Icers hurdle Iowa State, begin new year No. 1

The Penn State ice hockey team began the new year with a new No. 1 ranking in the ACHA. After chasing Iowa State for the No. 1 spot the entire season, the Icers finally jumped into the top spot because of several strong showings in late 1997, coupled with two Iowa State losses.

The Icers (15-3, 12-1 ACHA) began the second half of the season with a three-day road trip to New York to face ACHA rival SUNY-Buffalo, NCAA Div. III SUNY-Fredonia and Erie Community College. The Icers should have no problems hanging on to their No. 1 ranking as they sandwiched a 6-2 loss to Fredonia on Saturday night between wins against Buffalo, 8-2, and Erie, 7-2.

Forward Joe Bassett led the way for the Icers yesterday during their win over Erie (8-6-1) by netting a hat trick. In what turned out to be a common occurrence throughout the three-game road trip, the Icers outshot their opponent 53-12. Icer coach Joe Battista said his team had no problem creating chances during the entire road trip, but converting on those chances was another story. The Icers peppered opposing goalies with 144 shots during the road trip but only came away with 17 goals.

"I don't know what to say," Battista said. "We generated a lot of chances. We just didn't capitalize."

The long layoff during the winter break may have been partly to blame. A grueling practice schedule leading up to the weekend games could have had an impact as well. But against Fredonia, two other factors were key: fresh legs and a hot goalie.

While the Icers arrived in Fredonia after playing the night before in Buffalo, the Blue Devils were well rested. The first period was evenly matched, but as the night wore on, the Icers slowed down.

Fredonia opened the scoring in the first period, but Icer forward Jeff Adams answered right back with a breakaway goal just 33 seconds later to tie the game at one. The Blue Devils escaped the period with a one-goal lead, however, when a puck that Icer goaltender John Sixt looked to have frozen underneath him found its way over the goal line.

The Blue Devils came out smoking in the second period. While the Fredonia offense scored four more times in the second frame, Blue Devil goalie Kevin Stone was busy at the other end making sure the Icer offense couldn't do the same. Stone made several spectacular saves to keep Penn State off the scoreboard in the second to secure a 6-1 lead.

"We didn't play that bad," Battista said. "We had plenty of scoring chances. He (Stone) had us talking to ourselves, literally."

Stone's performance brought back memories for Battista of the goalie's efforts last year against the Icers. Stone somehow stopped what looked to be a sure goal for Rich Martha on a four-on-three power play and took away much of Penn State's momentum.

With Stone looking to be just as solid Saturday night, the Icers' goal was to just win the third period, which they did. They outshot the Blue Devils 12-9 and outscored them 1-0.

"That was not one of our better games as a defensive team," Battista said. "Every mistake we made, they capitalized on."

Penn State made short work of the Thundering Herd (10-4-1) Friday night. The Icers kept Buffalo in check the entire game and outshot them by a wide margin, 50-11. Penn State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. Icer defenseman Paul Shuttleworth paced the Penn State attack with two goals. Don Coyne and Alon Eizenman each added a goal and two assists. Anthony Annexy was between the pipes for Penn State.

Notes:

-- The Icers lost forward Jonathan Dohanich with a severe knee injury in the game against Buffalo. While further examinations will be done when the team returns to State College, Battista speculated that the sophomore could have an MCL tear.

-- The team added two new players to the roster for the spring semester. Chris Riley is a freshman transfer from Merrimack College. Riley, from Lynnfield, Mass., is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound forward. Brad Hamel, 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, will join the defensive corps. Hamel, a Vermont native, began his career at the University of Vermont before coming to Penn State.