"I'm proud of the effort we put forth in both games, but it's a shame we couldn't have won one of them," Penn State coach Joe Battista said. "But if you look at it it's No. 1 versus No. 2, two one-goal games and we're not any where near full strength."
The Icers found out Thursday night they had lost forwards Alon Eizenman and Paul Sealock as well as defenseman Josh Mandel for different medical reasons and the short notice didn't give them time to put new lines together.
Despite the injuries, however, problems were not evident in Penn State's early-game play Friday. Icers defenseman Jack Weber scored in the opening minutes to give them a 1-0 lead.
The offense was off to a good start and the defense and special teams looked equally sharp. Despite plenty of Eagles' opportunities, including two power plays, the Icers held the Eagles scoreless in the first stanza.
Penn State expanded its lead to 2-0 early in the second period when forward Mike Blevins scored off a feed from Curtiss Patrick. Just minutes later freshman Bill Downey scored a short-handed goal to open a 3-0 lead.
But fatigue was starting to show in the play of the Icers. Penn State's line, which had held the Eagles early in the game, was suddenly getting beaten, causing the Icers to commit penalties. A holding call and later roughing call gave way to two Eastern Michigan goals.
But the Icers looked as though it could pull out a win as they held the Eagles scoreless into the last minute of the game. But, with 27 seconds left, a shot trickled past Graham to tie the score 3-3.
The Icers had all but marked the win on their record when suddenly they were in overtime and despite some quality opportunities, it was Eastern Michigan who ended the game when Patterson beat Graham.
From Graham's reaction, it was obvious he took the loss hard, but the team didn't blame him.
"Scotty was phenomenal," forward Glenn Zuck said. "He's been stepping up all year for us. He fought the whole game and made some great saves and there's no fault there."
Despite losing a three-goal lead, the Icers came out in the second game with confidence. Forward Greg Held converted on a power play early in the game to give Penn State a 1-0 lead. But the Eagles came back to tie the game at one less than two minutes later.
Patterson buried a rebound early in the second stanza to give Eastern Michigan its first lead of the game at 2-1. They extended that lead to 3-1 just minutes later on a breakaway.
The third goal struck a cord in the Icers who battled back and scored twice in the closing minutes of the second period, tying the game 3-3.
"At that point, the momentum was definitely in our favor," Held said. "It didn't help us out though because they took it right back when they came out in the third and scored."
Penn State's comeback fell short however as Eastern Michigan scored late in the game, making the final score 4-3.
Although the losses will no doubt drop Penn State to No. 2, the Icers still see the weekend as a moral victory.
"It would have been easy for us to say, 'Gee, we don't have Alon, we don't have Josh, we're gonna get killed,' but there was none of that," Battista said. "I don't want to take away from the effort the rest of our team gave. The guys played their hearts out."
