a few videos of Maddy Christian, with games where she scored four goals more than once and two goals in other games. I haven't found videos of Katelyn Roberts, and I don't have a clue about the competition they face in girl's high school hockey. Are they in competitive leagues?

[PuckLover]

That’s a longer answer. MN high school hockey covers a wide range of opponent quality. There are 90 point scorers without a prayer of playing D1 hockey, and 25 point scorers that produce at the D1 level. But I think both of those players will compete for middle 6 forward roles for Penn State next year.

[Reddington]

It's always fascinating - there was someone on here who seemed to be in the know that PSU was not going to recruit Minnesota girls anymore and PSU did seem to take a hiatus except for Bothun. And now It's right back to the Brandewene way. No matter it worked out pretty well with Heising Madsen Bowman and Peterson. What's old is new again.

[FiveHoleFrenzy]

It's always fascinating - there was someone on here who seemed to be in the know that PSU was not going to recruit Minnesota girls anymore and PSU did seem to take a hiatus except for Bothun. And now It's right back to the Brandewene way. No matter it worked out pretty well with Heising Madsen Bowman and Peterson. What's old is new again.

Why wouldn't you recruit in Minnesota which has the most participation and the best level of girls high school league play anywhere in the country?

Agree with PuckLover...PSU is getting two very good players from Minnesota. Especially Roberts.

[Reddington]

No clue on why you wouldn't want Minnesota girls, I forgot Kelsey Crowe and McMillan. I want to point out that Heising broke the record in the normal amount of games combining last years abbreviated season and the first 12 games of this year. Just a fantastic player.

[PuckLover]

I think Kampersal got burned by some kids from Minnesota who entered the program looking for more work life balance than he had in mind, to put it as euphemistically as possible, and from a de-commit. I think there is some part of that experience that might be somewhat generalizable across Minnesota players vs kids playing AAA in the rest of the US or Canada. But he has missed out on competing for some terrific players by painting that very broad brush.

[ARM]

Kampersal had a Minnesota presence on his Princeton rosters, so I wouldn't expect that he'd be completely turned off if a couple of recruits didn't pan out. It all comes down to individual recruiting classes, where you go after the best players that you can get, no matter where they call home.

[ZedLeppelin]

Penn State signed six players yesterday:

Katelyn Roberts - Forward - Chaska/Chanhassen, MN (OS Jr. Whitecaps)
Maddy Christian - Forward - Elk River, MN (Elk River)
Tessa Janecke - Forward - Orangeville, IL (NAHA)
Leah Stecker - Forward/Defense - Randolph, NJ - (Philadelphia Jr. Flyers)
Kendall Butze - Defense - Cleveland, OH - (Bishop Kearney Selects)
Katie DeSa - Goalie - Pawcatuck, CT (Boston Jr. Eagles)

Roberts, Janecke, Stecker, and DeSa were on the CollegeCommitments.com website, but Christian and Butze were not, so those two must have been late commits.

This year's Penn State seniors are forwards Anna Promersberger, Amy Dobson, and (grad student) Natalie Heising, and defenders Rene Gangarosa, Izzy Heminger, and (grad student) Avery Mitchell.

How many years is the NCAA doing the Covid bonus year for players? It's hard to figure who's coming back next year and who can't.

[Reddington]

Meanwhile, former RIT player Hunter Barnett just scored two to send BC down. That low hanging fruit was just right there in the CHA.