Junior Forwards Neal Price and Joe McArdle will return to full-time status next season after recovering from knee injuries. Price and McArdle did see limited action towards the end of the season, but would've jeopardized their redshirt status had they played in more than six games.
Both forwards combined for 50 points between them and each was a key component of the 1999-2000 championship squad.
Freshman netminder Jordan Synkowski — who also redshirted this year— will add another thoroughbred to an already loaded stable of goalies for Battista.
"We're going to be solid again next year," Battista said. "We potentially have some solid new guys coming in and we have a line on some other really good players. But it's not like we need a lot because we have a tremendous amount of talent coming back."
Although the Icers lose key forwards Mike Blevins and Greg Held, as well as two-time All-American Alon Eizenman, Penn State's offensive arsenal will still be lethal.
One of the big guns who returns is freshman forward Glenn Zuck, who led the Icers in points this season. Zuck said despite the loss of the senior leaders, this squad has the potential to win many more titles.
"We have a young team and a few unsung leaders like Kyle Jordan and Scott Curry coming back next season, so the next few years should be a lot of fun," Zuck said. "We just have a lot of talent, and I'm expecting to win it again next year and the year after. We're going to be together for a bunch of years yet, so we're expecting some big things."
Battista may pair Zuck along with Price and freshman phenom Justin DePretis, who netted 17 goals in only 20 games after joining the squad in early January.
"We won a title and I had a successful season, so I'd say this was a pretty good season," DePretis said.
"I think we're expecting to win again. We may lose some of our leaders, but Kyle Jordan is a captain already and Scott Fyffe and Josh Mandel will step it up without a doubt," he added
Along with Jordan and Fyffe, freshmen Dave Tunon, Bill Downey and Jack Weber will provide quality depth.
While the offense appears to be in sure hands, the defense should be even better than this year's stifling unit, which allowed only 2.13 goals per game and surrendered a paltry 24 shots per contest. The reason — all of Battista's defensemen will return for next season.
Mandel and Dant Hirsch finished out the season as the Icers' top defensive unit while Curtiss Patrick, Eric Harbaugh, Brandon Cook and Scott Curry provided two other superior units.
Battista will probably look to Mandel to fill one of the captain vacancies left by the three departing seniors — a task Mandel is looking forward to.
"I definitely thought of myself as a leader this year even though I didn't wear a letter on my jersey," said Mandel, an ACHA All-American. "But I'm looking to step up as a leader next year too. I'm 22 years old now, so even though I was a sophomore this season, I was a guy that had a lot more experience.
"I think in a way the guys will look up to me to provide them with experience on and off the ice. I just want to set an example and have the younger guys seeing me working my hardest to get better."
At goalie, Graham and Beauparlant created a two-headed monster of a netminder that combined for a 90.7 save percentage, giving the Icers some stellar prospects.
"We had an outstanding season and we were able to come together well at the end of the season, so our outlook for next season is filled with high expectations," Graham said. "But we can't be overconfident because nobody's going to roll over for us."
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