Tonight is the night the Div. I ACHA Penn State Icers' (19-0-1) players and fans have had circled on their calendars since the end of last year.

Tonight the No. 1 Icers and their undefeated record will host No. 2 Illinois (21-1), in the first of two weekend games.

Tonight's game will be the first time the two teams have met since last season's ACHA championship game, which the Icers won to claim their third-consecutive national championship.

The puck will be dropped tonight at 9 at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion and then once again tomorrow at 3 p.m.

But there are going to be some familiar faces missing for both teams.

For instance, both teams are missing their head coaches -- Joe Battista of Penn State and Chad Cassel of Illinois -- who are both currently in Tarvisio, Italy, coaching the U.S. team in the Winter World University Games.

Filling in for Battista will be second-year assistant coach Mike McNeill.

The Icers are missing four players, including starting center Neal Price and captain and defender Josh Mandel.

The Illini are also missing a handful of players, including their captain and 21-goal scorer, Josh Tilden.

Fortunately for the Icers, their two leading scorers, Glen Zuck and Kevin Jaeger, are still in State College and will try to keep the Icers in the No. 1 spot in the ACHA polls.

Zuck knows that losing Price will be a tough hole to fill, but he doesn't think that his replacement, Jack Weber, will have any problems taking over the red line.

"Jack is real gritty," Zuck said of his new linemate. "We're moving the puck real well."

The rest of the Icers' players and coaches aren't pulling their hair out thinking about the loss of their teammates, knowing that their bench has been stepping up all season long.

"One of our biggest advantages is our depth," McNeill said.

"It gives the younger guys a chance to go out and show what they've got."

While on paper the match-up of No. 1 vs. No. 2 looks great, some Icers realize that these aren't the same teams that could be facing each other in a few months in the national tournament.

Zuck knows this isn't the same team he played last year in the championship.

It also won't be the same team that the Icers could be seeing in early March.

"We're fired up," he said, "but if we see them in nationals it will be a completely different story."

FENCING

at NAC Open/Junior

All this weekend, at San Diego, Ca.

After a three-week layoff, the Penn State fencing team returns to action this weekend, a National Cup Open event.

The fencers took winter break off to rest after a series of road trips to start the season, including trips to Temple, Greenville, S.C., Princeton, N.J., and Columbus, Ohio.

At the NAC Open in Columbus in early December, Penn State posted respectable marks. Senior Jessica Burke led the way for the Nittany Lions with a first-place finish in the women's epee, while junior captain Alex Weber notched a second-place finish in the men's sabre, the highest finish for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State fencing coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was satisfied with the results, but will be looking for improvement now that the team is more than two months into the regular season.

The NAC Open is a U.S. National Team qualifying event and will not count toward the Lions' overall record.

-- By Thomas Bassinger

MEN'S GYMNASTICS

at Navy Open

3 p.m. tomorrow at Annapolis, Md.

After a victory last weekend in the West Point Open, the No. 4 Nittany Lions will look to ride their momentum to a win against No. 12 William & Mary and host Navy. The Lions crushed the Midshipmen 215.3-204 in the only meeting between the two squads last year.

"Navy is pretty injured this season, and that forced them to pull out of the West Point Open last week," Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson said. "We have to focus on our own job, try to stay healthy, and learn about the younger guys on our team and what they can do."

One of those younger guys, freshman Luis Vargas, is expected to be one of the squad's top contributors this week, along with junior Kevin Tan and seniors Kevin Donohue, Jose Palacios and Duke Van Vleet.

"One of the biggest things we have to work on is getting consistent with the pommel horse again," Jepson said. "We did not hit a single pommels routine last week, which is unacceptable."

-- By Kim Meyer

WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS

vs. New Hampshire

7 p.m tomorrow at Rec Hall

With Vanilla Ice's hit "Ice Ice Baby", blaring in the background, the Penn State women's gymnastics team begins its standard practice warmup. As the first home match of the 2003 season approaches, however, the team hopes to have more success than the quickly-forgotten rapper.

The team has done considerably well this season, placing fifth in the prestigious Super Six competition last weekend.

Even with recent success, the group hopes to polish the imperfections in its routines.

"Right now, we're focusing on our landings," senior Katie McAvoy said.

The team looks for more consistency in the future, said Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard.

"We gave away a lot of points at the Super Six, and we would have scored much higher had we stuck all of our landings," Shephard said.

With a strong core of seasoned veterans and young talent alike, the team is optimistic in its chances of victory.

"Right now, we are confident, that we can win on Saturday," senior Nikki Bongiovanni said.

With a current record of 4-2, New Hampshire is off to a strong start and brimming with confidence.

"This year's team is the best we've ever had, and we're going to give Penn State a run for their money," longtime New Hampshire head coach Gail Goodspeed said.

Led by the senior duo of co-captains Michelle Harley and Jeri Dickson, New Hampshire placed third of four teams in the Maui Invitational to open the season, but rebounded to win a meet against Rutgers, Brown, and Yale.

The players injured for Penn State include senior Leslie Bair, who is doubtful to perform due to a sprained lateral collateral ligament, and freshman Erin Clayton, who is nursing an injured back. Shephard, however, believes that both of these gymnasts will be back in no time.

Though most concerned about self-improvement, the Penn State women's gymnastics team will look to declaw the Wildcats of New Hampshire.

