2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Senior defenseman Kelsey Crow (Minnetonka, MN) will captain the 2018-19 Penn State women's hockey team. There hasn't been an official announcement, but she's shown in a Penn State photo shoot wearing the "C":

https://twitter.com/PennStateWHKY/st...04936684728320

She was an obvious choice and a good one. She's not only a smart, solid defenseman, she's also received a bunch of academic accolades in her time at Penn State. She was an alternate captain for her sophomore and junior seasons. Her full Penn State bio is here:

https://gopsusports.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=5894

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

And if you're in the area this coming weekend and have $5.00 to spare, Penn State plays their home opening (exhibition) game against Ryerson University in five days (Saturday the 22nd at 1:00 PM) at Pegula Ice Arena. For whatever reason, Penn State is ignoring this game in favor of promoting the official season opener at Colgate on the 28th, which I don't understand. Who's excited for an away game when you could be home at Pegula and get a first look at the 2018-19 team in person? Makes no sense to me. Who cares if it's an exhibition game? It's at home, and the next home series isn't until October 5-6. Me and my cow bell will be there, and I can't wait.

[D2D]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Me and my cow bell will be there, and I can't wait.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8fpVNhiqKQ

[shelfit]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8fpVNhiqKQ

You beat me to it by a couple of minutes. Lol.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

You really shouldn't encourage me to dress funny and dance around when I cow bell. I'm pretty easy to encourage.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Short notice, but at 12:45 (Eastern) the hockey team is doing its media day with head coach Jeff Kampersal and two of the players:

https://gopsusports.com/watch/?Live=90&type=Live

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

With most preseason media days short of any real gems, I thought there were some interesting things to come out of yesterday's quick media day (https://gopsusports.com/watch/?Archi...4&type=Archive ...skip to 21:00).

I didn't realize that Princeton plays mostly one-and-done games on their schedule, so I was surprised to hear Kampersal bring that up and say that two-game series were something he had to get used to in his first season at Penn State last year. I also never really thought about the Ivy League schools' lack of scholarships, and Kampersal having to figure out how they work and how to use them, so he had some pretty big adjustments to make overall in how he coaches/recruits hockey.

It was good to hear that all three goalies will get a period of play on Saturday against Ryerson University, so hopefully Ryerson tests each of them. Kampersal said the starting job is open and the three goalies are even as far as their chances for playing time this season, but I suppose he wasn't going to say anything much different at a media day. Still, junior Jenna Brenneman and sophomore Chantal Burke have about an equal amount of career playing time in net (not much), so neither of them can be considered an automatic starter over the other, and redshirt freshman Cam Leonard has got to be chomping at the bit. It was really tough to lose junior goalie Daniela Paniccia, but I think Penn State is in good shape for goalies.

My favorite line from Kampersal: "Three more years of Natalie Heising is a good thing". Absolutely, and I would add the two more years of junior Brooke Madsen as well. Madsen doesn't get the press that Heising gets, but she's a playmaker.

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State had a pretty easy time with Ryserson University this afternoon, winning 4-0 on goals from freshman Loli Fidler, freshman Jessica Adolfsson, sophomore Katie Rankin, and senior Meike Meilleur. Ryerson only managed eight shots in the game, to Penn State's 31.

https://gopsusports.com/news/2018/9/...s-ryerson.aspx

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

...and here's some video from today. Cut me some slack, I'm just trying this out, so it's longer than any future videos will be:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nqC...ature=youtu.be

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State has named junior Brooke Madsen and sophomore Natalie Heising as alternate captains for the 2018-19 season:

https://gopsusports.com/news/2018/9/...5-colgate.aspx

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

These are four of the Penn State players who I think are going to be players to watch in 2018-19. The list is longer, but in my case three cheers for brevity, right? Jeff Kampersal has a lot to work with, on offense and defense both, so it's going to be interesting to see what he comes up with for his top three lines.

Brooke Madsen, junior forward (Eagan, MN)
She's been fun to watch since she started at Penn State. She is a solid and consistent playmaker, takes a lot of shots, is very smart with the puck, and finished last season right behind Natalie Heising in scoring. She has definitely earned the "A" on her jersey this season. I hope she and Heising get paired on a line.

Natalie Heising, sophomore forward (Wayzata, MN)
Her freshman numbers speak for themselves, and there's no reason she can't improve on them this season. She has a very good shot, but she's also very good at putting herself in the right position to take those shots, as well as being in position for rebounds. She should have another great season this year, and has also earned the "A" on her jersey.

