2024-25 Penn State Nittany Lions

[ZedLeppelin]

Penn State finishes the two-shutout sweep of Robert Morris by a score of 4-0 on third period goals from Grace Outwater and an empty-netter from Tessa Janecke. Shots on goal ended at 49-24 for Penn State, and penalties ended at 6 for Penn State and 5 for Robert Morris. Got to hand it to Robert Morris for at least making it a game, unlike yesterday, but they just didn't have anything much offensively.

[Reddington]

Janecke sent Jersey Phillips for a ride. Janecke is dominating faceoffs. Butze is on a hot streak.
Desa with two doughnuts. There is a lot to like about the weekend!

[Reddington]

Outwater rookie of the week and tied for the lead in pts for frosh in the NCAA. Desa gets goalie of the week. Showcase in Nashville is next up. Merrimack and ? Happy Thanksgiving Zed.

[ZedLeppelin]

Happy Thanksgiving Zed.

Thank you, Reddington - Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!

Outwater rookie of the week and tied for the lead in pts for frosh in the NCAA. Desa gets goalie of the week. Showcase in Nashville is next up. Merrimack and ?

I really like Grace Outwater so far. She looks like she's getting more comfortable and confident as each game comes. I always wonder how a freshman is going to adjust to D-1 play, and she's done a good job of it.

This Nashville tournament looks okay, with Clarkson, St. Thomas, and Merrimack. I hope Penn State ends up getting to play Clarkson, just because I like them in a good hard challenge, rather than the kind of lopsided game they got against Stonehill. I hope Karley Garcia and Karolina Hengelmuller are back for it, but then again Kampersal may want to wait for games that count the following weekend against Mercyhurst.

With Mya Vaslet only having played four games this season before her injury, is she eligible to medically redshirt the rest of the year?

[ZedLeppelin]

Well, cool stuff - the 2024 Smashville Women's Collegiate Showcase in Nashville on Friday and Saturday will be streaming on YouTube, so that's a new one (for me, anyway). I'm glad we'll be able to watch a tournament that's not in a venue normally covering women's hockey. I'm not sure about links for Saturday's live stats, but the schools should have those on game day Saturday if you want to look them up.

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VIDEO: Friday (4:00 Eastern) Penn State vs Merrimack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0H7ZhuwmvQ
Live Stats: https://merrimackathletics.com/sidea...hockey/summary

VIDEO: Friday (7:00 Eastern) Clarkson vs St. Thomas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqYPXTuvX-w
Live Stats: https://clarksonathletics.com/sidear...hockey/summary

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VIDEO: Saturday (1:00 Eastern) Consolation Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RYRSfrA_Zo

VIDEO: Saturday (4:00 Eastern) Championship Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RYRSfrA_Zo

[Reddington]

A nice chartered bus to the airport to fly to Nashville to play at the same arena that the Predators play at should play well with recruiting. I would also like to see a Clarkson matchup. it's hard to believe that PSU shut out Robert Morris twice and went down a spot in the rankings. I'm not sure on Vaslet. Less than five games qualifies for a medical redshirt or at least it used to.

[ZedLeppelin]

VIDEO link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qbRgoxUrps

[ZedLeppelin]

It's scoreless after one at the Smashville Tournament, and live stats are non-existant, so who knows? Merrimack is a lot quicker than I expected, and they kept up with Penn State for that period, so we'll see how long they can keep up that pace.

[ZedLeppelin]

After two, Merrimack is up 2-1 on Penn State. Tessa Janecke got the goal for Penn State. Merrimack was all over Penn State that period, and their game plan seems to be to swarm whoever has the puck, and it's working. Penn State is really missing Karley Garcia and Karolina Hengelmuller on defense.

[ZedLeppelin]

Merrimack gets an empty-netter to win this one 3-1. It's hard to believe they're at the bottom of Hockey East, but they were all over Penn State from the start and making things difficult. Lots of blocked shots, too.

