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2025-26 Penn State Nittany Lions

Reddington said:
Stella Retrum is currently leading Vermont in scoring. Penn State needs to work on their player retention since the bonus years are finished. This year will have a giant amount of players who have used up their eligibility and keeping every non senior or grad student should be priority number two after priority number one which is advancing past the first round of the NCAA's.

There are a number of recruits listed in the ledger, so it looks like Penn State should be able to fill all the spots of the leaving players.

The one from the Pens Elite is reminiscent of Brooke McQuiggue who played for Clarkson.
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Pretty sure psu is doing fine! Not sure where she would fit this year anyway. The coaches did a great job recruiting with the past two years of recruits. I like our team and our players. Seems like a great culture.
 
That info on Retrum was mostly for Zed, he was a big fan of hers at one time and played with Janecke and Roberts as a frosh.
Yes, obviously, PSU is having a great year.

Penn State has had a number of players transfer and go on to lead or near the lead in scoring for their new team in conferences that are supposed to be better.

From that point of view it makes fans contemplate that maybe Penn State is better than the perception.
 
LBartowski said:
Pretty sure psu is doing fine! Not sure where she would fit this year anyway. The coaches did a great job recruiting with the past two years of recruits. I like our team and our players. Seems like a great culture.
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Reddington said:
That info on Retrum was mostly for Zed, he was a big fan of hers at one time and played with Janecke and Roberts as a frosh.
Yes, obviously, PSU is having a great year.

Penn State has had a number of players transfer and go on to lead or near the lead in scoring for their new team in conferences that are supposed to be better.

From that point of view it makes fans contemplate that maybe Penn State is better than the perception.
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Stella Retrum wouldn't have been a top line forward here, but she certainly would have been a contributor. Glad she's doing well at Vermont.

Mya Vaslet isn't having the year she was supposed to have. Through 12 games she has yet to score a goal, and only has 2 assists. All that time off from injury doesn't look like it did her any favors. Her injury may have been more severe than anyone knows, and she can't (or won't) go full speed out of an abundance of caution, since it's her final year of hockey. She plays hard enough...she just isn't scoring goals.

Penn State has a bye this weekend, probably scheduled that way to work around Tessa Janecke's time with Team USA. When the Olympics roll around in February, Janecke will miss at least the last two regular season series, possibly the last three, and likely the early part of the AHA conference tournament. Nicole Hall will probably also be gone for Team Sweden.
 
ZedLeppellin said:
Penn State has a bye this weekend, probably scheduled that way to work around Tessa Janecke's time with Team USA. When the Olympics roll around in February, Janecke will miss at least the last two regular season series, possibly the last three, and likely the early part of the AHA conference tournament. Nicole Hall will probably also be gone for Team Sweden.
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Fantin will also likely be at the Olympics for Team Italy. She was on their world championship team last spring.
 
Fantin has been a pleasant surprise for Penn State. It's hard to fathom that Italy is producing as good as players as she is, but the rest of the world is catching up and she is looking really good in her first year.

I think Nicole Hall is really progressing and it would not be a surprise if she took a Maddy Christian type jump as a junior.

BTW, I had to look up Johansson at UMD and nearly fell out of my chair and UMD is 8-4 and Johansson is leading UMD in scoring. She played for Mercyhurst. Megan McKay seems to be fitting in at Clarkson and has a pp goal.

That's good for the conference.
 
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#6 Penn State (12-0-0) is at home this weekend for a Friday/Saturday AHA series with Syracuse (6-7-0). Both games will be streaming on BTN+.

Syracuse is currently tied with RIT for third place in the AHA, and they split their series at the end of October. Syracuse is a different team since Paul Flanagan retired, and I don't have a read on them, but they aren't showing anything that should concern Penn State. About the only thing to see is how Penn State looks after having had a bye last weekend. The three national team players (Tessa Janecke/Team USA, Nicole Hall/Team Sweden, and Matilde Fantin/Team Italy) are back, so this should be a pretty straightforward series for Penn State.

Current AHA standings:
Penn State - 24 points
Mercyhurst - 11 points
Syracuse - 10 points
RIT - 10 points
Robert Morris - 8 points
Lindenwood - 7 points
Delaware - 2 points

Friday BTN+ Video (2:00 Eastern): https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/livestream/syracuse-at-penn-state/2015839
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=608332

Saturday BTN+ Video (1:00 Eastern): https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/livestream/syracuse-at-penn-state/2015886
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=608333
 
I missed the whole first period, but Penn State is up 3-0 on goals from Tessa Janecke, Katelyn Roberts, and Danica Maynard. Shots on goal are 8-8, and Syracuse took 2 penalties to Penn State's 1.
 
