For a while, it looked grim.

However, the recurring theme for the Penn State Div. I ACHA Icers this season has been their ability to score quickly and score often.

Following a 7-3 win against the No. 8 Arizona Icecats (4-3-0) on Thursday night at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the Icers (10-0-0) hosted the No. 15 Drexel Dragons (9-4-0) Friday night in a game that proved to be much closer than the 6-2 Icers' victory would indicate.

Against the Dragons, the Icers faced a 2-1 deficit with a little over six minutes remaining in the second period, and had been largely unable to penetrate the Drexel's goalie, Dan Angeline. As things became urgent for Penn State, Icers senior forward Dustin Martin received a pass in the slot and fired the puck past Angeline for what seemed to be the tying score.

Inaudible in the midst of the euphoria that was the Penn State crowd was the whistle; the referee had stopped the play before the puck crossed the goal line because he had lost sight of the puck. Suddenly, the team became incredibly intense. Playing off that emotion, the Icers proceeded to score four goals in a little over three minutes to pull away. Two tallies came from the stick of junior forward Glenn Zuck, including the tying goal, while sophomore forward Kevin Jaeger netted the Icers' go-ahead goal on the power play.

Icers coach Joe Battista said the disallowed goal had a positive effect on the Icers bench.

"It really fired everybody up, especially me," Battista said. "I think our guys got angry. It was like hitting the start button."

Penn State came out firing against the Icecats on Thursday night, scoring four first-period goals, including Jaeger's goal 15 seconds into the game.

Jaeger went on to net two more scores for his second consecutive home hat trick. He said that the Arizona club had provided the Icers with a great deal of motivation, including one Arizona player saying that Penn State was "done."

"They were just fueling the fire," Jaeger said. "Everybody wanted to really pound those guys."

The Icers came into the weekend missing the services of both Curtiss Patrick and Brandon Cook, leaving freshmen Matthew Wallace and Lucas Walker to fill the skates of their older counterparts. Battista said he was pleased with the way the younger guys played.

"Matt Wallace played a whale of a game [Friday night]," Battista said. "Walker handled everything very well for the short amount of time he had."

Walker, who took over for Patrick on the No. 1 power-play line, said he had to adjust to his new role quickly.

"The first couple of practices I had to really pay attention," Walker said. "I pulled Curtiss aside on Thursday and said, 'Listen, all these guys are trying to tell me what to do. Just tell me what you do.' "

The Icers also began Friday night's game against Drexel without Jaeger, who sat out the first seven minutes of the game for disciplinary reasons. Zuck said that Walker filled in well, but it was strange not to have his usual linemate out there with him.

"Luke's a really skilled player and you can count on him," Zuck said, "[but] I was kind of looking for Jaeger's speed out there."