[ZedLeppelin]

In last night's other first round Smashville Tournament game in Nashville, St. Thomas took #6 Clarkson to OT, so neither of yesterday's games played out the way they should have on paper. Merrimack is at the bottom of Hockey East and beat #12 Penn State, and St. Thomas is next-to-last in the WCHA and took #6 Clarkson to OT. Both games should have been warm-ups for Penn State and Clarkson, but nope. So today's games have Clarkson facing Merrimack and Penn State taking on St. Thomas.

This is not an excuse for yesterday's loss, but Penn State is really missing Karley Garcia and Karolina Hengelmuller on defense, I think even more than the offense is missing Mya Vaslet. The defense is down to two defensive pairs and one extra defender. Thankfully, after this tournament there's only one more series until the holiday break...unfortunately, that series is against Mercyhurst, so Penn State will need everyone healthy for that one.

Yesterday, the livestream link changed at game time for some reason, so if that happens again today I'll post it, but right now these are the video links for today (live stats yesterday were a bust, so I won't bother posting links for them for today's game).

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VIDEO (1:00 Eastern): Penn State vs St. Thomas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RYRSfrA_Zo

VIDEO (4:00 Eastern): Clarkson vs Merrimack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df_tESfsTs4

[Lindsay]

Nice summary Zed. In addition to injuries I think the thanksgiving weekend, first series post Christmas and Halloween weekend always lend themselves to upsets. At the end of the day these are not pros yet, but rather student athletes with lots on their proverbial plates. The Merrimack loss hurts but a Tommies Penn State match up should be entertaining too.

interesting that the Hurst Penn State matchup is so close to the winter break. Reminiscent of a big stakes matchup between UMD and Ohio State in September. I guess the take away for the athletes is as much as possible you just have to be ready to go, no matter the time or place.

[ZedLeppelin]

Nice summary Zed. In addition to injuries I think the thanksgiving weekend, first series post Christmas and Halloween weekend always lend themselves to upsets. At the end of the day these are not pros yet, but rather student athletes with lots on their proverbial plates. The Merrimack loss hurts but a Tommies Penn State match up should be entertaining too.

interesting that the Hurst Penn State matchup is so close to the winter break. Reminiscent of a big stakes matchup between UMD and Ohio State in September. I guess the take away for the athletes is as much as possible you just have to be ready to go, no matter the time or place.

Did you notice the new points setup in AHA standings? It used to be 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie...boom, done. Now it's 3 points for a win (in regulation time), 2 points for an OT or shootout win, and 1 point for an OT or shootout loss. So if you go to OT, you're getting a point if you lose, but if you win in OT you're losing a point you could've won in regulation time. I took a quick look at the standings to see where everyone was at, and started doing the math for wins/losses and got lost in a hurry until I saw where they explained the points system.

[Lindsay]

Did you notice the new points setup in AHA standings? It used to be 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie...boom, done. Now it's 3 points for a win (in regulation time), 2 points for an OT or shootout win, and 1 point for an OT or shootout loss. So if you go to OT, you're getting a point if you lose, but if you win in OT you're losing a point you could've won in regulation time. I took a quick look at the standings to see where everyone was at, and started doing the math for wins/losses and got lost in a hurry until I saw where they explained the points system.

Interesting. I didn’t know this, but suppose it’s on trend with pwhl and wcha (and presumably other leagues) complexity in points allocation. as the game has evolved I’ve never crossed over to really digesting these more complicated point allocations. It’s just too granular for me. A basic W-L-T is fine as a fan, imo, even if there are necessary tie breaker rules that get applied.

[ZedLeppelin]

After one in Nashville it's 0-0 with St. Thomas. Shots on goal are 12-10 for St.Thomas, and each team took 2 penalties (both of Penn State's were on Tessa Janecke). Mankato transfer Lauren Barbro is in net today to face her former WCHA foes.