Checking In on Penn State’s Season So Far

Penn State is having one of the best seasons in college hockey so far. At the holiday break, they have a 17-1-0 record, and by Thanksgiving, they were already 16-0-0. 

The Nittany Lions earned their highest USCHO ranking in program history when they reached number six in the weekly poll on Sept. 29. Then, they climbed their way up to fourth on Nov. 24, for the now-highest ranking ever.

They are undefeated at home (8-0) and in AHA conference play too, with a 12-0 record. They have scored 89 goals in the nine series they’ve played in so far and have never gone into overtime this season.

Never!

Let’s take a closer look at Penn State’s great season so far, including their record, streak, and star players, and look a little into the future.

Current record: 17-1-0

Penn State began their season with a series against then-number nine St. Lawrence. Goaltender Katie DeSa recorded her first shutout of the season with a 3-0 win. The Nittany Lions won the following game 5-2.

Three weeks later, PSU faced another ranked opponent in Mercyhurst. They recorded another shutout in a 3-0 win and then put up six goals the following game, pushing their undefeated streak to eight.

In their first matchup against the newest DI member, Penn State shut out the Blue Hens, thanks to shutouts from both DeSa and Maddy Campbell. The duo currently have eight shutouts combined, twice as many as Mercyhurst's four, second place in the AHA. 

One of their best performances was against Syracuse, where the Nittany Lions allowed the first goal in the game before finishing the period scoring four answered goals. The Orange got on the board again, but not before PSU scored seven more goals for an 11-2 win.

The unbeaten streak reached 16 games before the Nittany Lions’ first loss of the season. Northeastern arguably was one of the biggest tests for Penn State, and the first game in the series showed that.

They did manage to bounce back against Northeastern with a 4-1 win—even after the Huskies played a great game, there was no way for them to stop PSU.

Let's take a closer look at that series.

The End of the Streak

The Huskies got on the board with 24 seconds left in the first period for a 1-0 lead. That wouldn't ring any alarm bells given PSU had given up the first goal a few times before, including two weeks prior against Syracuse. But in the second period, Northeastern added two more goals for a 3-0 lead. 

Things didn’t get better that period, as soon after Janecke was called for a game misconduct and a hit-from-behind penalty that kept her out for the rest of the game and gave Northeastern a five-minute major. It could have been worse for Penn State, actually, because the major penalty rolled over to the third period, where things changed a bit.

Northeastern didn’t score during that advantage, as Campbell took over in net for DeSa and put together a solid relief effort. PSU managed to start a comeback and scored two goals in the third to keep the deficit at one. Not having your star player on the ice or your star goalie in net could be a be-all end-all scenario for most other teams around college hockey, but PSU coming out of that and losing by only one goal is not all that bad.

Yes, they lost an incredibly historical streak, I understand. But when you look at how wrong things went here with the knowledge they could have been worse, it’s pretty impressive.

Penn State probably knew that too, because they came back the next day and put together a nice 4-1 win. DeSa was back in net and allowed only one goal, and Janecke was on the ice playing a full game. Though PSU gave up the first goal in the game—again—they scored four unanswered goals and got two assists from Janecke and Grace Outwater, who finished the weekend with three points.

That’s a great statement win to make right before going on a month long holiday break.

Now that we talked about the streak ending, let’s talk about the players on Penn State’s squad that have played a pivotal role so far this season.

What's gone so well

DeSa has been one of the best goaltenders this season. The senior’s record is 15-1-0, and she is tied with Wisconsin’s Ava McNaughton for the most shutouts, with six. DeSa also has a .929 save percentage and a 1.40 goals against average. Penn State also has Campbell, who has made four appearances this season and recorded two shutouts of her own to bring the team total to eight. Campbell also played a part in keeping the Nittany Lions in their game against Northeastern when she replaced DeSa and made 10 saves and allowed no goals.

The duo at one point put together two really great shutout streaks. In October, they had three straight shutouts collectively, before giving up one goal against Mercyhurst on Oct. 18. One more goal was scored on Penn State by Lindenwood the following week before DeSa and Campbell put another shutout streak together that went for four games. 

With the two in the crease here and there throughout the season so far and having a clean 12-0 conference record, they lead the AHA in save percentage with a collective .930. Their goals against average is 1.11 as well. 

The goalies aren’t the only ones putting up stellar performances.

Earlier I mentioned the Nittany Lions have scored 89 goals in their nine series. The offense isn’t hard to come by with the likes of captain and senior U.S. national team member Janecke and crafty forward Outwater.

Outwater leads the team with 13 goals and also has 10 assists for 23 points. She was pivotal in Penn State’s comeback bid that fell short against the Huskies when she scored a goal right after the PSU faceoff win to get the Nittany Lions on the board. She finished that series with three points. She also recorded her second career hat trick against Delaware in October. 

Janecke is a very talented player. In November alone, she broke two PSU records when she became the first player in program history to record 100 career assists. Then, she followed that up by tying the program’s all-time goal record with 74 goals. She had 13 points in October and added 11 more the following month. Across the NCAA, she’s sixth in the nation in faceoff wins and is also sixth in assists per game at a 1.00. Janecke ranks 13th in goals per game, with only her teammate Outwater ranking higher at eighth. She ranks seventh in points per game with 1.69; Outwater is tied for 15th at 1.28. Having two players like that on a team is already so great, but add in other players who are also playing well, and the fact that the offense has put up 89 goals isn’t shocking.

Freshman defender Danica Maynard has been fantastic in her first few months of college hockey. She was the AHA Defender of the Month for October. She currently has 20 points, good for third on the team behind the aforementioned forwards in this article. Maynard has 1.06 points per game average in conference play, which has her in the top five of the conference amongst her Penn State teammates.

Other players who are putting together great campaigns include Katelyn Roberts, who leads the nation in game winning goals with six, and Maddy Christian, who has four. The two are tied with 19 points so far this season, which has them tied for fourth most on the team.

Then there are the defensive defenders.

Maynard is more of an offensive defender, but that’s not a problem, especially when your team boasts some polished players on the blueline. Kendall Butze leads the team with 22 blocks and Grace Tullock has 17. They don’t have the most blocks in the AHA, and if you’ve noticed, that tends to be a thing in other conferences too. But having the defense works in different ways with the goalies playing well, defenders defending and scoring goals, it’s a recipe for success.

What this all means

Looking at the numbers, this first half or so of the season has been more than successful for Penn State. So many aspects of the team are working perfectly and obviously that’s led to their success. Going through a tough game against Northeastern and then following that up with a win is a good test for the team to face some sort of adversity at a good point in the season.

There have been smaller blemishes so far, such as giving up the first goal in a few games and playing a close game against RIT, who kept answering back whenever the Nittany Lions scored until PSU was able to close it out late for a 4-3 win. But these have been good tests of adversity.

These aren’t terrible things to go through, and as Penn State prepares for the rest of the season, they will be facing more challenges, including a series against second-ranked Ohio State to start the new year. So all this helps the team continue to play at a high level.

In Conclusion

Looking beyond these next few weeks, I see Penn State playing well even if they lose Janecke to the Olympics. I also see them making the NCAA tournament again but making it past the first round this time.

Time will tell how everything plays out, but with a season like this so far, Penn State should continue to be solid in the long run.