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2021-22 Penn State Nittany Lions

Hockeybuckeye said:
I know it's way early yet but I was wondering the Penn State thoughts on you guys playing OSU in that tournament this season?
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Great test to see where they are. I don't think you can judge the lions based on last weekend. Lucy Morgan is probably one of the most underrated goalies in college hockey. She played lights out. The chemistry just seemed off lots of pucks in skates and very little puck luck. Game one 5 pipes. Wallin had Morgan beat on a deke and puck rolled off stick. Things should be sharper this weekend. The forwards will score just to much talent not to. That showed up Friday night. Will be a great tournament in a great venue. A veteran team against a young and upcoming program. Should be a lot of fun.
 
zambonidriver said:
Great test to see where they are. I don't think you can judge the lions based on last weekend. Lucy Morgan is probably one of the most underrated goalies in college hockey. She played lights out. The chemistry just seemed off lots of pucks in skates and very little puck luck. Game one 5 pipes. Wallin had Morgan beat on a deke and puck rolled off stick. Things should be sharper this weekend. The forwards will score just to much talent not to. That showed up Friday night. Will be a great tournament in a great venue. A veteran team against a young and upcoming program. Should be a lot of fun.
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Obviously by tournament time both teams will hitting their stride and I agree it should be a lot of fun! I hope neither team will be bit by the injury bug before or during their game so we'll get an honest assessment on how they match up. I assume someday we'll get enough teams for the B1G to have women's hockey in the conference and we'll be regular opponents then.
 
In a simulation, PSU would take OSU 3 out of ten times in my opinion. OSU is therefore a heavy favorite. But, on any given day, just like Colgate beat Wisconsin x number of years ago. It just takes a hot goalie.


SLU won 5 of their last 7 last year. PSU lost 2 of their last three last year. Perhaps with SLU pounding Clarkson, it sent a lot of the Clarkson girls packing for greener pastures.

It will be interesting to see how the BC series goes.
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No score after one period against Boston College. Shots on goal are even at 12-12, BC had 3 penalties, and Penn State had 2.

Penn State looks like a different team than the one that showed up last weekend. In the biggest surprise, they have a powerplay now that cycles the puck and gets shots on net. BC has a very strong forecheck that's giving Penn State headaches trying to clear their zone, but it looks like Penn State started to get a handle on that. As it was last weekend, the Penn State defense is strong in defending and not very good at moving the puck. All in all, though, it's a much better showing from Penn State so far.
 
After two, it's 1-0 BC up on Penn State. Penn State leads the shots on goal 26-20, and was all over BC in the second period. BC's gigantic goalie had some big saves, and Penn State rang the crossbar a few times. Penn State is finally coming out of their shell and playing like they did last season, with a lot more offensive chances and finally getting players to the net for rebound chances. The referees are letting the teams play, and there definitely could have been some whistles blown, but as long as they keep it fair it's good. Should be a great third period!
 
At the end of regulation, it's tied 1-1 and going to a 3-on-3 five minute overtime. Penn State owned the third period, and leads the shots on goal 36-24.
 
Well, that was a quick OT. BC takes it 2-1, but Penn State really took it to them for the second and third periods. Penn State had a wide open net in OT with the puck just sitting in the crease, but Kiara Zanon couldn't tap it in (someone needs to tie some weights to her stick this season).

Penn State finally, finally, finally started playing like the team they were last season. I'll take an OT loss any day if it means they will keep up like they did tonight. Trying not to be totally biased, I really think they outplayed BC in the second and third periods. On the powerplay, it was interesting to see Heising and Zanon playing back deep to start the rush, instead of letting the defense do it. Maybe Kampersal is finally seeing how not very good the defense is at moving a puck.

Penn State's goal came on a "sort of" shot from Mallory Uihlein that ended up hitting a BC skate, but whatever...it went in. The top line of Heising, Zanon, and Wallin played like beasts, finally. Well, except for Zanon, whose game so far this season is floating around somewhere in LaLaLand. Heising looked great tonight. Rachel Weiss hustled all night. It was just good to see players racing to pucks rather than waiting for them, and battling on the boards, fighting for the puck. The one missing piece is teaching the defense how to move a puck...man, please get on that in a hurry.

OT loss? No problem, as long as this team is back to their ways.
 
Takeaways from last night's game, after sleeping on it:

BC has a relentless forecheck that gave Penn State headaches to start the game, but Penn State worked through it and got better as the game went on. The 6' 1" BC goalie, Abigail Levy, doesn't leave much room in net for shots, and she's good when they come. She didn't face a lot of tricky shots, but she did face a lot of shots, and was good with them. She only got beat on a shot/deflection she didn't see. Penn State did ring the pipes a few times, so hopefully those start going in. BC is good at getting into the offensive zone and staying there, but defensively Penn State is good at making it hard for an opposing team to set up decent scoring chances, they're good at blocking shots, and Josie Bothun is very good in net when an opponent does get shots off.

Penn State really started to click for the first time this season. The top line of Heising, Zanon, and Wallin was non-stop and got extended ice time. One thing to keep working on is getting players in front of the net - so many times, someone would race in over the blue line and then have nowhere to go with the puck because nobody was with her on the play. Penn State did get better with this, and did have a lot of chances with a crowd at the net, but last year that was the norm. They looked like they were starting to really stretch the passes out longer as the game was winding down, too, so that looks a lot more like the fast team from last season.

It looked like Penn State is working the bugs out, and they looked so much better than they did against St. Lawrence last week, so it was fun to watch. It was BC's first game of the season, though, so you really can't get an honest feel for their game yet. It was the first-ever game for Penn State against BC, but Jeff Kampersal and Katie King-Crowley do have plenty of head-to-head experience coaching against each other when Kampersal was at Princeton.

It was a great hockey game to watch last night and should be another good one tonight.
 
Reddington said:
Colgate beat Wisconsin ...
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Did you see that one as a big upset? (and yeah, I'm quoting the wrong post) It was an Olympic year, and the Badgers didn't have Clarke and Pankowski, and S. Shirley's entrance had been delayed a year, so UW wasn't as loaded as it usually is. Plus, Fargo's strong recruiting classes were peaking that year, and he didn't have anyone plucked off his roster. Had Campbell been playing at the same level as she did in 2019, then yes, I would say it would have been more of a surprise. I just remember a very even Frozen Four with all three games being tight, OT affairs. To be fair to Colgate, if you play the Raiders/Badgers game 10 times, I don't think UW wins more than six of them.
 
Yes, I did watch and c'mon from a team that Colgate was 5 wins and Wisconsin the powerhouse losing even when you are saying a down year is an upset. Like when Alabama loses in football. But, if I recall the Wisconsin faithful on this site didn't want to give any credibility to Colgate's playing style.

At any rate college hockey is back. Yasss.
 
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