The Icers were hosting a tournament they had won for six straight years and were riding a 10-game winning streak. They had a third-period lead in front of 1,311 raucous fans. And for the moment, their No. 1 ranking was on the line.

But just as that shot eluded Sixt, so too did the NLIT Championship as the No. 1 Icers (19-2-0) dropped a 5-3 decision to No. 2 Iowa State (23-4-2).

"We just didn't get breaks," Icers forward Alon Eizenman said. "We hit a lot of iron today, a lot of posts. We played an all right game and (Iowa State) played well. They are a good team."

The Cyclones showed no ill effects from their 16-hour bus ride to Happy Valley, jumping on No. 5 Towson (17-5-2) with an 11-6 win in Friday's first-round matchup.

Their legs were swift and they utilized an abundance of team speed to set up scoring chances.

"Our team's a very explosive team," Iowa State coach Al Murdoch said. "At any given point in time anybody can score. We're very, very young. But with a young team anybody can come to the surface and play really well."

Tournament MVP, Iowa State freshman goalie Dan Lavoie, stopped 37 of 40 shots against the Icers, including a feverish fury by Penn State late in the third period.

"We have trouble finishing scoring chances," Icers coach Joe Battista said. "We're not a great offensive hockey team and we did not play great defense today."

After falling behind 2-0, the Icers, who beat Erie 3-1 Friday in their first-round game, stormed back. Defenseman Jason Zivkovic redeemed himself with a power-play goal two minutes after inadvertently setting up Iowa State with a three-on-none breakaway that ended with a goal by Cyclones forward Darren Anderson.

Less than two minutes after Zivkovic's goal, Penn State knotted it at 2-2 on a wacky play. Icers defenseman Don Coyne cleared the puck into the Iowa State zone. It would have drawn a whistle for icing, but the puck hit the boards and caromed into the slot where forward Rich Podulka came upon it and fired on net. Lavoie denied Podulka, but forward Rob Shaner snagged the rebound and beat him.

The Icers began the third period with a power play that carried over from the second. Twenty-two seconds into the third, forward C.J. Patrick smoked a slapshot past Lavoie giving Penn State its first lead of the game, 3-2.

"When we were up 3-2, we were all over them," Battista said. "It really looked like we were going to run them out of the rink."

But Lavoie held the deficit at one. His counterpart Sixt couldn't equal Lavoie's task. With more than 14 minutes remaining Sixt allowed his second soft goal of the game.

Iowa State forward Sean Strama threaded a shot through Sixt's five hole from a bad angle. It was another seemingly harmless attempt that found the back of the net.

Then, with 6:09 remaining, Iowa State forward Brian Paolello scored the game winner and his second of the game. His first had come on the slapper that popped out of Sixt's glove.

Forward Jeff Smith tallied an empty-netter to up the final score to 5-3.

In perhaps his worst performance this season, Sixt shouldered the blame for Penn State's first loss in the NLIT since 1992.

"I can't be letting those goals in -- bottom line," he said. "That's not what I'm here for. I got to come up with those saves. We don't beat a team like that. Today just wasn't a day to remember."

However, Battista backed his goalie, saying Sixt is not yet back to top form after his stint in the hospital three weeks ago.

"He's got to get healthy and he's got to get his confidence back," Battista said. "That comes from just going back out there and jumping back into the fray. I chose to play him tonight because I still have all the faith in the world in him."

Tourney tidbits:

Towson took third place with a 5-4 win over Erie in the consolation game … The All-Tournament team was composed of Darcy Anderson (F, Iowa St.), Patrick, Paolello, Todd Dakan (F, Penn St.), Dan Callihan (D, Towson) and Greg Jones (D, Iowa St.).