For Icers star Glenn Zuck, watching the game from the stands is not something he wants to make a habit of.

But after his night on Saturday, maybe taking a game off every now and then isn't a bad thing.

The forward from Clifton, N.J., made his return on Saturday night in the 22nd annual Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament championship game and made his presence felt immediately. Zuck scored his first goal just over two minutes into the first period as his shot ricocheted off a defender's foot into the goal. Eight minutes later Zuck extended the Icers lead to two goals when he slid the puck past the goalie's pads. By the time the night was over, Zuck had tallied a hat trick to go along with three assists and was named the most valuable player of the tournament.

"It was pretty surprising," Zuck said humbly after the game. "I didn't think that I would be able to do that tonight."

The No. 1 Icers (21-2-1) ended up adding six more goals to Zuck's totals and finished with a 9-2 win over the Div. II ACHA Hoosiers (12-7-1). Indiana upset the Icers last season, and interim head coach Mike McNeill was sure his team remembered last season's loss.

"Playing Indiana was a kind of fuel to the fire," McNeill said.

The Icers got to the championship game by defeating West Virginia (2-21-2) on Friday night, 6-1.

While the Zuckless Icers played the first 10 minutes of that game like their season depended on it, the hapless Mountaineers didn't back down, as the game stayed scoreless halfway through the first. It wasn't until Kevin Jaeger carried the puck into the zone around several defenders and found an opening for a wrist shot, which flew past Mountaineer goalie Jon Natonick, that one team broke through. A period later the Icers had put West Virginia away as Brendan Roache, David Tunon and Jack Weber all scored to give the Icers a 4-0 advantage, a lead they would never lose. While Scott Blackman started at goalie for the Icers in the first game, All-American Scott Graham got the nod for the championship game. Graham got two full periods under his belt before sophomore Jordan Synkowski came in to relieve the senior.

McNeill was extremely happy with how his younger players responded from last weekend's losses.

"Matt Weber played awesome, Greg Windsor gets a goal, Dave Tunon got one, Luke Walker got one," McNeill said. "They definitely stepped up and played well this weekend for us."

While playing two games in two days is routine for the Icers, hosting a tournament and eventually winning it is something different.

"The boys know that we don't lose our own tournament here," McNeill said.

And with Zuck being as close to 100 percent as he will get this season, he and his teammates are trying to use this weekend's wins as motivation to finish the season.

"It's good to get a piece of hardware every now and then," Zuck said. "Hopefully we can carry this going into Nationals."