‘A proud moment.’ Behind Penn State hockey’s journey from club sport to Frozen Four

Joe Battista expected a short and uneventful conversation when he dined with Terry Pegula.

It was November of 2005 and inside Kelly’s Steak and Seafood, the restaurant minutes from Penn State’s campus — best known for the massive fiberglass bull strapped to the restaurant’s roof — Battista didn’t get his hopes up. As the longtime head coach of the Icers, Penn State’s club ice hockey team, Battista and many in this hockey-crazed community dreamed of Penn State having an NCAA Division I program.

Battista and Pegula watched for decades as Penn State students, many of whom matriculated to central Pennsylvania from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, New Jersey, and D.C, proudly wore their team’s hockey jerseys on campus. There were seven professional hockey teams scattered throughout Pennsylvania, bookended by the NHL’s Flyers and Penguins, but with the likes of the Hershey Bears, Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Wilkes-Barre Penguins, Reading Royals, and Johnstown Tomahawks all having their followings.

Battista and Pegula noticed how students and community members took to supporting the Icers, many piling into the no-frills Greenberg Ice Pavilion that was tucked behind Penn State’s on-campus student apartments.

The hazy yellow and orange hues of the building’s lights made entrants to the community rink feel like they were stepping into some sort of time machine, if they could even find the rink at all.

“The thing I don’t want people to forget is how successful of an ACHA program it was and all those players,” said Tommy Olczyk, who played for the Icers his freshman year before Penn State made the move to Division I his sophomore year. “They laid the foundation from a Penn State hockey standpoint. They made hockey popular at Penn State even when it was a club sport.”

Battista was one of those proud Icers alums, having suited up and captained the team in the early ‘80s. He’d spend 19 years as the Icers’ head coach.

Pegula, the billionaire businessman and owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills, shared in this hockey dream for his alma mater. Pegula’s oldest son attended hockey camps at Penn State. The family would travel to State College, where they owned a house, to sit in that dingy, run-down — but beloved — Greenberg Ice Pavilion and watch the Icers.

Battista settled into the second booth inside the steakhouse’s front door when Pegula, ever the businessman, cut to the point.

“He said, “What’s it going to take?” Battista recalled.

The coach gave Pegula an estimate of $50 million, the hefty price tag associated with creating a Division I ice hockey program and all that would be required to go along with it. That, Battista assumed, would be the end of the conversation.

“Terry leaned back, kind of rubbed his chin, points at me and goes, “I can help you with that,” Battista said. “I sat up like, ‘Wow! You got my attention!’”

A dream realized at Pegula Ice Arena

Five years after that initial conversation, the dream shared by Pegula, Battista and former Penn State club hockey members would come to fruition. By 2010, Pegula and his wife, Kim, donated $88 million for the construction of the state-of-the-art Pegula Ice Arena and thus the creation of men’s and women’s ice hockey at Penn State. It remains the largest gift in Penn State history. By 2012, the Pegula family contributed an additional $14 million, which would be used for scholarships. Penn State transitioned from club to Division I during the 2012-2013 season, first playing as an independent and then joining the Big Ten Conference in 2013.

Pegula would be there every step of the way, from touring college hockey facilities around the country to having a hand in hiring the coach.

“(Terry) was very forthcoming, immediately saying, hey, my dream would be to have hockey players grow up in Pennsylvania, play for Penn State, and then go on and play in the NHL,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said. “That was his vision. And that’s something that when you hear, you know, you automatically want to be a part of that.”

Nearly 15 years since Penn State went public and approved those plans for a Division I hockey program, the Nittany Lions are in the midst of a historic season. Behind an overtime goal from Matt DiMarsico on March 31, Penn State dramatically punched its ticket to the program’s first-ever Frozen Four. The Nittany Lions will face powerhouse Boston University, a five-time national champion, on Thursday in St. Louis.

Text messages poured in and tears flowed in living rooms as Penn State hockey alums watched DiMarsico’s goal. Fittingly, it was this group, one that was written off after starting Big Ten play 0-9 that finally found a way to break through and into the Frozen Four.

“When we scored, I leaped off the coach. I hugged my wife so hard I lifted her up off the ground and I just bawled,” said Battista, who is now semi-retired and resides in South Carolina. A framed picture of Pegula Ice Arena on opening night in 2013 hangs in the family’s home, a reminder, he said, that dreams do come true.

“There’s so many people that wanted this to happen for so long,” Battista continued. “I’m just proud.”

