Live updates from Penn State hockey media day
Hey everyone! Back for year No. 3 on the hockey beat. I'll be posting live updates from Guy Gadowsky's media day press conference starting at 3 p.m.
A video from Gadowsky's presser will be up on the site later today, and I should have a feature published tomorrow. Also, stay tuned for a new episode of the Penn State PuckPod later this week.
Some notes from open practice
These lines are out there right now:
Limoges-Barratt-Folkes
Smirnov-Talvitie-Wall
Biro-Sucese-Sternschein
Gober-Pavlychev-MacEachern
Sauve-Hampton-Pilewicz
And then the defensemen:
Hults-DeNaples
Bell-Gobetz
Johnson-Phillips
Snell-Stevens
- Aarne Talvitie, coming off of an ACL tear, looks fantastic. It looks like the plan is to start the year with Talvitie and Sucese at center.
- I don't see Kris Myllari out there. There's somebody in street clothes on the bench but I can't get a good look at who it is.
- Kenny Johnson is a big dude.
- Freshman Tyler Gratton has been mixing in with some lines too. He's really fast.
Updates from Guy Gadowsky's presser
3:04 p.m. -- We're downstairs in the media room now and set to speak with Guy Gadowsky shortly.
3:05 p.m. -- Guy is here with his arm wrapped in a sling. Calls himself day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Hockey guy.
3:06 p.m. -- Guy: Aarne Talvitie just got cleared for full contact yesterday. Not 100 percent yet, but he looks really good so far.
3:08 p.m. -- Guy confirms that Talvitie and Sucese are indeed the two forwards that have moved to center.
3:10 p.m. -- Guy says that Evan Bell is mentoring Bobby Hampton, a Northeastern transfer, since Bell's transition from Merrimack went smoothly last year. Notes that Bell went above and beyond last year in terms of getting his body ready with extra workouts.
3:14 p.m. -- Guy: The goal is to get better defensively without sacrificing offense because PSU is not just comfortable but also "thrilled" with its high-scoring play style.
3:17 p.m. -- Guy says that Penn State has explored playing the USNTDP like they have a couple times in the past, but there's a lot of challenges with scheduling.
Pros: The USNTDP players, who PSU obviously wants to recruit, get to see the facility.
Cons: Most of those guys are already committed to schools.
3:20 p.m. -- Guy on the lessons learned from being ranked No. 1 a couple years ago: "I don't think we handled it very well. That was a really good experience."
3:21 p.m. -- Guy, asked how Alex Limoges has handled the sudden spotlight and accolades: "This doesn't sound very professional, but he is the coolest guy. He's so humble and cool. He hasn't changed one bit."
3:24 p.m. -- Guy on the team's identity heading into the year: "We play aggressive and we play fast. Along the way, certain things happen that take you one way or another." Adds that individuals sometimes bring a natural evolution to the identity and uses Evan Barratt and Cole Hults as examples.
3:26 p.m. -- Guy on Denis Smirnov's struggles last season: "To be fair, I think part of that was Denis had illnesses and injuries early in the season that affected him not just at that time but throughout the season...He's 100 percent healthy."
3:30 p.m. -- Guy on his expectations for Peyton Jones: "We are going to do a better job defensively that will help him out. I think at times we've left him out to dry."
3:32 p.m. -- Guy confirms that Evan Barratt is 100 percent healthy after having surgery this offseason on a lower-body injury that he sustained mid-last season: "He wasn't the same skater as he was in late-January compared to September of last year."
That's all from Gadowsky. Stay tuned for more coverage from Pegula later today.