Coming off a historic season, Penn State women’s hockey has lofty goals for its 2021-22 campaign

Every day that Penn State women’s hockey captain Natalie Heising walks into the Nittany Lions’ locker room inside Pegula Ice Arena, her eyes fixate on a particular stimulus.

The forward, now a fifth-year player on coach Jeff Kampersal’s squad, looks at a sign that simply features the Frozen Four logo — a sign that encapsulates Penn State’s lofty goals for the 2021-22 season.

“We want to be there,” Heising said. “That’s on everybody’s minds every single day.”

The Nittany Lions went 16-3-2 in its conference-only 2020-21 campaign but were ultimately eliminated from postseason play with a 3-2 loss to Syracuse in the semifinals of the CHA Tournament.

Despite a record-breaking season in which the team posted its best winning percentage (.810) in program history, Heising and her teammates didn’t come away with any hardware to show for it.

Now it’s time to flip the script.

Heising had the option to leave the program after her senior season in 2020-21, but she ultimately elected to stay to potentially scratch that itch of winning a national championship.

“The second that opportunity came about, it was without question something I was going to do,” Heising said. “We had just started to see some success with this team, and I just couldn’t leave the team at this point.

“There’s still so much left that I want to accomplish.”

Heising has already accomplished plenty in her collegiate career, notching 54 career goals — good for second in program history — and a program-best four seasons with at least 20 points.

And to make matters more personal for Heising and company, the Frozen Four will take place in Happy Valley this coming spring. The event will mark the first time the closing games of the NCAA Tournament will be held at Penn State.

“I feel very nervous, but also very calm at the same time,” Heising said about the prospect of playing in the Frozen Four on her home ice this postseason. “We’ll focus on the thing we can control, and that’ll ultimately get us to where we want to reach our goals.”

Kampersal’s group lost just two players in defender Jessica Adolfsson and goalie Jenna Brenneman, returning everyone else from the historic 2020-21 team ahead of the upcoming campaign.

“One benefit is that we do have a lot of returnees, obviously, who are used to the way we played last year,” Kampersal said. “It’s just trying to assimilate the few youngsters into the mix.”

Penn State brought in five freshmen this past recruiting cycle, including Texas twins Erika and Audrey Shirer, California native Karley Garcia, forward Lexi Bedier and forward Mya Vaslet.

But the efforts to improve chemistry among the newcomers and veterans alike doesn’t stop on the ice, as the team took to Holuba Hall to participate in “team-building” exercises like tug-of-war earlier this semester.

“It allowed for everybody to kind of showcase their skills and where they shine best,” Heising said. “It also really forced us to communicate and kind of be uncomfortable while we were doing the different activities — it really brought us together.”

Another newcomer is graduate transfer defender Avery Mitchell, who joins the blue and white after a four-year career with the Clarkson Golden Knights.

Kampersal sees plenty of positives in Mitchell’s game and demeanor.

“Her biggest strength is her maturity — she’s just an awesome person,” Kampersal said. “She’s tough and she blocks shots like a champ, so she’ll be a good addition.”

Mitchell won the 2017-18 national championship as a freshman with Clarkson, bringing plenty of postseason experience to a Nittany Lion team still looking for its first NCAA Tournament bid.

For Penn State to reach that pinnacle itself, it’ll have to get through a gauntlet of nonconference opponents along the way.

The blue and white opens its season with a home series against St. Lawrence, and it will face perennial powerhouses Minnesota-Duluth and Ohio State in the span of two days in late November.

“We try to schedule the best non-league competition that we can,” Kampersal said. “We’re fortunate this year to be able to match up with St. Lawrence, Boston College, and we’re excited about the weekend in D.C. against Ohio State and [Minnesota] Duluth.”

And although it provides tougher competition for a team that ran through the CHA conference a season ago, the Nittany Lions are ready to make the case that they’re among the nation’s best.

“With those out-of-conference games, we’re gonna finally have the opportunity to prove what we can do,” Bothun said. “Every girl on this team has such an intense work ethic, they’re great people, and I’m excited to see what we do.”

Penn State will do all of this in front of fans for the first time since the 2019-20 season, as the coronavirus pandemic didn’t allow for spectators last season.

When the Nittany Lions take the rink in their home opener against St. Lawrence on Sept. 23, though, they’ll do their best to keep their focus on the task at hand.

“We’re gonna have a lot of outside noise,” Bothun said. “But ultimately, when it comes down to it, you’ve gotta block out the noise.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 5:34 PM.