Ah, memories. 'Twas November of 1988 when Arizona twice beat the Icers, 6-5 and 7-6, in overtime.

The Icers will once again meet the Icecats in their first game of the National Invitational Tournament to be held Feb. 28-March 3 at Ohio University.

"They're a good team. We played two outstanding games against them, and they beat us both times," defenseman Mike Messner recalled. "Granted, it was in overtime, but it's going to take a little more than our best to beat that kind of team."

The NIT field of eight teams is split into two divisions, with all the teams in one division playing each other in a round robin format. The Icers, seeded No. 6 in the tournament, play No. 4 Arizona Feb. 28, followed by No. 2 Ohio on March 1 and No. 8 University of Wisconsin Whitewater on March 2.

The winner of the division will play the winner of the other division, consisting of No. 1 North Dakota State University, the five-time defending NIT champion, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 5 Worcester Polytechnic Institute and No. 7 University of Wisconsin-Stout, for the championship.

The prospect of playing up to three games one night after another might seem daunting, but Messner feels that the team is in better condition, and that if anything, the steady run of games will favor the Icers.

"If I am worried about anything, it's that we'll win the first two games and be satisfied with that," Messner said. "We can't be satisfied."

Along with the opportunity to play the best club teams in the country, the Icers will be getting national exposure -- SportsChannel America will have a daily half-hour highlight show every night up to the championship, which will be broadcast live.

The thought of being on national TV doesn't seem to affect the Icers.

"If anything, it'll help us," Messner said. "You want to get into that final game, where it's going to be televised across the nation."

Forward Rich Filar sees it differently.

"We're not even going to think about it," Filar said. "We're not going to care if it's on CBS or SportsChannel -- we're just going to play our game."

Before the team goes to Athens, it rounds out its regular season at the University of Buffalo tonight and the University of Rochester tomorrow.

The Icers and Buffalo already met twice this year, and both times the Icers manhandled the Thundering Herd, 10-1 and 9-1. Buffalo coach Rick Brooks said that for the Herd to fare better this time, it must rely on tight checking and hope that the Icers are weary from the bus ride.

"Our hope is to be able to ... contain their skaters," Brooks said. "Of course, being in our rink, they won't have the crowd to their advantage."

Brooks is also counting on performances from forwards Cliff Sowicky and Scott Miller. "(If they) go out, start taking the body and set the pace the first couple of shifts, then we should do OK."

Penn State also met Rochester this year in what most people felt was supposed to be a blowout. However, after the Icers beat the Yellow Jackets, 8-2, Rochester gave Penn State a scare as the Icers barely pulled out a 3-2 win.

"That was, hopefully, our slump," Messner said. "They caught us at mid-season slump. This week, we really put our heads into gear, and that should help us this weekend."

"We're just going to have to be a lot more intensified, and just want to blow them out," Filar said. "Instead of just beating them 3-1, we should annihilate them 8-0."

The Icers must win the games against Buffalo and Rochester in order to secure second place in the ICHL. A loss would tie them with Erie, which would then come out ahead based on heart-to-heart records.