Nittany Lions set for banner day and Hockey East matchup

After a crushing overtime loss to St. Lawrence in the 2023-24 NCAA Tournament, Penn State looks to make another run starting Thursday night against Northeastern.

Before the game, the team will unveil the last-ever CHA Championship banner.

Why is it the final CHA Championship banner? The CHA became the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) this off-season. The conference change didn’t result in the loss of any CHA squads, however, realignment allowed Delaware to join the AHA starting during the 2025-26 campaign.

The Nittany Lions open the season seeking a third straight AHA title. Yes, the CHA titles still count.

This season will start against Northeastern like it did a year ago, but this time it will be at Pegula Ice Arena rather than Matthews Arena

Penn State is warmed up as they beatdown RIT last Saturday in a scrimmage. Jeff Kampersal noted that he was pleased with how the depth looked in the scrimmage.

“We really have a lot of depth up front and on [defense],” Kampersal said. “We have four lines and I couldn’t list the lines like one two three four. We really do not have a third or fourth line…every line can play.”

Having depth not only plays a key factor if injuries come up, but it also provides the coaching staff an option if a player is struggling or just needs a day off. Depth is crucial if a team wants to make an NCAA tournament run.

Chemistry is such a crucial thing in sports but for college sports, it’s a lot harder. Every season, veterans and leaders leave, opening the doors for transfer portal players and freshmen. Penn State has eight new players so how does the chemistry look?

“Chemistry is something that you work on every day…” Kampersal said. “It’s been awesome. There is a high level of trust between coaches, staff and players. It’s a player-run team. They set the standards, and they follow those standards.”

The last time these two teams met, the series ended in a 1-1 split. The first game was won 1-0 by Northeastern while Penn State took game two 2-1. Penn State is not looking to split the opening series this year.

“[Northeastern] was with us all year in terms of rankings…” Kampersal said. “We’re focused on Northeastern… we want to get off to a faster start this year than we did last year.”

One big change this season is the loss of captain Julie Gough. Gough was the spark of the team and when she was out mid-season with an injury, multiple players stepped up like assistant captain Alyssa Machado.

Now that Gough and Machado are gone, juniors like Maddy Christian and Leah Stecker need to step up and provide the leadership that is gone.

The team announced this offseason that leading scorer and star player Tessa Janecke will be the team's captain this season.

“She is the rising tide that’s lifting all the boats,” Kampersal said. “It’s the fact that she’s all in meaning: socially, academically and hockey-wise.”

Broadcasting information for the series is as follows:

Thursday 6:00 p.m: Nolan Collery and Michael Landis

Friday 3:00 p.m: Jeremy Rose and Giustino Racchini

Both games can be found on CommRadio if you click the “Listen Live” button on the Bellisario Student Media website.

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