Now, if I were a superstitious person, I would be hiding in fear from the seven years of bad luck that are sure to follow an episode like that.

In the same way, the No. 1 Penn State Icers had not won a game in Michigan for the past three years. Every year on the last weekend of January, they have made the trip to play at No. 10 Eastern Michigan and No. 3 Michigan-Dearborn, and each year they have been plagued by misfortune.

Now, if I were a superstitious person, I would have expected the Icers to come back last weekend from their visit to Michigan with a loss and a tie.

I'm not a superstitious person.

Before the games this past weekend, I spoke with Icers defenseman Buff Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth is a rather large individual -- standing 5-foot-10 and weighing 200 pounds. He is one of the team's captains, and is looked to by the players to provide an emotional spark before games. Therefore, I wasn't really ready for his answer when I asked, "What are you expecting on this trip?"

"I really don't know what to expect," Shuttleworth said.

"We've lost five of the last seven games we've played against Michigan-Dearborn, and we haven't won at Michigan for the past few years. Hockey has a lot of superstitions. This is going to be a very rough weekend for us."

I didn't want to accept that. From the way Shuttleworth was talking, it was almost as if he was expecting the losses. It sounds like their fear of superstitions is really what prevented them from winning.

I just kept thinking, how could a team that is 19-2, as it was at that point, be so superstitious? Then I looked back to Penn State's 1997-98 schedule.

When the Icers played Michigan-Dearborn at home in a two-game series last season, they won the first game 10-0 then dropped the next 5-3. When they played the two-game home series against Eastern Michigan last season, Penn State won both times, 4-0 and 10-1, respectively.

In late January of last season, the Icers made the trip to the Great Lakes state and lost a 1-0 nail-biter to the Wolves and 7-3 to the Eagles.

After returning from the trip this year, Penn State coach Joe Battista sounded as if he was pleased with his team's performance in Michigan. Although he knew his team needs to get back on the winning track, he sounded as if a 4-2 loss to the Wolves and a 4-4 tie to the Eagles were decent outings.

"This was our first point in Michigan in three years," Battista said. "I was very pleased that we actually rose to the occasion after the game against Dearborn."

I wouldn't exactly call a 4-4 tie "rising to the occasion."

But, to the Icers' credit, the team was racked with injuries. Defenseman Scott Curry and forward Alon Eizenman played with wrist injuries, and forward C.J. Patrick had ankle and knee injuries and should not have played, but did anyway.

If I was superstitious, I would get chills after learning that Eizenman could not play last year because of a wrist injury and that goaltender Anthony Annexy injured his shoulder.

As I said before, I'm not superstitious.

But, apparently most of the hockey world is. What the Icers need is a nice homecoming after the rough road trip to shake out the spookies. Conveniently, they will be playing two games this weekend on home ice against Delaware, which they have already beaten twice this year.

The Icers should be able to breathe easier now that they are back home. And now they have another whole year to work out their superstitions.

Buying a lucky rabbit's foot before next year's Michigan trip would not be the way to start.