The No. 2 Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers beat No. 11 Eastern Michigan 8-3 yesterday in Athens, Ohio, in the teams' first game of the ACHA National Tournament.

The Icers (27-3-1), who have won the last three national championships, began their title defense by jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first period and extended it to 4-0 with freshman forward Brett Wilson's goal with just 3:21 remaining in the second period.

Instead of letting the game get out of hand, the Eagles (17-19-4) netted a goal just 10 seconds later and further closed the gap to 4-2 on senior forward Scott Ball's goal 17 seconds into the third period.

However, that was as close as Eastern Michigan got.

Icers junior defenseman Curtiss Patrick scored less than a minute and a half later, which was followed by junior forward Bill Downey's short-handed goal with 12:33 left in the third period.

Penn State coach Joe Battista said that the Icers seemed to make all the right plays at all the right moments.

Special teams were key for Penn State.

The Icers held the Eagles scoreless on nine power-play chances and which killed off a five-on-three penalty in the first period that lasted almost two minutes.

"The penalty killing saved the day for us," Battista said. "When all was said and done, we made the plays when we needed to."

Eight different Icers scored a goal in the victory, including freshmen Wilson and Luke Walker.

Penn State senior goalie Scott Graham saved 29 of 31 shots for the win.

Following the game, he said he realized before the game began that the contest was going to be a special one.

"I felt good at practice last night and I felt good in warm-ups," Graham said. "It's the time of the season where you've got to be on all the time."