Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff– Penn State takes on Vermont
On Saturday, October 26, Penn State University will take on the University of Vermont at the 2nd Annual Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff.
The two teams will battle it out starting at 5:00 pm at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. In last years matchup on January 19, Penn State beat Vermont 4-2. Last year was Penn State’s first season in the NCAA.
The Wells Fargo Center will also be hosting the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four men’s hockey championship, which will take place from April 10-12 2014.
Pennsylvania will be strongly represented in the matchup with a total of ten tri-state area natives in the game– five from each team. These players include:
- Connor Varley, sophomore defenseman from Lansdale, PA. He formally played for the Des Moines Buccaneers in the USHL.
- Peter Sweetland, junior defenseman from Newtown, PA. Sweetland joined the team for their last year of D1 Club in 2011.
- Ricky DeRose, freshman forward from Aston, PA. He spent his last three years with Port Huron in the NAHL.
- David Thompson, freshman defenseman from Glen Mills, PA. Thompson played three season in the British Columbia Hockey League prior to attending Penn State.
- Eamon McAdam, a freshman goalie from Perkasie, PA. This 19-year-old spent his last three years in the USHL with Waterloo. In addition, he was selected 70th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2013 Draft.
Vermont
- Nick Luukko, junior defenseman from West Chester, PA. Luukko played his previous season in the USHL with Dubuque.
- Colin Markison, junior forward from Princeton, NJ. He spent two season with Omaha in the USHL before attending Vermont.
- Chris McCarthy, senior forward from Collegeville, PA. McCarthy was last year’s leading scorer and previously played for the US National Under-18 team.
- Kyle Mountain, sophomore forward from Bryn Mawr, PA. He spent a year playing in the British Columbia Hockey League, and three season before that in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.
- Brendan Bradley, freshman forward from Warminster, PA. Bradley spent his last two years playing US Juniors.
While many of these players traveled elsewhere to play Junior hockey, six of them competed in the Flyers Cup Scholastic Championships with their high school teams. Many of the players have also played for the Philadelphia club teams at some point (Little Flyers/Junior Flyers).
Penn State will take on RIT at home the night before at 7:00 pm. Vermont has the night off on Friday.
Tickets for Saturday’s Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff can be purchased at the Wells Fargo Center box office or at www.comcasttix.com. The game will also be televised live on The Comcast Network.
Photo courtesty of Phillysportslive.com