The ice hockey club swept two games from Buffalo State this weekend, clinching a 5-4 victory on Friday before shutting out the Bengals, 9-0, on Saturday.

The two wins improve their record to 20-3-1 overall and 9-2-1 in the International Collegiate Hockey League. With the regular season nearing the end the Icers are in control of their own fate. With one more win the Icers will clinch second place; if they win all four they take first.

"All of the remaining games have a lot riding on them," Coach Joe Battista said. "It's kind of fun when it comes down to the wire like this -- so much is at stake for all the teams."

The first goal of Friday's game was a Buffalo State score by Mike Mosacco at 8:03 in the first period. Icer Midge Hutchinson tied the game at 17:51 in the first period. Jim Adams and Mike Schultz assisted.

In the second period the Icers took a 3-1 lead on goals by Geoff Martha and Ross Cowan. Martha scored at 9:15 on the assists by Andy McLaughlin and Mike Messner. Cowan came out of his scoring slump and had his first of three goals at 11:49 on an assist from Johnny Gray.

The third period saw a little more action and a lot of Icer frustration. Cowan came out and scored 46 seconds into the period, making the score 4-1. Buffalo State began to fight back when Tom Thorton scored at 4:25 on an assist from Buffalo State star Bill Nashwinter, narrowing the Penn State lead to 4-2. The Icers kept the edge when Cowan scored his third goal of the game at the 8:30 mark. The Bengals tried to come back, scoring two power-play goals, the first from Lance Piscatelli at 14:00 and 52 seconds later from Thorton, to finish out the scoring.

"They outshot us, we could have easily ended up behind," Dave Murphy said. "(Gray) came up with some remarkable saves. He was one of the major reasons we won."

The Icers were reminded of the game against Buffalo State in December, when they were ahead 6-2 and gave the game to the Bengals. They used their frustration to their advantage Saturday and recorded a 9-0 victory.

"There is only so much we can take," Murphy said. "Frustration from Friday night's game was a big motivational factor for us."

Murphy came out fired up Saturday and scored the first two goals of the game. The first one was a breakaway at 3:12 of the first period. Cowan and Chris Cervellero assisted. The second goal was a power play goal at the 10:37 mark assisted by Rich Filar and Cervellero. McLaughlin made it 3-0 on a power-play goal at 18:17, which was assisted by Russel and Cowan.

In the second period Russel scored what Battista called a "spectacular goal" to put the Icers up 4-0. Mark Cervellero cleared the puck up to Russel who passed the puck to Chris Cervellero. The goalie blocked Chris Cervellero's shot. Russel picked up the rebound, chipped the puck, hit the goalie in the face with the puck, which bounced into the net.

In the third period the Icers put the game away with a five-goal barrage. McLaughlin, assisted by Russel and Cowan, and then Russel, assisted by McLaughlin and Cow, assisted by Russel and Cowan again, made the score 6-0 Icers. Chris Cervellero paired up with Murphy and Filar at 10:34 for goal No. 7. Once again the familiar team of Russel, McLaughlin and Cowan teamed up to make the score 8-0. Martha finished up the scoring at 17:15 assisted by Cowan and McLaughlin.

The Icer "blue line" consisting of Russel, Cowan, and McLaughlin, combined for 16 points in what Battista called a "phenomenal performance." Also deserving recognition is the "checking line" consisting of Hutchison, Adams and Bob Kokal. They were able to hold Nashwinter, the Bengals' star and former ICHL leading scorer to just one assist.

"They (the checking line) were all over his line," Battista said. "They really fustrated him."

Cowan took over as the leading scorer in the league with a total of 31 points. Nashwinter is second with 28 and McLaughlin third with 26.

The Icers are at home for the remainder of the season. They will host the University of Buffalo this weekend and Niagara next weekend.