This weekend will be pivotal for the Penn State Div. II men's ice hockey team. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Airport Ice Arena in Pittsburgh, where the Ice Lions (2-3) will be attempting to get their season rolling in the right direction against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

"We absolutely, positively have to go in and beat Pitt," Ice Lions head coach Mo Stroemel said. "I think we have to beat them in a dominating kind of way."

Already a slight sense of urgency to perform well is showing in the Lions, because the first ACHA Div. II rankings of the season will be coming out next weekend.

Winning on the road against formidable opponents like Pittsburgh (4-3) tonight and Washington and Jefferson (3-1) tomorrow evening will be key, as the Lions attempt to claw their way to a top spot in the very competitive Northeast division.

The Ice Lions do not plan on tinkering too much with a game plan that put up 62 shots against West Virginia last weekend, but they know that they face a much more challenging team in the Panthers.

"Pitt is shooting around 18 percent right now, so we have to limit the number of shots they get," Stroemel said. "When we get good chances, we have to take the shot."

Forwards Brad Blum and Matt Hawryluk, who have combined for eight goals and 15 points through the first seven games of the season, lead the Panther offensive attack.

In addition, the Pitt defense is anchored by goaltender Chris Garman, who, up until last weekend's 6-0 loss to Div. I Kent State, had a save percentage of 92.25 and allowed just ten goals in five games on 129 shots.

"Hawryluk is a guy that really hurt us last year," Stroemel said.

"The trick is containing those guys, while not forgetting about the other guys on the ice."

The Penn State offense features center Mark Jenkins who has tallied four goals in the last two games, but all of the lines that skate for the Lions have the potential to put up some big numbers.

"A lot of the teams we play only have two solid lines, and we're able to bring three if not four strong lines out there," Ice Lion forward Ralph Stoehr said. "Eventually, we should be able to wear them down."

The Ice Lions will have to stay focused through Saturday as well when they face a Washington and Jefferson team that defeated them 4-2 at home earlier this season.

"We have to stay out of the penalty box," Stroemel said referring to the two power play goals the Presidents notched against the Lions.

"We can skate with them even up, we proved it. The problem is we've got to stay out of the box."

The Presidents have also been working hard to improve their game since last meeting Penn State.

"I think we need to shoot better, and work harder on attacking the net," Presidents head coach David Hornack said.

"Defensively, we spent most of the last two weeks working on our basic alignment, we need to play much stronger in this area."

The Lions are not underestimating the strength of either team, and they know that they will have to be playing at a high level in order to be victorious.

"We're going to have to be moving a little faster," Ice Lions team captain and defenseman Dave Jones said.

"They're going to be better."