The Icers must have been good all year because Santa brought them four more wins over the holiday break.
The Icers, who are now 16-0, demolished the previous unbeaten record which was 14 games. The most recent additions to the winning streak came in the form of a 14-2 spanking of Rhode Island on Saturday and an 8-1 thumping of Worcester Polytechnical Institute on Sunday.
At the conclusion of the first period, the score was a meager 2-1 in favor of the Icers. The chemistry did not start flowing until the second period for the Icers.
Suddenly, eight minutes into the second period, Don Lamison ignited a five goal chain reaction with his first goal of the game. Ben Bouma, Mark Konchar and captain Jim Adams each followed suit, within a three minute span. Lamison capped the chemistry with his second goal of the game.
“This blew the game wide open,” Coach Joe Battista said. “When we get started, it is hard to shut us down.”
Riding high, freshman John Lucas finished off the Icers’ scoring with his first goal as an Icer.
“We have just too many weapons for these teams to deal with,” Battista said. “It comes from our talent and depth.”
Battista’s Icers offensive weapons fired off 46 rounds at the W.P.I. goal and allowed only 17 attempts in Icers’ territory.
The Icers mixed up the chemistry in their typical second period scoring frenzy against Rhode Island Saturday.
All four of the Icers’ lines left their mark on the score board. Forward Steve Karl cashed in for the black line. Forward Rob Keegan chalked one up for the blue line. Konchar tallied for the white line followed by forward Andy Strasser representing the red line.
“A lot of different guys are capable of scoring for us,” Battista said, “This makes it hard for the defenders, because they never know who to watch.”
Everybody wanted in on the action, by the end of the match, 18 of the 19 Icers figured in on at least one of the Icers 14 goals.
Rhode Island was not at full strength, the Rams lost three of their key players to academic ineligibility, including Chuck Cornell, who was the MVP of last year’s Nittany Lion Invitational. The Icers’ effort, this weekend, was not without casualities. Chris Cervellero sprained his shoulder and Scott Mangene hurt his back against W.P.I.
“It is kind of ironic,it was almost to the day last year when Civy seperated his other shoulder and had to miss the Nittany Lion Invitational,” Battista said. “Fortunately this time, I don’t think it is as serious this time, and he will be back soon, hopefully.”
Icers’ Notes:
— Prior to the holiday break, the game scheduled for December 11 against Toledo was forfeited after State College was hit by a snow storm…in lieu of the match, the Icers played a Blue-White game.
— The Icers grounded the Toledo Rockets 12-3 on December 12…Ross Cowan scored seven points, Rob Keegan finished with five, and Eric Lightner had four in the win.
— The record for the longest winning streak (11) was broken in the 12-3 win over Toledo.