UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- After spending last season watching his team win a Big Ten title from afar, Bobby Hampton is finally on the ice and contributing in a big way for Penn State.
Hampton transferred to Penn State prior to the 2019-20 season after spending the first two years of his collegiate career at Northeastern University. Due to the NCAA's transfer rules, he had to sit out the entirety of last season.
When this season started, it took Hampton a couple games to finally crack the lineup. But ever since he made the jump, Hampton has impressed more and more every time he is out there.
"One of the things that Bobby showed was that he was competing," Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said. "He was winning faceoffs and that's what we need to see at a constant level. It's nice to see him score goals because of how his mentality was going in the whole game."
Hampton scored his first two goals, and first two points, as a Nittany Lion in their 9-5 win over Michigan last Thursday. The first came midway through the second period in what ended up being the eventual game-winning goal. His second came as an empty net goal late in the third period from 185 feet away that secured the win for Penn State.
For Hampton, those first two goals were a long time coming. One of the toughest parts of the transfer process is having to sit out a whole season. But Hampton's patience was finally rewarded.
"I knew it was going to be a long year, but once I got my opportunity this year to finally get a chance to go in the lineup, it was pretty special," Hampton said.
Last season, Hampton knew every week that there was no chance he would play each weekend. He admitted it was hard. Hampton would go to practice on Monday through Thursday and then be sitting out on Fridays and Saturdays.
But Hampton had to remain patient and do anything he could to help his Penn State teammates be successful.
"It was hard," Hampton said. "I had to accept that as a person and try to do everything in my power to help the other guys on the ice and get them ready for the next game."
While he wasn't on the ice for the team that won the Big Ten, Hampton's contribution was still evident. It was his intensity in practice that helped push the other players to be better, and now Penn State fans are seeing that intensity during games.
Best of all, some of those players that Hampton was pushing in practices last season are the first ones rooting for his success, especially in Penn State's first win last week.
"We have a really tight group of guys in here and they're all pulling for me," Hampton said. "They wanted to see me succeed, so it felt really good to get out there and help our team get a win."
Another area that Hampton has had a positive impact in so far is in the faceoff circle. So far, he has won over 50% of his draws. After struggling on faceoffs as a team earlier in the season, Hampton's presence has helped flip those numbers in Penn State's favor.
That is just one example of the impact Hampton is going to have this season and beyond. His off-ice impact was evident last season, and now Penn State fans are getting a first-hand glimpse at what Hampton can do when he laces up his skates.
Hampton is confident the win against Michigan can be the start of better things to come. The first five games were tough, but once the team knew what it had to do, the good results started to come.
"We have a great group of guys in the locker room that will battle for each other every night," Hampton said. "Once we understand that, we got the results we wanted against Michigan."
And for Hampton, he knows what will be most important to maintain the play he had last week and continue to gain the confidence of his coaches and teammates.
"Being consistent will go a long way because your coach can trust you and he knows what he's going to get out of you," Hampton said.
