The Northeast Division No. 2 Div. II Penn State Ice Lions had a rough weekend by losing on the road, 3-2 to Indiana University of Pennsylvania Friday, and defeating Temple 7-4 at home Saturday.
"I am really not happy with the way we played," Penn State coach Mo Stroemel said. "The last two games, we played without any heart or any desire. That is not the sign of a championship team."
In the first game, IUP, the Southeast Division's No. 3 seed, and Penn State traded goals, but the Ice Lions could not find an equalizer to knot it at three.
Freshman Brett Flood started in goal for Penn State and stopped 35 of 38 shots. Tim Cavanah and Bill Golden had goals for the Ice Lions.
Saturday night's game was a nail-biter. The reason for Stroemel's unhappiness could lie in the fact that Penn State defeated Temple earlier in the season, 14-0.
Temple scored two goals quickly against Penn State goalie Frank Gribbon. The sophomore keeper was making his first home start of the season, and admits that his nerves might have played a factor in his game.
"I had a hard time getting into a groove," Gribbon said.
Penn State was able to tie the game and keep on par with the visitors, and then take and hold on to the lead in the third period. Ralph Stoehr tallied a hat trick in the game. Cavanah, who added another goal Saturday, felt that the Ice Lions came in a little too over-confident, but overcame that later in the game.
"We didn't play well [in] the first two periods at all," he said, "but then we picked up in the third."
In regards to the team's performance this weekend, Stroemel sees an immediate need for improvement.
"I thought [Saturday] night and Friday night were completely lackluster. I told them that," Stroemel said. "Champions play every game, not just the important games."
Stroemel believes that if there was a good thing to the weekend, it was the play of his back-up goalies, Flood and Gribbon. "I think both goalies played very well," Stroemel said. "I don't think either night they got any particular help from the defense."
With the American Collegiate Hockey Association's National Tournament right around the corner, Stroemel said his team needs to toughen up mentally and sharpen its skills if it hopes to succeed past the pool round.
"It is not enough just to show up in a Penn State University uniform," Stroemel said. "We need to win every single game [in the tournament], we can't not play a period. We have to play every period [if we want to win].
"That's the bottom line."