Loli Fidler, freshman forward (Edina, MN)
She comes highly rated, and looked very good in the exhibition game last weekend. She's fast, she's aggressive in front of the net, and she looked very good paired up with Heising and Madsen on the power play. A Madsen/Heising/Fidler line would be a blast to watch.

Katie Rankin, sophomore forward (Kanata, Ontario)
Rankin finished her freshman year third in scoring behind Madsen and Heising - pretty good company. She's solid in the faceoff circle, and that should get even better, but I think she's going to find even more of her scoring touch this season, too. It will be interesting to see who she gets matched up with when lines are set.

The biggest question mark is still the starting goalie, if Kampersal even settles on only one. All three goalies got a period of play last weekend against Ryerson University, but they sure didn't get much work, with only eight total shots coming their way. Junior Jenna Brenneman saved four, sophomore Chantal Burke saved three, and redshirt freshman Cam Leonard saved one.

-- Mercyhurst - They are picked to win the CHA again this season and they certainly deserve that vote - they're stacked, and they're going to be hard for anyone in the CHA to beat. The conference title and autobid to the national tournament are theirs to lose, realistically. After that, the next three spots in the CHA are a crap shoot.
-- Robert Morris - Last season, I never bought into the lovefest for Robert Morris, because they weren't that much competiton for Penn State, and took four games to win one. Brittany Howard has graduated now, and she was the story for them, so we'll see what they're all about without her. I know they had more than her, but when Penn State shut Howard down the games ended in a tie three out of four times.
-- Syracuse - I don't know enough about Syracuse to have an opinion for this year, but they always seem to be a pain in the *** for Penn State at the end of a season. I hope that changes in 2018-19. They're a big team and always aggressive, so it should be some hard battles again.
-- Lindenwood - They're never predictable. You never know which Lindenwood is going to show up on any given night, so I'll leave them alone without an opinion, too. I just don't see them making any big moves up the CHA standings.
-- RIT - RIT? There's just so much "up" for them to reach for and not much "down" left to explore after last season, but they've got some rebuilding to do before they start making any noise. I do hope they start to gel and get competitive. Well, except when they play Penn State, of course.

Along with everyone else, I think Mercyhurst takes the regular season title again and wins the conference tournament, and returns to the national tournament again. I don't see a reason why Penn State can't fight its way to the number two spot by season's end, although Syracuse and Robert Morris will definitely be battling for the same. I just don't see a clear number two from here.

[Reddington]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Thanks for your video from scrimmage, not bad at all. Starters announced in scrimmage were Crow, Gangarosa, Fidler, Heising and I think Madsen. Noticed on Colgate site game is being streamed. Penn State will have to pay extra attention to Eldridge, Labbe and Zafuto to have a chance.

[Raider Archivist]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Sept. 28 6 p.m. – Penn State – Class of 1965 Arena

Video (ESPN+) https://watch.espnplus.com/sports/|
Live Stats http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=231038|
Game Notes (PDF)https://s3.amazonaws.com/gocolgatera...Game_Notes.pdf |
@ColgateWIHhttps:https://twitter.com/colgatewih?lang=en

The Raiders open their 22nd season when Penn State pays a visit to Class of 1965 Arena. The senior trio of Jessie Eldridge, Shae Labbe and Julia Vandyk lead the charge for Colgate, who is coming off their best season in program history in 2017-18 after a trip to the NCAA championship game.

[TovarishchLisa]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/c..._medium=social

Nine players suspended from the season-opening series against Colgate

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: 2018-19 Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State dropped its season opener to Colgate by a score of 3-1, but they looked better than any previous Penn State team on opening night. They outshot Colgate 29-24 and had a lot of good looks. Penn State really outplayed Colgate for two periods and had a very smothering defense.

As posted by Lisa, Penn State played a very short bench (only 12 players) after Jeff Kampersal suspended nine players for a "violation of the team's core values". There are some very surprising names on that list of nine, and pretty disappointing to see them doing something to earn a suspension.

https://www.collegian.psu.edu/news/c..._medium=social

Nine players suspended from the season-opening series against Colgate

Brooke Madsen deflected a Natalie Heising shot for Penn State's lone goal. Tomorrow will be interesting, as these twelve players are going to be gassed. I have a feeling they won't use that for an excuse, though.