Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/83706
i CE H O CKEY At last, the Nittany Lions are set to begin their debut season in the NCAA START YOUR ENGINES TRUE GRIT Gadowsky said his team, led by Gardiner and Olczyk, is striving for a gritty identity in its inaugural season. BY TIM OWEN Blue White Illustrated road in University Park that passes the Bryce Jordan Center, the new lacrosse field and the construction site of the new Pegula Ice Arena. For the head coach of Penn State's G new hockey team, the development of the team's future home can be quite the distraction "Every day I say, 'Ah I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to take this turn and go by it.' But every day I still do," Gadowsky said. "I look at it, and it's just – I can't help it. It's really exciting. It's going to be a beautiful building." His excitement for the new state-of- the-art arena almost matches his en- thusiasm for the upcoming season. Practice begins Oct. 6, and the first uy Gadowsky tries his best to avoid turning right down University Drive from Curtin Road, the stretch of game is slated for Oct. 12, a home game against American International. It is Penn State's inaugural season as an NCAA-recognized Division I squad. The new arena won't be completed until September 2013 at the earliest, so the Nittany Lions will play one last season in the Greenberg Ice Pavillion. They're hoping to get off on the right foot, but the first season is likely to have its trials and tribulations. In his first year, Gadowsky's team is a mix of two recruiting classes, some key trans- fers and seven former Icers who proved to be talented enough to take the step up from club hockey. Compared to its future Big Ten brethren – conference play doesn't begin until the 2013-14 season – Penn State lacks depth, but its players will make up for the talent differential with grit and toughness, they said. Donning his new, basic blue home jersey with an embroidered Nittany Mark Selders/ Penn State Athletic Communications Lion chipmunk logo on the front, soph- omore forward Tommy Olczyk said the Lions are going to be "the hardest- working team in the NCAA." Gadowsky said that's the identity he hopes his team takes on. "We should be a very hard team to play," he said. "Were going to be good in the gritty areas, and that's where our size comes in. Maybe it enhances things. I grew up in Edmonton. That's how you fall in love with hockey – how they play with speed and creativity." Still a year away from Big Ten play, Penn State begins the Division I era as an independent. The Lions are slated to play 23 games against Division I opponents from all five conferences – Atlantic Hockey, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East and Western Collegiate Hockey Association – and fellow inde- pendent Alabama Huntsville. Penn State will also face off against three