Graduate student defenseman and assistant captain Lyndie Lobdell felt a different level of intensity during preseason practices ahead of her fifth season in Hockey Valley. It’s an energy fueled by losses of the past and the ambition to add more championship banners that rest high above the glistening white ice at Pegula Ice Arena.
Lobdell has donned the blue and white during its rise to college hockey prominence with back-to-back AHA Tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. The titles and tournament trips haven’t brought a sense of complacency to Penn State as Lobdell is seeing how a group blended with eight newcomers and 14 returnees is attacking the 2024-2025 on a mission.
“Everyone's really locked into the little things,” Lobdell said. “Making sure that we're sleeping and eating right and drinking enough water, getting our warm up, cool down, whatever it may be. All the little things that surround us on ice and off ice that mean a lot that people think don't sometimes, and beyond that, like our practice intensity and just the level of energy we bring every day is really impressive.”
Junior captain Tessa Janecke concurred with Lobdell’s assessment of Penn State’s early season focus and said there’s been an enhanced standard from her teammates. Janecke shared that the level of competition within the group itself has been raised and said, “every day is a battle and that’s a good thing that should happen.”
The banners and championship trophies act as a catalyst for those battles on a team that’s working to not think about the expectations that could await in the months ahead. Instead, Penn State has its attention centered on “being where our feet are,” head coach Jeff Kampersal said.
Penn State also has reflected on the past where the celebrations have been blended with heartbreaking defeat. Overtime losses in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments have brought an inspired group back to Penn State and a team determined to push the envelope of success.
“I think it starts from the spring and having a disappointment, having a great year but another overtime loss and being motivated by that,” Kampersal said. “Having really good student athletes that are committed to what they’re doing, they cranked it up in the spring… When they got back this fall, they were in great shape. We could have probably played right away and felt good about it but since they’ve gotten here, they’ve provided a structure for the first-year players.”
Senior forward and assistant captain Mya Vaslet returns for a Penn State offense that finished the 2023-24 campaign ninth in the country in scoring offense with 3.18 goals per game. The Stittsville, Ontario, product recorded a career-high 26 points with 16 goals and 10 assists.
The biggest of those 16 goals came as the lone tally in Penn State’s 1-0 win over Mercyhurst in the AHA Championship game after Vaslet streamed down the wing and scored with a power move to the net.
The manner in which she scored struck Janecke who said Vaslet’s level of effort and attacking the net is, “something that we want to keep going this year.” Janecke shared how it’s been implemented in practice with drills of “taking your lane, gaining your lane and owning it” with a mentality that Kampersal described as “blue collar.”
“It's nice to have some championship banners but we are more blue collar than anything,” Kampersal said. “The work ethic, the humbleness, the ability to not think we're better than we are keeps us grounded and motivated… Our kids are very grounded in what their approach is.”
Vaslet said there’s a certain level of pressure that comes with winning championships and upholding the winning ways that’s brought Penn State to the cusp of the biggest stages in the sport.
Janecke said those grand stages await the Nittany Lions who, “want to become one of the powerhouses, not the underdogs, in the tournament and go far.” That journey will be done together with what Vaslet called a heightened attention to detail and a shared goal of sharing championships together.
“Honestly, it's hard not to keep on my mind all the time,” Lobdell said. “Going two years into the NCAA Tournament, not winning a game and both going into overtime, it's defeating at the time, but all it does is get us more and more excited every year. This year we got a lot in the tank and a lot of experience now.”