As the Penn State offense worked its magic at the far end of the ice, Derek Lecours was all alone.

The Icers goalkeeper stood crouched in his stance, banging his stick against the ice. And as the sharp sound pierced through the packed arena, his excitement was obvious.

And who could blame him? In only his second start of the season, Lecours was magnificent, stopping 27 of 28 shots in last Friday's 13-1 annihilation of West Virginia at the Ice Pavilion.

"I hadn't played in a game in a while, so it was great to be out there," Lecours said. "I feel like I've been practicing hard and I knew I could do the job, so I was happy to have the chance to do it."

Throughout the game, Lecours was consistently able to make the difficult saves look routine. And in a game that Penn State was never in jeopardy of losing, maintaining such a high level of concentration was no easy task.

Early in the second period, with the shutout still alive, Lecours completed a dazzling sequence of goaltending. After dropping to the ice to save the initial shot from the left side of the goal, the puck rebounded to the opposite side of the crease. There stood a West Virginia forward, about to end any hope of a shutout.

But before the forward could control the puck, Lecours swung his body to the open side of the net and deflected the puck out of harm's way.

"My heart was beating fast on that one," Lecours said. "Luckily I got there in time, but the guys did a great job of keeping them outside and so I was able to make the saves."

Lecours' performance may force Coach Joe Battista to find more playing time for the junior netminder. But the problem of having several capable goalkeepers, all playing well, is the type of quandry any coach would love to have.

"I was very pleased with the way Derek Lecours played in goal," Battista said. "I decided that it was time to give him a chance and I think he did extremely well."

The opportunity of recording a shutout disappeared midway through the third period, but the goal was no fault of Lecours.

"It was a shame that Derek lost his shutout," Battista said. "But I think the defense napped a little bit in giving up that breakaway."