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Whew!

The Icers finished their regular season as the first Icers team to go undefeated, but it didn’t come without last minute efforts from University of Buffalo and Buffalo State.

“It is like a big monkey off our back to finish the season undefeated,” Icers coach Joe Battista said.

The Icers picked up a 9-5 victory over Buffalo State Saturday, and coasted through a narrow 4-2 victory over the University of Buffalo on Friday.

The University of Buffalo Bengals, whom the Icers spanked with 30 goals in two games earlier in the season, held the undefeated Icers to only four goals.

Battista said the score was not true to the Icers’ dominance in the match.

“We really put it to Buffalo, but their goaltender was outstanding,” he said. “We had the puck in their end of the ice 90 percent of the time. We just weren’t finishing the goals.”

Senior Forward Dave Murphy said the close game may be attributed to some underestimating on the part of the Icers and believed raw talent got them through it.

“It is hard to get up for a team you’ve beaten 20-0 and 30-0,” Murphy said. “Our heads just weren’t in the game.”

Senior Forward Rob Keegan started the Icers’ scoring about 10 minutes into the first period, but the Bengals answered three minutes later to put a cap on the scoring in the first period.

After a lethargic first period the Icers had some introspection during the break, and decided a larger effort was in line for the remainder of the match, Murphy said.

“I think we forgot what got us here, what made us undefeated,” he said.

Not even a minute into the second period senior forward Steve Karl with an assist from Murphy launched a goal and the Icers into the lead. Murphy followed that with a goal of his own for his 200th career point. Murphy is only the eighth Icer to have over 200 points, but he said the personal goals are not the important ones.

“I think everybody is happy when they hit a personal landmark,” Murphy said. Senior forward Ross Cowan capped Icer scoring late in the second period to make the score 4-1.

The Bengals scored the only third period goal, but were completely shut down from that point on. The Icers allowed only three Bengal shots on goal in the third period.

The Icers carried this momentum over into their corraling of Thundering Herd of Buffalo State. The Herd was undefeated at home and built the game up to be a showdown, and had the power play to back it up. The Herd power play units charged in four goals against the Icers.

Senior forward Chris Cervellero set the tone for the game when he started the scoring with an Icers power play goal. The Herd answered shortly after with a power play goal of their own.

Cowan scored a goal to put the Icers back into the lead, and tie him for the single season scoring record at 38. Murphy followed with his third point of the weekend to give the Icers a two point cushion.

The Herd, not fit to be tied, trampled the Icers cushion with a goal late in the first period, and another at the top of the second period.

In a scattered version of the Icers’ flurry they racked up three unanswered goals. The only other threat presented by the Herd came in the form of a goal, which Battista called a fluke.

Senior Goaltender John Gray laid his glove on a Herd shot on goal, and waited for the ensuing whistle. The whistle never blew, and the Herd poked at Gray until the puck broke loose and crossed the goal line.

“I don’t understand why they didn’t blow the whistle,” Gray said. “I had the puck covered with my glove, and the refs are supposed to blow the whistle when they lose sight of the puck.”

Junior Mark Cervellero finished off the scoring for the game and the regular season to make the score 9-5.

Battista said he was pleased with the game, and felt it was a good way to end an undefeated season.

“It was a good gut check for us,” Battista said. “That was the kind of game we need to go into the playoffs. Now it is a clean slate, and we’ve got to work for the Nationals.”

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.

Holy Toledo!

The Icers’ run and gun offense has outscored its opponents 116-19 this season, and, at 13-0, Penn State is on the verge of breaking its all-time unbeaten streak.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Coach Joe Battista said. “So far we’ve had a ball. And their (players) confidence is great.”

The Icers’, however, will not be the only undefeated team playing in the ice pavilion this weekend.

The undefeated Toledo Rockets, who are riding a 37-game winning streak, land in the pavilion at 9 tonight and again at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon. The Rockets are 8-0 so far this season, and look to play a physical match against the Icers.

Battista is well aware of the Rockets intent and is confident his Icers can stand up to Toledo’s rugged checks.

“If they’re worried about hitting us all the time, then it takes them out of the game,” Battista said. “Four teams have tried that, and four teams have sat in the penalty box watching our power play pump goals.”

The Icers’ power play lines have scored 36 of the 91 times they have had the one or two-man advantage.

Speaking of ice, Battista said the weather will have no bearing on tonight’s or tommorrow’s match, and said Toledo has taken the necessary precautions to assure their safe arrival.

“We are anticipating that the games will go on as scheduled,” Battista said. “The show must go on, but we’ll use good judgment in reacting to Mother Nature.”

Both teams are also fearing another common opponent: Finals.

