If revenge is sweet, the Icers should head straight to the dentist.

The ice hockey team (23-5-1) beat Ohio University (16-7) 7-1 last night at the Ice Pavilion in its opening game of the American Collegiate Hockey League National Championship.

The win avenged a 5-4 overtime loss to the Bobcats in the Nittany Lion Invitational. Penn State had outshot Ohio 48-20 in that game but finished a distant second in taking advantage of opportunities.

"We had a very good game plan," said Coach Joe Battista of last night's game. "We watched the game tape from the Nittany Lion Invitational about 10 times. We knew what we had to do and worked real hard. I can't say enough about how proud I am of the way the kids executed the game plan."

Penn State controlled play for most of the first period, outshooting Ohio 16-10. Forward Ross Cowan opened the scoring at 4:15 with a power play goal on a rebound off a Scott Mangene blast. At 15:36 Chris Cervellero made it 2-0 with another power play goal when he took a Geoff Martha cross-ice pass and put it past goalie Mike Klecar. Klecar kept the Bobcats in the game as he came up big on many occasions in the period, including on several Icer breakaways.

In the second period Penn State put the game away. Senior forward Andy McLaughlin scored at 2:31 to make it 3-0. Cowan soon followed at 5:19 with a breakaway goal off a Mike Messner pass out of the Icers' zone. Chris Cervellero and Brad Russell each added goals to give Penn State a commanding 6-0 lead after two periods. The Icers outshot Ohio in the period 15-2.

The teams each scored a goal in the third period. The Bobcats' Pete Walker scored at 6:08 to end goalie John Gray's bid for a shutout. Forward Chris Cervellero completed his hat trick and closed out the scoring at 7:29 when he put home the rebound off a Mangene shot.

The team defense and the goaltending stood out for the Icers. Gray made big saves the entire game, especially when the game was still in doubt in the first period.

The team was satisfied with their overall performance. For the game they oushot Ohio 43-23.

"It was our best defensive effort all season, especially by the forwards," said senior co-captain Messner.

"We're real pleased with the way we dominated the game," Battista said. "I don't think they ever had a chance."

In other games yesterday, Michigan-Dearborn blasted Navy, 7-2; Arizona tied North Dakota State, 6-6; and Eastern Michigan tied Iowa State, 6-6.