Guy Gadowsky takes blame for down year for Penn State hockey

Penn State men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky says the players did their part, but he may have let them down in the 2020-21 season.

Penn State hockey coach Guy Gadowsky would like another stab at the 2020-21 season. In a postseason conference call with the media on Monday, Gadowsky reflected on the past season, which saw Penn State fail to qualify for the NCAA tournament and to play for the Big Ten championship.

Gadowsky praised his players for the way they handled their approach to the season, which was one of many affected by the ongoing pandemic. Knowing how good a team he had last season (No. 1 seed in the Big Ten hockey tournament before it was shut down with the rest of the sports world a year ago, thus eliminating a likely shot at playing in the NCAA tournament), Gadowsky said he struggled to have his team ready to get back into the swing of things on the ice this past hockey season.

“I think the guys did a good job of handling it. I’m disappointed in how I handled things.,” Gadowsky said when asked how his program handled the way the team handled the approach to the season.

“I don’t think I had the team prepared to play at the start on the ice the way you have to at this level. I don’t think I was innovative enough to protect the off-ice culture that’s been built up for a lot of years.”

The Nittany Lions opened the season 0-5 (sound familiar?) and did not get their first win of the season until December 6 when they took down Michigan. One of the reasons why they got off to the slow start was the amount of time the coaches were able to have on the ice as they had to follow the protocols that were set by the Big Ten Conference, Penn State, and the state of Pennsylvania.

The Nittany Lions also had eight games canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. They also had to put the program on pause due to positive COVID-19 results among Penn State’s Tier 1 personnel.

Penn State reached the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament with a first-round victory over Notre Dame, but the Nittany Lions were eliminated by Wisconsin.

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