Nov. 21, 2013
By Jackson Thibodeau, GoPSUsports.com Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As the holiday season rolls in, so does the midway point of the Penn State women's hockey 2013-14 campaign. The Nittany Lions remain focused on their unique opportunity to develop the young program and continue to work towards their goals.
With 14 regular season games behind them and 20 remaining, head coach Josh Brandwene is pleased with the growth his team has shown, but he would rather focus on what's ahead of them.
"The big things going forward that we are looking for are continued consistency and continued individual accountability," Brandwene said, "and it's those little details that will help us get to the next level."
Brandwene has seen an improvement in these departments, acknowledging that recent practices have had increased intensity as the team has been battling for pucks along the boards and been making plays along the blue line.
At 2-11-1, the Blue and White wish that they had more tallies in the win column, but they can still draw plenty of positives from the games they have completed to this point in the season.
They have improved in many statistical categories from the 2012-13 campaign, including power play percentage (.129 in 2012-13, .157 this season) and faceoff win percentage (.450 in 2012-13, .463 this season).
Fourteen games into last season the Nittany Lions were 5-8-1 (1-4-1 CHA0, which included a 2-5-1 record at home, while this year Brandwene's squad is 0-6-0 in the CHA and 1-7-0 at home in Pegula Ice Arena. Rather than focus on the negatives associated with this kind of adversity, the team has chosen to take a different approach.
"It's all about how you respond to adversity and this presents a tremendous opportunity for us," said Brandwene. "Teams that grow from this kind of adversity give themselves the opportunity to do magical things later in the season. That's the way we are choosing to look at it and they [the student-athletes] are rising to the occasion."
One way that the team has dealt with adversity so far this season has been a focus on building chemistry and relationships with one another beyond the confines of Pegula Ice Arena.
With the arrival of the holiday season and breaks from academics, the Nittany Lions have an even greater opportunity to grow closer. The team will remain on campus during the Thanksgiving holiday break because of their game on Nov. 30.
"I think it will be a good time for our team to do stuff together outside of hockey and school and grow a little more as a team and family," said junior forward Jess Desorcie. "Fortunately, everyone who lives in the area or close to it has offered for teammates to come over and celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. We just want to make sure everyone has a place to go."
For a team that is already so close-knit, this time that they will spend together in the coming weeks will establish chemistry that can translate back onto the ice.
"They are tremendously supportive of one another and that's a huge plus on the team chemistry side," Brandwene said. "It benefits us on the bench, it benefits us on the ice and it benefits them in their lives away from the rink."
Before Thanksgiving week, the team will first travel to Wentzville, Mo., to square off against conference foe Lindenwood for matchups on Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. The team will take Thanksgiving Day off from practice before hosting Maine on Nov. 30 at 2 p.m.