Patrick, a senior captain who is tied for the team lead in goals with forward Alon Eizenman at 18, attributes his recent success to simply letting loose.

"I'm having a lot of fun now on the ice," he said. "Before, I used to get so worried about how I was going to perform. But now, I just play."

Icers' coach Joe Battista agreed with Patrick's simple answer.

"C.J. has always possessed the offensive ability to put up these kind of numbers," he said. "But he has been snake bitten in the past. The goals he's been scoring now have hit the post in the last couple years. Now they're going in."

Dakan, who is just behind Eizenman and Patrick with 16 goals, said his offensive outburst of late is probably due to having had some time off to recuperate and rest.

"I think it's been really nice to get a nice, long break," he said. "We've had a chance to heal our bumps and bruises. There's really no secret behind the weekend C.J. and I had, things just went in for us."

West Virginia coach Ty Newberry said there certainly was no secret behind the forwards' success. He knew about Dakan and Patrick coming into University Park and there definitely was a reason for their play.

"They're both excellent hockey players," Newberry said. "It's hard to pick a player out from Penn State because they're all good. But Todd and C.J. never stop moving and that's why they dominate."

Battista said in addition to keeping his players constantly moving, he recently told his Icers to take more wrist shots instead of slow, predictable slap shots. Thankfully for Battista, his players have listened and their actions have paid huge dividends.

"They've been catching goaltenders before they can get set," Battista said of Dakan and Patrick. "They're pulling the trigger without hesitating anymore and it's very good to see."

Battista, as if he was doing the announcing for the video game himself, summed up the weekend play of Dakan and Patrick in one ever-so-popular phrase.

"They're on fire."