The ranking committee must be composed of soothsayers.

The American Collegiate Hockey Association committee's top four coming into this past weekend were Michigan-Dearborn, North Dakota State, Iowa State and Penn State. After four days of hockey, those four teams indeed emerged, but not entirely as expected. Upstart Iowa State knocked off No. 1 Michigan-Dearborn to win the title.

Penn State upped its final rank to third after going 3-1 in the tournament. The Icers' only setback was Friday night's 8-5 loss to Dearborn. Saturday offered some consolation, though, as the Icers stuck it to North Dakota State 5-1 to take third.

In what was the final home appearance of five Icers, the team left nothing to fate by soundly thumping the Bison. Andy Dumas was a wall in goal, turning away 35 of 36 shots.

"The guys were diving all over the place blocking shots," Dumas said. "When the puck went back to the point, they were really clearing the guys out in front. It was a real team effort out there."

Captains Mike Messner and Geoff Martha, Andy McLaughlin, Rich Filar and Dumas all bid adieu to the Ice Pavilion.

"The whole game we kept saying, 'Hey, let's win it for the seniors,' " Coach Joe Battista said. "They came in with a win in this building. They are going out of this building with a win."

The team had no problem rallying after the Bison took an 1-0 lead early in the second period. That rally came in the form of two goals 19 seconds apart. Brad Russell scored on a slapshot to tie the game, immediately followed by Dave Murphy's breakaway goal. On Russell's goal, Messner's assist moved him into sole possession of first on the Icer all-time point list for defensemen. For his performance, Messner earned a spot on the first all-tournament team.

"We just decided we didn't want to lose no matter what," Messner said. "Third place feels so much better than fourth."

The Icers blew what had previously been a close game out of the water in the third period. Chris Cervellero converted a breakaway early in the third. Ross Cowan scored the tourney's prettiest goal when McLaughlin swiftly skated down the left side and sent a cross-ice pass to a streaking Cowan, who lifted it in. McLaughlin also snagged an empty-net goal after failed attempts by Cliff Graziano to hit the empty net. That goal moved McLaughlin into a tie for second on the Icer all-time scoring list.

Cowan made the all-tournament second team. Cervellero, Dumas and defenseman Geoff Martha earned honorable mentions.

The Icers were delegated to the consolation game following a tough 8-5 loss to Michigan-Dearborn.

In that game, Penn State took an early two-goal lead on the strength of Cervellero and McLaughlin goals. Cervellero's came only 12 seconds into the contest.

"We were crushed," Michigan-Dearborn Coach Dave Rosteck said. "We made some bad plays. If we wouldn't have come back in the first period, our heads would have been down, and we would have had a big problem."

The first period fun ended there. The rest of the period, the Icers looked like a fighter waiting for the bell to ring and allowed three goals.

The Icers were down by a 5-2 count coming out for the third, and mounted a mini-comeback in a desperate attempt to even the score.

"The thing offensively that we should have done is probably what they did, shoot the puck more," Battista said.

The closest margin was at 6-5. Dave Murphy scored a pair, and Erik Lightner added a slapshot goal. But the resurgence just wasn't enough. Penn State notched 19 shots in the period and probably had a greater number of bad bounces of the puck.