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2023-24 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State takes the CHA regular season title with a 5-3 win, on third period goals from Mya Vaslet and Katelyn Roberts. Shots on goal were 37-18 for Penn State, and penalties were 2 for RIT and 1 for Penn State.
 
There's no pressure on Mercyhurst this weekend now, as they will finish second regardless of the weekend outcome against Syracuse, and they will have home ice for the CHA tournament semifinals, as will Penn State. So the top three seeds are set for the tournament, with Penn State #1, Mercyhurst #2, and Robert Morris #3. All that's left is to see who ends up at #4.
 
Certainly it's a bit disconcerting that PSU has given up 4,4 and 3 goals in the last three games. The bright side is the plethora of goals that PSU is scoring. The regular season champ, 20 wins and the Tournament Champ have either been attained and or are in reach.


Has the RIT loss energized Lindenwood is the big question? RIT is definitely pesky for PSU.
 
Reddington said:
Has the RIT loss energized Lindenwood is the big question? RIT is definitely pesky for PSU.
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I'm pulling for Lindenwood, so Penn State gets them in the tournament semifinal series rather than facing RIT again. On the season head-to-head, Penn State outscored Lindenwood 28-6.
 
Even with the bus catching fire, RIT had the score 3-3 going into the third. RIT is just resilient off the ice and on the ice to match their coach.

Janecke reminded me of Tkachuk in her first year, and he is an all star, but dare I say, she has really improved in small areas and sense and I have to say I see Crosby. And I don't say it lightly. If she say spends a week with Besa Tzintzade over the summer to work on her mohawk edges, it will be evident to all.

Roberts, Vaslet and Brooks are going to have huge years next year. They are just coming into their own this year.

Next year's class looks really good. I also wouldn't be surprised if a Fifth year comes in. The portal is starting to fill up with fifth year players. Maybe another Colgate player or perhaps another Euro with PSU having two Euro's on the team next year.

I think RIT runs into a Thon buzzsaw and Senior weekend tomorrow. However, RIT seems to always be ready to play PSU. Twenty games will be another box checked if PSU wins so they do have something to play for.
 
Today is Senior Day and the team has been honoring seniors this week on social media. Being honored today are:
5th year graduate students: Alva Johnsson, Maggie MacEachern, and Julie Gough
4th year seniors: Carrie Byrnes, Maeve Connolly, and Josie Bothun

The only somewhat surprising name on that list is Bothun and she will be greatly missed. It's unfortunate her outstanding Penn State career ended with injury and I hope she's planning on using her fifth year of eligibility somewhere else next year. PSU will need another goalie for next year, presumably from the transfer portal as there is no goalie announced for the incoming class. Annie Spring is presumably returning for her fifth year and will back up DeSa but I don't think you want to play the whole season with only two goalies.
 
Connolly and Byrnes are kind of program mysteries as the two of them had impactful freshmen years and that is not easy to do. Connolly had some nice plays early on this year, I think she could really help out someone that would play her.

Bothun is a big surprise. I'm sure with her being from Minnesota, the hockey fever will still be in her blood. It's hard to replace 20 shutouts.

The good news is Lobdell is staying. That is huge. She has turned into quite the two way player over her years.

Gough had a nice pass to Vaslet last night and it is great to see her back on the ice for the big push.
 
PSUfan said:
The only somewhat surprising name on that list is Bothun and she will be greatly missed. It's unfortunate her outstanding Penn State career ended with injury and I hope she's planning on using her fifth year of eligibility somewhere else next year. PSU will need another goalie for next year, presumably from the transfer portal as there is no goalie announced for the incoming class. Annie Spring is presumably returning for her fifth year and will back up DeSa but I don't think you want to play the whole season with only two goalies.
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It was good to see Bothun on the ice with the team and the trophy after yesterday's game. She's going to be very hard to replace (understatement of the year). I have to believe Jeff Kampersal is going to go hunting hard for a goalie for next season. I like Katie DeSa, and would like to see how her game develops with more playing time, but after she went down for a bit in yesterday's game it really hit home how they need another solid goalie on the roster.

Reddington said:
Janecke reminded me of Tkachuk in her first year, and he is an all star, but dare I say, she has really improved in small areas and sense and I have to say I see Crosby. And I don't say it lightly. If she say spends a week with Besa Tzintzade over the summer to work on her mohawk edges, it will be evident to all.
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Tessa Janecke has seemed bent on being a playmaker this season, and her assists this year are way ahead of her goals. That's a good thing. She has set the program record for points in a season this year, too. And going into today's game, she is one point away from 100 career points...as a sophomore...that's good stuff.
 
No score after one period at Pegula, no penalties, and Penn State leads the shots on goal by 15-5. That period was pretty back and forth, but Penn State had the better chances.
 
