All Icer Coach Joe Battista ever wanted was a chance for his team. A chance for the Icers to ascend to the varsity level and play some tough teams.

But with the way that gender equity is now being interpreted -- the Big Ten's 60/40 proportionality rule is used at Penn State -- it is highly unlikely that the Icers will become varsity in the near future.

That is a shame.

The Icers have shown they can succeed with limited help from the athletic department. In 1984, the team won the National Invitational Championship.

Then, in 1990, Penn State proved it had a quality ice hockey program with its second national championship.

This year could provide the hat trick for the Icers, as the team has compiled a 16-3-1 record thus far. The record goes quite nicely with the team's No. 1 American Collegiate Hockey Association ranking.

The Icers handily thrashed Scranton on Jan. 10, a Division III hockey team. Also on the road, the Icers almost beat Mercyhurst, a top Div. II team.

As a varsity team, the Icers would be able to play against teams like Mercyhurst and Div. III Hobart more often. Right now, the Icers have gathered an outstanding team, especially considering they can't offer any scholarships.

Penn State sells itself to athletes who want to receive a balanced education, as well as compete. The fact that the Icers have been able to be competitive with those limitations is a testament to the team's coaching staff.

Battista said he has gotten offers to coach at a higher level, but he has stuck with the Icers.

And just look at some of the players that Battista and company have been able to bring to Penn State:

-- Freshman Jeff Adams, last season's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Western Pennsylvania Player of the Year, led his high school team to two state championships.

-- Sophomore Rich Martha was recruited to play hockey at Union, a Div. I team.

-- Sophomore Steve Hajek, a defenseman, who played Div. I hockey at Western Michigan.

With a little help -- like the promise of being able to play a powerhouse like Michigan -- the Icers could bring even more recruits and success.

But Penn State hasn't gotten that help.

"The frustration of those of us involved with Penn State hockey is that we'd just like the chance," Battista said. "All we want is the opportunity to show that we could do it, and we've never really gotten that opportunity."

But Battista won't be rattling the cage with attempts of turning the Icers into a varsity team -- he's not like that. It's not part of his personality.

"Nobody in our organization is of the mindset that we ought to be raising a ruckus, threatening to sue the University for reverse discrimination," Battista said. "That's just not our style. We are team players."

But maybe he should be shaking things up. The Icers deserve to be a varsity squad. They've proven that they can win without much financial support -- they do most of their own fundraising. And they could do so much more as an independent Div. I team.

The Icers would be able to produce some revenue for the school, something a lot of sports cannot do.

For now, Battista will just continue to produce winners for the fans who pack the ice pavilion week in and week out -- something many of the teams the athletic department deems varsity fail to do.