Only a week ago the Penn State ice hockey club looked invincible at the Nittany Lion Invitational as it thrashed two highly-ranked opponents by a combined score of 27-2. When the Icers traveled North this past weekend, they discovered how much of a difference a week can make.

On Friday night the Icers' hopes of having a successful trip to Canada ended when they were beaten by Niagara, 5-4, in overtime. Ross Cowan's goal late in the third period knotted the score at 4-4 and sent the game into sudden death.

Niagara's Lance Parcher won the game with a goal with just 1:17 left in overtime. Parcher scored four goals in the game, three in the third period.

The Icers took 56 shots on goal, 23 in the third period, but were continually thwarted by Niagra goalie Jim Darling. Before the game, Coach Joe Battista warned his team about Darling.

"He is a good goalie but he is no Ken Dryden," Icer Ben Bouma said. "We just didn't get enough good shots on goal."

On Saturday afternoon the Icers, hoping to salvage their weekend, faced Conestoga in Kitchner, Ontario. Penn State could not get coordinated and was routed, 9-1.

"Less than 30 seconds into the game we had a power play," Bouma said, "but we really were not ready for it and they actually outshot us during that span."

The Icers managed just 22 shots on goal the entire game despite 13 power-play chances. In what Battista called "an ugly game," the two teams combined for a total of 140 penalty minutes.

Penn State's only goal, a power-play goal by Lance Riddile, came late in the second period with the Icers already down, 5-0.

"After Friday's game we were tired," Icer Ross Cowan said. "On Saturday we didn't really come to play."

The Icers, now 14-3-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the ICHL, slid from first to fourth place with their two losses this past weekend. They will host third-place Erie for two games this weekend at the Ice Pavilion. Before this past weekend Erie was the only team to have defeated the Icers.

"The coach told us to forget about these games and concentrate on the upcoming ones," Cowan said. "The series with Erie may be the biggest series of the year for us."