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2021-22 Penn State Nittany Lions

Celeste knows exactly what Penn State does or does not do. But, once again it sounds like a broken record, but Coe had a really good game. Bothun gave up two goals with 15: saves, but PSU's inability to score haunts them again.
 
After one, it's scoreless at Penn State, and no penalties so far. Penn State leads the shots on goal by 14-2, but the RIT goalie (Sarah Coe) is looking as good as she did yesterday. Choppy start to the game, but Penn State slowly started taking control in the second half of the period. Passing is still something that needs work.
 
I prefer these announcers. Will the guy go down like the titanic without breaking up Heising and Zanon or adding Gough to the first line. Mind boggling. How could PSU miss out on Vastanni? Lots of questions.
 
After two, Penn State leads 1-0 on a beautiful snipe from Rachel Weiss...good to see her getting on the scoreboard lately. Penn State leads the shots on goal 27-6, and RIT took the only penalty of the game in that period. The zebra crew is either blind, or they've decided to let anything go, because they've missed some very blatant stuff. It's a whatever thing, as long as they stay blind for both teams.
 
Weiss remains hot - she was active yesterday. Announcers said PSU seems to be running into hot goalies. Maybe it is that simple.
 
This one ends 2-0 on an empty-netter from Kiara Zanon. Penn State led the shots on goal 42-10, and RIT took the only two penalties (that were called). I'm way too tired to comment more on the game, but now it's CHA tournament time next weekend in Syracuse, where Penn State will take on Mercyhurst.
 
Here are some quotes from Jeff Kampersal after the disappointing OT tie with RIT this weekend. This is about as frustrated as I've seen him, at least on the record, but to be honest it's refreshing to see him not try to find a silver lining in a game that should have been won so handily.
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“Simply, we're a team that thinks we're better than we are,” Kampersal said. “When we play teams we think we're better than, we have bad habits, make bad decisions, and half-assed efforts.”

“Natalie Heising scored nine minutes into the game and we think alright we can take our foot off the pedal,” Kampersal said. “We just have to remain consistent.”

“When they (the defense) play, we can beat anybody. When they're in a battle, they'll compete and go hard,” Kampersal said. “But when they start talking about things that are not hockey before the game, I know we're in trouble.”

“As a coach, I haven't done a good job, because I know when it's coming and I can't fix it,” Kampersal said. “They need somebody else to come in here and figure that stuff out.”
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So it sounds like the team as a whole was taking RIT lightly, and the defenders specifically didn't have their heads in the game. I hope there was enough frustration afterwards to go around, and that it will be a motivator for the tournament.

Speaking of the CHA tournament, Lindenwood beat Mercyhurst in their second game this weekend, and that makes things interesting...not in tournament seeding, which was already set before the weekend, but in who is ready to compete. That's not a knock on Mercyhurst - it's a shoutout to Lindenwood. They play RIT first in the tournament and look to be the team that will move on to the semifinal game against Syracuse. Lindenwood lost two very close games against Syracuse and beat them once this season (and got blown out once), so they're not a pushover for Syracuse. Wouldn't it be interesting if Lindenwood beats Syracuse in the semifinals? Penn State and Mercyhurst play the other semifinal game, and of course I'm going to go with my bias and believe Penn State will win that one. Then it would be a CHA championship game with Penn State vs Lindenwood...Lindenwood? I swear, every season the CHA tournament is nuts, but this one could get interesting.
 
Interesting quotes for sure, but I am not buying it. The team had a lot of opportunities, but just did not convert. Coe had a tremendous series. And I have said it before if you have a hot goalie screen her.
 
Riddle this: I am a big Heising and Zanon fan, however, their line receives triple the time of any other line yet only produced one goal each even strength in the latest 2 game series and zero pp goals. Wasn't the last four games the perfect opportunity to see if the team could do better with a different combo. I have a hard time believing that you could have done any worse splitting those two up. Or was he complaining about the other three lines that produced one goal in two games. I have a hard time blaming the d or goalie when the team only scored two goals in each game and one was an empty netter.

About the only thing I would not consider changing on offense is the Weiss Dobson and Prommersberger line as Weiss is finally producing like everyone thought she was capable of.

That being said, I don't think any changes need to be made against Mercyhurst, but if PSU squeaks by, I think any and all options need to be effectuated in A one and done situation. Kamperssl use to be Mr. switcheroo. I'm not sure what happened to that mindset.

PSU is capable of winning it all, but so are Syracuse and Mercyhurst.
 
If Lindenwood beats RIT, Syracuse should be a little concerned. The Lions are coming off a senior day win against Mercy and could be very motivated due to emotions running high and the desire to be the team that pulls off an upset or 2.

It will definitely be an interesting weekend for sure.
 
Reddington said:
Riddle this: I am a big Heising and Zanon fan, however, their line receives triple the time of any other line yet only produced one goal each even strength in the latest 2 game series and zero pp goals. Wasn't the last four games the perfect opportunity to see if the team could do better with a different combo. I have a hard time believing that you could have done any worse splitting those two up. Or was he complaining about the other three lines that produced one goal in two games. I have a hard time blaming the d or goalie when the team only scored two goals in each game and one was an empty netter.
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You're going to get your wish next season when Heising isn't here anymore. Who do you put with Kiara Zanon next year? I like keeping Alyssa Machado with Zanon, and probably Olivia Wallin with those two. Then you have Rachel Weiss and Julie Gough as probably the best of who's left to anchor two more lines. We'll have to see who Penn State gets in next year's freshman class, but Kampersal is going to have some shuffling to do next season.

