Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

[Happy]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

I have to say that I'm not very impressed with the fan support of PSU hockey that I'm seeing on this site and on PSU hockey related sites. It looks like there is one PSU fan who posts on USCHO, and it is the same guy who runs the main PSU hockey blog, the Thank You Terry blog. There was no PSU vs AIC score update thread on either Friday or Saturday. And there is pretty much no commenting activity on that Thank You Terry blog or the discussion forum that he links to. This is for a future Big 10 hockey program, in a state with two NHL teams, on a campus with a very large student body, for a program that is building a brand new $100 million arena. Contrast that with UAH - it looks like they have about 10x the fan support/presence on USCHO and on their own sites - and that's for an independent school in the middle of ALABAMA with a very questionable future.

PSU, you need to prove that you know and support something other than football.

I think the two NHL teams in the state hurts them, most hockey fans would have already picked one of those to follow, thus leaving college as the red-headed stepkid.

 

[komey1]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Thanks for the reply.

Nevertheless, I think Penn State will pay mightily for scheduling patsies this season come next season.

You have to take what you can get. I'll bet most WCHA and CCHA teams were bitter about Penn State "ruining" their conferences and refused to schedule them. The AHA schools were more than happy to oblidge and get a game with a "name" school for publicity and possibly even getting a win. I wouldn't be surprised if non-conference games will be like that for a while for Penn State until they prove to be worthy of scheduling for many teams.

 

[Red Cows]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

You have to take what you can get. I'll bet most WCHA and CCHA teams were bitter about Penn State "ruining" their conferences and refused to schedule them. The AHA schools were more than happy to oblidge and get a game with a "name" school for publicity and possibly even getting a win. I wouldn't be surprised if non-conference games will be like that for a while for Penn State until they prove to be worthy of scheduling for many teams.

My contention is that they probably could of and should have done better. The question is, why didn't they?

I am not going to try and hold UNO up as holier than thou too much, but, to reiterate, here is the schedule they played their inaugural season, in which they also played as an independent:

http://omavs.com/schedule.aspx?schedule=296&path=mhockey

There's a home SWEEP of Denver in there, in the 8th and 9th games ever played by the program, they took 3 out out 4 from Air Force, which included a game that was both the first ever victory and first ever road victory in program history in the program's 3rd ever game, and they played series against teams that finished 10th, 12th, & 13th in the final USCHO poll that season, with 5 out of those 6 games being played on the road, one of which was a road series split against Maine, the number 12 finisher in the poll. And, along the way, UNO played 10 games overall against WCHA teams. And, they managed to sell out every single home game in an arena seating 8,314 as well.

Along the way, they lost 10 consecutive games, they then immediately followed that with an 8 game unbeaten streak.

I know this was 15 years ago. Nevertheless, UNO was (and remains) far from the "brand name" that Penn State is. We didn't have any problem putting together a respectable schedule then and maybe even surprising a few folks. I don't understand why Penn State couldn't and maybe didn't even try to do the same.

I took one look at Penn State's schedule and my jaw about dropped off my face.

As somebody once said," you can't play in the ball game unless you show up at the park".

I don't care what the reason is for the softness Penn State's schedule (arguably, an understatement) this year (duly noting the previously offered explanation in the thread), the program is going to be poorly served by playing this kind of a schedule. If I was a Penn State fan I would not be happy about it, either. I don't care if it is their first D-1 season, if they aspire to Big 10 hockey glory, it should have been beneath them to schedule upwards of half these games. They are not going to improve by playing these kind of teams. And, their fans are not going to be falling all over themselves to see Penn State play these teams, either. They really don't have a single home game (at Penn State) on the schedule I'd go out of my way to see. For anybody new to the thread, here's Penn State's schedule, again, for this season:

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-hockey/sched/psu-m-hockey-sched.html

That said, I wish Penn State Hockey well in it's future endeavors both now, and in the Big 10 starting next season. Welcome to the D-1 brotherhood.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Exactly. I wasn't taking RIT lightly at all. I was a little concerned when I saw them scheduled as the first series in a season where Michigan has to replace their greatest goaltender in program history with a 18 year old Freshman.

