After the No. 2 Penn State men's ice hockey team played a grueling stretch of six games in 11 days, head coach Joe Battista said he wanted to have a talk with his team's scheduler.

Oddly enough, Battista only needs to look in the mirror to chat with that very person.

But coming into this weekend, Battista may want to give himself a pat on the back for slating the Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament at this point in the season.

Why?

Preparation for another Icer run at the ACHA championship.

"I think it should be a great dress rehearsal for us to deal with the kind of pressure we're going to have to deal with at nationals," Battista said.

This weekend's tournament will be the second that the Icers have played in three weeks. Battista's club ran away with Two Nations Cup Tournament title in Toronto two weeks ago, by manhandling Seneca College and Carleton by a combined score of 11-2.

The 15th annual Nittany Lion Invitational begins 5 p.m. today at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion when No. 17 West Chester hooks up with No. 6 Delaware. The Icers (15-3-2) take the ice three hours later in their matchup with No. 19 Navy.

The third place game will take place at 5 p.m. tomorrow, followed by the championship at 8.

Icer co-captain Mike Blevins echoed the remarks of his coach.

"I think it's good we have two tournaments right now because what they're doing is preparing us for a playoff format," the senior forward said. "It (this weekend's tournament) helps because it puts us in a different mindset. It's do or die and we also want to win because it's our tournament."

But if you ask Battista, the playoffs have already started.

"We're really in playoff mode right now," he said.

"If we can win our next six games, we will lock up a No. 1 or No. 2 seed."

Although the Icers have more than just six games remaining on their schedule, the ACHA releases the seedings for the national championship tournament after the Icers' Feb. 3 game against Delaware.

Looking at the rankings alone, the Icers and Blue Hens should be favorite in the weekend's first round games, but Battista isn't overlooking the Midshipmen (13-10).

"I think they're going to be dangerous," he said.

"They look like a team that when they're on, they can do some damage. They beat Rhode Island 9-5, and Rhode Island is potentially a tournament bound team."

The Icers have not played the Golden Rams (13-7-2) this year but did beat Delaware (10-9) twice on the road earlier this season by a combined score of 9-4.