Despite not having freshman Mark Yanis (fractured ankle) and Jonathan Milley (hip pointer)out of the lineup and freshman Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) apparently playing "very ill", the Nittany Lions were able to own the play against a solid Air Force Academy squad and split the big two-game weekend series against them. They did in fact snap a nice four game winning streak after their 5-1 loss to Air Force on Friday night, but turned the page quickly and won themselves 5-1 on Saturday. There were a few things I was able to take out of these two games.
In Saturday's victory, we finally got to see signs of the Matt Skoff (McKees Rocks, PA) fans were excited about, including myself, coming into this season. Not only being from a high school that was sports rivals with my alma mater, but Skoff was a highly regarded netminder from a great Sioux City Musketeers program of the USHL. Reports I read mentioned how Skoff stayed square and saved a lot of point-blank shots thrown at him while also having great rebound control on Saturday night, something he wasn't doing much his previous three starts this season. He was given the nod in between the pipes from Head Coach Guy Gadowsky early in the season until the torch was passed over to PJ Musico (Orange, CA) after Skoff lost his first two starts vs American International and Buffalo State. Who knows, we might have a little competition for more playing time brewing up here between Skoff and Musico now? Quite frankly, both Skoff and Musico need that added competition to push each other to work harder down the stretch. It can only make both of them better in my opinion.
Pretty much the entire season, we have not seen much production out of freshman defenseman Connor Varley (Landsdale, PA). No knock on him or anything because of course it's going to be a tough acclimation as a freshman in a brand new Division I program. Varley has been looking shaky overall, having trouble staying out of the box and also looking somewhat confused with the puck in terms of decision making. His numbers don't really reflect this style of play, ie: 10 penalty minutes and a plus-3 on the season, but you have to have watched him play to understand. He's not even in the top five in penalty minutes on the team, but his penalties have been lazy (that's the best word I can think of!) and have come in bad situations.
But despite all that, Varley seemed to have maybe turned a switch this weekend and showed what he could be capable of down the stretch for the Nittany Lions. First, he was penalty free in the two games this weekend. Most importantly, he was able to put a puck into the empty net for his first career goal and the Nittany Lions fifth goal on Saturday. Also, he was responsible for throwing the initial shot on net deflected by teammate David Glen past Air Force netminder Jason Torf for the Nittany Lions' fourth goal. Saturday was definitely Varley's best game as a Nittany Lion as he needs to step up to help fill the loss of Yanis for two months.
It was also nice to see a big three point night out of sophomore Max Gardiner (Deephaven, MN), who I was excited from the get-go to see play this season. That's due to him being a 2010 draft pick of the St. Louis Blues and you know, being the brother of Leafs young talented defenseman Jake Gardiner. That was by far his best night as a Nittany Lion and he didn't have fellow monster Jonathan Milley on one of his wings this weekend.
Finally, they out-shot Air Force 35-24 and frankly outplayed them in both games as evidence by the animated post game comments by Air Force head coach Frank Serratore on Friday. But they finished 0-for-6 on the power play Friday night and 0-for-2 Saturday. That my friends, is one thing that desperately needs improvement is the power play. If opponents want to keep taking penalties, they need to start capitalizing on these key opportunities with a man advantage and not let them go to waste. They are currently 4-for-43 on the power play, a 9.3% clip, which is absolutely pathetic. They are also not getting enough pucks to the net to get those opportunities, averaging 1.5 shots per power play. Union, Wisconsin, Robert Morris, Ohio State/Miami(OH) and Michigan State will likely stay disciplined and not give as many power play chances that lesser programs like Buffalo State, Sacred Heart and Army have done for the guys so far this season.
Sorry, but something needs to change on the ol' PP immediately, especially getting 2011 Frozen Four Union College in Schenectady, New York on November 24 and 25. Union will be by far their toughest test so far this season. Union currently owns the FOURTH BEST power play in all of NCAA Men's Division I hockey (46 for 190 at 24.2%) and the 11th best penalty kill (24 for 156 at an 84.6%). Read that again and soak it in. The Nittany Lions also are one of most penalized teams in NCAA hockey so far, too. So put all those together and think about what needs to be done in the next two weeks for Coach Gadowsky and Co. These guys are exceeding expectations so far, but that is the one big improvement that need to be made.
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