Penn State's first women's hockey team β a club team called the "Lady Icers" β began play in the β97 season, after students Ellen Bradley and Kathy Beckford recruited players from around campus and Vinnie Scalamogna, the assistant manager of the Penn State Ice Pavilion then the university's sole ice facility , as coach. In May the university hired Brandwene as the first varsity women's hockey head coach. Kearns had been an assistant with the Neumann University Knights , coaching there from until The β14 season again began with a win at Vermont and a split in the team's first Pegula Ice Arena games, on October 18 and 19, against Union.
One season highlight was a December sweep of then-No. A few weeks after the conclusion of the β14 season, a group of thirteen players spoke with Penn State Associate Athletic Director Charmelle Green to "express their frustration with Brandwene and concerns about the future of the program. Three or four weeks he would go without even looking at me or without even talking to me.
Over the days following Murphy's comments, others formerly involved with the program, including strength and conditioning coach Rob McLean [ 31 ] as well as outgoing transfer players Katie Zinn and Taylor McGee [ 32 ] also spoke critically of Brandwene. The program again found itself the subject of negative headlines in March , as Murphy, Mendelson, Shaw and others told or retold their stories to The Daily Collegian.
Several stories of emotional abuse were included as well. One anonymous former player said that Brandwene told her to lose weight in order to play more, while Shaw recounted an incident in which Brandwene physically knocked her stick from her hands while saying "don't worry, you won't be needing that today.
Both she and Schaffer detailed other instances of emotional manipulation that almost caused them to end decade-plus playing careers, while Dufoe flatly said that "no one should be treated like that. On April 19, , Josh Brandwene retired from coaching, and on June 1, , Penn State announced the hiring of longtime Princeton women's hockey head coach Jeff Kampersal to lead the Penn State women's hockey team beginning with the β18 season.
