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most storied programs in the history of the college game. Penn State's Big Ten era will commence Dec. 6 at Wisconsin. BWI's Ryan Snyder recently caught up with Gadowsky to discuss the coming season and the opening of the Pegula Arena. Here's what the Lions' second-year GUY GADOWSKY coach had to say. "Our student body is going to play a huge factor in this. We believe they will create a great atmosphere, a place everyone wants to play." Last season, you had victories over Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. How important were those wins in helping build confidence heading into the inaugural Big Ten season? For sure, those were very important. The wins you mentioned were all against Big Ten opponents, but we also had a big win against Vermont in front of 19,500 fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, so I would add that one in there, too. I think that, obviously, with that being our first year, we weren't sure we would win any Division I games, let alone against teams that have such great tradition and are of such high quality. We feel great about those wins, and I think they helped answer some questions about how long it may take us to become successful, especially playing in the Big Ten, playing arguably some of the most successful programs in college hockey's history. So absolutely, having such great wins early was a huge boost for us. Of course, they weren't technically in conference play, so that made things a bit different compared to this upcoming year. But no doubt about it, those wins gave us a nice confidence boost. What are your expectations now that the Big Ten era is about to begin? What will have to happen for you to say that this was a successful season? We're such a new program, and this is a brand new league, so I don't think anyone really knows how tough and competitive the Big Ten is going to be. The thing is, for us, we're really not going to judge our success purely on wins and loses. We're a secondyear program competing against Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin – five excellent programs. A lot of it will be based on our attitude, how we represent ourselves and our commitment toward Penn State University, the hockey program and ourselves as athletes and students. So there are a lot of things that we're going to use to measure our success, but I think it's a little early to talk wins and losses and how that's going to define us as a program. Where would you like to see the program three years from now? Is it realistic to expect this team to be competing against a few top national programs by, say, 2016 or 2017? Well, I'm certainly never going to put a year on it. But in the future, our goal is to PennStateLive make this one of the top hockey programs in the nation. For one, this is Penn State University, a school with the greatest student body on the planet. That means a lot. Hockey is a fun game to watch. It's got great involvement. Our student body is going to play a huge factor in this, and we believe 100 percent that they will create a great atmosphere, a place everyone wants to play. Also, this is the premier conference in the nation. It's an honor to compete in this conference, and that's going to attract a very high-quality student-athlete. Then, when you look at the association with Mr. Pegula and this beautiful new facility, which has everything to allow our players to develop, as both athletes and students, we believe we have everything we need to build an excellent program. Student season tickets went on sale Sept. 10, and the number of students who showed up was clearly a surprise to a few people in athletics, as they had to shut down the sales temporarily due to demand. Were you surprised by the turnout? I absolutely loved seeing that. I can honestly say that I wasn't totally surprised. I knew this was going to be a great hockey school when I came here. But no doubt about it, I was overjoyed to see that turnout for student tickets. The Pegula Ice Arena is smaller than most of the arenas across the Big Ten. How important could that be when it comes to the game atmosphere and the energy that will be created by the

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