2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State's game recap: https://gopsusports.com/news/2019/2/...rt-morris.aspx

[Reddington]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Things that make you go Hmmm. Jaycee Gebhard sure likes to play Penn State. Hopefully, whatever adjustments were made for this game will be unadjusted to whatever they were for Cornell.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Things that make you go Hmmm. Jaycee Gebhard sure likes to play Penn State. Hopefully, whatever adjustments were made for this game will be unadjusted to whatever they were for Cornell.

I see after I left the game, Kampersal pulled Jenna Brenneman and put the untested redshirt freshman (Cam Leonard) in net for the third period...ouch.

[Reddington]

I see after I left the game, Kampersal pulled Jenna Brenneman and put the untested redshirt freshman (Cam Leonard) in net for the third period...ouch.

It is tough to get the flavor of the game from just the box score and play by play. But, if Penn State only had 19 shots..... That's low for Penn State.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

It is tough to get the flavor of the game from just the box score and play by play. But, if Penn State only had 19 shots..... That's low for Penn State.

I think shots on goal were even after one period, but there was a short stretch in the second where things just went haywire for Penn State - penalties for Penn State that resulted in goals for Robert Morris. I really don't know what they're going to adjust for tomorrow, but blocking shots comes to mind, and staying out of the penalty box if the power play isn't going to work.

[Reddington]

I think shots on goal were even after one period, but there was a short stretch in the second where things just went haywire for Penn State - penalties for Penn State that resulted in goals for Robert Morris. I really don't know what they're going to adjust for tomorrow, but blocking shots comes to mind, and staying out of the penalty box if the power play isn't going to work.

Syracuse nipped Mercyhurst. And Lindenwood beat RIT. Let's see if Penn State can upset the applecart today. I just can't get a bead on Penn State. Going to be no gimmies the rest of the year.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

I just can't get a bead on Penn State.

That pretty much sums up this season, doesn't it? The talent is there, for sure, but consistency is a problem.

[D2D]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

That pretty much sums up this season, doesn't it? The talent is there, for sure, but consistency is a problem.

Inconsistency plagues a number of other teams as well. BC, Ohio State and UMD come to mind.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State and Robert Morris finish in a 2-2 OT tie today. Penn State led the shots on goal 33-22, led in power play goals 2-1, led in blocked shots 17-13, and led faceoffs won 39-29. Each team had three penalties.

The shot count by period is interesting. Robert Morris shots by period were 11-4-3, and 2 in OT. Penn State shots by period were 5-11-12, and 3 in OT.

Penn State's goals came from junior Abby Welch and freshman Jessica Adolfsson.

Jeff Kampersal on today's game: "I thought we played much better and much smarter today. Yesterday was hopefully an anomaly. I thought the kids took ownership. Today they actually broke down their own video from yesterday. They came out with some good key areas to improve in today. One being the effort high in the zone, we did a better job with that. Pinning in the D zone, we did a better job with that."

Penn State game recap: https://gopsusports.com/news/2019/2/...orris-2-2.aspx

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

The Penn State student newspaper (The Daily Collegian) weekend game recaps:

Friday: https://www.collegian.psu.edu/sports...7669cc3ef.html

Saturday: https://www.collegian.psu.edu/sports...561bdddd0.html

[Reddington]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

A couple of observations: Morgan Rolph seems to be out. I noticed in the play by play the combo of 17, 10, 26 and 13 have three out of the last five goals. I also read the quote about competing power plays and I think I heard that word for word from the BU coach. I knew it sounded awful familiar. Congrats on shutting down Gebhardt in the second game, she is a handful. RiT beat Lindenwood in the second game. Syracuse swept Mercyhurst. The Orange seem to be on a roll.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

A couple of observations: Morgan Rolph seems to be out.

She got hurt in the Lindenwood series (I think it was Lindenwood...maybe Syracuse) - it looked like a knee or ankle injury from the way they were helping her off the ice. It wasn't from anything malicious, just a pileup along the boards where another player fell on her the wrong way. She's a shot-blocking machine, so I hope she's okay and back on the ice soon.

I noticed in the play by play the combo of 17, 10, 26 and 13 have three out of the last five goals.

And it's good to see more players scoring, but Natalie Heising has been quiet for a while now, and Penn State could sure use her scoring, too.

Congrats on shutting down Gebhardt in the second game, she is a handful.

The same thing worked against Robert Morris last year when Penn State shut Brittany Howard down. In three of their four games against Penn State, Robert Morris didn't win when Brittany Howard wasn't scoring. I wonder if it was a conscious effort to shut Gebhard down or it just played out like that - whatever works, right?

Syracuse swept Mercyhurst. The Orange seem to be on a roll.

This was the shocker of the weekend for me. I wouldn't even know where to start trying to explain that one, and I doubt anyone saw Syracuse taking even one game, much less taking the sweep. As always, the CHA gets crazier the closer it gets to the end of the regular season.

[Reddington]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State has the 28th ranked offense and the 14th ranked defense according to WCHODR. According to their forecast Penn State is favored against Mercyhurst. I don't know if I would call State the favorite but it is just a FYI.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

...Penn State is favored against Mercyhurst. I don't know if I would call State the favorite but it is just a FYI.

Before this past weekend, I would've been surprised to hear someone say Penn State is favored in the upcoming series against Mercyhurst - and then Mercyhurst gets swept by Syracuse. Now you have to genuinely wonder. If Penn State plays like they did against Colgate, Providence, BU, and Cornell, then yes they can legitimately aim high against Mercyhurst.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Well, three weekends to go in the CHA regular season, with 12 points left for the taking. Mercyhurst travels to Penn State this weekend for a Friday/Saturday match-up that will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network (subscription required). This is probably a bigger series for Mercyhurst, as they are still very much in the chase for the regular season title, and currently sitting in second place, four points behind Robert Morris.

In their last meeting in October on the road at Mercyhurst, Penn State lost 2-1 and 5-4 (OT), so this weekend should be another battle. Mercyhurst will be without senior forward Vilma Tanskanen for game one, as she will be sitting out Friday after a game misconduct last weekend against Syracuse. That's one less big forward for Penn State to worry about on Friday night. If Penn State can stay out of the penalty box, they'll do themselves a favor, as Mercyhurst averages two more penalties per game than Penn State - a favor, that is, if Penn State's power play shows up, and they're going to need to show up big in facing Mercyhurst's very strong penalty kill.

Streaming BTN video feeds are here:

Friday, 6:00 (Eastern): https://www.btn2go.com/game/mercyhur...st-on-02152019

Saturday, 3:00 (Eastern): https://www.btn2go.com/game/mercyhur...st-on-02152019