Penn State Icers coach Joe Battista circled the lobby of the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, greeted every few feet by family, friends, and fans with a warm handshake or smile, congratulating him on his No. 1 ACHA Div. I Icers' (20-0) weekend sweep of No. 20 Niagara.

And rightly so, with Battista having steered his Icers toward another potential ACHA National Championship, which would be their fifth in a row, with an undefeated record so far to boot.

However, the wear of a grueling schedule that saw the Icers playing every weekend since Oct. 10 was evident when Battista was absent for post game interviews.

"It's been a long semester," Battista said. "We've never played 20 games in one fall semester and we got out of it healthy and sort of undefeated. We're tired, we need this break."

And with the break approaching, here is a look at how the Icers have done so far.

Goaltending: The biggest question mark heading into the season has turned into arguably the strongest position for the Icers, led by the three-man wall of senior Brian Gratz, junior Scott Blackman and freshman Chris Matteo.

While Battista has continued to use the goalie-by-committee approach all season, Blackman is making the strongest play for the No. 1 spot, a decision Battista hopes to lock up before the Icers head into the National Tournament in March.

Blackman, who boasts an impressive 0.926 save percentage and 1.88 goals against average, has stepped up in the big games, thwarting No. 2 Illinois 3-2, No. 5 Michigan-Dearborn 4-3, No. 10 Delaware 2-0 and No. 20 Niagara 5-1 in successive starts.

Not to be overlooked are the efforts of Matteo (0.902 save percentage and 2.52 GAA) and Gratz (0.912 save percentage and 2.06 GAA), who have created a nice dilemma for Battista and a healthy atmosphere for competition.

"Our goaltenders just all keep making it harder and harder to make a decision," Battista said.

Offense: The best defense is a good offense, and so far this season Icers have had plenty of it. Heading the attack that averages over seven goals and 47 shots per game are senior Glenn Zuck and junior Kevin Jaeger, who make up two thirds of the potent red line.

Zuck, who last weekend moved into fourth on the all-time Icers scoring list with 263 points, is Mr. Everything for the Icers, tallying 21 goals and 31 assists.

"He's such a talented hockey player," Battista said. "He's got size, he's got speed, he's shifty, he can shoot the puck, and he's good at passing the puck. He does so many things."

Linemate Kevin Jaeger has been equally as deadly this season, using his superior speed to create scoring chances for himself as well as his teammates, as evidence by his 20 goals and 22 assists in 18 games.

However, it was Battista's decision to move junior Justin DePretis (21 G, 14 A) off the red line and onto the second line that paid the biggest dividends for the Icers, who now have the ability to roll out four lines who can score.

Battista replaced DePretis with junior Mike Carrano (6 G, 13 A), who compliments Zuck and Jaeger's flash with a bit of grit and toughness.

"I always thought with Justin on our line their wasn't enough pucks to go around," Zuck said. "Moving Justin down to that second line provides a little more offense for them."

Seniors Bill Downey (8 G, 20 A), Brendan Roache (10 G, 11 A) and Jack Weber (7 G, 12 A) also provide scoring for the Icers' offensive juggernaut, and with the return of junior Garrett Divins and freshman Dan McKeen from injury, Battista said the Icers can get even better.

Defense: Riddled by injuries, the defense has held fort to the tune of two goals per game while limiting the opposition to only 25 shots a game. Injuries to senior captain Curtiss Patrick (shoulder) and junior Chris Rome (concussion) as well as the loss of Eric Harbaugh for the season due to personal and academic reasons has slowed the blue line's progress.

However, the addition of junior transfer Joe Maglaque (7 G, 16 A) has added a strong scoring punch from the point, along with Patrick (4 G, 19 A). Three sophomores, Brendan Martin, Luke Walker and Matt Wallace, have done much of the dirty work for the Icers, filling in admirably while the defense was in shambles.

Still, the defense has some work to do according to Battista, mainly clearing the puck out of their own zone and preventing the rash of recent odd-man rushes.

Special teams: The power play has been the Icers personal haven this season, scoring at a 39.4 percent clip (41 out of 104) before last weekend, while the penalty kill has been equally as efficient, killing off 86.6 percent (97 out of 112) of the opponents advantages.

Perhaps more impressive has been the Icers' ability to score shorthanded, led by Zuck and Jaeger and Downey. Before this weekend the Icers had 10 shorthanded goals, nearly equaling the opponents' power play goals.

Still, always the perfectionist, Battista said he wants more from the power play.

"We've got so many talented guys out there, if we would just work together they'd score all the time," Battista said.