After going 0-3 in overtime games this season, no one would blame ice hockey coach Joe Battista if he started to sweat when his team left the ice after the third period with the score tied 3-3 against Buffalo State Friday night.

But the coach remained confident this time and the Icers pulled off an elusive OT win, 4-3, on John Ioia's goal with only 1:59 left in the game.

"I've never seen a lockerroom before where there was a sense among the players that they knew they were going to win," Battista said. "Brian Stevenson stood up and gave a speech that really got the guys up and right then, there was such a sense of togetherness among the players that was just incredible."

The three-game road trip might have brought the team together, but didn't give Penn State the rest it needed. The emotional win left the Icers fatigued, which showed in its 7-4 loss to Erie (N.Y.) Community College on Saturday night. But the squad found enough strength to pull out another OT win, 6-5, against the Wildcats yesterday afternoon.

The Icers stymied the potent Buffalo State attack Friday night, holding the Bengals to just three goals in the second period. Ioia, a transfer from Army, opened the scoring at the 8:57 mark of the first period. Andy McLaughlin kept the pressure on the Bengals, with a goal at the 5:12 mark of the opening period. The Icer defense stuffed the Buffalo State offensive, allowing only two shots on the Penn State net in the period and the Icers were up, 2-0, at the end of the opening stanza.

"I really have to give credit to our defense," Battista said. "They came up big when they had to and just kept working and didn't give up. To hold Buffalo State to just two shots on goal in the first period and three goals in the game, I think that is really something."

But the Bengals opened things up in the second period, pummelling Icer goalie Eric Zinczenko with 15 shots. Buffalo State managed to get three goals out of the deal, breaking away to a 3-2 lead at the end of the second period.

The defensive struggle continued half way into the third period until the Bengals gave way to Lance Riddle, who scored with 7 minutes remaining in the game, pushing the game into OT. Riddle's score set the stage for Stevenson's pep talk and Ioia's goal to give Penn State the victory.

"To be in that lockerroom after the game was just like we just won the Stanley Cup," Battista said. "It was a really emotional win for us and I was glad to see us finally get an OT win."

But the celebration was cut short against the Erie, falling behind early in the second period, 3-1. After each team exchanged goals, the Icers came back with scores by Stevenson (10:04) and Ioia (12:47) to knot the game at four at the mid-way point of the second period. The Wildcats opened up a 6-4 lead at the end of the period, burning Icer goalie Chris Puscian for the third time third time in the period. Battista then pulled Puscian in the third period in favor of Zinczenko, who stuffed Erie for rest of the period. The Wildcats finished off the Icers with an empty-net goal with 44 seconds left in the game.

Erie goalie Mark Sacco turned in a brilliant performance, gloving 41 Icer shots. Puscian and Zinczenko teamed up to make 19 saves; Puscian kicked out 15 and Zinczenko turned away seven.

"We just got stoned by hot goaltending," Battasta said. "I have to give them a lot of credit. They took advantage of good goal tending and they outworked us, beating us to the corners throughout the game."

The Icers picked up its second OT win of the year on a play Penn State failed to run the whole game. John O'Connor dumped the puck in Erie's defensive zone, allowing Ioia to race to the puck and unleash a wrist shot in front of the goal. Ioia's shot was turned away, but Mike Cardonick found the puck on the door step and lifted the puck in the left corner of the net.

"I was trying to get the guys to dump the puck in their zone and attack them from there," Battista said. "We just beat them to the puck and it happened to work."

The Icers opened up a 4-1 lead in the second period, aided by two power play goals by Cardonick and Jim Reed. But Erie fought back, scoring three straight goals in the second period to knot the game at four. Penn State took the lead again on McLaughlin's goal with 1:50 left in the second period. Erie set the game into OT with a minute remaining, but the extra period belonged to Cardonick and the Icers.

"It was a real big weekend for us," Battista said. "Our defense really came through for us when we needed it and so did our goaltending. But the biggest thing that happened was we finally came together as a team."