“We both have to contend with these end of the semester distractions,” Battista said. “But I do know that they have other worries, such as injuries, and the fact that we are on such a roll.”

Battista is confident the Icers can overcome the end of the semester stresses, and will launch the Rockets back to Toledo.

“As long as we stay focused,” he said, “I am confident that our winning ways will continue.”

Battista is pleased with the numbers the Icers’ roll has produced so far this season and hopes they can carry over the break.

Upon their return, the Icers face undefeated Rhode Island on Saturday, Jan. 9, and Worcester Polytech Institute on Jan. 10.

Rhode Island is also undefeated and is tied for first with the Icers in the ACHA.

“These two games (Rhode Island and Toledo) could decide who will finish first, ” Battista said. “We’re getting into the meat of the schedule, and we have to make sure we stay honest to our ways, and I think we’ll come up on top.”

While Penn State’s transition into the Big Ten may be beneficial to the big money sports, some of the smaller sports, like field hockey, are experiencing growing pains.

“Specifically looking at joining the Big Ten for field hockey, it did not benefit us,” Lady Lions Coach Char Morett said. “It always helps to be involved in a conference, but I think this year was more distracting, because we have to travel so far.”

Morett believes the University is unnecessarily dumping money into travel expenses, when some of the best competition is within Penn State’s region.

“I think the perspective is out of line, we’re not going to Iowa to make a quarter of a million dollars,” Morett said. “We’re going to play field hockey. I think we’re spending so much, where as we have strong, if not better competition within a bus trip away.”

Morett attributes many of the problems to the Big Ten’s double round-robin schedule. She has been pushing for a system in which the teams would only meet up once during the regular season.

“I feel that there are some good things to come from the Big Ten,” Morett said. “If we can get away from a double round-robin, I think that then I would enjoy being in the Big Ten. But right now we are in the double round-robin, which really puts a burden on our performance academically and athletically.”

The Lady Lions are also missing the large following they had when many of their matches were played regionally.

“We usually had a great following before, but this is the first time, in all my coaching here at Penn State, that we did not have one Penn State fan at a far game. That is tough, usually when we were travelling, our fans were bigger than their fans.”

The fans, however, were not the only ones having problems with all of the travelling involved with the Big Ten. Many of the field hockey players found themselves missing two, three days of class a week due to extended trips.

“For me, the travel was really hard,” senior co-captain Amy Stairs said. “A lot of the work I had to do had to be done on the computers, which is hard to do when you are on a small airplane.”

Stairs, however, was not the only player to run into these academic dilemmas, Sophomore defender Jill Pearsall said without the understanding of her professors she would have ended up much worse than she did.

“I am just lucky that my professors were so great and understanding,” she said. “The traveling really jepordized a lot of people, and I was fortunate that everything worked out for me.”

Senior Danielle Annibale said that she too was caught off guard by the academic strain from the travel, but she said that she accepted that when she became a student athlete.

“This year was really tough for us, but I think it is something everybody has to get used to,” Annibale said. “All the other teams are doing the same things. It is a sacrafice you make when you become a student athlete. You just have to concentrate, and communicate with your professors.”

Next year, however, is not expected to be much better for the Lady Lions travel wise. Seven of the field hockey team’s last eight conference games are away. Given this, combined with this year’s travel experience, the Lady Lions find themselves having to make academic preparations.

Many are looking to take lighter loads, but Pearsall argues that it is not always an option.

“Once you are in your major, you cannot pick and choose,” she said. “If I want to graduate on time, I cannot play around. We are all here for academics first, and right now the way our schedule is, it makes it hard to be a student first.”

Friday night’s hockey match was so rough, even the referee needed stitches.

With three minutes and 46 seconds remaining in the second period, one of the many scuffles of the night broke out in front of the Icers’ bench. Referee Dave Quindlen jumped in to separate the skirmish, and caught a stick to the eye in the process.

Both officials determined that Quindlen’s gash demanded immediate attention, and they ended the period.

As stated in the rules, if it is nearing the end of a period, and an official has an impairment that requires immediate attention, they can end the period, and tack the time onto the following period pending the official’s judgment.

“He needed the stitches right away,” Coach Joe Battista said. “It was a pretty deep cut. It blew up golf ball size, and rather than making him finish the period, the referee has the option to halt the period. Our physician came down and stitched him and iced him, and he was able to continue to officiate.”

Battista feels the injury was just one of those many occupational hazzards.

“It is just the dangers,” he said. “They just went to making referees wear helmets, and some would argue they should wear shields too. Sticks do inadvertently come up, and in this case it was a scuffle.”

The number of scuffles and penalties were rising along with the tempers of both teams, and the halting of the period came at a good time to provide a cooling down period for both teams.

