The two seniors split ice time and both say there is no rivalry between them.

"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."

OK, whatever. They're friends and that's great. There is, however, a problem that I see -- neither goalie can get into any kind of rhythm because of the constant goalie rotation.

With the platoon Penn State coach Joe Battista uses, I'm surprised there is no rivalry or hard feelings between the goalies.

This past weekend, No. 3 Penn State played a doubleheader against No. 6 Delaware. Sixt started in net Friday. He had been struggling to recover mentally from an illness he had in early January. The fact that he wasn't on his game was evident, as he hadn't been in net for a win since mid-January when Penn State played West Virginia.

Three weekends ago at the Nittany Lion Invitational, then-No. 1 Penn State faced then-No. 2 Iowa State at home with Sixt in net. He let in a couple soft goals that cost the Icers the game and their No. 1 seating.

Sixt was in net two weekends ago when the Icers skated to a 4-4 tie on the road against Eastern Michigan. Again, a few mishap goals cost Penn State the win.

But Sixt knew he had to start rebuilding somewhere. After allowing a soft goal just 48 seconds into Friday's game against Delaware, Sixt stopped the rest of the 22 shots he faced in the 4-1 win. Throughout the game, Sixt looked sharper than he had in weeks past and said it was due to a grueling practice he underwent the previous week.

"I got skated pretty hard (last) Tuesday and afterwards I was really tired," Sixt said. "Afterwards, though, I had the feeling that it'd be good if I did that everyday. So I'm going to make the effort to be absolutely shot after every practice."

After working his tail off in practice and having a stellar performance against the Blue Hens, Sixt's ego must have taken a tremendous hit when Battista gave Annexy the starting nod for Saturday's game.

Annexy came out for the majority of the first two periods and put on a spectacular display of acrobatics to stop every shot Delaware threw at him -- that is until the final three seconds of the second period when he let the puck slip by.

After that, Annexy's game just wasn't the same. He let in three additional goals in the third period and almost gave up the game-winner in overtime.

Throughout the weekend, both goalies stopped just over 20 shots apiece, in comparison to Delaware goalie Ryan Brown who stopped 87 of the Icers' 95 shots.

The reason Brown was more effective because he is the unquestionable starting goalie. He has his coach's complete confidence and he knows it -- something neither of Penn State's top goalies can say.

If Battista would pick a starting goalie and go with him, the starter could develop more confidence in his role and perhaps lower his goals-allowed average.

At the midweek point, it is uncertain who will start in net when the Icers face off against Ohio University Friday and Saturday in Ohio. That must make it difficult for either goalie to build up any kind of rhythm.

What type of reward is it to sit on the bench after standing strong in net in the previous game?

I personally have no opinions as to which goalie should be the starter, but Battista should, especially this late in the year.

He needs at least one goalie to put together a string of wins to build confidence heading into nationals, and I don't think that's possible if he keeps knocking them down with this rotation.