Happy Valley is title town as Penn State captures second straight CHA regular season title

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --A roller coaster of a regular season comes to a near close as Penn State reaches one of its many goals.

Last week, Penn State had a chance to clinch the CHA title with a win against Robert Morris or a Mercyhurst loss. Unfortunately, none of those things happened as Penn State went 0-1-1 on the weekend.

The tie did set Penn State up to clinch this weekend with a tie or a win but winning usually is the route players would want to go.

The problem was that a pesky RIT team, that was hanging on by a thread for the CHA playoffs, would be the final chance for Penn State to capture the title.

Seemingly, this big game with playoff implications had Tessa Janecke’s name written all over it. Janecke would score the tying goal midway through the first period after RIT scored the first goal just two minutes into the game.

Janecke seemed like she had a third eye this game as she set Katelyn Roberts up for two highlight-reel goals. The chemistry between Roberts and Janecke has really sparked up over the last two months.

“She’s such a smart player,” Janecke said about Roberts. “It’s like you give her the puck in the slot and like nine times out of 10, it’s going to go in.”

Janecke also noted that Roberts has one of the hardest shots in the league and she wants her to use it more.

Penn State would go on to win 5-3 despite a late push from RIT. It’s the Nittany Lions' third CHA title and their second straight.

Janecke is now one point away from becoming the fastest Nittany Lion ever to hit 100 career points.

“It’s a team sport,” Janecke said. “I can’t do it if I don’t get assists and I can’t do it without goals. I can’t do that without everybody else so it will definitely be special to celebrate with this group hopefully tomorrow.”

Something that may have been a spark for Penn State was captain Julie Gough returned after being sidelined with an undisclosed injury for six games.

The best part is that Julie Gough sent the puck to Mya Vaslet for an insurance goal late in the third giving Gough an assist.

“It was nice to see Julie Gough get an assist on the fifth goal,” head coach Jeff Kampersal said following the win. “It’s good to have her back. We were unsure whether she was going to be back at all… she still got ways to go in terms of conditioning.”

It may be smart for Kampersal to rest Gough in tomorrow's game since the game does not mean much.

A scary situation happened during the game as Katie DeSa went down but finished off the game. Kampersal touched on her status a bit but noted he has not spoken to her.

Kampersal also implied that he may start Annie Spring but has not made a decision.

At the end of the game, the CHA trophy was awarded to the Nittany Lions and Josie Bothun made her way onto the ice with crutches to celebrate.

“We have this family culture,” Janecke said. “Just having everybody around at all times and to actually have everyone on the ice for at least one last game this year. It was special”

Bothun may be on the ice one last time tomorrow for Penn State’s senior ceremony along with her teammates.

Penn State will take on Lindenwood or RIT once the regular season finishes tomorrow. A win from Lindenwood today would clinch them the final playoff spot.

No matter what happens, Penn State will have home-ice advantage for all upcoming CHA playoff games.

Matt Becker is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mcb6250@psu.edu.