2022-23 Penn State Nittany Lions

[ZedLeppelin]

For anyone watching the game - just one penalty the entire game from both teams?

And that was just for too many players on the ice.

[Lindsay]

For anyone watching the game - just one penalty the entire game from both teams?

yea. I don’t know if the cHA changed its tune this year but whistles away. Who knows

[spwood]

For anyone watching the game - just one penalty the entire game from both teams?

[ZedLeppelin]

Ena Nystrom. Playing phenomenal!

Absolutely stellar game from Nystrom. Heading to OT tied 1-1.

[Lindsay]

Ena Nystrom. Playing phenomenal!

[ZedLeppelin]

After two, it's tied up 1-1 at Penn State, with a goal coming from Eleri MacKay. Penn State leads the shots on goal by 22-13, and they took the only penalty of the game (too many players). Penn State really had some good chances in that period, but both teams are doing a good job defensively in shutting chances down pretty quickly.

[ZedLeppelin]

After one, it's scoreless in the CHA championship game. Mercyhurst leads the shots on goal by 7-6, and there were no penalties. Neither team really had any quality shots on goal, and it looks exactly like a championship game should look. Penn State, I think, took more chances than Mercyhurst with attemped long stretch passes, but just couldn't connect. This is a great game so far.

[ZedLeppelin]

Here is the Penn State starting lineup for today's CHA championship game: https://twitter.com/PennStateWHKY/st...87754489180161

15 minutes to puck drop!

[ZedLeppelin]

Nicole Hasse has the preview for tomorrow's CHA championship game:

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/10...hafinalpreview

Both BTN+ and FloHockey will be streaming the game at 2:00 (Eastern).

Video (BTN+): https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/playerpage/1588375
Video (FloHockey): https://www.flohockey.tv/live/46714
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=461619

This is already as far as Penn State has ever gotten in program history, and they have their second regular season title now, but it would be nice to hang a CHA championship banner in the rafters at Pegula Ice Arena.

Mercyhurst is all too familiar with CHA championship games (17 championship games in 21 years), so Penn State will need to be on its game tomorrow, because Mercyhurst will be coming for another trophy and another trip to the NCAA tournament. This Penn State team doesn't strike me as one that plays with any chips on their shoulders, but the way they got absolutely shafted two seasons ago by the national tournament selection committee might be in the back of their minds, too. Tomorrow is a chance to keep the selection committee out of their future this time.

Penn State went 3-1 against Mercyhurst in the 2022-23 regular season, with one of the wins needing overtime. Tournament time always seems to be different, though, and that's always true in the CHA. What's great to see this year is that the CHA championship will be played by the two most evenly-matched teams in the conference. With the CHA finally going to a best-of-three format in the semifinals, there shouldn't be any more Cinderella teams making it into the CHA championship game against a Goliath after a "miracle" semifinal one-and-done win. Tomorrow should be some great hockey!

[ZedLeppelin]

Kiara Zanon is a Patty Kaz Top Ten finalist: https://twitter.com/usahockey/status...438272/photo/1

[Reddington]

Kampersal's second coach of the year in his tenure.

[ZedLeppelin]

2022-23 CHA Individual Awards:

CHA Coach of the Year - Jeff Kampersal
CHA Player of the Year - Kiara Zanon
CHA Scoring Champion - Kiara Zanon
CHA Rookie of the Year - Tessa Janecke
CHA Defenseman of the Year - Izzy Heminger

This is the third year in a row for a Penn State player to be named scoring champion (Zanon twice and Natalie Heising last year).

[Reddington]

Don't forget the win losses. Bothun was 2-1 against Nystrom and 1-0 against Brenon. But, c'est la vie. Plenty of pain and joy for everyone, Boucher had a first team year too. Chips on shoulders abound heading into the weekend on both sides should make for an intense Saturday. I was surprised to read that Mercyhurst has been in 17-21 championship games. That is impressive considering Robert Morris was in the conference too.

[mar7967]

Bothun got jobbed. Not even second team.

Jada Brenon. .94 1.55 gaa Nystrom 92.3 2.22 gaa
Bothun .92 1.82 gaa


I'm not even sure Nystrom is Mercyhurst's best goalie. Of course I didn't look at the quality of starts.

As far as the RIT goalie, it looks like each team had to have one player whether deserving or not.

Lobdell earned her second team with 65 blocks leading PSU in that category.

They seem to use conference games only in their stats, and Nystom leads there in GAA (1.32 vs Bothun's 1.50) and Sv % (0.951 vs Bothun's 0.922).
https://chawomenshockey.com/stats.as...2022&conf=true

Those numbers are a bit off from what they shared for Nystom when they gave her goalie of the year today, so I assume the numbers above include last weekend's playoff games, which weren't used for the awards.
https://twitter.com/CHAWomensHockey/...485966336?s=20

I have no explanation for Coe, other than what Reddington said.

[Reddington]

Butze on the rookie team was a no brainier at least to me, but crazy snubs can happen.