There is big news in Happy Valley sports these days and, no, I’m not talking about the new Beaver Stadium field naming rights. I’ll save that for another day.
I’m also not just talking about the continued dominance of the No. 1 ranked Penn State wrestling program under head coach Cael Sanderson and his staff. In case you hadn’t heard, the Nittany Lion wrestlers just won their ninth Big Ten team title on Sunday with a new team tournament record of 181.5 points. They really do redefine March Madness as March Mastery!
But wrestling isn’t the only Penn State sport enjoying a little March Madness magic. While we continue to hope for our basketball teams to return to the thrill of the hoops postseason, the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams are involved in their own versions of March Madness.
Yes, Hockey Valley is alive and well in March!
First, a big congratulations to coach Jeff Kampersal and the women’s hockey team for capturing their conference tournament title, for the third consecutive year, with a convincing 4-1 win over Mercyhurst. They are the first AHA team to win the title three seasons in a row. They earned the No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament and will take on No. 8 St. Lawrence University this Thursday at Ohio State. Could this be the year that they break through in the NCAA tournament? We’ll soon find out.
Certainly, the hottest team in men’s college hockey is our own Nittany Lions squad. Since beating Army on Dec. 12, the team has gone 17 – 4 in their last 21 games with impressive wins vs. then-No.8 Ohio State (twice), Notre Dame (twice), on the road at then-No. 1 ranked Michigan State (twice), a split at home with then-No. 3 ranked Minnesota, and a sweep of No. 11 Michigan on the road. What Coach Gadowsky, his staff and especially the players have accomplished in the second half of this season against some of the top teams in the nation is truly remarkable.
This past Friday night’s overtime win on the road over Big Ten Tournament No. 4 seed Michigan was highlighted by J.J. Wiebusch’s amazing OT goal (his third of the game) that earned the ESPN SportsCenter top play of the day . It was one of those “How did he do that?!” goals that you just shake your head at seeing. It’s done in practices all over, but to score between your legs up over the goalie’s shoulder in OT of a Big Ten playoff game, that’s just insane. Coach Gadowsky’s guys went on to win Saturday 5-2 to sweep the Wolverines at legendary Yost Arena to advance to the semifinals against No. 10 nationally ranked Ohio State in Columbus.
One of my former Icer forwards, Tom Westfall, texted me after the game and reminded me that he scored a goal like that late in a game vs. Eastern Michigan when we beat them 15-1 on a Friday night in the old Greenberg Ice Pavilion and I went off on him. I remember giving it to him since it was late in a game we had in hand, and it was a “summer league” move. He laughingly said that his “rubbing it in” goal ticked them off and the next day they regrouped and beat us 3-2!
It brought up an interesting discussion about who do you reward with the automatic NCAA bid: the regular season champion or the playoff champion? Do you reward the team with the best regular season record or the team playing the best in the country late in the season? I know this: I wouldn’t want to play Coach Gadowsky‘s boys right now.
A few weeks ago, hockey was front page news when Canada defeated team USA to win the Four Nations Cup. Living in South Carolina, it’s difficult to stay on top of all the hockey news, as we don’t get much. We do get over to Savannah to watch the minor league Ghost Pirates play occasionally, but hockey is certainly not top of mind for folks here in the Lowcountry. There is a new double rink complex being built in Port Wentworth, Georgia, just 20 minutes from my home in Sun City, so things could change soon.
In the meantime, I have become quite the local college and high school sports fan. I recently attended a May River High vs. Bluffton High School boys’ lacrosse game, a May River boys’ soccer game, a Hilton Head Christian Academy girls’ basketball game and several University of South Carolina at Beaufort (USCB) men’s and women’s NCAA D2 basketball games. So, I was getting my share of March Madness basketball-style after all.
The USCB men’s team sold out “The Cove” in their first home playoff game of the second-year program’s short history. Coach Ron Fudala (a Western Pa. native) led his squad to a thrilling 62-57 victory in their first-round game against Lander University (Greenwood, S.C.) in the Peach Belt Conference quarterfinals. In the PBC semifinals, the USCB Sand Sharks upset top-seeded Columbus State 91-87 on the road.
The championship game loss against archrival USC-Aiken ended the team’s Cinderella season (as a new program they are ineligible for NCAAs until next season) but definitely put the team on the D2 map for the future.
Getting back to Happy Valley sports, be sure to follow the No. 7 women’s hockey team in the NCAA playoffs, the #11 men’s team in the Big Ten playoffs and, of course, the top ranked Nittany Lion wrestling team in the NCAA tournament March 20-22 in Philadelphia.
I wanted to conclude this sports-centric column with some sad news and some happy news. I recently learned of long-time Penn State sports psychologist Dave Yukelson’s passing in California. “Yuke,” as we all affectionately called him, was known as the “Coach’s Coach.” In another God incidence, I was just talking to the May River High School baseball team on Thursday about mental toughness and practicing visualization skills, and I referenced Yuke’s work with my Icer teams during my talk. Yuke was a good man, a good friend and colleague and our condolences go out to his wife Marla (longtime SCASD special education and learning support teacher) and their boys.
On a happier note, my father, Joe, Sr., (AKA The Belly Man), will turn 93 on March 13. His influence on my life, and so many other former baseball and softball players has been incredible. One of the founding fathers of the Penn Hills (Pa.) Senior Softball League, he is still active in the league all these years later. Happy Birthday, Pops!
