The Div. II Penn State Ice Lions split a weekend series with the Red Foxes of Marist College by winning 8-0 Friday and losing 2-1 Saturday.

The series began with a very physical game last Friday that was full of penalties. However, the Ice Lions shoveled in eight goals against a tough, yet punchless Marist team.

Penn State received goals from Jordan Katz, Pat McCullough, Jordan Hellman, Mike Woisen, Ralph Stoehr, Jay Smith and Eric Heide. Marist head coach Bob Simmons stuck by his goalie Matt Allatin throughout the entire first game despite the onslaught of goals, reasoning that most of the goals were not Allatin's fault.

"Both games were great," Simmons said. "Lots of good hitting and good passing. Penn State has an exceptional goaltender, who played well, especially in the 2-1 game."

In that second game on Saturday, both Marist and Allatin gained some redemption with a 2-1 win that came down to the final buzzer.

Ice Lion Ralph Stoehr scored the first goal of the game in the first period from a scrum in front of the net. The lead was short-lived, however, when Lou Guglielmetti of Marist scored the tying goal later in the first period. The game remained tied going into the third until Kevin Altieri of Marist put away the game-winner.

"We had our chances. We just couldn't put it in the net," McCullough said. "We kept them in the game. But I didn't feel that they were a bad team."

Throughout the game, the goalpost became a sixth player on the ice for both teams, robbing both the Red Foxes and Ice Lions.

However, strong play from Allatin proved too much for the Ice Lions to overcome.

"Each time we would get a great scoring opportunity, the puck would bounce over our stick," Gratz said.

"We would miss the net, or just fire it into the goalie instead of picking our spots to hit like the day before."

Ice Lions head coach Mo Stroemel felt that Marist shed Friday's tough-guy image for a more finesse game on Saturday.

"Marist tried to goon it up on the first night," Stroemel said. "On the second night, they settled down, and came to play hockey."

Ralph Stoehr had a five-point weekend to pull him even with the frontrunners on the team with 34 points. Gratz saved 70-of-72 shots in the two games.