Jim Woods

Faster than a speeding bullet from the run and gun, it’s Turbo Man.

Turbo Man, as the fans have dubbed him, is Icers’ blazing senior forward Dave Murphy.

“In a hockey team full of speedsters, he is the fastest,” Coach Joe Battista said. “When we did electronic speed checks, his speeds fell among the fastest Olympic and pro skaters.”

The Icers plan to take full advantage of their speed in their matches with Eastern Michigan at 9 p.m. tonight and at 3:30 tommorrow at the ice pavilion. The Icers recently beat the Eagles 8-3 in the Michigan Dearborn Tournament, but Battista said Eastern was flat, and expects to see a much bigger effort this time around.

“There in a situation now where they have to win,” he said. “I think that they will come at us a lot harder.”

Murphy, however, feels the Icers will still give Eastern Michigan the “run” around.

“They don’t have the speed that we do,” Murphy said. “They can’t skate with us. They will try to play a physical match, and take out our bodies, but we can play the physical match too.”

Murphy said he has been learning the physical side of things since he began observing hockey. He grew up watching the Johnstown Chiefs, whom the movie Slapshot was based on.

Since that time, he has developed the finesse aspect of his match, and the blazing speed that has earned him the title Turbo Man.

This blazing speed, however, is not limited to his skating. Murphy is rapidly closing in on the 200 point mark, and at 5-foot-8, 170-pounds his checking skills are jolting.

“Despite his not being very big, he is a tenacious forechecker,” Battista said. “He has worked hard at building himself up, and has become one of the strongest players on the team.”

Murphy said he knew his size, or lack there of, was not very appealing to a coaching staff, so he started lifting weights for hours daily.

“I added about 20 to 25 pounds of muscle weight to myself,” Murphy said. “Now I can go into the corners with confidence, and it has improved my game incredibly.”

Murphy’s improved checking skills have played a big part in why the Icers power play has become a dominant force this season.

“(Murphy) and Chris (Cervellero) combine their speed and forechecking,” Battista said, “and I’ve seen them keep the opponents in their own end the entire time that we’re short handed.”

Murphy’s speed also comes into play on the attack, and has turned out nine goals and seven assists already this season.

“Dave is really fast, but it isn’t just on the open ice,” senior forward Mark Konchar said, “his moves are quick too, which makes it really hard on the goalies.”

Murphy, and the other six seniors, has been giving goalies fits for the past four years, and said it comes from their dedication.

“We’ve been committed for the past four years,” Murphy said. “That is what has made the difference. That commitment has given us our success, and that is what will bring us to the top this year.”

Going up!

As of yesterday, the Icers reached the top floor when they received the No. 1 ranking in the ACHA for the first time in Icers’ history.

“I’m obviously excited,” Coach Joe Battista said. “It is the first time that we have ever been ranked No. 1 in the regular season, ever. Then taking the Michigan Dearborn tournament was just icing on the cake.”

Battista doesn’t want to take all of the credit for the Icers’ roaring 11-0 start. He attributes much of their success to the talent of his players.

“I’m not going to strain any muscles patting myself on the back,” Battista said. “We’ve got a strong team with a lot of depth and speed, and I am going to sit back and enjoy this year.”

Seven of the main reasons that Battista feels makes his job easier are this year’s seniors. He has been seeing big things from this class since their freshmen year, when they won the national championship.

“They’ve been standouts since they have been freshmen,” Battista said. “It is great to have seven guys with their poise, speed and versatility.”

The senior’s versatility has allowed Battista, a typically defensive oriented coach, to completely change his philosophy to their potent run and gun attack.

“If someone would have said to you that this coaching staff would have used this run and gun philosophy four years ago, I would have laughed at you,” Battista said. “I have always been a strictly defensive coach, but lets face it, If you have a stable full of thoroughbreds, you would have to be dumb not to let them run.”

Run they have. The Icers have outscored their opponents 99-17, and has even broke the 20-goal mark in one match. Some critics have said the Icers’ success has come from a lack of competition in their new league the ACHL, but Battista said that they had beat a lot of the same teams when they were in the ICHL. He added that the brunt of their competition is yet to come.

