For nearly all of Penn State hockey’s existence there has been very little talk about the importance of any single game.
Even when hosting the then No. 1 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers for a weekend there was not the usual overwhelming sense of opportunity that comes with playing the nation’s top ranked team.
This has largely been the result of two related things. Coach Guy Gadowsky’s approach to coaching and Penn State’s status as a program.
The Nittany Lions have been excited to upend big teams before, but the program has been so focused on the process of growing and improving the quality of play that who the Nittany Lions are playing has in many cases been secondary to how they end up playing.
Tthat has ever so slightly started to change as Penn State prepares to face No. 16 St Lawrence this Thursday and Friday. While the talk around the Pegula Ice Arena has been almost entirely about staying focused on what the Nittany Lions can control, big games are slowly starting to become big games.
It’s a small sign of progress from the earliest days of Penn State’s Division I life. While Penn State won’t probably ever circle a weekend series on the calendar prior to each season, the interest in winning is gradually replacing the interest in simply getting the program up to speed.
“We like to think that way about every non conference game,” Gadowsky said earlier this week. “But certainly when you mention that a team is ranked you’d like to get those RPI points from that opponent is important but really the way everything shakes out at the end of the year when you look at the teams that are going to the tournament all non conference games are important. So we do know that.”
That sentiment is only furthered by a struggling Big Ten conference, the Nittany Lions find themselves with the best record in the conference at 4-1-0. Aside from a 3-0-1 Michigan team, the remainder of the Big Ten boasts a combined record of just 4-15-4 heading into the last weekend of the opening month of the season.
While plenty can change, if Penn State is looking to make a run into the postseason, this week will be a big moment to pick up meaningful wins on the resume. Undoubtedly the Nittany Lions will have to battle through Big Ten waters that will be choppier than the conference’s current record, but ever out of conference win is a helpful step towards the program’s first ever postseason berth.
The good news is Penn State is positioned well early on coming at No. 8 in the PairWise Poll, best described as college hockey’s BCS standings. With Vermont and potentially UMass Lowell still on the non conference slate there are a few more solid wins left to acquired.
But first things first, starting this Thursday, when Penn State hockey has a big game. And for maybe the first time ever, is quietly admitting it.
Or in the case of an unnamed Nittany Lion, not so quietly as he walked down a hallway of the Pegula Ice Arena talking to no one in particular.
“This is a big one man.”