No scoring in the second period, so it's still 3-0 Penn State. Shots on goal are now 25-11 for Penn State, and each team took a penalty in the second. Penn State is looking good for coming off a bye weekend.
 
Penn State takes game one by a score of 7-0, on third period goals from Leah Stecker, Abby Stonehouse, Grace Outwater, and Matilde Fantin. Shots on goal ended at 43-13 for Penn State, and penalties were 7 for Syracuse and 3 for Penn State. Syracuse was on their heels for most of the game, and I'm sure there will be more of the same tomorrow.
 
PSU is currently rolling. Cornell is currently down 2-0 to Colgate who just split with RIT. Cornell has a goalie that is Selander like in Bergman. Getting that first goal against a goalie that was at .97 save percentage will be instrumental in sending Cornell down.

As far as Syracuse, what is to say other than maybe a coaching change was not the answer.

I look at BU, and BU had a one year pop and now or at least the last time I looked was 1-7.

New coaches are always going to be the answer, but are they?

St Thomas has seemed to find a difference maker on the bench!
 
Saturday BTN+ Video (1:00 Eastern): https://www.bigtenplus.com/en-int/livestream/syracuse-at-penn-state/2015886
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=608333

A big takeaway from yesterday's 7-0 shutout is that the seven goals were scored by seven different skaters, and only one of them was Tessa Janecke. She also only had one assist, so anyone arguing that this team is all Janecke is wrong. This is a young Penn State team, with 8 seniors/grads, no juniors, 6 sophomores, and 5 freshmen (not counting goalies), so it's great to see the underclassmen jump into D-1 play like they have. This is the final season at Penn State for Janecke, and I think a lot of people were waiting to see what the rest of this young team was going to look like this season, to have an idea of what things might look like without her. So far, so good.

Katie DeSa now leads all D-1 goalies in shutouts, and that's due as much to a more aggressive Penn State defense. It's great to finally see a defense that doesn't just give up the offensive zone blue line and neutral zone and drift back to their own faceoff circles because the opponent touched the puck. For so long they were a "bend but don't break" defense, and some years they bent way too far. Now they're aggressive, and not afraid to jump into the offense, too. Another great change is a defense that doesn't play hoop-de-doo with the puck deep in the defensive zone, wasting time. Now they're on it and they move it forward with a purpose. It's an all-around much better defense, and a lot more fun to watch.

On a general note, I don't understand keeping a goalie stat like number of saves. A huge number of saves tells me that team has a pretty swiss cheese defense, allowing that many shots to reach their goalie. If a goalie is getting peppered that hard, why? Her defense can't block shots? Her defense leaves that many players open to even take those shots? I think "save percentage" is a much more accurate picture of a goalie. But that's why I'm not a coach, I guess.
 
After one period, Penn State is up 4-1 on goals from Mikah Keller, Abby Stonehouse (shorthanded), and two from Katelyn Roberts. Shots on goal are 18-3 for Penn State, and penalties are 3 for Syracuse and 2 for Penn State.

Syracuse took a DQ in the dumbest way. A Syracuse player bodychecked Nicole Hall into the boards, which was already going to be a penalty, and then while they were both still on their knees she just threw a textbook right cross into Hall's face...not a crosscheck, hard bump, etc, but an actual boxing right cross...just punched Hall in the face, for some reason. And that was with the ref standing over them. Absolutely stupid move, and it cost Syracuse two more Penn State goals, with 2-1/2 more powerplay minutes to start the second.
 
Syracuse narrowed it to 4-2. Then, another shorty, this time by Outwater and followed quickly by an even strength by Walsh. A projected 28 win season sets the program for the next three years with recruiting.
 
After two, Penn State is up 6-2 on goals from McKenna Walsh and Grace Outwater. Shots on goal are 31-9 for Penn State, and penalties are 5 for Syracuse and 3 for Penn State. Syracuse couldn't score, so when they had a 5-on-3 opportunity Kendall Butze went ahead and own-goaled one for them. 🤪
 
Penn State takes the sweep by a score of 11-2 on third period goals from Nicole Hall, Matilde Fantin, and two from Maddy Christian. Shots on goal ended at 42-14 for Penn State, and Penn State took 7 penalties to Syracuse's 4. I don't know what to say for overall game performance, other than the obvious: Penn State dominated Syracuse, scored three powerplay goals, two shorthanded goals, and had 8 different goal scorers.
 
Northeastern is a solid 10-2 who has two losses by an 11-1 Quinnipiac team. Quinnipiac had a 1-0 loss to Brown. Quinnipiac may have just run into a hot goalie for Brown. What it all means, I guess PSU will find out.
 
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