Hockey: Coaches and players weigh in on No. 1 ranking

The press room at Pegula Ice Arena was buzzing with speculation on Monday as Guy Gadowsky stepped up to the podium.

Coming off of a home sweep of Michigan State in which the Nittany Lions outscored the Spartans 10-5, there was a strong chance that Penn State would be the nation’s new No. 1 team on Monday, with this week’s poll due to be released sometime during the press conference.

That speculation indeed turned to reality, as Penn State jumped from the fourth spot to the top of the USCHO’s rankings n just its fifth season of Division I play.

Gadowsky and a few members of the team gave their thoughts on the program’s meteoric rise, among other things, in their weekly conversation with media.

1.) It was hard for Peyton Jones, Erik Autio, and Ricky DeRosa to keep the smiles off their faces when they learned of Penn State’s rise to the top of the USCHO poll.

“It does feel pretty good,” said DeRosa, a senior. “It kind of just makes you think about all the guys who came to this program and laid the foundation, because we wouldn’t be where we are today without those guys.”

Autio, a fellow veteran, noted that while the team is proud of what they’ve accomplished to this point, there’s still much more work to be done.

Gadowsky, who left the room before the rankings were announced, shares the same sentiment.

“We truly don’t follow the polls that much; we don’t,” said Gadowsky. “So, I don’t know what the gap is between us and who’s No. 1, but I do know there are things that we really do have to improve on to better ourselves. Whether that closes the gap or not, I don’t know, but that’s how we look at it. We don’t like at it as to reaching them, we look at it as to what we can do to get better ourselves.”

2.) Despite the fact that his team has allowed the sixth-fewest penalties in all of college hockey to this point, Gadowsky is unsettled by the trend he’s observed in that area recently.

“We were very satisfied up until the Christmas break, but after the break we haven’t been (as pleased.) We’ve been taking avoidable penalties that really could’ve cost us, and that is going to bite us if we don’t figure it out” said Gadowsky. “Last year, up until Christmas break, we actually were pretty good. After Christmas break, we were terrible. So that’s something we’re aware of, and we want to make sure we don’t let it happen again."

Gadowsky also explained that the uptick in intensity that comes paired with the beginning of Big Ten play could also be a contributing factor, but he isn’t about to use that as a justification for his team’s recent lapses in that area.

“The feel on campus, regardless of what sport it is, when you’re facing a Big Ten opponent, it’s more intense and it’s more emotional, and I think that does play a part in it, but I don’t think it’s an excuse,” Gadowsky said. “It’s going to get harder to stay aggressive and stay out of the box, but it’s not an excuse for allowing it to happen.”

From a player’s perspective, it can be challenging to maintain an aggressive style of play and still stay out of the penalty box.

“You’ve got to find that perfect medium, and it’s a tough thing to do sometimes because you want to compete as hard as you can,” said DeRosa. “At the same time you have to be a situational hockey player and know you can’t put your team down in certain situations at certain points in the game.”

3.) The Lions will welcome Ohio State to Happy Valley on Friday, as they prepare to play a two-game set with the Buckeyes for the second time in three weeks.

Ohio State, now the 11th-ranked team in the country, snapped the Lions’ 13-game unbeaten streak in opener of the first series with Penn State salvaging the finale on the road.

In Gadowsky’s eyes, though, each team will have a different look than they did when they last met.

“I think both teams are going to be different than what we saw last week,” Gadowsky said. “For us, it’s pretty simple as to the fact that we were laid off 34 days. I think we’re going to be a different team. For them, [Tanner] Laczynski was out. He’s a big part of their team, leading scorer, I believe, and he’ll be back. So I think it’s going to be a little bit different. There is a bit of familiarity, there was some physical play, so I think that’ll continue, but I think both teams will be better."