All is well in Penn State Ice Lions land. But this weekend will be tough as No. 2 Penn State will face two teams ranked in the top ten in the Northeast ACHA Division II hockey polls.

No. 7 Marist has Penn State's number on their home rink, always playing the Ice Lions hard. They return a large portion of their team from last year when they split the season series at one game apiece.

In last year's games Marist tried to play a rough game and tried to get Penn State to fight and get physical and lost 8-0. In the next game Marist settled down and beat the Ice Lions 2-1. The same theory holds true for this year.

"If they settle down and play hockey, it will be a good game," said Ice Lions head coach Mo Stroemel.

No. 5 Siena will give Penn State a different challenge. Siena's home rink is an Olympic-sized rink, which is larger than a normal North American hockey rink. Siena has always been a contender for the national title, but according to Stroemel they have slipped a little, they have a new goaltender and some new defensemen. But they have an advantage over Penn State, they have learned to play physical on the big rink.

"There isn't really anything you can do to prepare we just have to adjust on the fly," said Stroemel. "We have enough speed to take advantage [of the size]."

Once again the Ice Lions are injury-free and they will be big things for the players this weekend. The coaches will be determining this weekend if they have the right lines put together to get the most out of their team.

"It's going to be a tough weekend for us," said Stroemel.

--by Dan Graybill