The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

When the Pegula family proudly made their generous donation to create the Penn State ice hockey program, no one could have foreseen the scandal that would rock the university. As a new ice hockey program competing at the NCAA Division I level is hurled into the same throes as an expansion team in the National Hockey League, trying to escape the dark shadow of a tragic event only adds obstacles to the task of building a team. For the Penn State Nittany Lions, their beginnings are mired against the backdrop of a football coaching scandal that crippled the football program while giving the university a black eye. In the wake of these events, every program will be under intense scrutiny. In the case of Penn State, it can only hope that it does not endure the same beginning as its sister team in the CHA, the Robert Morris Colonials. In its inaugural season, the club had a dismal 1-7-0 start and head coach Kevin McGonagle was dismissed. Tragically, any athlete or team associated with th

During the offseason, a low key event occurred that may have long term ramifications for USA Hockey. While Canada celebrated gold at the 2012 IIHF Women’s Worlds in Burlington, Vermont, the Minnesota Golden Gophers attended a Minnesota Twins game, Shannon Miller became a United States citizen. Having won five Frozen Four titles with the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Miller is one of the most respected coaches in NCAA history. As a member of the Ethics Committee for US women's college hockey, and the NCAA Division 1 Championships Committee, Miller is as influential as she is accomplished. Using great acumen in her duties as head coach, Miller has helped open the doors to many. She hired legendary goaltender and one-time pop culture icon Manon Rheaume to be the Bulldogs goaltending coach. Before Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu won the Clarkson Cup together for the Montreal Stars, the two served on her coaching staff for the 2007-08 Bulldogs Frozen Four title team. Quite possibly,