Another one bites the puck.
The Icers raked in their second piece of hardware last weekend when they beat Eastern Michigan and Michigan-Dearborn to take the Michigan-Dearborn Tournament.
“It was kind of the perfect weekend for us,” Coach Joe Battista said. “We won the tourney, we beat Michigan-Dearborn for the first time and it was a landmark victory. It has to be one of the best starts we’ve had.”
In the Icers’ 4-1 slaying of Michigan-Dearborn, Battista earned his 126th career victory, which is a record at Penn State. This landmark victory also marked the second tournament the Icers have won this season. It is likely that they will now move into No. 1 in the ACHA.
“We should probably be ranked No. 1 after this weekend,” Battista said. “We have already beat all four teams that were in the Nationals last year, and Iowa State, who is currently No. 1, lost this weekend. This will be the first time we have been ranked No. 1. The guys played great this weekend.”
In the first period in the opening round of the tournament, the Icers scored all the goals they needed to win their 8-3 bout with Eastern Michigan.
The Icers leaped out to an 4-0 first period lead, and maintained that cushion throughout the remainder of the match.
Forward Ross Cowan started the scoring with a short handed goal that set the tone for the bout.
The closest point in the match came in the second period when Eastern Michigan chalked up two quick goals to make the score 7-3, but Cowan notched his hat trick with a power play goal to finish the cycle and cap the game.
“I was surprised,” Battista said. “Eastern had been playing well, but they came out flat against us.”
It may have been another blowout, but it was all the Icers needed to move on to beat Michigan-Dearborn 4-1 for the tournament championship.
The win marked the first time that the Icers have beat Michigan-Dearborn since their series began in 1980. Battista said the win filled in some blanks about the strength of the Icers.
“We kept asking ourselves if we were for real,” Battista said. “This told us that we are.”
The Icers came out with another big first period, and once again scored all the points they needed to win the match.
“The flurries did it for us,” Battista said. “We’ve been scoring in bunches all season, and it happened again in the first period.”
Both teams came out to a sluggish start, but the Icers did not take long to build momentum. At the four minute mark, Dave Murphy started the Icers scoring when he left Michigan Dearborn goalkeeper Joe Aho out to dry.
Nearly 12 minutes later the flurry began, and the Icers fired out three quick goals, two from Don Lamison, and another from Murphy.
“I think the biggest asset to our game was our scouting analysis on how to beat Aho,” Battista said. “We went out there and did what we needed to do.”
Coach Battista is quite comfortable with his team’s condition, and is now sure that his team’s high-scoring rallies are not just a fluke, and now knows that his team can beat the best.
“This is the best start we’ve ever had,” Battista said. “At 11-0 we are looking at the record for the longest winning streak. I can now say that I feel this is all for real.”