Blue White Illustrated

It didn't take long for Penn State to re- focus after ending its regular season with back-to-back road losses to 15th-ranked Minnesota. "Literally two minutes after the game on Saturday, it was playoff time," coach Guy Gadowsky said. "What happened Friday didn't matter, what happened Saturday didn't matter. In fact, what happened this year didn't matter. Down the road, I think a lot of the guys are going to look back with incredible pride on what they accomplished [this season], but as of right now, all they're thinking is that it's playoff time." Penn State will be seeking an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament when it opens play tomorrow afternoon at the Big Ten tourney. The fourth-seeded Nit- tany Lions will face fifth-seeded Ohio State at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in a quarter- final game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Penn State-Ohio State winner moves on to play No. 1 seed Minnesota on Friday, with the championship game set for Saturday night. Penn State has enjoyed a landmark sea- son, going 18-14-4 overall and 10-9-1 in the Big Ten. It's the first winning season in the varsity program's three-year his- tory, and Penn State will look to build on its regular-season success at Big Tens. But that certainly won't be easy. Al- though Ohio State will be the lower- seeded team at 13-18-3 overall and 8-11-1-1 in the Big Ten, it has had Penn State's number, going 3-1-0 against the Lions this year. In their first meeting on Jan. 9, Penn State roared back from a 4-0 deficit to force overtime but eventually fell short, 5-4. The next night, PSU never trailed in a dominating 4-1 win. At Value City Arena, the Buckeyes took a pair of 5-3 victories that were won in different ways. On Feb. 27, the Buckeyes took a 3-1 lead midway through the sec- ond period and pulled away. The next night, Penn State led the majority of the game, but three consecutive OSU goals in the third period turned a 3-2 game into a 5-3 win. Ohio State enters the Big Ten tourna- ment having gone 4-1-1 in its past six games and 6-3-1 in its past 10. The Buck- eyes were without many key members of their team during a midseason slump but have clicked since their return. Last weekend, Ohio State took five of six points at Wisconsin by winning 2-0 on Saturday and earning the shootout point in a 2-2 tie on Friday. OSU has a diversified offense, as five players have scored at least 20 points and seven others have 10 or more points. Tanner Fritz leads the team with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists), but Anthony Greco (15 goals) and Matt Johnson (13) lead the team in scoring. In net, Christian Frey has started 22 times with an 8-11-2 record and a .906 save percentage and 3.17 goals-against average. He is 3-1-1 in his past five deci- sions. Gadowsky said earlier this week that the Lions will start sophomore Eamon McAdam in goal against Ohio State, ahead of Matthew Skoff and P.J. Musico. McAdam was between the pipes for Penn State's only victory over Ohio State this season, and he also has the best road record of the team's three goalies. "When you look at the opponents he's played and the fact that he's the only goaltender to play more games away than at home, he's probably more prepared for this experience," Gadowsky said. M A R C H 1 8 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 3 Tournament time Nittany Lions get set to open postseason play against Ohio State I C E H O C K E Y BIG TEN TOURNAMENT AT A GLANCE WHERE Joe Louis Arena (20,027 capacity) // Detroit WHEN March 19-21 TV BTN2Go will provide webcasts of the quarterfinal and semifinal games. The championship game will be broadcast by BTN, with the action beginning at 8 p.m. ET Saturday. Gadowsky named Coach of the Year Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky earned the program's first major con- ference award, as he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in a vote of league coaches and media members. In addition, junior forward Casey Bailey earned a spot on the first-team All-Big Ten squad, grabbing Penn State's first postsea- son conference player honor. Joining Bailey in claiming postseason honors was Scott Conway on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. Six Nittany Lions garnered honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition: David Goodwin, Taylor Holstrom, Nate Jensen, Luke Juha, Patrick Koudys and P.J. Musico. Gadowsky guided the Nittany Lions to their first winning season in the Di- vision I era in just their third overall campaign. Penn State, picked last in the preseason, exceeded all expecta- tions by remaining in the Big Ten title chase until the final weekend of the season and defeating every team in the conference at least once. Gadowsky's squad more than dou- bled its win total from last season in just its third year as a varsity program. GADOWSKY

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