Penn State hoping to stay focused on series at Wisconsin as postseason play looms

It’s not something Penn State men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky would like his team to focus on, but it looms all the same.

The postseason.

With at least five games left, Gadowsky and his squad are ranked No. 14 in the latest Pairwise Rankings, which mimics how the NCAA Selection Committee brackets its field of 16 teams.

The last regular-season push consists of a four-game road trip spanning two weekends, the first series of which has the Nittany Lions (19-9-4, 9-6-1-1) visiting Wisconsin (6-16-8, 1-11-4-2) for a Friday-Saturday set of games, both 8 p.m. puck drops.

Getting through the weekend is first on the list for Gadowsky.

“We still have two away series to go,” he said. “We like where we’re at but a lot can happen.”

Staying focused on games one day at a time and not a “magic number” to help Penn State with its postseason NCAA tournament potential is important for the team, per Gadowsky.

“We do (think about it), but we try not to,” he said. “To be honest with you, the coaches do look at it. But we don’t introduce that to the team. I’m sure they do, but we don’t talk about it. It doesn’t really matter if we have to win all four, or if we get one high rank. We still have to play the best we can every single game.

“You talk about ‘peaking,’ no matter what at this time (in the season), you want to get on a roll. So it doesn’t matter. And that’s how we look at it. For us, we just really try hard to focus on Friday night.”

Gadowsky said he looks to his seniors to keep the team level this late in the year.

“I really think (all the seniors) have been doing a great job all year,” said Gadowsky. “They’ve really done a great job of keeping everyone even-keel and we always get (these) questions, they always keep it in the present. So we’re not doing anything different. We’re going to rely on them the same way we have all year.”

That’s not to say it’s been easy for the Nittany Lions to stay focused on the present.

“The further down the road you get, the easier it is to scoreboard-watch, that’s for sure,” said Gadowsky.

“Obviously with Big Tens coming up, it’s an exciting time of the year,” said senior forward Eric Scheid. “Playoff hockey, nothing better. But I think the thing that we have going for us is that we’re still in the hunt.

“I think a lot of the guys do understand that we do have a chance and that every single game for the rest of the year counts. Right now, we have to be focused on Friday and Friday only, and I think our locker room has a pretty good understanding of that.”

Eamon McAdam preparing for back-to-back starts

Not only is goalie Eamon McAdam one of 26 finalists for the coveted Mike Richter award, but he is also readying himself for the first back-to-back series start by a Penn State goalie this season.

McAdam’s .928 save percentage and 2.43 goals-against average is currently the best in the Big Ten, and he owns a team-best 11-4-1 goaltender record this season.

But the converse of Gadowsky’s decision to keep McAdam as the starter for both games is that senior goalie Matt Skoff won’t start any game in a series for the first time all season.

Skoff has a .900 save percentage, and Gadowsky maintains the decision to bump Skoff is one related to the big picture of the team.

“We did make a change because, if you look down the road, no matter what someone is going to have to play two games in a weekend,” he said. “So we want someone to have that experience. Really right now we want to do all we can to get a bye, so we’re going to start Eamon both games against Wisconsin, but we’ll see what happens after that.”

Scheid, Skoff’s friend and roommate, said that the two have discussed the move at length and that regardless of his initial feelings on the matter, Skoff has stayed positive because he wants what is best for the team.

“Obviously he’s a good friend of mine, and as a senior it’s tough to see that happen to him,” said Scheid. “But at the same time, we’re both in this for the same reason. We want to win.

“I think I can speak for most of the guys, that it doesn’t matter who is in net for us. We have confidence in both of our goaltenders...No matter who is in the back for us, I think we’ll be confident going into each night.”

That attitude hasn’t gone unnoticed by Gadowsky.

“(Skoff has) been very understanding of Eamon and of everything the program is trying to do,” the head coach said. “He’s been, and I know we don’t use this term a lot in college, but he’s been very professional.”

Emotional Wisconsin visit in store for Scheid

Scheid changed his jersey number to 23 prior to the season to honor his father, Jim, who passed away after a long fight with cancer. As a former hockey player himself, Jim helped Wisconsin win the 1977 National Collegiate Championship.

“Definitely got a lot of family coming into town,” he said. “I grew up as a fan of Wisconsin with my dad playing there…Just always been a fan. To be able to play against them is always special. After everything that’s happened, it’s going to be a pretty emotional time, but it’s still special.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 8:01 PM with the headline "Penn State hoping to stay focused on series at Wisconsin as postseason play looms."