Penn State Nittany Lions women's ice hockey
is a
college ice hockey
College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America.
In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...
program that has represented
Penn State University in
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and
College Hockey America
College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...
(CHA) since the 2012–13 season.
The program was preceded by a club team that competed at the
American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 1 level, primarily as a member of
Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League
The Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League (ECWHL) is an American Collegiate Hockey Association Women's Division 1 club level hockey-only college athletic conference for women's hockey teams. It is one of four ACHA Women's Division 1 conference ...
(ECWHL).
Penn State plays its home games at
Pegula Ice Arena
The Pegula Ice Arena is a 6,014-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University. The facility is located on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive near the Bryce Jordan Center. The arena i ...
in
University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park (also referred to as Penn State University Park) is the name given to the Pennsylvania State University's main campus located in both State College and College Township, Pennsylvania, United States. The campus post office was ...
.
History
ACHA years
Penn State's first women's hockey team – a club team called the "Lady Icers" – began play in the 1996–97 season, after students Ellen Bradley and Kathy Beckford recruited players from around campus and Vinnie Scalamogna, the assistant manager of the
Penn State Ice Pavilion
The Penn State Ice Pavilion was a 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. The ice arena included an NHL regulation sized 200' x 85' ice sheet as well as a 45 ...
(then the university's sole ice facility), as coach.
The Lady Icers' first game, a 5–4 win over the Susquehanna Rockettes (an adult club team), took place on February 1, 1997.
The team was intermittently successful over its 16 years of existence, winning six conference regular season or playoff titles and qualifying for the ACHA National Tournament six times, peaking with a third-place finish at the end of the 2001-02 season.
Penn State concluded its time in the ACHA in February 2012, with eventual NCAA leader Josh Brandwene as head coach. That season, the Lady Icers played a mixed schedule, featuring ACHA and ECWHL opponents as well as eleven games against
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
and
Division III
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
teams. PSU finished the year by claiming the ECWHL regular season title, but then losing to
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
in the league's playoff championship game.
Move to NCAA
After years of speculation
the program transitioned to the
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...
level along with the PSU
men's ice hockey team for the 2012–13 season. The move was made possible thanks to a Penn State-record $88 million (later increased to $102 million) donation, announced on September 17, 2010, from
Terrence Pegula
Terrence Michael Pegula (born March 27, 1951) is an American billionaire businessman and petroleum engineer. He is the owner of Pegula Sports and Entertainment which owns the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League (NHL) and, with his wife ...
, a Penn State alumnus and billionaire hockey fan, and his wife Kim.
The donation primarily paid for the completion of a new
5,782-seat, $89 million ice arena to replace the undersized and aging 1,350-seat
Penn State Ice Pavilion
The Penn State Ice Pavilion was a 1,350-seat ice arena on the campus of The Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania, United States. The ice arena included an NHL regulation sized 200' x 85' ice sheet as well as a 45 ...
, which was deemed inadequate for long-term NCAA play.
Pegula Ice Arena
The Pegula Ice Arena is a 6,014-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University. The facility is located on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive near the Bryce Jordan Center. The arena i ...
opened in September 2013, after the Nittany Lions played their first NCAA season in the
Ice Pavilion.
In May 2011 the university hired Brandwene as the first varsity women's hockey head coach. On June 21, 2011, former Lady Icers head coach Mo Stroemel and Gina Kearns joined Brandwene's staff as assistants. Kearns had been an assistant with the
Neumann University Knights, coaching there from 2009 until 2011. In September 2011, Penn State was accepted into
College Hockey America
College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...
for the 2012–13 season, becoming the fifth member of the conference after
Wayne State abruptly ended their women's hockey program, dropping league membership to only four teams for the 2011–12 season.
NCAA
![Hannah Hoenshell](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Hannah_Hoenshell.jpg)
The Nittany Lions launched their NCAA era in stunning fashion, with a 5–3 victory over
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
at
Gutterson Fieldhouse on October 6, 2012, helped by a pair of goals each from Micayla Catanzariti and Shannon Yoxheimer.
Behind a roster led by forward and captain Taylor Gross, forward Jenna Welch and goaltender Nicole Paniccia (each a transfer from the
University of Connecticut
The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
), and featuring eight Lady Icers holdovers (including Gross) along with 17 freshmen, PSU climbed to 5–8–1 overall on November 17, 2012 with its first-ever
CHA win, 3–2 over fellow former ACHA program
Lindenwood Lindenwood may refer to a place in the United States:
*Lindenwood, Illinois
*Lindenwood, Queens, New York
*Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, Indiana
In education:
* Lindenwood University
Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Ch ...
.
The Nittany Lions skidded the rest of the way through, managing only two wins (both against
NCAA Division III
NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...
Chatham University
Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students an ...
) over the final 21 games of the season, including a sweep by
RIT
Rit is a brand of dye
A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied i ...
in the first round of the
CHA playoffs.
The 2013–14 season again began encouragingly, with another win at
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
and a split in the team's first
Pegula Ice Arena
The Pegula Ice Arena is a 6,014-seat multi-purpose arena in University Park, Pennsylvania on the campus of Penn State University. The facility is located on the corner of Curtin Road and University Drive near the Bryce Jordan Center. The arena i ...
games, on October 18 and 19, 2013 against
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
.
