Coach Joe Battista shook up his lineup this weekend in hopes of getting the ice hockey club out of its four-game slump. What he got instead were two less-than-stellar performances as the Icers beat Rochester, 8-2 and 3-2.

On Friday night, Battista unveiled his new look, highlighted by sophomore John Gray in goal.

"I didn't feel any pressure to snap the four-game losing streak," Gray said. "Playing Rochester, a team which is not as good as some of the others, I felt it was important just to move the puck around and play my type of game."

In the opening period the Icers' passing was not sharp. As a result, the Yellow Jackets spent a good deal of the period in the Penn State zone, while on the defensive end Rochester freshman goalie Brian Castellani denied Penn State time and again. Rochester could not capitalize either, squandering a five-on-three power play late in the period.

Four minutes into the second period Midge Hutchison trickled a shot past Castellani for a 1-0 Icer lead. The goal and the taunts of the Ice Pavilion crowd rattled the young Yellow Jacket goaltender, who gave up four more goals in the period. The Icers (16-5-1, 8-5-1 in the ICHL) coasted the rest of the way to an 8-2 victory.

"The game was slow-paced at the beginning," Gray said. "We kind of played down to their level."

On Saturday afternoon, the Icers hoped to continue their winning ways. Lance Riddile's shorthanded goal at 9:35 of the first period broke Penn State's first period scoring drought. Penn State's fierce forechecking kept the Yellow Jackets struggling to escape their own zone, while Icer goalie Eric Zinczenko stopped the few Rochester shots on goal.

Four minutes into the second period, Icer Ben Bouma fired a shot past Castellani. Bouma wasn't finished. Less than a minute later, he scored a breakaway goal on an assist from Josh Brandwene for a 3-0 lead.

But for the most part the Icer attack suffered from poor puck movement and shot selection.

"These new lines had only played together for three days as compared to the old lines which had played together all year," Icer defenseman Mike Messner said. "We had no short passing game."

After Bouma's two goals and a bench-clearing fight at the end of the second period, Rochester seemed to come to life. Penn State started the third period with Lance Riddile serving a 10-minute misconduct for fighting and John Ioia suspended.

At 12:46 of the third period Yellow Jacket Dan Wagner caught Icer goalie Chris Puscian away from the net and scored, narrowing Penn State's lead to 3-2. The Icers' defense stymied Rochester the remainder of the way to escape with a victory.

Notes: Icer John Ioia has been suspended for one game for his involvement in Saturday's second period fight . . . The Icers are ranked fourth in the latest Intercollegiate Club Rankings.