When most Penn Staters think of springtime sports it typically doesn’t include men’s and women’s ice hockey. March Madness? Check. March Matness? Check. Frozen Fours? Uncharted territory. Until 2025!
When Matt DiMarsico scored the winning overtime goal against UConn in the NCAA Regional Championship game, I spontaneously leaped to my feet, hugged my wife and we jumped up and down as if we just won the lottery. The fact that Matt is a Pittsburgh area kid from the Pens Elite program made it even more amazing for me. Why? Because that program evolved from the Amateur Pens program of which I was one of the original co-founders in 1983, along with Rich Martha, father of former Icer Geoff Martha.
Geoff, who continues to support Penn State hockey to this day, was a member of our 1990 Icers ACHA National Championship team that was recognized at Pegula Ice Arena back in January at alumni weekend just as Coach Gadowsky’s guys were starting their amazing turnaround from a slow fall semester start. In fact, Geoff, who is the CEO of Medtronic, spoke at a conference at Penn State on April 10 and immediately flew to St. Louis for the Frozen Four game with Boston University. That is the power of Penn State alumni loyalty.
After I calmed down a bit, my mind was a torrent of emotions and flashbacks to days gone by. Because I am sort of the “unofficial” historian of PSU hockey (which just means I’m old!), my thoughts turned to hockey ghosts of the past: Captain Herb Baetz from 1909, who tried to get hockey started, and 1940s varsity coach Arthur Davis and his players like John Dufford and George Wolbert. To my good friends Roy Scott, Bill Charles and Coach Larry Hendry and their teammates and parents and volunteers who resurrected hockey at Penn State in 1971 after a 25-year hiatus.
To Bill Proudman, Duke Hettema, Bill Tracy, the Horgas Brothers and my good friend Dr. Morris Kurtz who sustained the program through the 1970s. To my Icer coaches Clayton John, Mark Horgas, Jon Shellington and Larry Rocha and my teammates, and the many hockey management volunteers who helped me survive Dear Old State from 1978-82. To Greenberg Ice Pavilion Manager Larry Fies, Associate AD Herb Schmidt, HPER Dean Karl Stoedelfalke and especially my mentor and old boss, Vance McCullough, who took a chance on a 27-year-old to become the Icers’ coach in 1987.
To all my assistant coaches and volunteer, staff especially the Docs – Dr. Paul Cohen and Dr. Ray Lombra, Scott Balboni and our academic counselor extraordinaire, Ruth Hussey. The Icers Booster Club members, the sponsors (including Laddy Thomas, Gary Garrison, Don Boller and the whole team at McClanahan’s), the amazing student volunteers from the HMA and our amazing fans, especially the indomitable Section E loyalists who preceded the current Roar Zone. I know I’m forgetting some wonderful people, and I apologize in advance. ESPN’s John Buccigross described the Icers this way: “It was a club hockey juggernaut. They had this cool little punk rock following.”
In case you think I forgot the most important group, the student-athletes, no way! They were the ones who scored the goals, blocked the shots, threw the checks and made the big saves. I could never and will never forget the players who came before me, the guys I was fortunate to be teammates with, the ones I was blessed to coach and the ones who came after my time at PSU who still electrify Pegula Ice Arena.
I received hundreds of texts, emails, calls and social media post mentions about the program making it to the Frozen Four. It’s so nice to be remembered but I tell you that for every time someone mentioned me, I could immediately think of a player, coach, volunteer, ice rink employee, donor, administrator, architect, construction manager and a lot more who all played a role in the history of PSU hockey. The ups and downs, the starts and stops, the battles on and off the ice.
And then came Terry and Kim Pegula. Because of their passion for hockey and love of Penn State, now we all get to enjoy the fruits of a dream that started over a century ago. “Team Pegula” came together quickly in 2010 and included Crawford Architects, Penn State’s Offices of Development, Business and Finance, Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Plant, ICON, and Mortenson Construction. Simply too many people to thank in one article but know that it took a lot of people to make it happen.
