With the cheers of a packed crowd resounding through the arena, Icer Rob Keegan simply pumped his fist through the air.

The Penn State forward had just scored his fourth goal of the night en route to Saturday night's 9-3 victory over No. 9 Towson State (16-6) in the Nittany Lion Invitational tournament championship game.

Keegan captured the tournament MVP award on the strength of a truly remarkable two-game performance. His six goals and two assists led No. 3 Penn State (14-7) to victory in both the championship game and Friday's 7-2 triumph over Rhode Island in the tournament semifinal.

"All my goals were basically easy ones," Keegan said. "The guys got me the puck and all I had to do was shoot it into an empty net."

The championship game did not begin well for Penn State. Towson, which had advanced to the championship round as a result of its 8-7 overtime win over Kent State Friday, took a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by defenseman Chris Cinquanto. But then the Icers came alive. And forward John Farrall was a major part of the turnaround.

"I can't say enough about what Johnny Farrall did for us today," Coach Joe Battista said. "Our team was very flat in the first period, but Johnny gave us the jump start we needed with his hustle, his effort, and his enthusiasm on the bench."

Farrall was named to the all-tournament team for his one-goal, six-assist performance in two games. His blast from just inside the blue line gave the Icers a 2-1 first period lead over Towson. A lead they would never relinquish.

Penn State's 7-2 win over Rhode Island was a thorough and complete victory. After Rhode Island forward Tom DiBiase cut the Icer lead to 2-1 with a goal early in the second period, Penn State exploded. The Icers scored four times in eight minutes, taking an insurmountable 6-1 lead into the second intermission.

"I didn't think this was a 7-2 game," Rhode Island Coach Joe Augustine said. "For that stretch in the second period, we couldn't get out of our own way. We should have went into the locker room for eight minutes."

But the Icers fine display of hockey was overshadowed by the ugly events that took place moments after the game. As both teams were going through the post-game handshakes at center ice, Rhode Island forward Art Hughes punched Penn State forward Darren Wegner. Fights broke out around the ice and suspensions resulted from the mele.

Hughes was suspended for four games for the incident, and teammates Rob Mencunas, Mike Navoian, and Garret Bodington were each suspended for two games. Icer Cliff Graziano was suspended four games for his part in the altercation, and teammates Eddie Kmit and Mark Cervellero each received a two game suspension.

The tournament consolation game was won by Rhode Island 8-7. Both the Rams and Icers played Saturday's games without the suspended players, who all began serving their bans immediately.

Notes:

-- The Icers jumped to No. 3 in the latest ACHA National poll. Ohio University remains No. 1 and Arizona rests at No. 2. North Dakota State drops to No. 4.

-- Michigan-Dearborn split two games with Arizona this weekend, dropping the first, 8-5, and winning the second, 3-2, in overtime. Eastern Michigan and Illinois split a pair of games this weekend, as did Iowa State and North Dakota State.