Penn State men’s hockey is off to a slow start.

After two disappointing opening-weekend losses, fans might expect dramatic changes, like drastic line shifts or inspirational speeches like something out of “Miracle.”

But head coach Guy Gadowsky isn’t for the theatrics.

The Ice Breaker tournament did not treat the Nittany Lions well. In Connecticut, Penn State came out flat-footed in both losses, getting outscored 5-1 in the first and second periods by UConn and Sacred Heart.

Now unranked, Gadowsky has made his expectations clear: fixing pregame intensity isn’t a gimmick for the coaching staff; it’s a professional duty for the players.

“We try to treat them like pros in that sense,” Gadowsky said. “So we don’t come in with a bunch of pom poms waving and knocking down chairs and tables. Like it’s up to them to understand their own personal way of being ready, and then it’s up to them to do it.”

The lack of pregame urgency was especially apparent against Sacred Heart on Saturday, with the Nittany Lions falling behind 3-0 at one point.

Gadowsky attributed the early-season slide to insufficient preparation.

“We don’t look at it as a snowball effect. We look at it as the law of attitudes getting caught up to us,” Gadowsky said. “We were not ready to play; we were not ready to compete at the level it has to be, and that’s why the chances, the shots, etc. were going against us.”

To ensure players meet that standard, Penn State has adopted a different approach to evaluating player performance this year, emphasizing analytics over traditional box score metrics.

The program uses biometric tracking data from the strength and conditioning staff to better gauge effort levels after every period, a more accurate method than relying solely on the eye test.

“It’s based on the analytics that are important to our program and our team specifically,” Gadowsky said. “Our strength and conditioning staff is excellent, and we do know there’s a lot of data at the end of the game and the end of the period that we can look at to sort of validate what our eye test says from an effort standpoint, not necessarily a system standpoint, but from an effort standpoint.”

With the Nittany Lions hosting No. 8 Quinnipiac in the team’s home opener this weekend, Penn State will need to use the Ice Breaker Tournament as a wake-up call to turn things around.

Gadowsky expects his squad to bring more urgency as the Nittany Lions look forward.

“It has to be a standard, and it wasn’t there. So hopefully, we learned a lesson,” Gadowsky said.