Blue White Illustrated

PSU's fast rise sparks debate: What is a fair expectation? T hroughout the first six seasons of Penn State varsity ice hockey, Guy Gadowsky's to-do list acted as some- thing of a track on which the program took its numerous victory laps. And they were well-deserved. Faster than anyone could have antici- pated, the Nittany Lions evolved from rejoicing over their first Big Ten victories to celebrating their first Big Ten tournament title to playing in their first NCAA tourna- ment. Now, having qualified for the past two NCAA tourneys, Gadowsky is running out of items to cross off his list. This year, he's approaching it with a different mindset. "There comes a time when you probably have to stop patting your- self on the back for [past accom- plishments] and look ahead to what you haven't done," he said. "That's where I feel we are as a program. I don't think that should add any more pressure to us or change how we do things, but internally when we judge if we were going in the right direction, it has to be with that in mind." Gadowsky has always made it clear that, within the program, the Nittany Lions do not evaluate themselves based on wins and losses. He reiter- ated that point at the team's presea- son media day several weeks ago. But Gadowsky said he's also aware get more of them on the ice in power-play situations. Gadowsky showed two differ- ent four-forward, one-defenseman looks during the Lions' exhibition game against Brock and said that's something Penn State will experiment with during the regular season. The Nittany Lions also fi- nally have a reliable face-off man in Lud- vig Larsson, who played with the top power-play unit during the international exhibition to add to what should be a very different dynamic when on the man ad- vantage. 5 There's no formal goaltender com- petition, but more is expected of Peyton Jones this year. With save percentages of .904 and .905 during his freshman and sophomore sea- sons, respectively, Jones has shown flashes of greatness but has been unable to put together a consistent season. The starting job is his to lose, but Gadowsky said outright that if Jones and backup Chris Funkey can't produce better num- bers, freshman netminder Oskar Autio is going to get his chance. ■ A N A LYS I S BY DAVID ECKERT Blue White Contributor Lions open season with sweep Over the course of two games, Penn State took a Clarkson defense that was one of the country's best a sea- son ago and made it look pedestrian. The Nittany Lions defeated the Golden Knights, 5-1, on Oct. 12 to complete a sweep of their season- opening series at Pegula Ice Arena. One night earlier, the Lions scored three third-period goals, including the winner by Brandon Biro with nine minutes left, to earn a 4-3 victory. Penn State scored nine goals in two games against Clarkson, which fin- ished second in the nation last season by allowing just 1.88 goals per game. "It's a good start. That's all it is. It's nice because they are an excellent team. Their [defensive] structure is really good," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "I thought the whole weekend was pretty good hockey. ... To have a good start like that offensively [is positive], and the biggest thing is two wins. We're really happy." After scoring three of their four goals on special teams during their season- opening victory on Oct. 11, the Lions excelled at even strength in the series finale. Each forward line produced at least one goal, and Penn State cruised to the first opening-weekend sweep in the program's history. Peyton Jones, Penn State's starting goaltender during each of the past two seasons, watched from the bench as Chris Funkey delivered an open- ing-night win for the Nittany Lions. But Jones started the following night, and his performance was nearly perfect. The junior allowed a goal on the second shot he faced but compiled 34 consecutive saves there- after on his way to the win. "I don't know if the start last night had anything to do with it, but I thought he was awesome," Gadowsky said. "Again, we gave up one within the first five minutes, which we did not want to see at all. But boy, was he awesome after that." Gadowsky said, from his view, Jones made numerous difficult saves on shots that were redirected or came from angles that caught Jones out of position. "On another night, it could have been a much different story if a cou- ple of those got in," Gadowsky said. The only goal Jones surrendered al- lowed Clarkson to pull ahead early, but the Nittany Lions answered quickly with their own scoring flurry. Alex Limoges tied the score shortly thereafter, and highly touted fresh- man Aarne Talvitie put Penn State ahead to stay about a minute later with his first career goal. – D.E.

• Cover