Lady Icers start strong before faltering at tourney

Ask Lady Icer goalie Missy Werner how it felt to record her first-ever shutout, and she'll respond with modesty, but not without jubilance.

"I had a lot of fun. It was very exciting," Werner said. "It was a lot of my team, though. They pretty much kept (the puck) in the other zone."

Werner's shutout, a 10-0 drubbing of Syracuse on the first day of the All East Women's College Club Championship Tournament at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., allowed the team to shake off early anxiety. It did not prove enough of a wake-up call, though, as the team faltered in its two games Saturday against Massachusetts and Trinity College. They never faced eventual tournament champion North Country Community College.

The onslaught continued into the evening, as the Icers were blanked 8-0 by a tenacious Trinity team.

Despite the losses, the coaching staff remains optimistic.

"I was very pleased with our team's performance," said Icer coach Jessica Ferrer. "We played some teams that could go varsity soon. They have an established backbone, something we are trying to achieve."

Several team members spoke of the loose officiating that plagued the teams throughout the tournament. A new environment with different rule interpretations allowed the Icers to accurately compare the officials in State College with those at Clarkson.

"Here in State College, (the referees) are very strict," Zajko said. "Up (in Clarkson), if you shove someone into the boards or hit someone, they let it go. They let a lot of things go in front of the net, too."

A coaches' meeting called on Saturday afternoon addressed the officiating issue, focusing on the physical contact and lack of positioning of the referees. Ferrer said if the loose penalty-calling had continued, the game could have become more aggressive, resulting in fights.

"Positioning is important," Ferrer said. "The refs weren't quick to get to their positions."

The confusion, although obvious and at times frustrating, allowed the players to learn how hockey is played in other parts of the country. Ferrer cited it as an example of what the Icers need to learn in order to succeed in other such tournaments.

She observed the differences in both the Massachusetts and Trinity games and noticed that physical play helped to contribute to both teams' successes.

"They played a physical game," Ferrer said. "There is a fine line of how physical you can be in women's hockey, and we are still learning that. The level of competition was a lot higher, much more physical."