“It was a smart call by the officials,” Battista said. “We were starting to get frustrated. We felt they were taking their liberties there, and they got their penalties for it.”

Eastern Michigan had spent much of the match poking, spearing and cross-checking the Icers from behind, and late in the second period the Icers began to retaliate.

“I don’t like the little chippy, cheap stuff, but I like the hitting,” senior defender Matt Hoffman said. “They started sticking and hooking, and throwing the body around. I really get into those kind of games.”

Even after the third period began, the Eagles maintained their poking, and sticking, but the Icers continued to maintain their composure, and walk away when possible.

Battista feels he has instilled their ability to walk away as a part of Penn State’s pride and class.

“I would like to think that it is my directive, and their compliance,” Battista said.

Senior Dave Murphy agreed: “Without coach we’d be out there gooning them right back. We’d be giving them the stick. But coach has been able to teach us to take their cheap stuff, the extracuricular activities, and put your head down, and hit them on the scoreboard.”

And hit them they did, 10 times to be exact.

Faster than a speeding bullet from the run and gun, it’s Turbo Man.

Turbo Man, as the fans have dubbed him, is Icers’ blazing senior forward Dave Murphy.

“In a hockey team full of speedsters, he is the fastest,” Coach Joe Battista said. “When we did electronic speed checks, his speeds fell among the fastest Olympic and pro skaters.”

The Icers plan to take full advantage of their speed in their matches with Eastern Michigan at 9 p.m. tonight and at 3:30 tommorrow at the ice pavilion. The Icers recently beat the Eagles 8-3 in the Michigan Dearborn Tournament, but Battista said Eastern was flat, and expects to see a much bigger effort this time around.

“There in a situation now where they have to win,” he said. “I think that they will come at us a lot harder.”

Murphy, however, feels the Icers will still give Eastern Michigan the “run” around.

“They don’t have the speed that we do,” Murphy said. “They can’t skate with us. They will try to play a physical match, and take out our bodies, but we can play the physical match too.”

Murphy said he has been learning the physical side of things since he began observing hockey. He grew up watching the Johnstown Chiefs, whom the movie Slapshot was based on.

Since that time, he has developed the finesse aspect of his match, and the blazing speed that has earned him the title Turbo Man.

This blazing speed, however, is not limited to his skating. Murphy is rapidly closing in on the 200 point mark, and at 5-foot-8, 170-pounds his checking skills are jolting.

“Despite his not being very big, he is a tenacious forechecker,” Battista said. “He has worked hard at building himself up, and has become one of the strongest players on the team.”

Murphy said he knew his size, or lack there of, was not very appealing to a coaching staff, so he started lifting weights for hours daily.

“I added about 20 to 25 pounds of muscle weight to myself,” Murphy said. “Now I can go into the corners with confidence, and it has improved my game incredibly.”

Murphy’s improved checking skills have played a big part in why the Icers power play has become a dominant force this season.

“(Murphy) and Chris (Cervellero) combine their speed and forechecking,” Battista said, “and I’ve seen them keep the opponents in their own end the entire time that we’re short handed.”

Murphy’s speed also comes into play on the attack, and has turned out nine goals and seven assists already this season.

“Dave is really fast, but it isn’t just on the open ice,” senior forward Mark Konchar said, “his moves are quick too, which makes it really hard on the goalies.”

Murphy, and the other six seniors, has been giving goalies fits for the past four years, and said it comes from their dedication.

“We’ve been committed for the past four years,” Murphy said. “That is what has made the difference. That commitment has given us our success, and that is what will bring us to the top this year.”

Going up!

As of yesterday, the Icers reached the top floor when they received the No. 1 ranking in the ACHA for the first time in Icers’ history.

“I’m obviously excited,” Coach Joe Battista said. “It is the first time that we have ever been ranked No. 1 in the regular season, ever. Then taking the Michigan Dearborn tournament was just icing on the cake.”

Battista doesn’t want to take all of the credit for the Icers’ roaring 11-0 start. He attributes much of their success to the talent of his players.

“I’m not going to strain any muscles patting myself on the back,” Battista said. “We’ve got a strong team with a lot of depth and speed, and I am going to sit back and enjoy this year.”

Seven of the main reasons that Battista feels makes his job easier are this year’s seniors. He has been seeing big things from this class since their freshmen year, when they won the national championship.

“They’ve been standouts since they have been freshmen,” Battista said. “It is great to have seven guys with their poise, speed and versatility.”

The senior’s versatility has allowed Battista, a typically defensive oriented coach, to completely change his philosophy to their potent run and gun attack.

“If someone would have said to you that this coaching staff would have used this run and gun philosophy four years ago, I would have laughed at you,” Battista said. “I have always been a strictly defensive coach, but lets face it, If you have a stable full of thoroughbreds, you would have to be dumb not to let them run.”

