Icers sweep series with Delaware

Penn State coach Joe Battista knew after the Icers lost their last two ACHA games on a road trip through Michigan that his team had to win against Delaware this weekend to hold its position among the top six teams in the conference.

"These games were like playoff games for us," Battista said. "In the latest rankings we were fourth and Delaware was sixth, so these were important victories."

Icer Mike Pietrangelo sandwiched goals around one by Delaware's Christian Bellino to give the Icers a one-goal lead after the first period. Pietrangelo scored his first goal from the left faceoff circle, firing a shot Delaware goalie Bill Morrison got a piece of but not enough to keep from trickling over the goal line.

Bellino tied the game at one, stealing the puck from Jurgen Cautreels at the blue line and carrying the puck to the left wing boards and firing a high slap shot past Icer goaltender John Sixt. Pietrangelo broke the tie on a power play, deflecting a point shot by Don Coyne past Morrison for his 14th goal of the season.

Jason Zivkovic scored twice in the second period to up the Icers' lead to 4-1. Jason Dickey recorded assists on both goals. What had been a close game was blown open in the third period, as Penn State scored three more goals to put away Delaware. Dickey, Brian Rolli and Tom Kozlik each scored for the Icers in the final stanza.

Penn State was especially effective in shutting down Delaware's high-scoring center Paul Pipke. The checking line of C.J. Patrick, Andrew Barnes and Rich Martha held him pointless in both games.

Saturday's contest saw the Icers jump out to a commanding five-goal lead. But the Blue Hens came back to score three unanswered goals of their own, cutting the lead to two. Penalties played a large part in their comeback, as they scored two power-play goals to get back in the game.

Patrick opened the scoring for the Icers one minute and six seconds into the game, stuffing a shot past Morrison for a 1-0 lead. Dickey then scored one of the prettiest goals of the season on a great individual play. He raced through center and over the blue line, sliding the puck between a defenseman's legs, then rifling a shot past Morrison high to the glove side to complete the solo effort.

Second period goals by Barnes, Cautreels and Coyne built the Icers' lead to five. After Cautreels' goal, Delaware made a goaltending change, as Morrison was pulled for Ryan Brown. He was tested early but came up strong, stopping Pietrangelo from in close and Dickey on a breakaway.

As the lead looked to be safe, Penn State made a goaltending change of its own, replacing Sixt with Anthony Annexy with almost 10 minutes gone in the second period.

Trouble began for the Icers three minutes into the third, as Delaware finally got on the board. Tom Weyerman scored on a shot that seemed to change direction on the way to goal. Four and a half minutes later, the Blue Hens struck again, this time on the power play.

Christian Gingras banged home a shot past the stick of Annexy. Then, after two consecutive Icer penalties, the Blue Hens scored on a five-on-three advantage, as Damian Borichevsky fired a slap shot from the point past Annexy.

After the third Delaware goal, the Icers seemed to settle down, not giving the Blue Hens any more opportunities. An empty-net goal by Dickey, his team-leading 20th goal of the season, iced the victory for Penn State.

"It's really been going my way all year," Dickey said. "The bounces have just been coming up my way. I've had my chances all year, but I didn't think I'd have this many goals at this point (of my career)."

After the game, Battista was pleased with his team's efforts in both contests, though he was not happy with the lack of discipline he saw in Saturday's game.

"We played a great game on Friday night, a very, very thorough victory," he said. "We're getting a lot of scoring lately, and that's going to be important for us. We're still playing great defensively as well. There is only one thing that can keep this team from playing at its peak and that is if they take these penalties that they don't need to take. If we can keep our cool, we're going to be a tough team to beat."