Guy Gadowsky still thinks about those first days in 2011. He remembers sitting in his office, reading stories. They were about his Penn State hockey program, which had just made the jump to the Division I level after six decades as a club sport. He can chuckle about those articles now, 14 years later, ahead of the Nittany Lions’ Frozen Four debut against Boston.
“It was absolutely written that Penn State would not win a Big Ten game in three years,” Gadowsky said within the Pegula Ice Arena media room on Tuesday.
The odds have been against Gadowsky for about the entirety of his tenure. His group won just eight games and lost 26 in its first Big Ten season. This year, Penn State was mostly written off after dropping each of its first nine conference games. But, in alignment with the culture that stemmed from those early days, the Nittany Lions miraculously thrived off the negativity.
This year began as the team’s slowest start to a season since its inaugural Big Ten campaign in 2013. But since Dec. 12, Gadowsky’s program has completely shifted gears, blossoming into arguably the hottest team in all of sports. Penn State has won 16 games and lost just four over that stretch, achieving its most historic accomplishment yet: a trip to the Frozen Four.
How exactly did the Big Ten’s worst team in December not only qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but advance to the national semifinals? Gadowsky wants none of the credit. It spawned from the voices of those in the locker room. The players, more specifically senior forward Carson Dyck, spoke up.
“He made a statement, it was in the locker room,” Gadowsky said. “And really the important part about the messaging didn’t come to the coaching staff. It came from Carson and the leadership group, and it was basically that we are absolutely refusing to let anybody get negative right now.”
Over the days that followed the Nittany Lions’ ninth consecutive Big Ten loss, a 4-2 defeat to Ohio State, Dyck and his fellow leadership group members Simon Mack and Jimmy Dowd Jr. met with each player individually. It didn’t matter who they were, Dyck and his peers spoke candidly with each member of the team. These conversations shot a lightning bolt through the facilities.
“Guys could have easily been like, ‘Whatever, man. We’re 0-9, I’m doing my thing.’ But everybody kind of just dug in,” senior forward Dylan Lugris said. “And after that, I’d say that was a pretty pivotal moment of, like, OK, if our seniors believe in us when we’re going through such a bad skid, I think we can do it.”
And so they did. Penn State won nine of its next 10 games, and before long the NCAA Tournament had suddenly become a possibility. A sweep against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament all but solidified an at-large bid. But the magic didn’t end once the Nittany Lions were informed of their postseason fate.
Penn State ran through Allentown regional top-seed Maine with a 5-1 win. And two days later, Charlie Cerrato shoveled a behind-the-back pass to Matt DiMarsico, who scored a game-winning goal to push the Nittany Lions over UConn in a dramatic 3-2 overtime finish. DiMarsico threw his stick into the stands and celebrated with his teammates.
It was the brightest moment of Gadowsky’s career. Penn State had been to two prior NCAA Tournament regional finals, but lost both. Somehow, in Gadowsky’s most adverse season since his first year in the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions achieved what had always been sought after but never achieved for this still ripe program. Gadowsky has now been taught a special lesson.
“Everybody talks a good game, but for them to actually do it and then come out right now, going to the Frozen Four is just remarkable. That’s, I think, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned in a long, long time,” Gadowsky said. “… When everything around you is going well, it’s fairly easy to be positive. It’s a rarity, when things look rock bottom, for guys to really step up and be positive. And that’s what this team did.”
Gadowsky can look back now on everything. While reading those stories about how his program wouldn’t succeed, Gadowsky was simultaneously convincing recruits to join him in a climb for the ages. Most turned their heads, questioning the validity of the dream Gadowsky had for his new hockey team. But his dream has now come true. Penn State is a serious program.
“The most common response we got from higher end recruits is, ‘I love the university, I think it’s awesome. Sorry, I don’t want to lose my whole career,’” Gadowsky said. “Well, I think the ripple effect might be that we won’t hear that very much anymore.”
