UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- With his first year of coaching Penn State women's hockey under his belt, head coach Jeff Kampersal and the rest of the team are looking forward to the 2018-19 season.
During Wednesday's preseason media day, Kampersal along with two players, junior Katie McMillan and senior Meike Meilleur spoke about the takeaways from last season and their goals for this upcoming season. Here are four things to look for as you follow the Nittany Lions this season.
A New Comfort Level
During Wednesday's media day, Kampersal said he hopes to create better communication during his second season as head coach. But he knows that his team is learning and will grow from last year to this year.
Meilleur added she feels that this year will be different than last year, as the players and coaches become comfortable with one another.
"I also think having such a big group of girls that have already had a year under the new coaching staff, I think that's something that kind of gives us a bit more confidence knowing that there is a large group of girls that know the systems, know the rules and I think that'll really help us moving forward this year," Meilleur said.
Kampersal identified some key things he wants his team to improve upon.
"Last year we did have trouble consistently scoring goals. So that's something we will try to work on or continue to work on," he said. "It wasn't for a lack of effort, but we'll just do a better job around the net and try to create traffic in front of the goalie and I think some of the freshman that we have, incoming freshman, will be able to help us a little bit, offensively as well, whether it's like defensemen movement puck from the back, or forwards, actually put park it in the net like I think hopefully we'll have a little bit more of an offensive punch this year."
The Nittany Lions went 10-15-11 last season, and they hope to turn those ties into wins this season as the group continues to improve.
Strengths as a Team
With several new players, and a transfer goalie from Clarkson, the team hopes to use the amount of talent to their advantage.
Even though it is Kampersal's second year at Penn State, it is his 23rd year coaching, and he is excited for the new talent to a different environment, a more competitive environment.
"We have a few extra players in the lineup, which is good for our program, it will create a competition but it will also create a little different dynamic, but again, everybody's on the same page and understanding what we're trying to get after and win championships here."
In addition to the amount of talented players, the players' work ethic is one that Kampersal is proud of.
"The character of the players, the work ethic, last year we were one of the top-five defensive teams in the country and I expect that to be similar, again that sort of tenacious kind of effort that we put in the d-zone and then to take care of our end so we can have opportunities at the other end," Kampersal said. "We have a good skating team, we're a disciplined team, we are coachable, so we have a lot of strengths."
Welcoming the New Players
As the Nittany Lions welcome seven freshmen, the players and coaches are eager to welcome them and mold them into champions.
"I think just taking them under our wing right from the get go, whether it be like on the ice, off the ice, helping them get to classes, with hockey, letting them know kind of what our expectations of them are and also helping them through learning our power-play, our PK, our 4-check, things like that, kind of just helping them out when they have questions," McMillan said.
Meilleur echoed those same feelings and approaches to helping the freshmen feel at home.
"They've done a tremendous job already embracing their role on the team and I think we're really excited to welcome them to our family and I think they're going to contribute a lot this year to our team."
High Expectations
Kampersal has high expectations for his team as this season begins.
"I want to be a team that's very difficult to play against, that doesn't mean going out and taking unnecessary penalties or what not, but just being a tough, gritty team, a very hard team to play against and if you do that for the time allotted we should have good results." Kempersal said. "My high school buddies, (we played at Merrimack last year), and they came to that game and they just commented on how competitive and how hard-working our team was last year…so that's what that brand is what we're looking to carryover and build on this year."
While the focus is on winning the CHA Championship, Kampersal wants the team to go above and beyond that. He believes this group can work hard enough, and has the talent, to achieve those goals.
The Nittany Lions play an exhibition game this Saturday against Ryerson. Their first regular season game will be on October 5.
