Goalie situation leaving Icers' coach Battista with big dilemma on his hands

By CARLA MOTKO
Collegian Staff Writer

With around two minutes left in the overtime period of Saturday's Penn State-Delaware game, a shot came from center ice and Icers goaltender Anthony Annexy watched as the puck floated toward him. He saw it sputter on the rough ice and take a weird turn. He twisted to glove it but it trickled by.

The entire No. 3 Penn State men's hockey team cringed as the puck hit the right post and danced along the goal crease. Then, as it floated out of the goal to where Annexy could cover it, the Icers breathed a sigh of relief.

At that time, the 1,247 fans in the Ice Pavilion at Greenberg Sports Complex began to wonder what had happened to Annexy.

The answer, according to Penn State coach Joe Battista, was a short-handed goal that got by Annexy with only three seconds left in the second period that cut the Icers' 2-0 lead in half.

"That goal was a killer in terms of momentum," Battista said. "I think after that happened, you could tell he wasn't the same. He wouldn't let it go, he was thinking about and letting it bother him."

Similarly, Friday night, just 48 seconds into the game, Delaware put a puck past John Sixt, giving the Blue Hens a quick 1-0 lead and taking the life out of Penn State's fans.

However, as opposed to Annexy, Sixt was able to move on, continue to play the game and stop the next 22 shots in the 4-1 Penn State win. Battista said it was because Sixt has always been both a mentally as well as physically strong player.

Friday's win for the Icers was especially key for Sixt, as it was his first in net since they played West Virginia in mid-January. The senior goalie had been in a bit of a slump after an illness during an early January road trip to Arizona.

Sixt lost quite a bit of weight during the illness, and is still on the road to complete recovery. Because of this, he knows there is room for improvement.

"I'll take (the win), but I'm not gonna be happy with it," Sixt said Friday. "I got lucky a few times out there. We have a lot of work to do, but it's a step in the right direction."

Although it could not be seen in his play Friday, Sixt appears to still be lacking the confidence he had before the trip to Arizona, just as Annexy appeared to lack confidence after giving up the goal late in the second period of Saturday's game.

Rebuilding that confidence could take a bit longer for the goalies because of Battista's goalie rotation system. Both goalies are seniors and both have nearly the same playing abilities, so Battista has the goalies split playing time -- a system which might potentially be unnerving to a goalie coming off a good win.

The split in the playing time also leaves the question: Who will start in net come nationals?

Battista doesn't have an answer.

"I hope one of them steps up, takes the reigns and proves he wants to be the No. 1 guy," Battista said. "I think they're both very skilled players, and we'll have to see what happens in practice before I decide."

Despite the shared playing time, however, the goalies say there is no rivalry between them for a starting position.

"Me and Johnny are very professional about everything," Annexy said. "If I'm playing well he sticks up for me, and when he's playing well I'm his biggest fan.

"The way we've been playing all season is that whoever is the hot goalie at that time is going to get to play. You just have to expect to be playing."