UNIVERSITY PARK Pa.- The Penn State women's hockey team entered the final weekend of January locked in a three-way battle with Mercyhurst and Syracuse for the top seed in College Hockey America (CHA).
So, it was no understatement to say that the Friday and Saturday afternoon tilts against Mercyhurst this past weekend would be the most important two games of the season. Two wins against a strong conference opponent would propel the team to the top spot in the CHA.
The Nittany Lions took care of business. Penn State swept the Lakers, winning both games because of a high competitive motor, much to the pleasure of Coach Jeff Kampersal.
"I think they were ready to play," Kampersal commented. "They stuck in there, and they were ready. Natalie [Heising], the upper class, everybody. Mentally, they were ready. They showed up and worked hard."
On Friday, star forward Natalie Heising netted two goals, the second being the game winner in overtime, to propel Penn State to the 2-1 win.
The play of Heising and sophomore linemate Kiara Zanon has driven much of the Nittany Lion offense this season. Combined they have 27 goals and 38 assists for 65 points.
"They were in tune, there were a bunch of near misses, a lot of really nice passes from Kiara to Nat, that were either tipped away at the last second or missed the net," Kampersal said. "Those two were on it."
Saturday saw a different star shine.
Junior defender Mallory Uihlein has quietly built the best seasons of her career offensively, while also being a stalwart on the defensive end. She put two goals in the back of the net for the Nittany Lions on Saturday.
On the year, she has totaled six goals and seven assists (13 points) on the offensive end, while adding 27 blocks and only being penalized twice in her 24 games played.
"I think a lot of my goals have been fluky bounce pucks, so I guess that's just lucky, but I've also been trying to switch my mindset to be more offensive compared to my first years which I think has worked in my favor," Uihlein said.
The defense as a whole has had a stellar season on both ends of the ice. The Nittany Lions have a plus-23 goal advantage over opponents this season and a noticablely positive plus-295 shots advantage.
Last weekend, they provided a steady speed bump for the Lakers who have been averaging three goals a game until entering Happy Valley where they netted two goals the entire weekend.
Kampersal said, "Our defense is really good. They can skate, they're mobile and they're tough kids. If it falters Josie [Bothun] is there to bail them out, but I would put our six D up against anyone; they're a pretty solid group."
Senior forward Amy Dobson, who also scored Saturday afternoon added, "From a forward standpoint, our D play a really solid game. They did a good job of boxing their forwards out so that Josie could see pucks coming through."
The Nittany Lions work is far from finished however. They will have arguably the most important series in Penn State women's hockey history this weekend against another fierce conference opponent, Syracuse. If Penn State comes out of the series with two wins, or a win and a tie, they will control first place in the CHA conference.
This season, the regular season champion in the CHA conference hosts the CHA tournament and earns the top seed of the tournament. Happy Valley is already the host of the women's Frozen Four NCAA Championship, so the Nittany Lions could control home ice advantage throughout the postseason.
For the team however, it seems like it's a blank slate after a highly successful weekend. Adopting a similar "1-0" mindset patented by head football coach James Franklin, the series sweep from this past weekend will mean nothing entering the back-to-back matchups with Syracuse.
"I don't necessarily know if it will transfer to next week," Kampersal said. "We'll have a good week of preparation, but we know it comes down to a few games at the end, and so obviously these games are important, but we'll focus on getting better… Not necessarily worrying about Syracuse till they get here."
The Nittany Lions will go to battle Friday Feb. 4th at 6 p.m. and Saturday Feb. 5th at 2 p.m.