I think Kamperal is complaining in general about the lack of goals from everyone, with as many shots on goal that Penn State generates. What stands out to me is the absence of players in front of the net, disrupting the goalie and being in a position to pounce on rebounds. Penn State loves to start plays in the corners, and keep it down low, but that's only half the job if nobody is going to be at the net when the shots fly. Shots on goal don't matter if a goalie sees them all the way into her glove.

About the only thing I would not consider changing on offense is the Weiss Dobson and Prommersberger line as Weiss is finally producing like everyone thought she was capable of.
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Rachel Weiss has had a couple games now with highlight goals. She's got such a quick and deceptive shot that's really fun to see. I hope her confidence is sky high now - she's a real workhorse.

slapshot willy said:
If Lindenwood beats RIT, Syracuse should be a little concerned. The Lions are coming off a senior day win against Mercy and could be very motivated due to emotions running high and the desire to be the team that pulls off an upset or 2.

It will definitely be an interesting weekend for sure.
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I think the CHA is finally getting some parity. For as long as I can remember, the CHA tournament (and season) has been all about Mercyhurst and Robert Morris. Recently, Syracuse has snuck in there, Robert Morris is gone, and Penn State has worked its way up (with work still to be done, of course). This year's CHA tournament feels like the closest one to call in a long time, with at least three teams who each have an equally legitimate shot to win the tournament, with Lindenwood capable of playing the spoiler, too. It's going to be a fun tournament to watch!
 
You are stating the obvious about Heising not being there next year, I had high hopes for this year and the hopium can continue for at least one game. PSU started off 8th in the Country. You have quality wins against UMD, BU and Cornell on the road and terrible losses against St Cloud after being in the lead and Cornell at home. It's been just a choppy season. Heising will be tough to replace.

Can you imagine how tight things would have been if RMU is in the mix? Lindenwood is dangerous, but RIT has become significantly better over the course of the season. I really was impressed by Athena V and Coe. I think RIT and Lindenwood is a much watch game. I'm interested in seeing how much of the way RIT played PSU was the product of Celeste knowing the tendencies of PSU or the team has just improved. Celeste does not appear to be over her head after all.
 
Reddington said:
I think RIT and Lindenwood is a must watch game. I'm interested in seeing how much of the way RIT played PSU was the product of Celeste knowing the tendencies of PSU or the team has just improved. Celeste does not appear to be over her head after all.
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I think Celeste Brown will be in a much better position going forward, with RIT now being able to offer scholarships. How do you even recruit hockey players without scholarships, and hope to make any progress with the program? That's a tough sell.
 
ZedLeppelin said:
I think Celeste Brown will be in a much better position going forward, with RIT now being able to offer scholarships. How do you even recruit hockey players without scholarships, and hope to make any progress with the program? That's a tough sell.
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RIT fan here - not making excuses of course, but I will add that the sell is likely even tougher with RIT's tuition cost (52k before room/board) and with the academic programs that the hockey players typically enroll in, you are getting a similar education to a program at any other cheaper school with similar post-graduation prospects. In the DIII days, it was easier as the playing field was even with other DIII schools, and with the success the program had in DIII, it likely made it easier to recruit into the early years of DI. The new arena may have helped too. But over the years, I imagine the recruiting has gotten much harder. Coaching changes, increasing tuition, being one of 2 DI programs who cannot offer scholarships, and obviously the win/loss record haven't helped I imagine. I am excited to see where the program will go with the availability of scholarship money now.

sorry for hijacking your thread :) Good luck in the post season to PSU!
 
No problem on hijacking the thread any and all speculation is good as many of the threads are struggling. And I think folks enjoy the discourse. Those are great points you have made on RIT. RIT may have found their Selander in Coe.
 
Reddington said:
No problem on hijacking the thread any and all speculation is good as many of the threads are struggling. And I think folks enjoy the discourse. Those are great points you have made on RIT. RIT may have found their Selander in Coe.
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Agreed. Coe has been outstanding recently, but is facing way too many shots. From the writeup on her goalie of the week award from CHA's site: The Brooklin, Ont., native finished the 2021-22 campaign with six 40-plus save games and two 80+ save series. The freshman goaltender owns five of the top 10 series saves marks in the CHA this year.
 
Bothun has won a lot of the awards, but there definitely is some stiff competition right here in the CHA with Nystrom, DesMet and Coe. One would have to wonder how Bothun's numbers would be if she was facing the number of shots that these other goalies are facing. However, Bothun's numbers over the second half of the season have been stellar. A Desmet fan chirped after the last Syracuse series that Desmet was the better goalie. It's a bit surprising on Desmet as PSU swept RMU last season, but then maybe it isn't as RMU won it all.

A lot of parity results within the CHA this year highlighted by Mercyhurst beating Syracuse 9-0 and then Syracuse coming back and winning 6-3 in the next one. You can't explain this stuff other than it is typical CHA.

This years CHA tournament is wide open.
 
Reddington said:
It's a bit surprising on Desmet as PSU swept RMU last season, but then maybe it isn't as RMU won it all.
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Didn't Raygan Kirk start most of those games for RMU versus PSU last season? Confidence is so key for goalies, and it is hard to have that confidence if you're not getting the chance to play.
 
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