Pigskin Stew Goes Ice Age for Outdoor Games in Hockey Valley....
- Jay Paterno
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
This weekend Hockey Valley explodes into the national consciousness as the college hockey world turns its attention to Penn State. And while some may not love the cold weather, the snowy winter wonderland has made this valley a picture postcard perfect backdrop for a dramatic weekend of hockey.
It’s a big weekend series for the #4 Penn State’s men’s team as they host #2 Michigan State. And on Friday afternoon Penn State’s #4 Women’s Hockey team hosts Robert Morris in Beaver Stadium.
Friday night’s men’s game in Pegula is every bit as important as what comes Saturday. And Sunday's women's game is just as important. The team and fans are certainly cognizant of that…
But playing outdoors……ah the great outdoors. It just hits differently.
The sound of the sticks on the ice, the sound of the pucks hitting the sticks or the boards, the sound of the skates edging on the ice, it just sounds different outside. The sight of the player’s breath emerging from their masks, the coaches on the bench in their heavy gear.
For some of these players, it calls up memories on a frozen lake. Players from the US, from Canada, from Sweden and elsewhere all will recall their earliest moments on skates and how that journey brought them here to this moment.
An outdoor game in weather like this demands toughness. But is also calls to the soul of the true hockey player, that purity of youth playing simply for the love of the game and for the thrill of competing. Maybe after a day on the ice Mom was waiting with a mug of hot cocoa with marshmallows.
And here we are……
For the first time in school history Penn State will be playing an outdoor hockey game in Beaver Stadium. A cynic would say this game counts no more or no less than any other game.
That is true but…….
But it carries the weight of something unique, something special, something that people will talk about for years and years to come. It carries the weight of being a day and a game that will have an indelible imprint on these players and coaches for the rest of their lives.
Forever when these coaches and players see the images or highlights from this game, they will remember this one as unique among all the contests of their lives. They will never play in a bigger venue. And for the men’s players they will be in front of a crowd the likes of which most of the greatest NHL players and Olympians in history never got to experience.
So, on this day……
They’ll remember what they ate, what pre-game warm-ups felt like. They’ll remember the steps out of the locker room, the walk through the tunnel and they’ll remember the avalanche of sound, the roar of the crowd.
That’s not to add pressure. Truly great competitors thrive on that. Successful players and coaches dance on the razors edge of competitive adrenaline addiction; they crave that high. It’s an almost out-of-body state that drives performance.
And once the puck drops all the outside factors won’t matter. It will be just another 60 minutes of hockey (assuming PSU wins these games in regulation). However, the anticipation of the biggest moments sparks a fire in the drive to win.
In 1995, just days before Penn State hosted Michigan in football, 18 inches of snow fell in November. That Wednesday before practice I told the guys we coached that this would be a game they would remember all of their lives. Because of the snow, because of all the efforts that went into getting the stadium ready, because it was Michigan, because of the unusual set of circumstances, they would remember everything.
We won on a fake field goal. And every player and every Penn Stater who witnessed that game has memories that have not faded, even after thirty years. Fans can tell you where they tailgated, where they sat, who was with them and how damn surprised they were when Joe Nastasi walked in untouched on that fake field goal.
The constant passage of time puts us constantly at the intersection where the past meets the present extending into the future. Much of life passes by in seconds and minutes that we barely notice.
But occasionally we see a moment coming……a moment that places us in an intense focused state of being.
This weekend is just such a moment for the players AND fans. As these players walk out of that tunnel it is a good time to highlight the history that has been made leading to this moment.
Some of the greatest players and coaches in the history of college football walked on that field. Among the legends from Penn State who have walked that field since 1960 are 15 College Football Hall of Fame players, 79 first-team All-Americans, 1 Heisman Trophy Winner, 6 Maxwell Award Winners, 4 NFL Hall of Famers, 2 Hall of Fame Coaches including the winningest major college football coach of all-time.
Their ghosts will be watching both of Penn State’s teams this weekend.
And it was always about the team over the individual; since the stadium moved in 1960 there have been 3 National Championship teams (1982, 1986 and YES 1994), 34 Eastern and Big Ten Championships and 5 Undefeated Seasons.
But to accomplish big things it takes worthy opponents. Through the years as Penn State’s football teams looked across the way, some of the game’s legendary coaches and players looked back awaiting sixty-minutes of competition to test their mettle.
Penn State players were taught to respect all but fear none, to relish the challenge and to embrace the competition. And oh, how they met the moment over and over again.
29 different college football Hall of Fame coaches paced the opposing sidelines, and the Nittany Lions compiled a 54-36 record in those games. 14 Heisman Trophy winners played 18 games in Beaver Stadium with Penn State winning 12 of them. Penn State went 6-5 in 11 games against future Super Bowl MVPs and went 6-4 in 10 games against future Super Bowl starting quarterbacks. And 29 players who reached the game’s ultimate honor, the NFL Hall of Fame took the field 41 times hoping to get a win against the Blue and White. And in those 41 games, Penn State went 27-14.
And several times teams came here in November hoping to win the National Championship only to see their hopes dashed on the storied gridiron.
Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon top 4 college hockey games await Penn State and Michigan State and Robert Morris. All of these teams are worthy competitors, earning through hard work and resolve the honor of playing in one of the great cathedrals of college football.
On Saturday over 70,000 fans will be on hand in Pennsylvania’s high church of college football in our beautiful Hockey Valley.
There will be multiple number one draft picks on the ice. There will be All-Americans, future NHL and PWHL players, future Olympians and perhaps some of these players on these two teams will get to hoist a Stanley Cup just as generations of players from Penn State and their opponents won the Super Bowl.
As the Penn State players look down the bench and see their opponents, these teams will know that they are in for an afternoon of intense competition. They know history will be made. They know that their opponent will bring their best to this moment.
And years from now, even as old age slows them down and perhaps dim the edges of other memories, THEY WILL REMEMBER THIS DAY……..
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