The ice hockey club clinched second place in the International Collegiate Hockey League this weekend by defeating the University of Buffalo's Thundering Heard 8-4 on Saturday.

The Icers tied Buffalo, 1-1, on Friday night and came back to win Saturday afternoon, advancing their record to 21-3-3.

The Icers still have a chance to move into first place if Conestoga ties or beats Erie. Regardless, the Icers will recieve a bye in the first round of the ICHL playoffs, scheduled for March 9-10 at Conestoga College.

"I don't think we came out ready to play (Friday), we were a little complaisant," Jeff Hale said."(Saturday) we played our game, we were ready to play."

Friday night the Icers scored at 1:20 in the second period, as Andy McLaughlin netted the goal on a pass from Ross Cowan. Buffalo evened the score right away, on a goal credited to right wing James Ross. The goal was, in reality, by Icer goalie Johnny Gray. Gray was trying to clear the puck and it didn't quite go where he had planned.

"I was trying to push it towards the corner," Gray said. "It rolled and stuck to my stick."

For the rest of the way the game was fairly even. The Icers had 28 shots on goal to Buffalo's 26. The Icers had 16 minutes in penalties and Buffalo tallied 17.

Buffalo defenseman Kevin Harris recieved a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, when he checked Bob Kokal from behind, leaving Kokal lying on the ice for 10 minutes. Kokal was eventually carried off on a stretcher; however, he sustained no major injuries, just a bruised back.

"They played a patient kind of game," senior tri-captain Josh Brandweene said after Friday's game. "(Saturday) it's going to come down to who wants it more."

Saturday the Icers came ready to play their kind of hockey. Dave Murphy scored a power play goal at 2:42 in the first period, giving the Icers an early lead. The Icers kept the momentum going when Chris Cervellero scored at 4:49, assisted by Murphy and Rich Filar to give the Icers a 2-0 advantage. Cowan kept the streek going when he passed the Buffalo defense and pushed one right past Buffalo goalie John Wolski; the goal was assisted by McLaughlin and Brad Russell. Trying to stay in the game, Buffalo center Chris Scott scored a power play goal at 13:52 narrowing the lead to 3-1. Hale finished up the period when he knocked the puck in on a pass from Mike Messner making the score 4-1. The Icers dominated the first period out shooting Buffalo 22-3.

The second period was more of the same. The Icers out shot Buffalo 19-6, scoring twice while Buffalo managed just one goal. Cowan scored his second goal of the game, his 23rd of the season, on a power play, at 3:11 to push the score to 5-1. Hale scored his second of the game at 3:27 assisted by Dave Esposito and Marc Gresko. Buffalo's goal was a power-play goal by defenseman Jim Eiss at 10:16.

Buffalo took control of the third period when Peter Dienes scored on a power play just 54 seconds into the period. The Icers weren't too far behind as Russell thwarted any comeback hopes when he poked in a rebound to make the score 7-3. Senior Marc Gresko scored his third goal of the season, unassisted at 6:11, moving the Icers' lead to 8-3. The Icers changed goalies at 8:39, bring in Andy Dumas to replace Gray. Dumas gave up one goal at 13:35 to former ICHL All-Star Scott Miller, narrowning the final score to 8-4.

"I'm not completely pleased overall," Battista said. "This week we'll have to work on our checking and self control."

This weekend the Icers finish the regular season with two games at home against Niagara.

"We're going to have to play Niagara disciplined if we're going to beat them," Battista said. "We won't be able to take penalties like we did (this weekend.)"