{"id":22628,"date":"2013-10-14T13:09:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T17:09:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/?p=22628"},"modified":"2013-10-14T13:09:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T17:09:39","slug":"penn-state-is-now-a-hockey-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2013\/10\/penn-state-is-now-a-hockey-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State is now a hockey school"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2007 at a Metro Washington D.C. Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association , my wife and I<\/a> met Joe Battista<\/strong>, the long-time head coach of the Icers, Penn State’s ACHA club hockey team. In addition to reminiscing about the 2002 ACHA championship (played in suburban Maryland) I asked him about moving up to varsity and Division I. He indicated that the reason that had not happened was the lack of a suitable arena and that he thought he might have found a donor that could make it happen but the university was cutting back on capital projects. I did not mention it at the time, because he was speaking off the record.<\/p>\n

About three years ago, a donor did emerge, Terry Pegula<\/strong>. Initially, he donated $88 million to fund arena construction as well as hockey teams for both men and women<\/a>. More money would follow. On Friday night, the arena that bears his name opened with Nittany Lions defeating the Black Knights of Army, 4-1 before a raucous sell out crowd and a Big Ten Network audience.<\/p>\n