It was anything but powerful.
In two games against the St. Clair College Saints that came down to the wire, the Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers needed a solid effort on their power play.
Both the 5-4 win Friday night and the 3-2 loss Saturday were marked by penalties and scoring chances. However, the Icers had a difficult time cashing in on the man advantage, going 3-for-16 on the power play, including an 0-for-3 performance in 5-on-3 situations.
Following a penalty to the Saints' Dustin Ramerth at the 4:06 mark in the second period of Saturday's game, the Icers went to change lines. With the second power-play team on the ice, Penn State tried to bring on its top unit to try to break the scoreless tie. In the shuffle of switching, the Icers were caught with only four men on the ice for nearly 15 seconds while senior goalie Scott Graham screamed at the bench for an extra attacker.
Icers junior forward Brendan Roache jumped back on the ice until the team could straighten out the confusion, but the time had been wasted.
Penn State coach Joe Battista said that part of the trouble with the power play this weekend was that certain players tried to carry the load themselves and got away from team play.
"They need to start remembering why they're successful, and that's when they play together and use each other," Battista said. "When we play one-on-one, we're stoppable."
Part of the problem this weekend was just narrowly missing the opportunities to score, coupled with a hot goaltender. According to the Icers, the Saints were probably the toughest team they've faced all year in terms of penalty killing, and St. Clair net-minder Ryan Schuchard was impenetrable at times.
Perhaps the epitome of the weekend surfaced in the second period of Saturday's game. With the Saints giving up a penalty just 26 seconds into the period, Penn State came out charging. Fourteen seconds into the power play, Penn State senior defenseman Josh Mandel took a pass at the point and sent a slap shot on goal. Icers sophomore forward Kevin Jaeger managed to get his stick on the shot and re-direct it past Schuchard. But it clanged off the post, and St. Clair killed off the penalty.
While Mandel said that he was concentrating too hard on his task to notice the absence of the attacker, junior defenseman Curtiss Patrick said the Saints just played a phenomenal game.
"They did a good job of penalty killing and we got frustrated a little bit," Patrick said.
Whether it was penalty killing or too much individual play, the Icers say they'll correct it by the time the ACHA playoffs roll around.