Run they have. The Icers have outscored their opponents 99-17, and has even broke the 20-goal mark in one match. Some critics have said the Icers’ success has come from a lack of competition in their new league the ACHL, but Battista said that they had beat a lot of the same teams when they were in the ICHL. He added that the brunt of their competition is yet to come.

“We still have Rhode Island and Toledo, who are both undefeated,” He said. “We will deal with them accordingly, but right now I am excited, to say the least about being number one.”

This doesn’t mean that the Icers are content with their new heights and will stop working.

Battista warns of quite the opposite, “The rankings are nice now, but they don’t mean a lot when the playoffs come around. We are going to have to keep our work ethic, and go into every game to win.”

For some members of the field hockey team, individual recognition has provided some solace after a bitter 1-0 overtime defeat in the NCAA quarterfinals.

“It takes some of the sting out of the end of the year,” said junior defender Becca Main.

Main was among four of the Lady Lions selected for All Big Ten honors. The others were: senior co-captain Jen Stewart, sophomore defender Jill Pearsall, and junior scoring extraodinare Chris McGinley.

The Lady Lions feel this was an exclamation point to their entry into the Big Ten this season, and is a statement of what is to come next season.

“I think a lot of teams in the Big Ten recognized us as a challenge,” Pearsall said. “I think they appreciate the competition that we added to the conference, and I think this recognition adds to it.”

Freshmen goalkeeper Shelly Meister was awarded Big Ten Freshmen of the Year, and was excited about the honor, but feels there is still work to be done.

“It was a great honor,” Meister said. “But I am not looking to next year yet, the season ended so quickly that it was a jolt to me.”

Meister was also one of the several Lady Lions receiving honors in the Mideast region. Stewart, McGinley, Main, senior co-captian Amy Stairs, Pearsall, and sophomore defender Chris Blais along with Meister took first team Mideast Region first team.

Many of Lady Lions who recieved awards will be returning next year, and look to top this year’s performance.

“We were a young team to begin with this year,” Pearsall said. “I think that the experience we gained this year will make us a force to reckon with next year.”

McGinley also made first team All-American through her dazzling on-field display. Awarded second team All- American were Stewart and Main, and Stairs came in with third team All-American.

The Lady Lions receiving awards are quite pleased with the recognition, but many of them attribute their success to the skill of their teammates.

“None of us could have got any of these awards without the rest of the team,” Main said. “So I believe any of the recognition given to us is recognition to the team.”

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.”

Maybe it is true that the best offense is a good defense.

Amongst the blizzard of 92 Icer goals this season, their checking line has hopped on the bandwagon and has racked up more points than all their opponents combined.

“It was explained to us when the season started, the black line was not only to stop scoring,” senior Icer Steve Karl said, “but is capable of making the goals too.”

The Icers’ black line has scored 15 goals and collected 27 assists, which is unheard of for a black line.

“The main objective of the black line is to shut the other team’s best offense down,” Icers Coach Joe Battista said. “But it is a pleasant surprise to see them score, and we will need this from them especially this weekend.”

Friday, the Icers are slated to do battle with No. 6 Eastern Michigan for the first round of the Michigan-Dearborn Tournament.

Battista looks for this tournament to be the first dog-fight of the season, and feels it will answer some question marks as to just how good his team is.

“They gave Iowa State their only loss this season,” he said. “And they beat us 7-5 here last year. They’ve got a lot of guys back this year, and the (Icers) are looking to pay them back.”

EMU has a large, physical team, but also has dicipline and experience to compliment it. The only weak spot for the Eagles seems to be the skill and finesse department, but Battista feels their hard work compensates for these lackings.

“Despite the lack in skill, the equalizer is their big work ethic,” Battista said. “We are going to have to out work them, or not let them out work us to beat them. They are bigger than us, but we’ve got the skill they lack, and I feel that our black line can make a difference in this battle”

The Icers’ checking line is comprised of 6-feet, 190-pound Brad Russell, captain forward 5-foot-10, 170-pound Jim Adams, 5-foot-10, 175-pound Steve Karl and 5-foot-10, 175-pound Andrew Strasser.

They may not be large, but the hit with their hearts, which is a lot larger than many of their opponents.

“They are high passion players on both the attack and defense,” Battista said. “That is a definite plus for your black line.”

The black line is, by far, not a finesse crew, but the goals count just the same.

“When we score, it’s nothing pretty,” Karl said. “Usually somebody is on their way down or is already on the ground, but a goal is a goal, and when we score it is like a wrecking ball because it is against their best offense, and they don’t deal with that well. So we score again.”

And score and score and score and score.