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final. The move to 184 won't make things any easier, as FloWrestling considers it to be the most competi- tive of the 10 weight classes. ALSO RANKED No. 2 Myles Martin (Ohio State, So.); No. 4 Tim Dudley (Nebraska, Sr.); No. 6 Sammy Brooks (Iowa, Sr.); No. 8 Domenic Abounader (Michigan, Sr.); No. 14 Nick Gravina (Rutgers, Jr.); No. 20 Emory Parker (Illinois, So.) This weight class is still undecided as well, but Stout is expected to begin the season as the starter, while Cassar completes his recovery from an injury. Stout spent most of his redshirt season at 184 and finished with an 11-3 record. Cassar, meanwhile, was not enrolled in school last year but worked out with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club. He's listed on the latest official roster as a redshirt freshman. Filling the shoes of All-America Morgan McIntosh won't be an easy task for either. RANKED No. 2 Brett Pfarr (Min- nesota, Sr.); No. 5 Aaron Studebaker (Nebraska, Sr.); No. 16 Kollin Moore (Ohio State, R-Fr.) Last year Nevills, the top heavy- weight recruit in the Class of 2014, suf- fered a preseason injury that kept him out of competition for the bulk of the season. He made his Penn State debut late in the year, wrestling in two of the team's three final dual meets and going 1-1. Nevills finished 1-2 at Big Tens and did not earn a bid to NCAAs. ALSO RANKED No. 1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State, Jr.), No. 2 Connor Medbery (Wisconsin, Sr.); No. 5 Michael Kroells (Minnesota, Sr.); No. 7 Sam Stoll (Iowa, So.); No. 9 Brooks Black (Illinois, Sr.); No. 12 Collin Jensen (Nebraska, Sr.) ■ 197 Anthony Cassar | R-Fr. | NR or Kellan Stout | R-Fr. | NR 285 Nick Nevills | So. | No. 17 VARSITY VIEWS G uy Gadowsky sounded pleasantly sur- prised at Penn State's preseason media day when a reporter mentioned that the Nittany Lions had received more goals from freshmen last season than all but two teams in the country. "That seems pretty good," the sixth- year Penn State men's ice hockey coach said. "And yet, I think if you were to ask, we might think that we could do better than that this year. It's possible. It de- pends how things go." Gadowsky's players are expecting things to go pretty well, and not without some justifica- tion. With a sizeable contingent of newcom- ers this year – 10 of the 27 players listed on Penn State's 2016-17 roster have freshman eligibil- ity – there's plenty of offensive potential to draw upon. And the returnees, who are coming off a 21-13-4-1 finish last year, the best in the program's varsity history, have had ample opportunity to see their new teammates in practice and have come away impressed. "They're all really fast, I'll tell you that," senior forward Ricky DeRosa said. "They just seem to be very far along in develop- ing their hockey sense. They seem to be grasping our system very well, very quick. All of them work really hard. They fit the Penn State program with their work ethic and commitment." "They're all very mature people," added junior forward James Robinson. "They fit in very well." That's just what Gadowsky was look- ing for when he began recruiting players for this year's class. He knew the 2016 freshman class would be larger than its predecessors, and he believed that in order to challenge the top teams in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions needed to re- cruit players with speed, skill and high hockey IQs. He ended up signing players from near (goalie Peyton Jones is from Langhorne, Pa.) and far (forwards Nikita Pavlychev and Denis Smirnov are both Russian), while boosting the team's contingent of Canadian expats with the addition of Kris Myllari, Brandon Biro, Sean Kohler and Liam Folkes. The Nittany Lions' opener gave them an encouraging glimpse of their future. Facing 16h-ranked St. Lawrence at Peg- ula Ice Arena on Oct. 7, Jones surren- dered an early goal, but Penn State responded with a Dylan Richard tally just over two minutes later and also got two goals from Andrew Sturtz and an empty-netter from Blake Gober to pre- vail, 4-2. Four freshmen tallied points in the win (via Gober's goal and assists by Smirnov, Folkes and Biro), and Jones earned his first career victory, stopping 28 shots. Jones is expected to play a major role for the Nittany Lions, who lost goalies Matthew Skoff and Eamon McAdam in the off-season, with the latter opting to skip his senior year to sign an entry-level contract with the New York Islanders. The older brother of Nolan Jones, a re- cent second-round draftee of baseball's Cleveland Indians, Penn State's fresh- man goalie spent the past two seasons with the Lincoln Stars of the United States Hockey League, going 25-25-7 with five shutouts. At 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, Jones takes up a lot of space in the net, and his style contrasts with that of sophomore Chris Funkey, who is more apt to step forward and challenge oppos- ing shooters. The coaching staff was caught off- | YOUTH MOVEMENT Ice hockey freshmen give program a lift moving forward GADOWSKY

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