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VARSITY VIEWS BEST DEFENSE Freshman David Thompson making an impact for Lions | he Penn State men's ice hockey team has struggled in recent weeks. The team was on a six-game losing streak heading into the Three Rivers Classic in late December, and when it resumes its Big Ten season in mid-January, the competition will only get tougher. But as the youthful Nittany Lions have worked through their growing pains, one player has earned praise from head coach Guy Gadowsky for his effort on the ice: David Thompson. A 6foot-2-freshman defenseman from Glen Mills, Pa., Thompson has been a bright spot for the Lions. After the team's 5-4 loss to 15th-ranked Union on Dec. 1, Gad- THOMPSON owsky was quick to praise Thompson. Union forward Daniel Ciampini had gotten past him for the winning goal, taking advantage of the subsequent one-on-one with goalie Eamon McAdam, but Gadowsky said afterward he didn't want the 21-year-old newcomer to feel discouraged. T MEN'S ICE HOCKEY Badgers top PSU as league play begins Freshmen Ricky DeRosa and Zach Saar collected their first multi-point games, but visiting Penn State fell to No. 17 Wisconsin, 4-3, at the Kohl Center on Dec. 7. The Nittany Lions twice erased one-goal deficits, but Nic "I thought he played a great hockey game, " Gadowsky said. "I really hope that David doesn't feel negative overall, [because] that was a strong team. He was by no means the reason why we lost that game. " Through its first 13 games, Penn State had given up 49 goals. Thompson was minus-6 on the season and hadn't scored any goals, but his effort was evident to Gadowsky, especially with the Nittany Lions having to play a brand of hockey that the coach has described as "mentally grueling" in order to be successful. Thompson has gotten a boost from his partner on the defensive line, redshirt junior Patrick Koudys. A transfer from Rensselaer and a fifth-round draft pick of the Washington Capitals in 2011, Koudys has helped smooth Thompson's transition to the college game. "[He] has kind of helped me along these last couple of weeks," Thompson said. "The coaching staff has pushed me to get better every single day and is helping make me an all around better player." Before coming to Penn State, Thompson played for the Chilliwack Chiefs of the British Columbia Hockey League, serving Kerdiles scored the winner for the Badgers with 8:08 to play in the third period. The loss, coupled with a 7-1 defeat the previous night in the teams' Big Ten opener, dropped the Lions to 3-9-1 overall. DeRosa and Saar each recorded a goal and an assist in the second game, while redshirt sophomore Eric Scheid netted his team-leading seventh goal during a first-period power play. Matthew Skoff turned aside 27 shots. as a team captain during the 2012-13 campaign. He led the defensemen with 27 points on six goals and 21 assists – numbers that help explain why Gadowsky was so eager to bring him to University Park. Also, in three seasons in the BCHL, Thompson's over/under was zero. Thompson hasn't been racking up big numbers at Penn State, but he is skating hard and making an impact in ways that don't always show up in the box score. He said that the team is doing a lot of the little things it needs to do in each game to be successful, including getting the puck behind the defensive line, winning races to the puck, getting shots on net and not turning the puck over. However, the Lions have been erratic in some games, a problem that appears to be at least partly attributable to the number of penalty minutes they have amassed – 218 through 13 games. That works out to about 16.8 minutes per game – almost a full period in the box. Thompson had committed three penalties and spent six minutes in the box during that span. After a five-week lull in their schedule during which they played only two games, the Nittany Lions are eager to resume their Big Ten season. They will welcome Minnesota to the Pegula Ice Arena for a two-game series Jan. 12-13, the first conference games to be played on their home ice. While the competition will be challenging, Thompson has seen flashes of potential in the Lions. "We have to keep doing what we are doing, he said. "I see a lot of good things, " but we need to get more consistency in our game right now." I WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY Lions end 2013 with shutout losses Penn State was outscored 15-0 in a two-game series against 11-time CHA regular-season champ Mercyhurst. The Nittany Lions fell 7-0 in the first game Dec. 6 and 8-0 the next night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie.

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