-- By Dan Good

WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY

vs. Penn

10:15 p.m. tomorrow at Greenberg Ice Pavilion

This weekend's contest will be the last game of the inaugural Delaware Valley College Hockey Conference season for the Lady Icers, who with a win against Penn would be undefeated in conference play.

The contest will also be the first chance of the spring semester to see the American Collegiate Hockey League Women's East No. 1 ranked Lady Icers.

They bost a deadly scoring trio of team captain Katie King and forwards Alex McVicker and Lauren Shaw.

Currently, they rank 1-2-3 in the ACHA in points scored.

The Quakers, though they will be hungry, do not figure to be much of a challenge for Penn State, McVicker said.

The Lady Icers trounced them 14-1 in their first meeting in October.

Characterizing the game as "more like a practice," McVicker said the Lady Icers are looking forward to "getting back in shape and back together as a team" after a lengthy winter break.

Though the team decisively triumphed in its first game of the semester last weekend with a 13-1 win over Drexel, McVicker noted that several players did not play due to outside conflicts.

Because of this, the team as a whole does need to play well this weekend to start preparing for a possible ACHA title run.

-- By Russ Shelly

DIV. II ICE LIONS

at Montclair State & Stony Brook

9:10 p.m. tonight & 5:15 p.m. tomorrow

The Div. II Penn State Ice Lions are approaching perhaps the most important weekend of the season. The team will face Montclair State University and Stony Brook University in two games that could determine the Lions' postseason fate. Today, the 16-2-2 Ice Lions will visit Montclair State in hopes of repeating the outcome of the two teams' previous encounter on Dec. 7, in which Penn State came out victorious, 3-1.

Then tomorrow, the Lions will trek into No. 3 Stony Brook University. The teams tied, 3-3, in their last meeting in November.

After this weekend, there will only be five games left in the season, which leads Ice Lions head coach Mo Stroemel to believe that a sweep of the games against Montclair State and Stony Brook could virtually lock up a flight ticket for the team to head to the nationals.

-- By Adam Kuczynski

WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK

hosts U.S. Track Coaches Association Series Meet

10 a.m. tomorrow, at Multi-Sports Complex

A talented pool of returning athletes and some strong recruiting classes have the Penn State women's indoor track team looking forward to the upcoming season.

Despite early success last season, the Nittany Lions stumbled against tougher Big Ten competition and placed seventh at the conference championship meet.

The team sees tomorrow's meet as a good test to prepare for the Big Ten season.

"We look to handle this meet tomorrow," Penn State women's track coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We have a very hungry team this year ... we want the win."

The Lions headline an 11-team field at the meet that includes Syracuse, St. Joseph's, Rutgers and Villanova.

This year's indoor team has a strong core of returning veterans such as sprinter Connie Moore, thrower Ja'nai O'Connor, and sprinter/jumper Chi Chi Aduba. Moore is a two-time indoor All-American who holds the Penn State record for the 200-meter dash. She figures to be an integral part of the team's success this year as she furthers her personal success.

-- By Derek Levarse

MEN'S INDOOR TRACK

hosts U.S. Track Coaches Association Series Meet

10 a.m. tomorrow, at Multi-Sports Complex

After collecting three gold medals at their last meet, the Penn State men's indoor track team hopes to continue its success at the United States Track Coaches Association Series Meet, which will be its first home event of the year.

The Nittany Lions used last week's meet as practice to help them shake away the rust from the long Christmas layoff, Penn State men's coach Harry Groves said.

The Lions lost many key athletes to graduation last year, such as the versatile Ryan Olkowski and last year's cocaptain, Dorian Lowe.

This means that this year's team is a youthful one but the Lions don't see it as a disadvantage.

"We have young talent," senior Taj Hill said, "and we also have guys who are willing to work."

Others see the team as a work in progress that will eventually lead to promising yields.

"It is definitely an advantage," senior David Bollinger said.

"We will have a lot of experience because we won't lose a lot for next year."

The Lions have their eyes set on the Big Ten Championships, but know that, they will have to be consistent and be at their best the whole season.

"We are trying to achieve excellence," Hill said, "and be the best we can."

Freshmen such as Steve Morgan and Scott Vernon will have to play a big part if the Lions are to achieve their goals this season.

The Penn State co-captains for the 2003 indoor track season are 400-meter runner Brian Derby and senior Steve Janci.

-- By Nkrumah Makinwa

WRESTLING

at Navy, Penn & Drexel

Today at 7, at Annapolis, Md.

1 p.m. Sunday at Philadelphia, Pa.

The Nittany Lions have a busy schedule this weekend as they try to continue their climb up the mountain that is NCAA wrestling.

Troy Sunderland's Penn State wrestling team is looking to continue its early-season success with weekend matches against Navy, Penn and Drexel.

"We're clearly wrestling pretty good as a team," Sunderland said. "I think we just have to continue to build on that."

The No. 10 Lions will travel to Annapolis, Md., to take on the Naval Academy tonight at 7.

Sunderland knows Navy wrestling, having been an assistant coach there for two years.

"No matter who they put out on the mat, they'll be prepared to wrestle a full seven minutes," Sunderland said.

Penn State moved up to the top 10 after coming in fourth and fifth at the Virginia Duels and Midlands, respectively, as well as beating Lehigh and Edinboro in dual-meet action.

The Lions will compete in two matches on Sunday in Philadelphia.

-- By Pat Abdallah