After two, it's tied 1-1 on a goal from Alyssa Machado. Shots on goal are 26-11 for Penn State, and still no penalties (no penalties called, anyway).
 
This one ends in a 1-1 tie. Shots on goal were 44-19 for Penn State, but that RIT goalie came up big. Both goalies made some massive saves in the OT. RIT really came to play today.
 
RIT went a point up on Lindenwood with the tie today, so Lindenwood needs at least a tie to win the final spot in the CHA tournament. It's not looking good for them - they're down 4-0 to Robert Morris after one period. It's starting to look like Penn State will face RIT in the CHA tournament semifinals.
 
If PSU could have taken care of business today, Lindenwood, if I'm reading things right, had the first tie breaker against RIT. Now, PSU gets RIT again and the inability to win today could come back to haunt PSU.

Desa only giving up one goal is a positive! And the other returning player next year, is Machado, who scored today.
 
Reddington said:
If PSU could have taken care of business today, Lindenwood, if I'm reading things right, had the first tie breaker against RIT. Now, PSU gets RIT again and the inability to win today could come back to haunt PSU.
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I don't know what the deal is with Penn State having trouble with this year's RIT, but now they're going to have their hands full in next weekend's CHA tournament semifinals. The RIT goalie yesterday (Sophia Bellina) had Penn State's number all day - the day before, the goalie was Sarah Coe and Penn State netted five against her, so I would guess Bellina will be the one in net for the tournament. Penn State hasn't had any trouble putting shots on net against RIT this season, but they still haven't found a way to take RIT out of a game and really drop the hammer on them. Kudos to Celeste Brown for what she's done with that program.

The other semifinal is Mercyhurst vs Robert Morris, and that could go either way, as they split both their series this season. Mercyhurst is always ready at tournament time, but Robert Morris gets three cracks at them next weekend, so that should be a good series.

Penn State went 3-1 vs Mercyhurst this season, and 2-1-1 vs Robert Morris, so if they get past RIT and into the championship game it's going to be a good one.
 
It's obvious that RIT gets way up to play Penn State. Penn State needs to match that resolve in order to advance. Mercyhurst will also have their hands full with Robert Morris. I think the weekend is wide open. I like the five d and Alva should move back to offense. Her size has a chance to present problems for RIT. Maybe another double screen from Alva and Vaslet?
 
Reddington said:
It's obvious that RIT gets way up to play Penn State. Penn State needs to match that resolve in order to advance. Mercyhurst will also have their hands full with Robert Morris. I think the weekend is wide open. I like the five d and Alva should move back to offense. Her size has a chance to present problems for RIT. Maybe another double screen from Alva and Vaslet?
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The only thing with that is who do you bench to fit Alva Johnsson onto a forward line? With Julie Gough back on the ice, they have four full lines of forwards again.


Edit: on a sidenote, how ironic is it that a team - RIT - is in a position to knock Penn State out of the post-season, and their head coach is a former Penn State assistant coach, and their assistant coach (Jordin Pardoski) is a former Penn State player?
 
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ZedLeppelin said:
The only thing with that is who do you bench to fit Alva Johnsson onto a forward line? With Julie Gough back on the ice, they have four full lines of forwards again.


Edit: on a sidenote, how ironic is it that a team - RIT - is in a position to knock Penn State out of the post-season, and their head coach is a former Penn State assistant coach, and their assistant coach (Jordin Pardoski) is a former Penn State player?
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The lineups will be very interesting. That's a lot of pressure on Kampersal to make the right moves. RIT is dangerous, but I do like the moxy that PSU has shown when coming from behind and they are at home.
 
The CHA tournament semifinals begin today at 2:00 (Eastern), with RIT coming back to Penn State for a best-of-three semifinal series. The first two games are being streamed on BTN+, but they don't have anything listed for the Sunday "if necessary" third game yet. I would assume they will be doing that game, too. And, being the CHA, the games are also on FloHockey.

Penn State went 2-1-1 vs RIT in the regular season, with two of the four games going to overtime. Last weekend, Penn State had their hands full with RIT goalie Sophia Bellina in game two, who stopped 43 of 44 shots on goal. That game was mostly academic for Penn State, as they had already clinched top seed and home ice advantage for the tournament, but they still threw everything at Bellina and she said, "Nope". In that game, it looked like players were trying a little too hard to get Tessa Janecke to the 100-point career mark, so I hope they forget all that and just play their game. You know RIT is coming to play, so it should be a good tournament series.

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Today (2:00 Eastern)
BTN+ Video: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/li...-state/1717082
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=521747

Saturday (1:00 Eastern)
BTN+ Video: https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/li...-state/1717084
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=521748
 
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