The morning after the win, Battista had more than 500 text messages from former players, teammates, fans and boosters, he said. He was texting Pegula score updates throughout the game as the Bills owner was at the annual NFL owner’s meeting. Pegula hit him back with the thumbs-up emoji when Battista informed him Penn State was Frozen Four bound.

The win will never be forgotten by this current group, but for all who bought into Penn State hockey and into this dream of having a varsity program and seeing it through, this ride to the Frozen Four is for them, too. Many are already making plans to get to St. Louis.

“I wanted to be part of something new and be able to look back 5, 10, 15, 20 years down the road and being proud of the foundation that I played a very small part in building,” said Olczyk, who played with the Icers his freshman year and then made the transition to Division I his sophomore year.

“To be such a small cog in that machine, but to feel this immense amount of pride that I do, other than the day I got married in July of 2023 and the day my daughter was born in July of 2024, I don’t think I’ve had a prouder moment than watching that puck go in the net.”

Even with Pegula’s financial backing there was no guarantee Penn State would ever achieve this level of success. There was a lot of hope and fans regularly pack the arena with the raucous student section known as the Roar Zone, but Battista recalls Penn State administrators who were bullish on the idea of adding a 31st varsity sport, especially knowing the costs associated with ice hockey.

“It was the perfect intersection of passion for Penn State and passion for hockey that this whole thing happened,” Battista said. “But, it doesn’t happen without Terry and Kim Pegula.”

Up for the challenge

Penn State needed to attract the right people who were committed to first taking a step backward to play and coach club ice hockey for a year before stepping up to Division I. Even then, the expectation was that Penn State would take some lumps as they competed against established programs and then matriculated to the loaded Big Ten Conference.

“There’s a lot of people that love Penn State University. There’s not a lot of guys that are going to be willing to lose for what people thought were going to be a lot of years in the Big 10,” Gadowsky said. “We had to sort of pivot what we were looking for. … (We looked for) guys who wanted to welcome the challenge of starting a program where many people said you’re going to get killed, you’re not going to win a game for three years in your league. It takes a special competitor to welcome that.”

It also required a head coach who shared in that vision. When Gadowsky interviewed for the job in 2011, Battista, who was then Penn State’s associate athletic director for hockey, was part of the committee. As they went through candidates all it took was one conversation with Gadowsky for Battista to call Pegula and tell him he thought this was their coach.

Battista and Gadowsky drove together the three-plus hours from State College to Philadelphia where Pegula’s Sabres were playing the Flyers. In a suite, the Pegulas were sold on the man from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada who is a hockey guy through and through. Gadowsky even has the fake front tooth, sometimes in for interviews and sometimes out, to prove it.

“Gads is a pretty tough guy,” said Andrew Sturtz, whose playing career for Gadowsky spanned from 2015-2018. The forward was instrumental in Penn State’s first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018 is now a Penn State assistant coach. He met Gadowsky as a 19 year old whose teeth were just blown out from junior hockey.

“I remember Guy gave me a presentation and he had no tooth in as well,” Sturtz recalled with a laugh. “I was sitting there with them and he was telling me what his vision was for the program and that they were looking for blue-collar workers who want to come in and prove people wrong and play against the best players in the country.”

Grizzled by years coaching at Alaska-Fairbanks and Princeton, Gadowsky’s passion was evident to those in the interview room.

He’d coach the Icers his first year while recruiting and selling talented prospects on the idea of Penn State becoming a powerful program. They’d all spend one season together as a club program, bussing to away games and playing in Greenberg with a mix of club players and Division I talents who rode out the year together.

“We knew there were going to be growing pains, but it was exciting,” said Nate Jensen, who was there for “Year Zero” as the players call it.

Jensen played his freshman year at Mercyhurst, a Division I program, but committed to Penn State and Gadowsky knowing he’d first have to play for the Icers before Penn State would make the jump to Division I. Jensen would score the first goal in Pegula Ice Arena when it opened in 2013.

“We were setting the foundation for something that was truly going to be great with people like Guy and Terry Pegula involved,” Jensen continued. “This is a really proud moment for a Penn State hockey alum.”

Reminders of Penn State hockey’s past and present were behind the bench at Allentown’s PPL Center when Penn State advanced to the Frozen Four. During the on-ice celebration with hockey sticks thrown all over the ice, Gadowsky and Sturtz hugged those who gave blood, sweat and tears to the program.

This moment was for all of them.

“The first time your program does this it’s going to be special no matter what,” Gadowsky said. “With this year though, it might even be a little more special because of how it happened.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 5:45 AM.