I'm a little curious to see the atmosphere at RIT when Michigan plays there next in the return series.

Luckily for you Michigan is coming to town next year for our homecoming, which we play downtown at Blue Cross Arena (capacity 10,500). We've sold out the homecoming there 3 years running now, with UMass Lowell (Tie), Saint Lawrence (6-5 OT win) and Penn State this year.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

I took one look at Penn State's schedule and my jaw about dropped off my face.

As somebody once said," you can't play in the ball game unless you show up at the park".

I don't care what the reason is for the softness Penn State's schedule (arguably, an understatement) this year (duly noting the previously offered explanation in the thread), the program is going to be poorly served by playing this kind of a schedule. If I was a Penn State fan I would not be happy about it, either. I don't care if it is their first D-1 season, if they aspire to Big 10 hockey glory, it should have been beneath them to schedule upwards of half these games. They are not going to improve by playing these kind of teams. And, their fans are not going to be falling all over themselves to see Penn State play these teams, either. They really don't have a single home game (at Penn State) on the schedule I'd go out of my way to see. For anybody new to the thread, here's Penn State's schedule, again, for this season:

http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-hockey/sched/psu-m-hockey-sched.html

That said, I wish Penn State Hockey well in it's future endeavors both now, and in the Big 10 starting next season. Welcome to the D-1 brotherhood.

Well, the team struggled to get their first win against one of the worst teams in D1 so everyone they play from now on constitutes an uphill battle. Obviously it would be nice for Penn State to play big name teams, but if fans keep seeing 8-1 and 5-0 scores in favor of the other guys, they will stop showing up. AIC might not have name recognition, but at least Penn State can win those games (well, one of them at least).

I think they are right to take a softer schedule now in order to build interest and momentum, then ramp it up in following seasons when they have a state of the art facility and a few years of recruiting under them.

If you think it's a softball schedule, let's see what their record looks like come Christmas time.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

My contention is that they probably could of and should have done better. The question is, why didn't they?

I am not going to try and hold UNO up as holier than thou too much, but, to reiterate, here is the schedule they played their inaugural season, in which they also played as an independent:

There were a lot more independent teams in that era and thus more non-conference games available. You insinuate that they didn't try. How do you know?

It was a scramble for RIT to get 20 D-I games in its first season, and I suspect it's the same for Penn State. Maybe you should ask Trev Alberts and Dean Blais why they didn't schedule Penn State.

 

[Scally Lama]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Thanks for the reply.

Nevertheless, I think Penn State will pay mightily for scheduling patsies this season come next season.

Since I just saw UNO play Army in Kansas City at the Icebreaker, a team with a good goaltender that was nonetheless completely over-matched and couldn't even begin to skate with UNO, I'll be interested in seeing how Penn State matches up with them on Friday the 26th in West Point.

Actually, I'd like to see UNO play a game or two against the Husker team (ACHA members) as well, even if just an exhibition. I think it would be fun for all involved, particularly, the Huskers, who don't even play their home games in Lincoln, they play them at Sidner Ice Arena in Fremont, NE.

I think so too, unfortunately - although it seems as if most in the program accept that as a fact of life. Gadowsky himself actually pointed out to me that with conference position on the line, we'll probably see even better out of Wisconsin/MSU than we'll get this year (never considered that before) and that some people around the Big Ten think we'll go 0-20 in the league. Hope we can at least chip a couple Ws off, but I think we all understand that things might be pretty ugly from a W-L standpoint next year, which is why it's important to just keep working on building a foundatation. Like I said in my previous post, and in my (amateur) observation, the caliber of recruits we're drawing for 2014 and beyond is a few clicks up from this year and next year, so I'd like to think we'll start to see some progress by then.

This weekend might give us a better idea of where things sit TBH - I'm not sure that we're as good as RIT, but we should have at least a puncher's chance. We were the better team in both games against AIC, so I'm not ready to take the split as meaning that PSU = AIC this year. They have Union this weekend I believe, so that'll be interesting.

