It all adds up: Four-line offense is charm for Icers

Sometimes it all boils down to simple math.

The Icers used four lines of offense during their championship run at the ACHA national tournament. Most of their opponents only used three. Penn State was bound to wear down the opposition with line matchups like that in their favor. The question wasn't if, but when.

The math definitely worked out for the Icers in Iowa as the team mowed down its competition for four straight days and won a national title for the first time in eight years.

"In terms of team defense we were outstanding," head coach Joe Battista said.

The most impressive Icer line during the four games in Iowa was the line of Mike Pietrangelo, Jeff Adams and Tom Westfall. The three seniors played together for most of this season and last and showed great chemistry in Iowa.

Adams, who, listed as a generous 5-foot-7, was the shortest forward on the team, was the skilled playmaker. He was flanked by Pietrangelo and Westfall, who tower over their setup man, standing 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5, respectively.

The three combined to score 11 of the team's 28 goals during the tournament. Even more impressive was the fact that the line was not on the ice for any goals against in the four games.

"We had a lot of points," Pietrangelo said. "We just happened to peak at the right time."

For his part, Pietrangelo was named tournament MVP. The senior from Philadelphia was fourth on the team in scoring this season and banged home some key goals in the tournament. Battista said Pietrangelo was a key member of the offense all season long, not just in the tournament.

"He was outstanding all week long," Battista said. "He's always been the go-to guy for us this year. But you can't measure his contributions just in points."

Pietrangelo was on the ice for every kind of situation for the team this season. He played the power play, penalty kill and took key faceoffs in the defensive zone late in games.

The Icers three other lines in the tournament also lived up to expectations. The checking line of Brent Brower, C.J. Patrick and Greg Held had the difficult job of matching up with the opposition's top scoring line in every game. But the line held up fine under the pressure of nationals by not giving up a single goal.

"They did a great job of neutralizing the other teams' top line," Pietrangelo said.

The line of Alon Eizenman, Todd Dakan and Bursich scored seven goals in the tournament, including four by Bursich in the opening game of the tournament against Arizona. The other scoring line consisted of a rotation of Joe Bassett, Shaner, Rich Podulka and Jurgen Cautreels. Shaner scored a hat trick in the championship game against Ohio, living up to his billing of getting big goals when it counts.

Shaner scored the overtime winner to beat Iowa State in the final of the Chicago Classic. He also netted the game-tying goal against Ohio during the regular season that eventually allowed the Icers to take the No. 1 seed at nationals.

"He had one of those years," Battista said. "In the big games he made the big plays."

Of course, the same could be said of the rest of the Icer offense this season.

Championship notes:

Besides grabbing the tournament MVP, Pietrangelo was a first-team all-tournament selection along with goaltender John Sixt and defenseman Don Coyne. Adams was named to the second team, while Jason Zivkovic, Bursich, Eizenman and Shaner were honorable mentions .