Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/260491
T ■ VARSITY VIEWS MEN'S ICE HOCKEY Lions top Michigan for first Big Ten win A sold-out crowd at the Pegula Ice Arena stood for the last minute of play, and goaltender Matthew Skoff pumped his fist in the air before joining his teammates in celebration of Penn State's 4-0 victory over No. 10 Michigan on Feb. 8. It was the Nittany Lions' first Big Ten victory, and they were thrilled to get it. "We came together as a team today. There was trust in the locker room," said Zach Saar, whose first-period goal got the Lions rolling. "There wasn't a lot of talk and empty prom- ises. It was work, and we trusted the guy next to us to do their job, and we knew we were going to get it done." Just as Michigan had done in its 7-3 victory one night earlier, Penn State scored three goals in the first period, all within 10 minutes of each other. Saar got the Nittany Lions on the board first with a shot through the five-hole that got past Michigan goalie Zach Nagelvoort 5 minutes, 31 seconds into the game. David Glen and Casey Bailey also scored in the period, and Michigan was unable to rally, in large part because of Skoff's play in goal. He stopped 32 shots, and while he attributed his success to the defensemen in front of him, Penn State head coach Guy Gad- owsky was quick to praise the soph- omore goaltender. "There were huge saves early that gave us a lot of confidence," he said. "Great goaltending is more about timely goaltending, and that started us off well." Skoff was happy to be part of an historic victory for the Nittany Li- ons, who improved to 5-18-1 overall and 1-9-0-0 in league play. "To get the first Big Ten win in the history of Penn State, it was awe- some to be a part of," he said. "I was very ecstatic and pumped and just wanted to celebrate with my team- mates." – M.F. T his was late January, when Rob Cooper could look out from his o7ce onto the Medlar Field playing surface and joke that, "I give our grounds guy a hard time about that white tarp out on the 6eld." From the snow to the bitter, ex- tended cold, it's been a harsh 6rst winter for Penn State's new base- ball coach, and a re- minder of arguably the biggest obstacle to es- tablishing a consistent winner in Happy Val- ley. As a West Coast native who played his college ball at Miami, Cooper knows what he's up against in central Pennsylvania. Just don't expect him to use it as an ex- cuse. Cooper came to Penn State in August a8er a terri6c nine-season run at Wright State, so he knows about succeeding in less-than-perfect weather. He also knows that he's got other examples on his own campus of sports that have thrived far from their warm-weather roots. "I grew up in California, and we think we invented volleyball. We think we invented baseball, too," Cooper said. "But with Russ Rose and Mark Pavlik here, if you're a volleyball player, Penn State's where you've got to go. Those guys have shown that you can be ultra-successful and nationally com- petitive. That didn't happen overnight." It's not a perfect analogy – college volleyball is an indoor sport, after all – but for Cooper, it's close enough. The stubborn, gray, extended winter that State College residents know as "spring- time" might have been too high a hurdle for Penn State baseball teams of the past, but now, Cooper says, they're equipped to clear it. "It would be dif- ferent if we had been having this con- versation 15 or 20 years ago," he said. "For the Northern schools that have made a choice to be competitive in base- ball—and Penn State is one of them— that playing field's even." As usual, the Nittany Lions will spend the first month of their season in balmier locales like North Carolina, Maryland, Florida and California. But with Holuba | BRIGHTER DAYS Rob Cooper sees potential in baseball program COOPER