ICYMI: Penn State women’s hockey wins second straight CHA title

Penn State women’s hockey won the CHA regular season title on Friday after a 5-3 victory over RIT. It was the Nittany Lions’ second consecutive title and third in the past 4 seasons. Penn State will host a best-of-three series for the semifinals of the CHA tournament from the 23rd to the 25th. What is the next step for the Nittany Lions as a program?

Rise of a Conference Power

Penn State women’s hockey has been gaining momentum in the last few seasons and gaining more influence on the national stage. Still, a young program at the Nittany Lions had a slow start at the NCAA Division 1 level since the 1^st season in 2012-13. Penn State started 11-55-5 (2-35-3) in the first two full seasons and finished last in the CHA both years.

The program never could seem to find the same success that the men’s team did under head coach Guy Gadowsky. That is until the hire of Jeff Kampersal in 2017-18. After a few seasons slightly below .500, Kampersal broke through during the 2020-21 covid season finishing 16-3-2 and winning the CHA regular season title. Despite the success, the Nittany Lions were still upset in the CHA tournament and because of being in a weaker conference did not get an at-large bid.

In 2022-23 Penn State finally broke through in every statistical category. The Nittany Lions finished with a program-high 26-8-2 record including 12-1-1 in the CHA. After losing in the conference tournament semifinals for 5 straight seasons Penn State defeated Mercyhurst to win its first conference tournament and make the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history. The Nittany Lions lost a tough 3-2 Triple overtime game to Quinnipiac in the 1^st round of the tournament, but the team was clearly heading in an upward trajectory.

Taking the Next Stop

Penn State has taken control of the CHA the past few years and has now won three of the past four regular season titles. Last season was the first time that the Nittany Lions reached the conference championship game, won it, and clinched an NCAA Tournament bid. Now the next step is to find that consistency from a year-to-year basis.

The CHA has been a one-bid league in the NCAA Tournament for most of its history. Even with the tournament expanding from 8 to 11 teams for the 2022 tournament, the CHA remains a 1-bid league continued. The WCHA and ECAC account for all 6 of the at-large spots, with the CHA, Hockey East, and NEWHA usually finishing outside of the top 11 and stealing a bid.

The Nittany Lions now need to take the next step in future seasons and earn an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament so that they don’t have to rely on the unpredictability of the conference tournament. That will require dominating the CHA even more than in recent years and finding a way to compete with the top teams of the ECAC and WCHA in the non-conference schedule.

The good news is success can breed more success. If Penn State can continue to win the CHA and make the NCAA tournament as an auto-bid team, it will help to elevate recruiting and eventually reach that next level as a consistent top 8 team. That will start this upcoming weekend when the Nittany Lions will start their postseason against RIT as they hope to make it back to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year.

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