However, despite eight ties or overtime losses and thanks largely to scoring just 1.36 times per game,
the Nittany Lions regressed to four wins overall and were once again swept by
RIT
Rit is a brand of dye
A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied i ...
in the first round of the
CHA playoffs.
PSU found its greatest success in the NCAA era during the 2014-15 season, when the team posted its first winning record (17-16-4), highest CHA standings position (tied for third) and first CHA playoff series win (against Lindenwood) before falling to Syracuse in the CHA semifinals,
thanks largely to the
Minnetonka, MN-native duo of Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen, who combined for 27 goals. One obvious season highlight was a December 2014 sweep of then-No. 6 Mercyhurst, the Nittany Lions' first and second wins against a ranked team and against the perennially-powerful Lakers.
However, the team slid slightly backwards in 2015-16, matching the previous season's CHA standings placement and playoff results (a first-round sweep of RIT followed by a triple-overtime loss to Syracuse in the semifinals) but finishing only 12-19-6 overall.
2014 offseason controversy
A few weeks after the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, a group of thirteen players spoke with Penn State Associate Athletic Director Charmelle Green to "express their frustration with Brandwene and concerns about the future of the program."
Seven of this group were subsequently cut from the team, including Jessica Desorcie, Darby Kern, Cara Mendelson, Brooke Meyer, Katie Murphy, Birdie Shaw and Madison Smiddy.
Murphy was the most outspoken of the cuts, telling Penn State student newspaper ''
The Daily Collegian
The ''Daily Collegian'' is a student-produced news outlet, with a newspaper and website, that is published independently at the Pennsylvania State University. The newspaper is printed twice a week during the fall and spring semesters, and once ...
'' that "
randwenetalked to us like we were children. Three or four weeks he would go without even looking at me or without even talking to me. He’s a bully. That’s the best word I can think of for him," and that "The girls don’t respect the coach because he hasn’t earned our respect at all. He’s been my coach for three years and I tried my hardest to respect him and I still don’t have the respect for him that I should have for a head coach because he’s not a good coach."
Over the days following Murphy's comments, others formerly involved with the program, including strength and conditioning coach Rob McLean
as well as outgoing transfer players Katie Zinn and Taylor McGee
also spoke critically of Brandwene.
2016 offseason controversy
The program again found itself the subject of negative headlines in March 2016, as Murphy, Mendelson, Shaw and others told or retold their stories to ''The Daily Collegian''.
One of the chief allegations concerned the handling of the 2014 complaint, with Murphy and Shaw claiming that Green promised confidentiality to the group filing the complaint before subsequently burying the issue and turning their names over to Brandwene, who cut them - actions that would appear to be in violation of Penn State athletics guidelines. Several stories of emotional abuse were included as well. One anonymous former player said that Brandwene told her to lose weight in order to play more, while Shaw recounted an incident in which Brandwene physically knocked her stick from her hands while saying "don't worry, you won't be needing that today."
Shaw also said that Brandwene ruined the sport for her, to the point where she wouldn't allow her kids to play.
As with the 2014 situation, others came forward in the following days, including 2011-12 ACHA team players Katie Vaughan, Ashton Schaffer and Abbey Dufoe.
Vaughan said that "it became clear to me that this man has a destructive personality and he meant the team no well-being"
while recalling a conversation involving Brandwene pressing her about personal issues. Both she and Schaffer detailed other instances of
emotional manipulation
Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definitio ...
that almost caused them to end decade-plus playing careers, while Dufoe flatly said that "no one should be treated like that."
One father of an anonymous current player said that his daughter would transfer if Brandwene is retained as coach, and that "he has heard other parents say the same thing."
2017 offseason coaching change
On April 19, 2017, Josh Brandwene retired from coaching, and on June 1, 2017, Penn State announced the hiring of longtime Princeton women's hockey head coach Jeff Kampersal to lead the Penn State women's hockey team beginning with the 2017–18 season.
Season by season results
All-time scoring leader
* Natalie Heising, 74 (G), 63 (A), 137 (P)
Season by season goaltending leaders
(Minimum 60 minutes played)
Awards and honors
*Josie Bothun, 2020–21 CHA Goaltender of the Year
*Natalie Heising, 2020–21 CHA Individual Sportsmanship Award
*Jeff Kampersal, 2020–21 CHA Coach of the Year
*
Kiara Zanon, 2020–21 CHA Rookie of the Year Award
*Kiara Zanon, 2020–21 CHA Player of the Year Award
*Kiara Zanon, 2020–21
*Kiara Zanon, 2020–21 Second Team CCM/AHCA All-American
*Kiara Zanon, 2020–21 USCHO National All-Rookie Team
Season award winners
* Penn State, 2014–15 CHA Team Sportsmanship Award
Current roster
As of August 29, 2022.
See also
*
Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey
Penn State Nittany Lions men's ice hockey, formerly known as the Penn State Icers (the name for the former ACHA team), is a college ice hockey program that represents the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to the 2012–13 season the program wa ...
*
Penn State Women's Ice Hockey Club
*
List of College women's ice hockey coaches with 250 wins
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn State Nittany Lions Women's Ice Hockey
W
Ice hockey teams in Pennsylvania
College Hockey America teams