Despite all the time off Penn State will have, the team has no concerns about rust being a factor when it takes the ice again on March 14 in the tournament semifinals.
"Obviously, it's a long season and you're pretty bruised up. Guys get injuries, so it's great for us to kind of sit back, relax and then have another week to kind of get after it and prepare for the tournament," junior defenseman
Cole Hults said. "I take it as a positive. Obviously, going into practices you want to be a little bit more intense against your teammates and make sure you're staying in that game shape."
Penn State understands that the extra rest even with its next game being at Pegula doesn't guarantee a deep run into the tournament. Many of the players pointed out last year when Penn State, the four-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, took down top-seeded Ohio State in Columbus following the Buckeyes two weeks of rest between the end of the regular season and the tournament semifinals.
Now the situation is reversed, and the Nittany Lions are hoping to avoid a similar result as last year's Ohio State team.
"I don't think it changes too much," Folkes said on preparing with the additional time off. "We're just focused on what we can control, and we can't control the outcome of the other games that are going on this weekend. We're just going to be practicing hard and working out, so that's all we can do right now. I don't think there's going to be any rust from us coming out for our first game."
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