“We still have Rhode Island and Toledo, who are both undefeated,” He said. “We will deal with them accordingly, but right now I am excited, to say the least about being number one.”

This doesn’t mean that the Icers are content with their new heights and will stop working.

Battista warns of quite the opposite, “The rankings are nice now, but they don’t mean a lot when the playoffs come around. We are going to have to keep our work ethic, and go into every game to win.”

For some members of the field hockey team, individual recognition has provided some solace after a bitter 1-0 overtime defeat in the NCAA quarterfinals.

“It takes some of the sting out of the end of the year,” said junior defender Becca Main.

Main was among four of the Lady Lions selected for All Big Ten honors. The others were: senior co-captain Jen Stewart, sophomore defender Jill Pearsall, and junior scoring extraodinare Chris McGinley.

The Lady Lions feel this was an exclamation point to their entry into the Big Ten this season, and is a statement of what is to come next season.

“I think a lot of teams in the Big Ten recognized us as a challenge,” Pearsall said. “I think they appreciate the competition that we added to the conference, and I think this recognition adds to it.”

Freshmen goalkeeper Shelly Meister was awarded Big Ten Freshmen of the Year, and was excited about the honor, but feels there is still work to be done.

“It was a great honor,” Meister said. “But I am not looking to next year yet, the season ended so quickly that it was a jolt to me.”

Meister was also one of the several Lady Lions receiving honors in the Mideast region. Stewart, McGinley, Main, senior co-captian Amy Stairs, Pearsall, and sophomore defender Chris Blais along with Meister took first team Mideast Region first team.

Many of Lady Lions who recieved awards will be returning next year, and look to top this year’s performance.

“We were a young team to begin with this year,” Pearsall said. “I think that the experience we gained this year will make us a force to reckon with next year.”

McGinley also made first team All-American through her dazzling on-field display. Awarded second team All- American were Stewart and Main, and Stairs came in with third team All-American.

The Lady Lions receiving awards are quite pleased with the recognition, but many of them attribute their success to the skill of their teammates.

“None of us could have got any of these awards without the rest of the team,” Main said. “So I believe any of the recognition given to us is recognition to the team.”

Another one bites the puck.

The Icers raked in their second piece of hardware last weekend when they beat Eastern Michigan and Michigan-Dearborn to take the Michigan-Dearborn Tournament.

“It was kind of the perfect weekend for us,” Coach Joe Battista said. “We won the tourney, we beat Michigan-Dearborn for the first time and it was a landmark victory. It has to be one of the best starts we’ve had.”

In the Icers’ 4-1 slaying of Michigan-Dearborn, Battista earned his 126th career victory, which is a record at Penn State. This landmark victory also marked the second tournament the Icers have won this season. It is likely that they will now move into No. 1 in the ACHA.

“We should probably be ranked No. 1 after this weekend,” Battista said. “We have already beat all four teams that were in the Nationals last year, and Iowa State, who is currently No. 1, lost this weekend. This will be the first time we have been ranked No. 1. The guys played great this weekend.”

In the first period in the opening round of the tournament, the Icers scored all the goals they needed to win their 8-3 bout with Eastern Michigan.

The Icers leaped out to an 4-0 first period lead, and maintained that cushion throughout the remainder of the match.

Forward Ross Cowan started the scoring with a short handed goal that set the tone for the bout.

The closest point in the match came in the second period when Eastern Michigan chalked up two quick goals to make the score 7-3, but Cowan notched his hat trick with a power play goal to finish the cycle and cap the game.

“I was surprised,” Battista said. “Eastern had been playing well, but they came out flat against us.”

It may have been another blowout, but it was all the Icers needed to move on to beat Michigan-Dearborn 4-1 for the tournament championship.

The win marked the first time that the Icers have beat Michigan-Dearborn since their series began in 1980. Battista said the win filled in some blanks about the strength of the Icers.

“We kept asking ourselves if we were for real,” Battista said. “This told us that we are.”

The Icers came out with another big first period, and once again scored all the points they needed to win the match.

“The flurries did it for us,” Battista said. “We’ve been scoring in bunches all season, and it happened again in the first period.”

