When the tallies are counted and the games are over, only one queen can be crowned the top victor.

The Penn State Lady Icers didn't reach the highest royalty, but they proved to be a team on the brink of such courtship. They went 3-1 against the nation's finest club teams and finished in third place while senior captain Andrea Lavelle captured MVP honors at the national tournament from March 1-3 in Atlanta.

"It was definitely a success," Lavelle said. "I was so happy with how our team played and how we all came together in times of ultimate challenge and adversity."

After a nasty welcome to playoff hockey last season when the Lady Icers finished in eighth place in a field of eight at the national tournament, Penn State was out to establish that their operation was the real deal. It was time to prove this hard-nosed Lady Icers team was no softy.

"There are still a lot of people who don't take what we do seriously," junior captain Jen McDevitt said. "One of those 'people' is probably the University itself."

Penn State's talent and heart shined in a 4-2 triumph over Boston in the third place game. Coming off a tough 3-1 loss to Wisconsin that would have sent the Lady Icers to the championship game with a win, Penn State could have packed it in. Going up against a Boston team that has owned them forever, Boston tried to resurrect the demons of past years with some pregame chatter.

"We've never beat them before," sophomore Alex McVicker said. "Before the game they were being cocky saying how we never beat them."

Penn State dominated Boston the entire match. The high powered offense of the first line produced all scores as McVicker and Lavelle both put in a pair. The victory not only allowed Penn State to finish the season on a high note, but it gave the club one of it's most monumental victories ever.

"We felt like we won first," McVicker said. The game that could have sent Penn State into the final was a 3-1 loss to eventual champion Wisconsin (22-4-2). Wisconsin came into the game red hot, stringing 14 consecutive victories together. Things seemed to be on Wisconsin's side as two scores that seemed to get past the Wisconsin's goalie were not called. Penn State killed themselves with 16 penalty minutes compared to Wisconsin's six. Add to that the fact that Penn State had previously played a 7:30 a.m. game earlier that morning, and all the intangibles seemed to be favoring Wisconsin. The puck dropped Wisconsin's way all tournament as they defeated defending champion St. Cloud State 2-1 in overtime.

The first team Penn State saw was Bates (12-5), a squad riding a seven game win streak into the dance. Behind goals by McVicker, freshman defender Stephanie Feyock and Lavelle, Penn State won 3-1.

After the victory over Bates Penn State had a Saturday 7:30 a.m. matchup with Michigan State (19-10-2), a team Penn State disposed of last November by a score of 7-3. The Lady Icers did Michigan State wrong for a second consecutive time when they dominated the Spartans en route to a 5-0 victory.

"We may as well be national champions right now," McDevitt said. "We may have gotten some tough breaks, but we can't complain how we played."