As for me, I was simply blessed to be one of the band leaders of the Icer Family and Team Pegula. It was a magical series of events that led to the building of the Pegula Ice Arena and the resurrection of the varsity hockey program. I’m so grateful to all the people who love PSU hockey and it’s awesome to witness what Coach Gadowsky and these players have accomplished.
So that brings us to Coach Gadowsky and his coaches and staff, and most importantly the players on the 2024-25 team. We all live vicariously through you. You don’t know most of the people I mentioned above, and you don’t owe any of us a thing. But, because of the amazing turnaround season that you had, and by virtue of your making it to the Frozen Four, you brought more joy to more people than you will ever know. We salute you for what you accomplished on the ice. But also, for representing us and the university with class and dignity, for maintaining high standards in the classroom and for being involved in the greater community.
The tears of joy flowing down our cheeks and the high fives and hugs throughout Nittany Nation after the OT goal against UConn were only possible because of your dedication and hard work on and off the ice, your commitment to each other, and your skill and talents coming together under the guiding hand of Coach Gadowsky and his staff.
No one knows when this will happen again, but you will always be remembered as the first to reach the Frozen Four. One day, another team (perhaps soon!) will rise up again and one day they will take it to the next step. But without your accomplishments, and that of hundreds of others before you, that next step would not be possible.
The previous best season for a potential Frozen Four for men’s hockey was in 2020. Tragically, their season ended early because of COVID-19. The team was the Big Ten regular season champion and one of the early favorites in the NCAA Tournament. Like this year’s team they had a standout goalie in Peyton Jones (currently playing professionally in Austria) and an outstanding offense led by current AHL stars Alex Limoges and Nate Sucese.
This year’s team drew the University of Maine, ranked third nationally and the reigning Hockey East playoff champion, in the first round. That may not mean much to the non-college hockey fan but for those who follow the game, PSU was about to get fed to a Bears program that captured the Hockey East Championship 5-2 over UConn. Keep in mind perennial powerhouse teams Boston College and Boston University are members of Hockey East and both would get upset, only fueling their desire to redeem themselves in the NCAA tournament. I got to watch that game with my former teammate John Davis at his home in Texas. The victory over UConn I watched at home with my wife, Heidi, who sacrificed so much over the years while I was off prolonging adolescence and helping raise other people’s kids as a coach.
Alas, a national title was not to be this year as Boston University scored a late empty net goal to finish its 3-1 win in the Frozen Four semifinal. But what a run for the Nittany Lion men’s team, eh?
While the Penn State women’s hockey team’s season concluded in late March with their third consecutive AHA conference title (a 4-1 win over Mercyhurst) and an appearance in the NCAA tournament (4-1 loss to St. Lawrence), one member of the team continued to play on the world stage.
Penn State women’s hockey standout Tessa Janecke (Orangeville, Illinois) scored the “Golden Goal” 17 minutes into overtime to lead Team USA to a 4-3 overtime win over archrival Canada this past Sunday at the 2025 IIHF women’s world hockey championship. Tessa has now won a gold and a silver medal with Team USA and holds Penn State’s career and single season scoring records. She is an often decorated AHA conference and nationally recognized forward who has helped lead the Penn State women’s team to become a perennial top 10 NCAA program.
The success of the men’s and women’s programs (on and off the ice) are exactly what Terry and Kim Pegula hoped for when they made their record philanthropic gift in 2010 to build the Pegula Ice Arena and establish men’s and women’s varsity programs. The history of hockey at Penn State has a long and storied past and many long-time hockey fans in Happy Valley are enjoying the successes that have been decades in the making.
With the momentum from this past season, and some help from the ghosts of teams past, present and future, I’m bullish that springtime men’s and women’s hockey will become a common sight in Happy Valley for years to come.
