The Official News Letter of PENN Men's Ice Hockey                                                                                            Issue #49, February 10, 2006

February 3, 2006
PENN 6
Pitt 1

February 4, 2006
PENN 2
CCSU 6

February 8, 2006
PENN 5
Drexel (D1) 8

NEWS AND NOTES

Penn has secured a spot in the ACHA's Southeast Regional tournament. The Quakers will enter the tournament, which will be held in Aston, PA on February 17 & 18, ranked 8th. In Penn's first game of the regional tournament they will face-off against #5 Liberty University at 9:10pm. The complete ACHA regional tournament schedule can be found here.

Head coach Dave Berger was selected to coach the 2006 MACHA All-Star game. The game, which will be played at the Loucks Ice Center on the campus of the Lawrenceville School (Lawrenceville, NJ), will be held on Saturday, March 18 at 2pm. The complete All-Star game roster will be released in the coming weeks.

With a 7-5-4 league record Penn is currently in 4th place in the MACHA standings.

February 11 @ 8:30pm
Steel Ice Center (Bethlehem, PA)
vs. Lafayette

February 12 @ 5:20pm
Skatium (Havertown,PA)
vs. St. Joe's

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PENNalty BOX by clicking here.

PENNalty Box Archive

#8 Penn Hockey Qualifies for ACHA Regional Tournament

The men's hockey team took on three of its toughest opponents of the season this weekend and secured its first-ever birth in the ACHA tournament. Though the Quakers finished the weekend with a 1-2 record, the team played some of its best hockey of the year and secured the number 8 seed in the southeast region.

The Red and Blue came into the weekend ranked 10th in the region and on the bubble for the regional tournament. Friday's game pitted the team against cross-state rival Pittsburgh, tied with the Quakers for 10th in the region. It was the final Friday night home game for the team's seven seniors -- Justin Mascitelli, Cale Spaulding, Pat Linneman, Rob Rennert, David Gordon-Kamm, Mark Tyson and Garrett Young -- and several hundred fans made it to the rink to send them off.

Penn controlled the flow of the play from the drop of the first puck. Pitt opened the scoring, notching the game's first goal with 4:30 remaining the first period. But Linneman would even the game just over a minute later and the Quakers would never look back. The Red and Blue would add 4 in the second, two coming off the stick of sophomore Jeff Greenberg, and Linneman would add his second tally in the third. The definitive win would virtually assure Penn's spot in the regional tournament.

Saturday's game at Central Connecticut State (ranked 6th in the Northeast) would not go as well for the Quakers, a hot goalie and a slow start took the team out of the game from the beginning. Senior defenseman David Gordon-Kamm notched the team's only two goals in the 6-2 losing effort, though the Quakers would control play in the CCSU zone for much of the 2nd and 3rd periods.

The Quakers took on the neighboring Drexel University in their final regular-season home game Wednesday night. Looking to use a win against the division I Dragons to propel the team into an important league weekend, the Quakers looked to control the puck and limit the Dragon's offensive opportunities.

The defensive corps would lead the offensive effort in the back and forth game that ultimately did not feature much defense for either team. The Quakers trailed by three just 10 minutes into the game, but ticked off five straight goals to take the lead part way through the second. As it had against CCSU, the defensive corps led the Quakers' scoring, tallying four of the team's five goals. The Dragons would tie the game before the end of the second, and add three more (including an empty-net goal) in the third to ultimately take an 8-5 victory from the Penn squad.

The weekend of hockey brings the team's overall record to 13-12-5, and the MACHA league record remains at 7-5-4. The Quakers face their final regular-season test this weekend with two league games at Lafayette College and St. Joe's University Saturday and Sunday. The team needs one victory to secure fourth place in the league.

The number 8 ranking in the southeast region means the Quakers will face #5 Liberty University from Lynchburg, Virginia next weekend at the regional tournament in Aston, Pennsylvania.