 

[Scally Lama]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

I have to say that I'm not very impressed with the fan support of PSU hockey that I'm seeing on this site and on PSU hockey related sites. It looks like there is one PSU fan who posts on USCHO, and it is the same guy who runs the main PSU hockey blog, the Thank You Terry blog. There was no PSU vs AIC score update thread on either Friday or Saturday. And there is pretty much no commenting activity on that Thank You Terry blog or the discussion forum that he links to. This is for a future Big 10 hockey program, in a state with two NHL teams, on a campus with a very large student body, for a program that is building a brand new $100 million arena. Contrast that with UAH - it looks like they have about 10x the fan support/presence on USCHO and on their own sites - and that's for an independent school in the middle of ALABAMA with a very questionable future.

PSU, you need to prove that you know and support something other than football.

To be fair to that discussion forum, it was more or less a start-up of a friend of mine and really hasn't had exposure to the "mainstream." I have the link there obviously, and I've plugged it a couple times in posts, but I'm not sure I have the reach to drive tons of traffic there. My blog's viewership is better than I ever planned/expected when I started (which, really, was 0), but I'm not sure that I'm big enough to be a true gauge of interest either. I'm just a guy having fun doing a blog and whoever reads it reads it. I'm not out there spamming this board with posts, putting them on the official PSU Facebook's wall, or whatever else people do to market blogs.

Your larger point is well taken though - like I said in one of my posts linked by Red Cows, the discussion on the big PSU/college hockey sites is limited/non-existent. Lions247 actually has a reporter doing a pretty decent job getting hockey content to the boards, but it's always the same three people commenting less than 10 times total on it. On here, I'm too busy with the blog and real life to be a regular TBH, and Steve's on here obviously, but that's about it as far as I know. There are a couple PSU people that focus exclusively on the women too. I think, generally, the PSU community is very excited about what's happening, but in most cases when it comes time to put up, it's not translating. Most smaller sports have a core group of fans that care about that sport ahead of all others, including football/basketball, and I just don't think PSU has developed that for hockey yet. I'm one, and I know a couple others, but most schools, even someone like Ohio State, has a few thousand that fit that category (not all are at every single game, obviously).

I do have to take issue with the closing comment though - I actually think PSU supports a wider variety of sports well than just about anyone else out there. We get some bad publicity over basketball crowds and get written off as a football-only school as a result, but 3127 per game are going to women's volleyball this year. Wrestling routinely sells out (6800). Men's basketball drew 6937 last year and the women drew 4956. I'm not sure how many schools are drawing 3K+ per game to five different sports (or essentially 5K+ to four), but it can't possibly be a very long list. I actually happen to think that's part of the problem. PSU's a huge school with an engaged student body, but nevertheless, we're still talking about a county that has 150,000 people total (barely over half the population of the second smallest county that's home to a Big Ten hockey school). Is there room in the market for another sport to draw 3352 (OSU's number last year when removing their outdoor game)? We'll see I guess.

 

[cagney]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Assuming they could have put together a stronger schedule, what would the program gain if they weren't able to be competitive? It seems they're going to have to start winning new fans over and from the looks of it, if they'd played a strong opponent this past weekend things may not have been pretty (though it seems fair to say they played better than the score boards would indicate). From the point of view of winning over the fan base, a good competitive game will do much more for the program than anything. Do you think the fans in Wilkes-Barre this Saturday walked out of the arena thinking that it was wonderful to see a dramatic victory for Penn State's first NCAA hockey win or thinking it sucked that they'd had to watch AIC? I have to assume that the vast majority of people who'll be attending a Penn State home game (which to me includes places like Wilkes-Barre and Philadelphia considering the fans in attendance) will be new to NCAA college hockey and you have to be competitive to keep those people interested. Things are certain to be very tough in the Big 10 next season so trying to get off on the right foot this year is a good idea IMO.

As far as the development of the team itself goes, I'm not sure that they'll gain more or less from playing a weak schedule. If they had come out and blown AIC out of the water then maybe I'd be a bit worried about the value of such games but it seems to me they probably learned a lot this weekend about what competing at the NCAA DI level really means. There'll be easier games this year but there'll also be far tougher games as well so it's not like they'll be in for a total rude awakening next season. I'm sure Coach Gadowsky will keep the team focused on the most important elements of learning how to compete at this level either way. He has plenty of experience in bringing out the best in a hockey program at this level.

