Shiny hardware has a funny way of bringing out a team's best efforts. Heck, it's brought the best out of the No. 1 Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers and coach Joe Battista for four straight years now.

However, to earn some props so to speak against the top-ranked team on their home ice in their own tournament would just be icing on the cake. That is the task Central Michigan has tonight in the Nittany Lion Invitational. In fact, they've requested one large slice.

"They asked to play us in the first round; they wanted us," Battista said. "Certainly they are looking for respect. They're trying to make a statement."

A first round upset of the Icers (22-2-0) would certainly do that. The Stallions (11-14-1) have been a streaky team thus far this season, one week they beat No. 15 Arizona twice on the road in possibly the most hostile environment in the ACHA, and another week they lost twice to No. 18 Kent State at home. Despite that, the Icers expect every team's best shot, a byproduct of their ranking and success at nationals.

Zeroing in on a top seed once again this season, the Icers rebounded nicely last weekend from the back-to-back losses at No. 6 Ohio University with wins against No. 2 Rhode Island and West Virginia. Still, there will be little margin for error over the next few weeks, and the Icers know not to overlook a game like this.

"This is at that stage where you're pre-tournament but post holiday, and there can be a kind of tendency in here to get a little lackadaisical, and we can't let that happen," Battista said. "I think these next three weekends are crucial for us."

The Icers will be without their third leading scoring in forward Justin DePretis, who suffered a back injury in the win against Rhode Island. DePretis, who has 23 goals and 39 points on the season, will be out 2-4 weeks but should be back in time for nationals.

Battista has flirted with several different line changes this week at practice, but said he doesn't want to break up the chemistry of the lines too much this late in the season. So look for him to count on his superior depth to help carry the load in DePretis' absence.

"It'll definitely be a big loss losing Justin; he's one of our better offensive players," linemate Bill Downey said. "We're going to see now who wants to step it up."

Should the Icers win, they would take on the winner of No. 9 West Chester (17-7-1) and No. 12 Washington & Jefferson (13-8-1), two teams that are scrapping for their postseason lives over. It sets up as a perfect test of the Icers future aspirations.

"We definitely want to keep improving these next few weeks and by the time we get to nationals we want to be clicking on all cylinders," Downey said.

That's because at nationals, the hardware sparkles the brightest.