The ice hockey club (22-4-3) lost for the first time in the spring semester, splitting two games with Niagara College (9-10-3).

The Icers, now 11-1-3 this semester, barely got by the Knights 3-2 on Friday and were shut out 3-0 on Saturday.

"I'm confident now -- I feel good, the team feels good and that's what's important," Niagara coach Fred Bassi said after Saturday's game.

In Friday's game, Chris Cervellero scored the game-winning goal with 45 seconds left as Penn State nipped the Knights.

The scoring on opened with Andy McLaughlin's 24th goal of the season, which came midway through the first period. A streaking Matt Hoffman passed in front of the net to McLaughlin, who tipped it in the air by Niagara goalie Mike Tichnovich.

The Icers failed to capitalize on a 10-minute power play which came when Niagara's Chris Klauk received a double-major and a game misconduct when he kicked Rich Filar in the face. Filar left the ice with a gash on his chin but was able to return.

Lance Parcher tied the game with just over a minute left in the second period when he was able to slip by Hoffman and put the puck by Icer goalie John Gray.

Niagara took the lead in the third period when Kent Loach got a pass in front and beat Gray.

"The key word was frustration," Chris Cervellero said. "We had a lot of opportunities in the first period and on the power play and we just couldn't score the goals."

"We just needed something to turn it around," defenseman Mike Messner said.

Messner turned the game around, when he took a pass at the point from Bob Kokal faked out a defender and scorched a shot by Tichnovich.

"It gave everybody the little boost and spark that they needed," Cervellero said. "I know it did that for our line --I couldn't wait to get back on the ice."

Then, Geoff Martha took matters into his own hands with under a minute left to go in the game. He took the puck out of Penn State's zone, avoided three defenders and passed to Cervellero, who scored his 22nd goal of the year.

The star of Saturday's game was Niagara goalie John Bacik who stopped all 32 of the Icers' shots.

"You've got to hand it to their goalie -- he was phenomenal today," Coach Joe Battista said after the game.

Three minutes into the game Niagara's Mike Dweeden took a shot on goal that glanced off of the padding of Penn State goalie Mark O'Brien. The puck went up in the air and the senior goaltender couldn't find it until Niagara's Chris Smith pushed it by him.

After a scoreless second period, the Knights' Dan Ruetz took advantage of a breakaway and scored with 11:32 gone in the third stanza. Seven minutes later Ken Bilodeau finished the scoring with a wrist shot past O'Brien.

"Those two goals that we gave up at the end were a result of the fact that we were pressing so hard to get a goal," Battista said."You can't win with zero."

Niagara, the defending International Collegiate Hockey League champion, gained momentum for the ICHL playoffs with the victory. The Knights needed strong goaltending this weekend and they got it with Bacick and Tichnovich, who made 30 saves on Friday.

"I think we have a good chance of at least defending our title with honor," Bassi said. "It was a nice weekend."