The campus of Penn State University is pretty quiet this week, unless you walk through the doors of the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
The boys are back in town - the Icers returning early to prepare for this weekend's road trip to Athens, Ohio and a two-game series with the OU Bobcats.
No need to talk about the rivalry, other than to say that at the level of the ACHA it perhaps rivals Canada and the U.S. on the world stage.
OK, with the exception of last night in Buffalo,
not that I'm rubbing it in!
No need to talk about the difficulty playing in the band box that is the Bird. The small ice surface (15 feet shorter than a regulation NHL ice surface), the location of the benches and the penalty box (advantage OU) or the fact that the hostile crowd, led by Gang Green, is right on top of the action (again, advantage home side) can cause nightmares for the visiting team.
In short, it's a great place for a hockey game!
The Icers over the years have had some success at the Bird - from the 5-0 shutout of the Bobcats in the 2003 National Championship game to October 10, 2009. Who can forget Steve Thurston's game-winner with 1 second left in overtime, giving the Icers a split of the weekend series.
It is going to be doubly important for the Icers to start the second semester off on the right foot. Seven of the eight games on the schedule this month are on the road. Two series (OU and Delaware) are against teams ranked higher than the Icers.
Penn State finds itself entering January play tied with Oakland in 10th spot in the rankings and in the unfamiliar position of being a bubble team starting the stretch run to the National Tournament.
However, I wrote following the 8-1 romp over Niagara on December 10 that "(i)f the team plays in January and February like they played last night, they'll be on their way to another National Tournament in March."
Kyle Rossi backs me up in his "Thank You Terry" blog, as the takes an in-depth look at the schedules of the other "bubble" teams. You might also want to read his take on the bulletin board material from the OU student newspaper!
As team captain Marek Polidor and assistant coach Josh Hand told me today, they're confident the rust will be gone and the team will be ready to battle the Bobcats in the hostile environment that is the Bird Arena.
In short, it's a great place for a hockey game!
The Icers over the years have had some success at the Bird - from the 5-0 shutout of the Bobcats in the 2003 National Championship game to October 10, 2009. Who can forget Steve Thurston's game-winner with 1 second left in overtime, giving the Icers a split of the weekend series.
It is going to be doubly important for the Icers to start the second semester off on the right foot. Seven of the eight games on the schedule this month are on the road. Two series (OU and Delaware) are against teams ranked higher than the Icers.
Penn State finds itself entering January play tied with Oakland in 10th spot in the rankings and in the unfamiliar position of being a bubble team starting the stretch run to the National Tournament.
However, I wrote following the 8-1 romp over Niagara on December 10 that "(i)f the team plays in January and February like they played last night, they'll be on their way to another National Tournament in March."
Kyle Rossi backs me up in his "Thank You Terry" blog, as the takes an in-depth look at the schedules of the other "bubble" teams. You might also want to read his take on the bulletin board material from the OU student newspaper!
As team captain Marek Polidor and assistant coach Josh Hand told me today, they're confident the rust will be gone and the team will be ready to battle the Bobcats in the hostile environment that is the Bird Arena.
Great stuff as always, but dirty pool bringing up that game last night sir!
ReplyDeleteI certainly hope we don't need a beat writer's puffing up his team's recent record at our expense to come out, well, like Team Canada! I'm sure we don't though, it seems like everyone has a good sense of the task at hand and what needs to happen.
Excited for that barn and those fans too - it's not QUITE time to get nostalgic yet (Gang Green will snap you out of that sentiment in a hurry), but it'll be here before we know it.