Home-field advantage usually works against the visiting team. But the standing-room-only crowds in the ice pavilion last weekend were just the atmosphere that visiting Michigan-Dearborn has come to expect.

"They love to play at Penn State -- it spurs them to play better," said Wolverine Coach Dave Rostik. "Our school is a commuter school and our games are not as big. They like it here because they like to show off in front of a big crowd."

The Wolverines, who last year came into the ice pavilion and beat Penn State in the ACHA National Tournament, gave the crowd something to cheer about this weekend as they pressured the Icers in two of the season's closest games.

But, the Wolverines had their share of shortcomings, which prevented them from passing the Icers up on the scoreboard.

After losing six of their top scorers to graduation last season, the Wolverines lack the depth that the Icers now enjoy. As a result, the Wolverines only had three lines to rotate against the Icers' four.

"The advantage . . . is totally with Penn State," Rostik said. "We have enough players to make four lines but our fourth line is not good enough to face up to tough teams. We're rotating only three lines and our players get very tired."

Wolverine forward Joe Fazekas, who scored one goal in the first game, said he was amazed at the Icers' depth.

"We never realized it before these games, but every shift we'd look out and another line would just keep coming at us and coming at us," Fazekas said.

Another strategy that may have worked to the Wolverines disadvantage was Rostik's choice to start second-string goalie Brian Guillery in Friday's game instead of starter Joe Aho. Rostik expected Saturday's game to be the closer of the two, in which case Aho could make the winning difference.

"It was a mental thing," Rostik said. "Because it was a home game for Penn State, I thought if they won on Friday night, they would go out and celebrate with girlfriends and friends and would be weaker on Saturday, giving us a closer match.

"This didn't happen though -- it was an error in my judgement."

On Friday, the Wolverines took the lead in the second minute of the game and skated neck-and-neck with the Icers until the third period, scoring four goals to the Icers' seven. On Saturday though, they were only able to squeeze two goals past the Icers, who dominated with seven.

Both teams and coaches agreed that the games were exciting and enjoyable. But Icer coach Joe Battista said the games scare him because the two teams may meet again at Nationals.

"We haven't had to play the tough games that they've had to play on a regular basis," Battista said. "On any given night, they could win."

However, Rostik, whose team is ranked second in the Central States League and fifth in the ACHA, said that after "playing them all," he hasn't seen a team as good as Penn State.

"Penn State is the best thing we've played all year. They're No. 1 and they deserve to be."