How many shots can a team take in the final 11 seconds of a hockey game?

The No. 1 Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers (18-0) found out the answer is four as they formed a human wall to help secure their 3-2 lead and edge out No. 2 Illinois (12-3-1) for the Big Ten Tournament Championship.

Saturday's championship game at Indiana University gave the fans exactly what they hoped for as they watched a high-flying, hard-hitting game that pitted the top two teams in the ACHA against one another.

"The game was as dramatic as you could have asked," Penn State Icers' head coach Joe Battista said. "It was a great atmosphere for a championship tournament. It was one of the gutsiest performances I've seen in years."

After dominating Indiana Friday night 13-3, the Icers' focus turned toward their game against Illinios Saturday. They overcame both mistakes and injuries to prove once again that they have the character of a true championship team.

Freshman forward Dan McKeen was the player in the spotlight Saturday as he decided to score his first goal as an Icer at a most opportune time.

With about seven minutes left and the score tied at two, McKeen took a pass from Glenn Zuck and fluttered a shot toward the net that managed to float past the Illini goalie for what later proved to be the game winning goal.

"It was really good to score my first in a big time game," McKeen said. "To beat probably one of the best teams out there we're going to play was a real confidence builder."

The first two periods saw the teams evenly matched as both got their fair share of chances. The first mistake of the game was made by Penn State as they turned the puck over, allowing Illinios' Brett Duncan to come in all alone on Penn State's Scott Blackman and beat him to put the Illini up 1-0.

The Icers answered back as a Joe Maglaque pass sent Justin DePretis in on a breakaway of his own to tie the game at one.

After giving up a rebound goal to Illinois' Mike Roesch, the Icers found themselves down by one goal with a period left.

However, if Penn State wanted to win the game, they had to figure out a way to beat last year's ACHA player of the year in Illini goalie Tim Danlow.

A quick pass from Mike Carrano to Kevin Jaeger gave Penn State the chance they needed as Jaeger went in on a two-on-two with Glenn Zuck. Jaeger slipped a pass through to Zuck who beat Danlow to the stick side and evened the score at two, setting the stage for McKeen's game winner.

The Icers were again beneficiaries of a strong goaltending performance from Blackman. He said he was a wall in net and only got stronger as the game went on.

The last thing Penn State needed was another injury to a defenseman. They started the weekend without the services of defensemen Chris Rome and Eric Harbaugh only to see captain and Curtiss Patrick go down in the first period of Saturday's game, with what could be a serious shoulder injury.

The remaining defensemen had to step up and fill the void left by these injuries.

"We're conditioned for this kind of thing." Maglaque said. "I just tried to play my game and step up to make some big plays I know Curtiss would have made."

Winning the Big Ten Tournament stretched the Icers' winning streak to 18 games and showed the league just how good the Icers are capable of being.

"It was a real big win," Maglaque said. "Overcoming the No. 2 ranked team showed we deserve to be No. 1. It showed if we work as a team we can overcome any team in the ACHA."