Ice Lions win University League title

By MICHAEL YODER
Collegian Staff Writer

INDIANA -- It wasn't the national championship, but it will have to do.

This past weekend, the Penn State Div. II Ice Lions won the inaugural University League Championship in dramatic fashion. Saturday, the Ice Lions (15-7-2) destroyed Pittsburgh 11-1 and came away with a close 7-6 victory over Indiana (Pa.) in Sunday's championship game.

"We set a goal as a team to go in and win this tournament, and we did it," Penn State captain Dan Horowitz said. "We came together, played our hearts out and accomplished our goal."

Penn State completely dominated Saturday's game against Pittsburgh from start to finish. The Ice Lions scored early with a power-play goal by Derek Arledge. From there, Penn State never stopped its offense. Horowitz added a top-shelf breakaway goal at the mid-point of the period and defenseman Jason Ice added another power-play goal late in the period.

Not only was the offense clicking for Penn State, the defense was playing phenomenally. At the five-minute mark of the second period, Pittsburgh had a five-on-three advantage, but the defense was able to kill off the penalty. Goaltender Kevin Kuzmick had to be pulled in the second period due to injury, but the goal change did not make a difference. Pat McDonald stepped in and allowed one goal the entire game.

Along with his two goals, Corey Auers added three assists in the game. Horowitz added another goal and two assists. Sam Haldeman, Adam Lusin, Doug Qualey, Bill Henry and Mike Zugay scored the remaining goals.

"We played one of the most error-free games of the season," Penn State coach Mo Stroemel said. "Our offense and defense played great."

With Indiana (Pa.)'s 11-5 victory over West Virginia Saturday, Penn State had its shot to face a team that has quickly become its No. 1 rival. IUP defeated Penn State Feb. 6 to eliminate the Ice Lions from national-tournament considerations.

"We wanted to send a message to IUP that we deserved to go to the national tournament," Brad Webb said.

Sunday's championship game started roughly for Penn State as IUP scored an early goal when the Ice Lions turned over a pass at the blue line. After the goal, Horowitz began playing inspirational hockey. He scored on a backhand shot at the 8:15 mark of the first period. Less than 30 seconds later, Horowitz had his second goal of the game. If his performance wasn't already impressive, Horowitz scored a short-handed goal late in the period, giving him a hat trick before the end of the first period.

Penn State continued its domination in the second and third periods, highlighted by Horowitz's fourth and fifth goals of the night.

"It was an amazing finish to my career," Horowitz said. "I put a lot of pressure on myself to play, and I really stepped it up. I owe a lot of my success to the people playing on my line including Sam Haldeman and Corey Auers."

Despite the game ending in a physical battle full of penalties, Penn State refused to let the championship slip away.

"The penalties almost came back to bite us," Stroemel said. "People have to set aside their own selfish motives for the good of the team."

"You always want to go out on top, and we were able to do that," Webb said.

Notes: Horowitz and Webb were named to the all-tournament team for their exploits on offense and defense, respectively.