Both teams came out to a sluggish start, but the Icers did not take long to build momentum. At the four minute mark, Dave Murphy started the Icers scoring when he left Michigan Dearborn goalkeeper Joe Aho out to dry.

Nearly 12 minutes later the flurry began, and the Icers fired out three quick goals, two from Don Lamison, and another from Murphy.

“I think the biggest asset to our game was our scouting analysis on how to beat Aho,” Battista said. “We went out there and did what we needed to do.”

Coach Battista is quite comfortable with his team’s condition, and is now sure that his team’s high-scoring rallies are not just a fluke, and now knows that his team can beat the best.

“This is the best start we’ve ever had,” Battista said. “At 11-0 we are looking at the record for the longest winning streak. I can now say that I feel this is all for real.”

Maybe it is true that the best offense is a good defense.

Amongst the blizzard of 92 Icer goals this season, their checking line has hopped on the bandwagon and has racked up more points than all their opponents combined.

“It was explained to us when the season started, the black line was not only to stop scoring,” senior Icer Steve Karl said, “but is capable of making the goals too.”

The Icers’ black line has scored 15 goals and collected 27 assists, which is unheard of for a black line.

“The main objective of the black line is to shut the other team’s best offense down,” Icers Coach Joe Battista said. “But it is a pleasant surprise to see them score, and we will need this from them especially this weekend.”

Friday, the Icers are slated to do battle with No. 6 Eastern Michigan for the first round of the Michigan-Dearborn Tournament.

Battista looks for this tournament to be the first dog-fight of the season, and feels it will answer some question marks as to just how good his team is.

“They gave Iowa State their only loss this season,” he said. “And they beat us 7-5 here last year. They’ve got a lot of guys back this year, and the (Icers) are looking to pay them back.”

EMU has a large, physical team, but also has dicipline and experience to compliment it. The only weak spot for the Eagles seems to be the skill and finesse department, but Battista feels their hard work compensates for these lackings.

“Despite the lack in skill, the equalizer is their big work ethic,” Battista said. “We are going to have to out work them, or not let them out work us to beat them. They are bigger than us, but we’ve got the skill they lack, and I feel that our black line can make a difference in this battle”

The Icers’ checking line is comprised of 6-feet, 190-pound Brad Russell, captain forward 5-foot-10, 170-pound Jim Adams, 5-foot-10, 175-pound Steve Karl and 5-foot-10, 175-pound Andrew Strasser.

They may not be large, but the hit with their hearts, which is a lot larger than many of their opponents.

“They are high passion players on both the attack and defense,” Battista said. “That is a definite plus for your black line.”

The black line is, by far, not a finesse crew, but the goals count just the same.

“When we score, it’s nothing pretty,” Karl said. “Usually somebody is on their way down or is already on the ground, but a goal is a goal, and when we score it is like a wrecking ball because it is against their best offense, and they don’t deal with that well. So we score again.”

And score and score and score and score.

Another close one — NOT!!

Once again, the No. 2 ranked Icers coasted through another weekend outscoring their opponents by over five times their score.

The Icers glazed the Terrapins 15-1 on Friday, and followed suit with the sinking of the Navy Midshipmen 8-3 on Saturday; this is ice hockey mind you.

The Icers have scored so many goals this season that they have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to scoring. This came into play in the first period of the Navy matchup when the Icers scored the “Phantom Goal.”

“It never crossed the goal line,” Icers Coach Joe Battista said. “Sometimes you get those breaks.”

The “Phantom goal,” however, was enough to trigger a “real” Icer scoring flurry, and they blistered out three goals to make the score 4-0 at the end of the first period.

The only close call they’ve had this season came when the Midshipmen nailed a goal 20 seconds into the second period. That goal, in turn, triggered somewhat of a flurry of the Midshipmen variety, and they scored two follow up goals to make it a one point game.

“That was the first time this year that I sensed that we were in trouble,” Battista said. “They took it from a four goal lead to a one point game in less than six minutes.”

It had appeared Navy’s ship was steaming into dock, that was until Icer forward Don Lamison scored a goal that put up the glacier which pierced Navy’s bow thrusting the Midshipmen overboard.

