Penn State hockey, which finds itself undergoing a massive roster overhaul following the departure of nearly 60% of its scoring in 2019, faces a bit of an uphill battle in 2020.
And while being picked to finish last in the conference by the league’s coaches doesn’t actually hold any sway over the results of the games, it does showcase the amount of change the defending Big Ten Champions have to overcome.
With that change comes another dynamic, the patience to allow a team to grow, that patience coming from both coach Guy Gadowsky as well as veteran players waiting for all those new faces to catch up.
There are certain realities though, for one, a team playing four games in six days without the benefits of a normal offseason, coupled with the challenges of roster changes isn’t looking at easy skating ahead no matter how they approach these obstacles.
The overarching challenge is balancing all of these factors. The immediacy of the moment, the expectations the program has created for itself and the realities of new players joining the team in a year where continuity is key. All the while, not be patient for too long.
‘I think you can be a little over patient to a fault,’ Gadowsky said on Sunday night. ‘I think there’s some things we’ve got to understand. But the expectations – there’s so many classes that came here to Penn State that worked extremely hard to raise the level of the culture and the level of our performance. And I don’t want to let that slip just because we have a lot of [new] guys so I don’t know if I’m going to have any more patience with what we do on the ice.’
Back on the ice Penn State did show improvement from Thursday and into Friday night, both losses to Big Ten favorites Minnesota. The Nittany Lions improved at the dot, played better five-on-five and got solid goaltending in net both evenings by both goalies.
The great test for the Nittany Lions is finding a way to flatten that learning curve.
According to sophomore forward Kevin Wall, who has scored in three-straight games dating back to last season, the solution to catching up to speed is simple: ask questions.
‘It’s studying the playbook as much as you can on your free time,’ Wall said of settling into the offense as a new player. ‘And just asking questions is big. I know last year, sometimes I didn’t ask questions […] if you have a question [older players] love when guys have questions, and they can help you out. Because we’re all all had the same goal. And we’re all trying to be the best team that we can be. A couple of us this year just we took the initiative starting out with that and telling the freshmen ‘Hey, if you have a question, don’t be afraid to come talk to us.”
The larger question now, how fast can every get on the same page and turn answers into action. For all the talk and questions asked, there is a certain reality when it comes to finding chemistry on the ice against a Big Ten where the vast majority of the league is enjoying some of continuity that the Nittany Lions are not.
And for Gadowsky and his staff, the question that follows is even larger and more existential: how do you balance the reality of the season and the roster, with the expectations the program has set for itself?
‘How do you balance it? I don’t know yet. I guess we are hoping that we don’t have to balance it for too long. I hope we won’t have to answer that question too far down the road. Let’s say that.’
Penn State will have another chance to answer those questions Monday and Tuesday night against Wisconsin in Madison. Puck drops at 6 p.m. both nights on the Big Ten Network.
