Ask and ye shall receive.

No. 1 ACHA Penn State Div. I Icers (22-2) coach Joe Battista has been preaching the importance of defense, teamwork and discipline his entire career. After the wake up call against No. 6 Ohio a week ago, the Icers finally responded, buying into Battista's system and earning two solid wins over No. 2 Rhode Island and West Virginia.

"It should prove to our guys when we play together and when we play disciplined, and we don't care who scores the goals and gets the assists, that we are an awesome team," Battista said.

Compared to Penn State's weekend against Ohio, the Icers looked like a different team this weekend. The defense played calmer, the forwards backchecked, and, for the most part, everyone stayed out of the penalty box.

The first period of the Rhode Island game gave Penn State the only real scare of the weekend. The Rams kept the pressure on the Icers, taking seven shots on goal and scoring the only tally of the period.

But, like every defense in hockey, Penn State's goalie was its anchor. Junior Scott Blackman made several key saves in the first period to keep the deficit at one.

The save that Battista called the turning point of the game was an odd-man rush for the Rams. After two Penn State defensemen collided at center ice, Rhode Island came in two-on-none against Blackman. The junior used a poke check to break up the play and keep Penn State in the game.

"Scottie didn't have to make a lot of saves," Battista said. "But he made a lot of quality saves."

The Icers also managed to stay on the ice and out of the penalty box, something they had trouble doing in Ohio, giving up 12 power-play opportunities to the Bobcats in their weekend series.

Against Rhode Island, the Icers rebounded in a tightly officiated game. Penn State only gave the Rams four power-play opportunities, holding them scoreless on all four and not taking any penalties in the third period.

"The ref said at the beginning of the game he was going to call it tight," Penn State forward Jack Weber said. "It was kind of surprising with the No. 1 and No. 2 teams playing they didn't let us play a little more, but he made a statement and that's why in the third period the game was a little more clean."

Penn State's defense clamped down on the Rams and only allowed 11 shots on goal after the first period.

"All our defense tried to not pinch and not rush the puck too much," Icers defenseman Curtiss Patrick said. "We weren't looking for too much offense from the D-guys."

The solid defensive play continued in Saturday afternoon's game. The Icers outplayed West Virginia, only allowing 12 shots to come in on goaltender Brian Gratz in the win.

The two wins may have come at a price, however. Penn State forward Justin DePretis suffered a lower-back injury in the win over Rhode Island and is expected to miss at least 2-4 weeks.

DePretis is third on the team in points with 23 goals and 16 assists, giving him a total of 39 points in 23 games.