National title on ice

Healthy roster helps Icers capture first-ever national championship

Going into the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament last week with the chance for his first national championship in eight years, Penn State ice hockey coach Joe Battista prayed. He didn't pray for goals or wins or a national title, but for something simpler.

"You don't know how much I prayed," he said. "I didn't pray for wins. All I asked was to let us be healthy."

Battista's prayers were answered and his players took care of the rest.

And more importantly to Battista, for perhaps the first time ever, the Icers went into nationals with a healthy roster. Even though the team had to play a hellish four games in four days to win it all, the roster remained intact throughout -- except for the occasional bumps and bruises.

That in itself was a personal victory for a team that has seen many of its best players go down with one or two games remaining in previous national tournaments, leaving huge holes that couldn't be filled in the lineup.

"It was incredible," said forward Ed Bursich. "Just dominating all four games was great."

The game quickly focused on the goaltenders as Penn State's John Sixt and Iowa State's Rob Howitt put on a show between the pipes. Backed by a boisterous crowd, the Cyclones tested Sixt early and often, but the junior netminder was up to the task. Howitt came up big for the Cyclones as well.

The game remained scoreless for nearly two periods before Alon Eizenman got the Icers on the board.

The Icers eventually wore down the Cyclones with their constant pressure from all four lines. And by the time the score was 4-0, the Icers were confident they'd be playing in the championship game the next day. But Sixt wanted to make sure he put the final nail in Iowa State's coffin.

"(The fans) were on my case the whole time," Sixt said. "I just tried to shut them up."

The home crowd went crazy thinking that Poli had scored. They even started playing the Iowa State fight song. But when Sixt stood up after the play, he offered the puck to the ref in a nonchalant manner. Calm, cool and collected, Sixt had stood his ground.

"Honestly, I couldn't believe I stopped it, either," Sixt said. "It all happened so fast, I guess I made it look dramatic. I knew it was in my glove the whole time."

The win against Iowa State placed the No. 1 Icers in the championship game against No. 2 Ohio, which had won the national title the past three years in a row. But with the combination of a healthy and confident Icer squad and an Ohio lineup plagued by injuries and fatigue, the outcome wasn't as close as a usual championship game.

Forward Rob Shaner led the Icers to victory by scoring three goals and adding an assist in the game. The Icers were so dominant that the game's outcome was decided by the end of the second period.

Battista said the ending of the tournament was a little anticlimactic because the Iowa State matchup and the championship game were decided early on, but it was fine by him. He said he'd take wins like that any day.

"It was a thorough dismantling of two very good hockey teams in the last two games," Battista said. "We didn't just want to win the championship for us, but for the teams over the past three or four years that went (to the final rounds) and were not healthy."

And after many years of disappointment, the Icers can finally say they were the last ones standing.