One week the hunter, the next the hunted. That's one way the ice hockey club could describe its position as it enters the ICHL playoffs at 5 tonight in Kitchener, Ontario.

Last week the underdog Icers knocked off some of the better club teams in the country to win the National Invitational Tournament. This weekend the roles are reversed as the Icers will be the one of the teams everyone is gunning for.

"Since we are the defending ICHL champs other teams without a doubt will be out to beat us," leer John Ioia said. "The NIT championship gives them just another reason to come at us."

The Icers, who have already claimed the Nittany Lion Invitational championship and the NIT championship this season, hope to complete the trifecta and repeat as ICHL champions.

"A true champion will rise to the occasion," Coach Joe Battista said. "We have to stay focused, though."

Defense and goaltending, exceptional a week ago, are once again key factors this weekend. Battista considers Penn State's defense right now to be better than any defense he has seen an Icer team play in the past decade.

"(Last week) we played with the same amount of passion defensively as we have offensively all year," Battista said. "I hope we continue to ride this understanding that defense must be first in our mind."

In the back of Battista's mind may have been the overconfidence and complacency which often costs championship teams. For that reason, the coaches brought in a sports psychologist to address the team about the possibility of a letdown.

However, Battista is confident his team will be mentally prepared for its game with Buffalo. He believes this week's tournament might be tougher than the last week's NIT. He credits much of the Icers' success last week to the hours spent by his coaching staff watching game films of the opposing teams.

"We knew (the NIT teams) better than they knew us," Battista said.

"That won't be the case this week at the ICHL as this will be the third time each team meets."

Regardless of whether or not the Icers repeat as ICHL champions, Battista is just hoping for an all out effort from his team.

"We learned a lot about ourselves at the NIT," he said. "If we play at the same level, we are capable of winning."

NOTES: The matchups for this weekend's tournament are as follows Tonight: Penn State (seeded third) vs. Buffalo (sixth) and Erie Community College (fourth) vs. Buffalo State (fifth). Tomorrow: League leader Niagara vs. lowest remaining seed and Conestoga (second) vs. the highest remaining seed.