Goalkeeper John Gray and forward Ross Cowan were credited with the assists on the goal giving the Icers the momentum needed to seal the match.

“It was obviously a big goal for us,” Battista said. “It stopped their momentum, and gave us the two point cushion.”

The Icers have been rather big on cushions this season, and exemplified this in their 15-1 spanking of the Maryland Terrapins Friday.

Battista, however, said the game was a lot closer than the score might imply, and said Maryland actually stunted the Icers in the first period.

“The score is not indicative of the pace of the game,” Battista said. “We pulled away at the end. They came out and stuck it to us in the first period.”

The Icers did not score until midway through the first period, which Battista felt was a scary moment for the Icers.

After that first goal, however, it was scoring as usual for the Icers. Seven of the 15 Icer goals were scored on power plays, which Battista blamed on the Terrapin penalty killing unit.

“They kept taking dumb penalties,” he said. “You cannot do that against a power play as strong as ours.”

Coaches usually hope to find a good physical player, or a fine finesse player, but to find both in the same set of skates is a blessing for any coach.

The Icers have such a package wrapped in the form of No. 19 Ross Cowan, and are taking full advantage of his versatile talents.

“He is perhaps one of the most talented pound for pound players that I’ve seen,” Icer Coach Joe Battista said. “He likes to play a physical game, but he also likes to quarterback the puck, and he can kill penalties. He’s just one of those guys you like to get the puck to.”

Cowan obviously gets the puck a lot, he is the high scorer for the Icers with 17 points already this season, and is rapidly approaching the 200 mark for his carreer, which is a glacier only six Icers have melted.

In his skate for 200 he has worked his way in to contention for many Icer landmark records. In last weekend’s 10-0 bout with West Chester and 8-3 exchange with Deleware, Cowan raked in three goals and three assists to find himself the ACHL player of the week. These points also moved him into the top ten career goals in Icer history, and has also placed him firmly in the top ten list for career points.

Cowan’s line, which consists of himself, Don Lamison, and newcomer Rob Keegan, has 42 of the Icer’s points thus far this season. This high impact line is not yet satisfied with their performance, and looks to play a steadily increasing role in the march of the Icers, starting with this weekend’s trip to Maryland.

“We’re still getting to know each others tendencies,” Keegan said. “We’ll score our share of goals this season.”

The Icers are slated to meet up with the 3-3-1 Terrapins today, and the Navy Midshipmen tomorrow.

“We haven’t heard much about Maryland,” Keegan said. “We’re going to treat it like we would any other game, go in play our best, and give them all we’ve got.”

Coach Battista does not seem overly concerned with Maryland, but does not want his team to let up because the following day they face a fresh, fiery Navy.

“(Maryland) is giving up an average of seven goals a game,” Battista said. “They have a young goalie, but we have to stay up because we have to play Navy Saturday, and we will be their first game of the weekend.”

Battista warns that nobody can be taken lightly no matter what the opposing team’s record.

“The one thing I have learned over the years,” He said, “is on any given night any team can come up and beat another. That’s just something we’re going to have to guard against happening to us.”

To face a penalty corner is one of the most stressful game situations to be in as a goalkeeper.

To face seven straight penalty corners in less than six minutes as a freshman late in a scoreless battle in a NCAA quarterfinal battle is insane.

Big Ten Freshman of the Year Shelly Meister not only faced the seven penalty corners, she repelled them with increasing vigor and authority.

“My mind was empty,” Meister said. “I was just running on pure adrenaline. I wanted them to come at me. I wanted them bad.”

“She was amazing,” junior defender Becca Main said. “As she was making all of these saves, she’s shouting out instructions, and moving us around. She definitely was not playing like a freshman, she was playing like a fifth year senior.”

Prior to the quarterfinal matchup, Meister read an article from a Massachusetts newspaper citing that the Lady Lions have no weak links, except their freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, the Lady Lions had one hell of a chain.

“I think she took it personally,” Main said. “That’s probably why she did so well against them.”

With about 15 minutes left in regulation time, UMass had spent the biggest part of the second half firing shots at Meister, and pushing at the Lady Lions’ defense.

