'Preparation breeds confidence' : A tougher Nittany Lions squad looks to prove themselves

After going 15-18-3 in 2023-24 and being outmatched physically in multiple Big Ten series, there was an elephant in the Penn State men’s hockey locker room coming into the upcoming campaign.

“The players understood that we had to get tougher.”

These were some of the first words out of Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky’s mouth at preseason media, words that rang throughout the media room from each and every Nittany Lion.

Toughness doesn’t just include the physical attributes, although those were certainly welcomed by the coaching staff from the summer workouts.

Several players, Aiden Fink and Reese Laubach to name a few, put on a handful of pounds of muscle over the offseason, but it was the mental fortitude aspect that was the driving force for Gadowsky’s squad.

“I think that’s what winning teams, winning cultures, have,” Fink said. “They’re always mentally tough on and off the ice.”

For Gadowsky, it’s always been about building a winning culture, a “Penn State” culture, one that has gradually been built from within in the first decade of the program’s history.

This season that culture also includes a new aspect: being “Penn State tough.”

“We need to hold each other accountable every single day,” alternate captain Jimmy Dowd Jr. said. “It’s just us coming together as a team and helping each other out and holding each other accountable, which is really going to help us this year.”

This mindset wasn’t simply adapted overnight, it’s been slowly cultivating over the last few months, and with the incoming freshman class, it’s running ahead at full steam.

“One thing we wanted to address is we wanted to get some toughness,” Gadowsky said. “More Penn State tough than we were used to in the past, and I think you can see that when some of these guys play.”

With nine freshmen, alongside two new goaltenders as well, this marks the largest recruiting class since 2017 for Penn State, the only time the program has won the Big Ten tournament.

“Charlie Cerrato, Andrew Kuzma, Keaton Peters, all of those guys I’m super excited for them to come up here and play with us,” Fink said. “They’re definitely going to have a good year this year.”

Hungry freshmen looking to make a statement combined with a sturdy veteran group reaching towards the same goal: securing the program’s first national title in St. Louis.

“The only two things left we have to do are go to the Frozen Four and win the national championship,” Gadowsky said. “The expectations are to improve and to become more Penn State as we were in the past.”

The Nittany Lions looked more like the Penn State from past years in the first round of the Big Ten tournament against Minnesota, dominating in the final few frames but still unable to pull out the win.

Now with the new season on the docket, Penn State will look to take that mentality and play style to new heights this season, a season that starts with a grueling stretch.

Coach Gadowsky’s squad will take a 10-hour plane ride to Alaska-Fairbanks next week, play two games at 11:07 and 9:07 p.m. EST, then less than a week later drive five hours to play No. 8 Quinnipiac on the road.

The schedule each year is grueling, especially being in what Gadowsky has notoriously called “the monster conference” of college hockey in the Big Ten, but the opening stretch feels excruciating for the 2024-2025 squad.

Despite this, the Nittany Lions are not just up for the task, but embracing it this season.

“Adversity shows when the leaders come out, and when the kids who want it come out,” Dowd Jr. said. “And I have all the faith in our group this year that that’ll happen.”

Adversity on the road, adversity in the Big Ten and adversity in being the second-youngest team in the conference and 13th-youngest in the nation by average age (21 years and 10 months).

None of that phases this year’s Nittany Lions, who are prepared to shock the nation and show the college hockey world the meaning of “Penn State tough”.

“Preparation breeds confidence, and if you’re prepared for anything, you’re most likely gonna do well,” Dowd Jr. said.

To keep up with Penn State men’s hockey, follow the insiders Josh Bartosik (@Josh_Bartosik) and Adrianna Gallucci (@agallucci17) on X.

Josh Bartosik is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email jsb6137@psu.edu.