The Nittany Lions have played on the road before.
But traveling to Alaska is something a little out of the ordinary.
For Penn State men’s hockey it should be a unique experience as the Nittany Lions play in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush this weekend, meeting Alaska Anchorage at 9 p.m. Friday, then the host team Alaska at 11 p.m. EST Saturday. So if you’re looking for some news to keep an eye on early Sunday morning, check for a game that started when you were just headed to bed.
Speaking of sleep, Penn State got the scoop on making the trip and staying awake from Alaskan native and Nittany Lion forward Casey Bailey.
“I kind of was just focusing on making sure they were being professionals about it,” said Bailey, a native of Anchorage who is expecting dozens of tickets to be held in his name when he travels to his home state. “We don’t need to look for an excuse to play bad over the weekend.”
Bailey’s advice: Sleep on the first leg of the transcontinental trip to Seattle, but then stay awake to help adjust to what will be a 4-hour time change. Penn State landed in Fairbanks on Wednesday evening and headed straight to practice, so players will certainly have to adjust quickly.
Bailey isn’t the only Nittany Lion with ties to the wild north. Forward Eric Scheid played his freshman season in Anchorage, while coach Guy Gadowsky coached the Nanooks from 1999 to 2004, and will be honored with an induction into the school’s sports hall of fame.
“It is a fun experience because the people there have been so great,” Gadowsky said. “The community there is just awesome. It’s in that way I think very similar to what we have at Penn State. The community has really rallied around the team.”
From the hockey perspective things couldn’t have worked out better. Guaranteed money from the tournament will pay for the majority of the trip. Also, according to NCAA rules, the game won’t count toward the NCAA limit of 34 games in a season. That’s a big benefit because it allowed Penn State to schedule two additional home games at Pegula Ice Arena.
Ultimately though this weekend series will provide Penn State a chance to go 3-0-1 on the year to open the season. After this weekend the Nittany Lions will return home to host back-to-back weekend series.
Between getting to see a state most everyone never visits and getting a chance to come away with a win or two, there is little that Penn State can complain about when it comes to early season trips.
“I would rather do it at the start of the year than the end,” Gadowsky said. “It’s bit of a team-building experience as well to spend that long with your teammates on a flight and extra days in a hotel. I do like the fact it is in the start of the year.”
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