Besides being in the Big Ten, Penn State is a very attractive place for a player to attend school and grow their game. In 2013, thanks to a $100 Million donation by Terry and Kim Pegula, they opened a state of the art two sheet ice arena. The main rink is a 5,700 seat barn that is a very intimidating place for opposing teams to play. But a great place for an athlete to train and play in each night. "We have the greatest fans lead by our passionate alumni and student body," said Gadowsky. "I just can't wait to get to the rink each day, the place is just awesome."

Asked why the Penn State job was so attractive to take a few years ago, he simply stated, "Penn State is a great university, playing in a great league, and we have the best facility around." Most of our conversation focused on his recruitment of players and the type of players they are looking for to compete for the Nittany Lions. Gadowsky said that Pennsylvania is a great hockey state, they have two NHL teams and the Hershey Bears AHL team that leads the league each year in attendance. "The excitement around our program throughout the state has been great...recruiting kids from this area and those familiar with our school is a top priority long term." Taking a look at their roster, PSU has kids six kids from Pennsylvania, several from the US and Canada and two from Europe. "It is our goal to get the best players that fit into our system, no matter where they are from."

We briefly talked about the trend of hockey programs recruiting players at younger and younger ages each year. First he indicated that ideally PSU would like to fully evaluate a player playing at a high level of  US or Canadian junior hockey or US high school hockey in places like Minnesota and Massachusetts. But ultimately, to keep up with other top teams they are forced to offer players as young as Eighth and Ninth Grade. "No college coach likes doing it, but once one team does it, others must follow." 

If you are a Big Ten Hockey fan don't sleep on Penn State. They have a great coach, a great set of fans in a great facility. In just two years, the Nittany Lions have already cracked the USCHO.com T20 and knocked off super powers Michigan and Wisconsin already this year. Over the next few seasons, it will be fun to watch this program grow and be an attractive destination for more Minnesota kids to play some day.