On a completely different topic, does anyone know what happened with Reed Linaker? Perhaps it's been reported somewhere and I missed it but I only noticed this past weekend that he's not on the roster.

Also, Steve... if you have any say in the matter could you mention something to someone about archiving the videos for games on the all-access website? I missed Friday hoping that option would be available and then the internet feed for the Saturday game was unwatchable due to the poor internet connection. Thanks a lot.

 

[joecct]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

I think the two NHL teams in the state hurts them, most hockey fans would have already picked one of those to follow, thus leaving college as the red-headed stepkid.

There's two NFL teams in PA, too. And then there is Penn State football.. You ask any kid playing HS football in Pennsylvania, and they all want to play for Penn State. It's the same thing in your state with HS hockey and the U.

There are good hockey players in PA. And there's Bobby Mo. But if you ask a kid with D-I potential which school he'd like to play for, what do you think the answer will be?

 

[Red Cows]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

As far as the development of the team itself goes, I'm not sure that they'll gain more or less from playing a weak schedule. If they had come out and blown AIC out of the water then maybe I'd be a bit worried about the value of such games but it seems to me they probably learned a lot this weekend about what competing at the NCAA DI level really means. There'll be easier games this year but there'll also be far tougher games as well so it's not like they'll be in for a total rude awakening next season. I'm sure Coach Gadowsky will keep the team focused on the most important elements of learning how to compete at this level either way. He has plenty of experience in bringing out the best in a hockey program at this level.

I'll leave it at this.

I think it's hard to soar like an eagle when you are flying with a flock of turkeys.

 

[komey1]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

I'll leave it at this.

I think it's hard to soar like an eagle when you are flying with a flock of turkeys.

Or if the eagles don't want you soaring with them.

 

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

If I'm remembering correctly, games against PSU don't count towards PWR. It's essentially an exhibition game that counts towards your record. Not sure teams want to put a game on the schedule that doesn't even help for the tournament.

 

[komey1]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

If I'm remembering correctly, games against PSU don't count towards PWR. It's essentially an exhibition game that counts towards your record. Not sure teams want to put a game on the schedule that doesn't even help for the tournament.

I"m not sure of that. I remember there was a question regarding this during RIT's second year of probation when they won the AHA regular season title and was a TUC.

 

[cagney]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Buffalo State is leading 3-0 in the second. To be frank, this doesn't look like a game between a DI and DIII team. Lack of discipline has cost Penn State big time and if things don't change soon it's hard to see them turning things around. Quite disappointing to see them unable to play smart and control the game.

 

[marsisol]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Well Penn St just lost an ugly one to D3 Buffalo State. Sounded like there were a ton of penalties and some scrums. The Buffalo State announcer called it the upset of the century .

Tomorrow should be interesting...

 

[altazo]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Well Penn St just lost an ugly one to D3 Buffalo State. Sounded like there were a ton of penalties and some scrums. The Buffalo State announcer called it the upset of the century .

Tomorrow should be interesting...

Yup, but penalties were basically even. http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/mbfspsu1.o19

These schools don't play each other tomorrow, but do meet again in about a month. The Icers, errr Nittany Lions, will have their hands full tomorrow against RIT.

 

[SteveP]

Also, Steve... if you have any say in the matter could you mention something to someone about archiving the videos for games on the all-access website? I missed Friday hoping that option would be available and then the internet feed for the Saturday game was unwatchable due to the poor internet connection. Thanks a lot.

I'll check with ICA media people - they have the videos from last weekend.
I'll upload tonight's game but you might not want to see it.

Buff State took it to PSU from the opening faceoff and greed off their crowd. The Lions were undisciplined and need a dramatic change tomorrow night.

 

[RIT Winters]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

Yup, but penalties were basically even. http://collegehockeystats.net/1213/boxes/mbfspsu1.o19

These schools don't play each other tomorrow, but do meet again in about a month. The Icers, errr Nittany Lions, will have their hands full tomorrow against RIT.

Looking forward to it, probably more than the PSU fans I suppose

Hoping for a good game, though!

 

[Pirateasaurus]

Re: Penn State 2012-2013: Welcome to D1

****ing serious, Penn State? How?