"For me it was a surprise," Shaw said. "I know we deserved it so it didn't matter anyway."
Using the strength of the Lady Icers' schedule as a tie-breaking factor, they beat out Michigan in the final ranking. The top four teams in the east region will be Penn State, Michigan, Pittsburgh and Maryland,
The Lady Icers will play three games in a round robin format before placing in the final pool. On March 30, they play Arizona State. March 31they take on Maryland and Wisconsin.
Although Penn State has seen Maryland before, Arizona and Wisconsin will be completely foreign to them.
"We really don't have a lot of information about the teams from the west," Willits said. "We attempted to get schedules to watch some of their games, but we weren't successful. Frankly, we are going to play our game as well as we can. We will rely on our game to win rather than to focus on our opponents."
Willits did however say that she didn't believe Arizona was as fast as the Lady Icers.
Shaw doesn't see a problem with not knowing about the west teams because of the flexibility of her team.
"We are really flexible with our lines," she said. "We play a lot of different positions. We have to make a judgment call as soon as we step onto the ice."
The team is confident in their skills, endurance and team unity as they head into nationals. Only one setback occurred, as goalie Jessica Gurskey was injured over spring break and will be out for awhile.
"We are hoping for a possibility for her playing at nationals," Willits said.
If she isn't back in action by nationals, Shaw explained that the team would have to adjust.
"Jess would be very nice to have, but if she isn't ready, we have to be flexible enough to deal with that."
Fortunately for the Lady Icers, Jeannine Kausch has been outstanding in goal for them this season.
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