Emotional Ice Lions like night and day in two games

By MICHAEL YODER
Collegian Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH -- The Penn State Div. II men's ice hockey team performed a perfect rendition of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde as it showed two extremes in discipline and fundamentals this past weekend.

Friday, the Ice Lions (11-7-2) dominated Pittsburgh 2-0 in front of a vocal crowd. Saturday, Penn State performed a 180-degree turnaround by sinking into a physical and verbal battle with Indiana (Pa.), falling 6-3.

After two scoreless periods of defensive hockey Friday, Penn State came out and owned the third. Penn State captain Dan Horowitz scored the first goal of the game at the 8:35 mark, assisted by assistant captain Brad Webb. The second goal for Penn State came a few minutes later from forward Adam Lusin who was assisted by Nathan Steadman and Bill Henry.

One reason for the Ice Lions' success Friday may have been the various players who skated with injuries. Defenseman Corey Rudzinski fell on the ice in the third period rupturing his elbow and possibly tearing ligaments in his arm, but remained in the game and stopped a breakaway late in the period.

"I didn't even notice what I really did to my arm until after the game," Rudzinski said. "I just wanted a shutout for our goalie, so I kept playing."

If Friday's game proved to be a moral victory for Penn State, Saturday's game turned out to be a fiasco from the beginning.

"We didn't play hockey at all," Penn State coach Mo Stroemel said. "We thought we could be tough guys and intimidate (IUP), but we forgot to play hockey."

Penn State struck first with a goal by Lusin with an assist by Stephan Pinchak while the IUP goaltender was stranded outside the net. After that, IUP took over. At the 15:36 mark of the first period, IUP gained a five-on-three advantage and was able to capitalize a minute later with a power-play goal.

The second period followed a similar pattern to the first. Webb scored an early power-play goal for Penn State, but penalties by the Ice Lions proved to be too much. IUP scored another power-play goal at the 12:44 mark of the period, and 10 seconds later struck with another goal.

The third period turned out to be even worse for the Ice Lions. Horowitz, who had spent a good portion of the game in the penalty box, was thrown out of the game on a questionable call by the referees. As Horowitz left the ice, he was taunted by IUP fans and returned his own off-color comments to the fans. Other Penn State players engaged in verbal battles with the opposing fans, and some were benched for the rest of the game for their behavior.

"The third period was complete mayhem," Webb said. "As a leader, I didn't handle the game very well. I didn't set a very good example for the rest of the team."

IUP scored two more times in the period, but the score may have been even worse if not for goalie Kevin Kuzmick. Kuzmick faced 51 shots and made some miraculous saves on point-blank shots.

Saturday's loss may have seriously hurt the Ice Lions' chances of going back to nationals. Depending on how other teams fared, Penn State may be pushed out of the final playoff spot when the last rankings come out later this week.

"The bottom line is you have to win," Stroemel said. "We controlled our own destiny, and this loss may have blown our chances of going to nationals."