Ben Bouma, Andy McLaughlin and John O'Connor each scored a pair of goals as the ice hockey club won at St. Bonaventure yesterday, 9-3.

With the victory, the Icers raised their overall record to 12-1-1 and are now officially off to their best start ever.

"I would say that first and foremost this is probably the best all-around performance we've had up to this date in the season," Coach Joe Battista said of the Icers' effort. "I'm really happy with the way we're playing right now."

The Icers benefited from a strong defensive effort which was led by goalie Chris Pusican, who made 21 saves, and defenseman Josh Brandwene.

"(The defensemen) usually don't get a lot of credit because they don't score a lot of goals," Battista said.

Penn State fell behind 1-0 in the first period when the Bonnies scored on a power play, but the Icers tied the score 21 seconds later when Mike Cardonick and Mike Messner assisted on McLaughlin's first goal.

The Icers then added three more goals in the period to take the lead for good. Cardonick scored the lead goal on a pass from defenseman Geoff Martha, and O'Connor and McLaughlin also scored to give Penn State a 4-1 lead at the first intermission.

Penn State scored first in the second period, as O'Connor deposited his second goal of the game on assists from Midge Hutchinson and Jim Adams. St. Bonaventure then cut the lead to 5-2 on a fluke goal that was accidentally re-directed into the net by an Icer defenseman. Messner answered that with a power-play goal to give the Icers a 6-2 advantage after two periods.

Penn State opened the scoring in the third period, when Brandwene and Ross Cowan assisted on Bouma's first of two third-period goals. The Bonnies scored on a power play to make the score 7-3, but the Icers' Chris Cervellero came back to score one minute later on an assist by Lance Riddile.

Bouma scored the final goal for Penn State with 1:43 remaining. John loia and McLaughlin assisted on the goal.

Penn State, which is No. 5 in the just-released National Intercollegiate Club Rankings, will host the Nittany Lion Invitational this weekend. No. 8 Rhode Island, No. 12 Maryland and Penn will also be competing in the tournament.

"This tournament's going to turn out to be very big for us," Battista said. "If we do well, we can solidify our ranking."

Rhode Island will play Penn at 5 p.m. on Friday and the Icers will battle the Terrapins at 8 p.m. The consolation and championship games will be held Saturday night at 5 and 8.