Billy Lakios could only shake his head in disbelief during the closing minutes of Saturday's game.

Knowing he had allowed 17 goals in two games was a tough thing for him to swallow. Although the goaltender for the West Virginia men's ice hockey team had stopped 120 of 137 shots through the weekend, it was the remaining 17 that weighed so heavily on his mind.

And as time expired, the Penn State fans serenaded him with a taunting rendition of John Denver's "Country Roads" as he skated off the ice, head hung low.

All of the Mountaineers (5-14-3) were hanging their heads after No. 2 Penn State (15-3-2, 13-2-2 ACHA) walloped them Friday and Saturday at the Ice Pavilion with scores of 7-0 and 10-0, respectively.

"You can see an enormous lift in the confidence of the team right now," Penn State coach Joe Battista said after Friday's victory. "In our pre-game talk, we made an emphasis on playing more like a team and I think we really stepped it up."

Friday's win marked not only the 350th for Battista, the 14-year coach of the Icers, it also marked the return of Josh Mandel and Alon Eizenman after absences.

Neither player wasted any time shaking off the rust as Eizenman, senior forward for the Icers, fed a pass to defenseman Eric Harbaugh early in the game for Penn State's first score. Eight minutes later while Penn State was on the power play, following a goal by Greg Held, Eizenman found Mandel on the left point who slapped a shot home, putting the Icers on top 3-0.

Despite Penn State's obvious domination, the Mountaineers skated hard against the Icers, making clean, full-body checks along the boards and keeping Penn State from becoming too comfortable in the offensive zone.

Still, a couple quick adjustments gave way to more goals for the Icers. Defenseman Bobby Pate found the back of the net less than five minutes into the second stanza for Penn State's fourth goal.

West Virginia's defense, orchestrated by Lakios, nearly made it into the second intermission down by only four, but with a mere 28 seconds on the clock, Justin DePretis, newcomer to Penn State, scored followed by a goal by Mandel with only three ticks left in the period.

The two late goals, which made the score 6-0, took all the wind out of the Mountaineers, who allowed forward Glenn Zuck to score late in the third and couldn't muster a goal of their own to avoid the shutout.

Battista said he was pleased with his team's defensive effort as the Icers gave up only 18 shots during the night.

"I think we have a strong commitment to defense," Battista said. "We're not giving up the blue line. Teams are hardly ever gaining the zone let alone getting the chance to get in and get set up."

Penn State dealt West Virginia the same offensive problems Saturday as the Icers blanked the Mountaineers for the second night and continued to rope in the goals.

Forward Paul Crooker as well as DePretis and Zuck each cashed in on a minute-and-a-half scoring flurry to start off the first period.

Mandel had the only goal of the second stanza, but Penn State broke out offensively in the third period as Zuck scored twice and Dustin Martin, Dave Tunon, Eizenman and DePretis each added goals en route to the 10-0 win.

Between the Icers' mediocre play last Wednesday against Towson and their domination this weekend, something definitely clicked for the team. The improvement was a confidence boost for the players who not only want to continue to improve as a team but also in the polls.

"I think everyone was a little too confident because we started at No. 1," Mandel said. "But when we dropped down it was like a reality check. We all want to get back to No. 1 and I think it was good for us because now we know we can't sit back on our heels."