With the ACHA Div. I national tournament set to start a week from today, the No. 1 Icers (24-4-1) will face a tough road if they are to win their third consecutive Murdoch Cup, especially if they have to play without a number of key players.
Penn State, which may be without key forwards Jack Weber and Bobby Pate, will face off against No. 12 Drexel (23-15-2) next Wednesday and No. 8 Kent State (16-12-3 as of Feb. 9) next Friday as part of Pool A round robin play.
However, the most difficult challenge to an Icers three-peat would seem to come from whichever team emerges from Pool D.
The Icers would likely face either No. 4 Ohio, which knocked off the Icers 6-3 and 5-2 two and a half weeks ago, or red-hot No. 5 Iowa State, which defeated first Ohio (3-0) and then No. 6 Eastern Michigan (7-0) to win the CSCHL tournament this past weekend.
No. 9 Michigan-Dearborn, which tied Ohio twice during the spring semester, is the underdog to win Pool D, but stranger things have happened in the ACHA tournament.
"I think anyone could win that bracket," Icers coach Joe Battista said. "You'd have to give Iowa State the nod (as the favorite) after this weekend.
"I don't ever count Ohio out," he added. "They are very well coached, they are strong defensively and they have great goaltending."
First though, the Icers must square off with Drexel and Kent State.
Battista said the Dragons might pose a challenge to Penn State because the Icers have not played Drexel for about 20 years.
The Icers also don't want to look past the Dragons, in order to avoid the kind of upset last year's No. 1 seed Eastern Michigan suffered when it was knocked out of the round robin portion of the ACHA tournament last season.
"The most important thing for us to do is to not overlook them (Drexel)," Battista said.
Drexel's biggest weapons are forwards Peter Naticcione and Sean Heron, as Naticcione has recorded 14 goals and 29 points on the season while Heron has nine goals and 27 points. The Icers recruited both players out of high school.
"Heron is small, quick, very skilled and hard working," Battista said. He compared the forward to Icers forwards Dustin Martin and Kevin Jaeger.
Battista said Natticione is a little bigger.
"He is more of a Kyle Jordan type player," he said.
Power forward Jake Kiesel adds both scoring and checking to the Dragons' lineup. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Kiesel has 12 goals and 20 points on the season.
In goal, Drexel will play either Dan Angeline (6-2-1 and a 3.31 goals against average during the regular season) or Justin Levin (5-1, 3.32 GAA).
No matter who plays for the Dragons, Battista said his team has to be more concerned with its own play.
"We have to worry less about them and more about our play," he said.
On paper, Kent State appears to present a greater danger to the Icers than does Drexel. Penn State has demolished the Golden Flashes twice this season by a combined score of 16-1.
But the last time the Icers beat KSU was on Dec. 7, and the Golden Flashes tied and lost by one goal at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3.
"They have a goalie (Cameron Lee) that when he's hot, he's one of the best in the ACHA," Battista said of the netminder that limited the Icers to a 2-1 win last season.
"They have a solid defensive core," Battista added. "They have three solid lines."
Though Icers' forwards Joe McArdle and Kyle Jordan will almost definitely be back in the lineup for the tournament, Penn State will not have forward Paul Sealock, who tore his left anterior cruciate ligament at Ohio on Feb. 9.
Penn State will probably win their pool with or without Weber and Pate, who are both recovering from concussions and are questionable for the tournament. It will be more difficult to defeat the winner of Pool D without these physical players in a game that promises to see some bodies fly.
"They're the kind of players we need in a physical game," Battista said. "They're going to win you battles along the boards."
