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UNIVERSITY PARK -- While still a young program, the Penn State men's hockey team had its most successful season in 2016-17. The team accomplished its longest winning streak (11), best record (25-12-2), first-ever United States College Hockey Organization (USCHO) No. 1 ranking, first Big Ten Tournament championship leading to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Those were some of the highlights from a year ago. But the question for 2017-18 is, can the Nittany Lions do it again -- and more?
"It's something we weren't really prepared for," Penn State Coach Guy Gadowsky said when asked about the team's No. 1 ranking midway through last season. "I didn't really anticipate the amount of noise it would make, not just positive, or inside Centre County, but in general from across college hockey. (The coaches) will be better prepared for it and hopefully that will translate into the team being better prepared for it."
The Nittany Lions graduated five seniors from last year: captain David Goodwin, alternate captains Ricky DeRosa, David Thompson, Dylan Richard and Zach Saar. Another loss includes sophomore defenseman Vince Pedrie, who forgave the rest of his college eligibility and signed a contract with the New York Rangers -- news of which Gadowsky did not anticipate.
Gadowsky feels that the biggest role to replace will be ReDosa's.
"Not many people outside the locker room will understand. The locker room understands he has not only played in very important situations on the ice, not necessarily the situations that maybe showed up on the box score but very very important situations -- knees on faceoffs, killing penalties," Gadowsky said. "He wore a letter for us for a reason and was very well respected."
This past offseason, senior James Robinson was named the new captain of the team, with senior Erik Autio and junior Chase Berger being named alternate captains. Robinson feels he is up to the challenge being the new captain of Penn State hockey, having been an alternate captain at the junior hockey level and at Penn State.
"I think any time you get to be a leader or wear a letter on a team you pick up experience," Robinson said. "Even when you're not wearing a letter, the two years I didn't, being able to watch David Glen and Patrick Koudys, you pick up how they carry themselves."
The 2016-17 team was just one win away from its first Frozen Four experience, losing to eventual national champion Denver, 6-3 in the Midwest Regional final. Alternate captain Chase Berger said the experience playing the best team in the country will make the Nittany Lions better.
"I think (the experience) was awesome 'cause we play the Big Ten teams and our out of conference teams, which have been good," he said. "But we haven't gotten to see NCHC teams, which is a great division. It was unbelievable to see the best team in the country and know what level we need to be at in order to get there."
When asked about winning the conference tournament and possibly bringing another Big Ten trophy back to Hockey Valley, Gadowsky turned to the words of one of his players.
"To quote Andrew Sturtz, 'That sure was a lot of fun, let's do that again.'"
The Nittany Lions open their season Sunday in an exhibition match against Ottawa. The regular season starts Oct. 6 at Clarkson