“They were in the circle forever,” Meister said. “I was yelling out instructions, and we weren’t going anywhere.”

“I think that they kept pushing us back,” Main said. “They just kept pushing us back, and we weren’t digging our heals in, but I think Shelly turned things around with the penalty corners.”

The Lady Lion defense finally got rattled, and lost their composure, which gave the Minutewomen the penalty corner opportunities.

“I think the defense lost its poise,” Coach Char Morett said. “That’s why we created all those opportunities, but Shelly held us together.”

On the first penalty corner, Meister made her disgust apparent as she and the other three defenders bashed their sticks against the goal.

“You could see her determination,” goal Coach Michelle Brennan said. “She was taking it personally, and it was her they were shooting at.”

They shot at Meister seven times, and she seemed to be unfazed by the Minutewomen’s increasing momentum.

Meister peaked at the seventh stop, and her emotion poured over to the rest of the team.

“It was a real inspiration to us,” Main said. “We figured it couldn’t get any worse than this. She fired us up, and we had to protect her like she was doing for us.”

Meister, in fact, fended off 34 shots on goal, and had 15 saves on the day. It was that 35th shot that turned out to be the doozie.

The Minutewomen scored on a luck goal that crawled across the goal line.

“She was playing so great,” Morett said. “It was a shame that it had to end that way, on a fluke goal.”

AMHERST, Mass. — Clocked by the Minutewomen!

Father Time and Mother Nature teamed up with the No. 3 ranked University of Massachusetts to shut down Penn State’s No. 5 ranked field hockey team in a 1-0 overtime bout.

UMass junior Tara Jelley scored the gamewinning goal amidst a crowd at the Lady Lion net to win the game, thus ending Penn State’s season.

“Somebody’s got to win, and somebody has to lose,” senior co-captian Jen Stewart said. “And it was us.

The game was a war of the midfields, and neither team made much happen in the first half.

“Both teams were playing a great game,” Coach Char Morett said. “It was going both ways the first half.”

Coming into the game, Morett knew her team would have to use its speed and agility to beat the statuesque Minutewomen. The UMass grass was wet, and the ground was soft, which did not allow for an agile match.

As the game progressed, both teams had to contend with the increasing number of ruts in the field. At the conclusion of the first half both teams had only registered 16 shots on goal combined.

“Both teams had to deal with the conditions,” Stewart said. “Just because UMass is supposed to be used to playing on grass, shouldn’t mean much. We played two of our best games on grass.”

Neither team could develop the momentum necessary to create a scoring opportunity in the first half.

Penn State had two quick penalty corners toward the beginning of the first half, but could not convert. UMass followed up with two of their own, but didn’t get the shots off.

Once again the Lady Lions’ defense was essential to keeping it a close match. Unfortunately, the Minutewomen came out with a much tougher attack, and seemed to stun Penn State. The Lady Lion defense held tough, but the attack was held silent.

Chris McGinley, who is the Lady Lion’s leading scorer was held to only one shot on goal in the entire match — Penn State only had eight shots for the entire match. UMass, on the other hand, cranked out 22 second half shots on goal, and dominated much of the ball control.

“We were nervous in the first half,” UMass Coach Pam Hixon said. “But once we found a way to get the ball out of our end of the field, and we felt our confidence pick up, things started to go our way.”

At one point in the second half, the Minutewomen had seven quick penalty corners. Freshman goalkeeper Shelly Meister stopped all seven and seemed to be feeding off the increasing intensity, and managed to hold out the Minutewomen for the remainder of the second half.

“I wasn’t thinking anything when those shots were coming,” Meister said. “I was just getting more fired up with each one of them.”

Meister had 15 saves on the day, and made the difference in what could have been a blowout.

In overtime, the Minutewomen had been hovering around the Lady Lion goal, and a crowd had developed inside the circle. Jelley ended up on the ground in the midst of all of the elbow brushing, and came up with the winning goal.

“Everyone was in the circle at the time, and there was a little raucous going on in there,” Jelley said. “Then somehow I ended up on the ground, and the next thing I knew the ball came between my legs, and I swooped it in. I could have probably pushed it in faster with my hands.”