At the beginning of this season, the only suspense normally involved with a Penn State hockey game was in how soon the score would go into double digits.

This weekend, however, the ice hockey club found itself involved in a pair of games against Erie Community College that were decided in the last minutes -- both times in favor of the Kats. Erie defeated the Icers on Friday, 9-7, and on Saturday, 5-4.

"Maybe in the long run this will turn out to be the best thing that could happen to the team," Coach Joe Battista said. "It was nice for us . . . three out of our last four games were down to the wire. We're either going to build character out of that, or we're going to find out we just aren't as good a hockey team as we thought we were."

The Icers opened the Friday game with a 4-0 lead in the first period, but Erie slowly came back, first with a goal at 13:42 in the first period by forward Ed Carney, then another at 18:07 by forward Ryan O'Neil.

Icer forward John Ioia scored a power-play goal at 4:15 in the second period, making it 5-2 Penn State, but was answered 91 seconds later by Kats forward Randy Pfeifer, a man Penn State goalie Chris Puscian saw a lot of.

Pfeifer scored again at 15:47, bringing the Kats within one goal of Penn State. Ioia scored again, increasing the Lions' lead to 6-4, but that was as big as the lead got.

Pfiefer scored a shorthanded goal only 35 seconds into the third period, the goal that broke the Icers' back, Battista said. A score by Kats forward Chris Hildreth at 8:17 and another by defenseman Dave Paladino made it 7-6, Erie.

Icer forward Ben Bouma scored at 16:28, tying the game, 7-7, and bringing the crowd to life. But 33 seconds later a goal by Carney gave the Kats an 8-7 lead and brought the crowd back to earth.

Saturday's game was a see-saw battle. First, Penn State forward Mike Cardonick scored on a power play at 12:01 in the first period. Erie defenseman Brian Dehlinger responded 64 seconds later with a goal on a Kats power play, followed 39 seconds later by another Erie score from O'Neil. Kats defenseman Lance Ess added a goal at 18:15 to make it 3-1, Erie.

Icers forward Andy McLaughlin started the second period with a power-play goal 59 seconds into the period. Forward Mike Cardonick's goal at 13:45 evened the score, 3-3.

With only four seconds left in the period, a rebound from a stop by Icer goalie Eric Zinczenko bounced off Pfiefer and rolled past Zinczenko, still on his back from the stop. Erie led, 4-3.

An Ioia goal at 5:54 in the third period brought the game to a 4-4 tie and the score stayed that way until Dehlinger blasted the puck past Zinczenko with 48 seconds left in the game, giving Erie the 5-4 win.

"I saw that our defenseman, Jerry Moore, had the player, and I thought the player was tied up quite well," Zinczenko said. "I didn't expect him to get the shot off he did. It took me by surprise."

Pfeifer, who led the Kats Friday night with four goals and two assists, was limited to only one assist and one goal -- the rebound -- Saturday night.

"I played against him already this year, and I didn't fall for a lot of his trickery," Zinczenko said. "He plays with the puck quite well, and a lot of goalies get fooled by his moves. I just anticipate his real move, and I usually make the stop."

Battista was also unhappy with the team's defense, noting that there were several times when the defensemen were caught deep in the offensive zone and the forwards failed to help.

"I can not get our team as a whole to play strong defense on a consistent basis, and that's what's killing us," he said. "We go back to the drawing board and we regroup."

Notes: Icer defenseman Matt Hoffman separated his shoulder in Friday's game. He will learn today when he can be back on the ice, but he is expected to be gone for three to four weeks . . . Defenseman Davis Mulholland, who sat out this weekend with a knee injury, is ready to play against Rochester next weekend . . . Defenseman Don Pohland made his first appearance this season on Saturday.