Last season, the ice hockey club won its first International Collegiate Hockey League Championship. This season, Coach Joe Battista and crew are looking not only for a repeat performance, but also a bid to the National Invitational Tournament.
The long road begins at 9 tonight as the Icers open their season with Duquesne Dukes at the Ice Pavilion.
The Icers beat the Dukes twice last season, outscoring them 21-4. However, the Dukes are in the process of building a quality program and have in the past given Penn State a turn or two.
"They always work hard," Battista said. "And I don't believe the guys will take them lightly. Besides, we are tired of practice. I think the team's ready to get out there and bang heads with different-colored jerseys."
"Everybody's anxious to get out on the ice," right wing Johnny Ioia said. "It's been a long preseason. As for Duquesne itself, it's not that highly touted and it's not an arch rival for us. This will be just a regular game, except for the anxiety of playing the first real match of the season."
Ioia transferred to Penn State from West Point in the middle of last season and immediately became a major part of the Icers' success story. Although he scored only five goals in 17 games, two of those were game- winners, the second of which won the ICHL championship match.
This season, his teammates elected him a co-captain along with right defenseman Davis Mullholland, a four-year standout for the Icers.
Gone are last season's heavy hitters Brian Stevenson, Jim Reed and Ken Fatur. Remaining is a long list of older talent and freshmen.
"We have a lot of young players," Mullholland said, "so we're expecting a few errors. The pace will be a lot faster than what they're used to, so this will be sort of a touch and feel type.
"We'll get to see what everybody's got to offer, and who are the game players as opposed to the practice players. On the whole, though, we've got a lot of talent, and no one is guaranteed a position."
In Battista's eyes, all four areas of specialization -- offense, defense, in-goal and checking line -- have more than enough talent to go around, making position assignments difficult.
"I believe we'll have a strong team," Battista said. "We have never had this much depth before, depth in both the new and older players. I feel our freshmen are going to be counted upon heavily. We have a good-sized, stable defense."
Before the game, the team and its fans will take time out for a ceremony honoring the 1988-89 Championship team and the path it took to engineer the victory.
The Icers declined a bid to the NIT last season in order to effectively prepare for the ICHL playoffs. Obviously the technique worked. Now Battista believes both an NIT championship and a second consecutive ICHL crown are within reach. And what little the team may lack in skills, it more than makes up for in attitude.
"I don't recall ever seeing this much enthusiasm among the players or the fans," Battista said, "except maybe in the year the Ice Pavilion opened."
Penn State last won the NIT title in 1984.
