Seneca falls
Icers deal Sting pair of setbacks

By CARLA MOTKO
Collegian Staff Writer

Although many teams would not consider scoring an average of three goals per game an offensive slump, Penn State coach Joe Battista would. Especially when his defense is giving up 2.5 goals per game.

But Battista put his offensive woes behind him this weekend with one minor adjustment, an adjustment that led to No. 2 Penn State (25-3-3) lashing Seneca 6-2 Friday and 8-2 Saturday at the Ice Pavilion at Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex.

Besides rounding out the regular season with two victories against the Sting (8-8-2), defenseman Jason Zivkovic set the precedent for offensively minded defensemen across the ACHA, and the Icers' seniors bid farewell to Penn State. All that came in just two quick games.

The minor adjustment that baffled the Sting was Battista's new blue line. The old line was comprised of forwards Alon Eizenman, Ed Bursich and Travis Dorsey, but Battista moved Dorsey to a different line in favor of Greg Held.

The payoff was outstanding.

The new blue-line trio had a hand in eight of Penn State's 14 weekend goals. When Penn State ran the blue-line offense this weekend, Eizenman tallied three goals and four assists while Held and Bursich had two points apiece in each column.

"We clicked pretty well," Held said. "I just tried to let them do what they do best and helped them out whenever I could. It was funny because we weren't even sure if it would work."

The line connected for Penn State's second goal of the game Friday when Held stuffed in the rebound from Eizenman's initial shot to make the score 2-0. Eizenman scored an unassisted shorthanded goal late in the first period to give the Icers a 3-0 lead.

After a sluggish second period in which Penn State's lead was reduced to 3-2, the line recharged and connected on three tic-tac-toe pass plays -- two goals from Eizenman and one by Held -- to finish out the game, 6-2.

Saturday was the same story. After goals by forwards Rob Shaner and C.J. Patrick opened the game to a 2-0 Penn State lead, the trio began to close it off. Eizenman started and Bursich followed with two goals. Eizenman's goal to make the game 3-0 turned out to be the game winner.

"All year our blue line has played great hockey for us, but the second semester they haven't been scoring goals," Battista said. "I just played a hunch. I made one little adjustment and it clicked."

The fruits of the new offense extended to the defense as well. On a few good pass plays from Eizenman, Zivkovic earned his 199th, 200th and 201st career points on three assists. He is the first defenseman in ACHA history to reach the 200-point mark.

With all the hype of the new scoring line and Zivkovic's milestone, no one managed to let the meaning of Senior Night slip through the cracks.

In Saturday's pregame ceremony, the home crowd of more than 1,300 bid farewell to the Icers' 10 seniors who with a four-year record of 121-21-5 have the best record of any previous Penn State senior class. But just because the 10 have played their last home games, doesn't mean their Penn State careers are over.

On March 3 the Icers will head to the ACHA National Championship in Delaware beginning to defend their national title.

"Hopefully we'll come pretty well off this past week and regain our national title," senior goaltender Mark Scally said. "Instead of looking behind us, we're looking forward again."