For the past three seasons, IUP and the Penn State Ice Lions have taken turns winning the University Hockey League (UHL) tournament.

This season, Penn State's last in the UHL, the trend says it's Penn State's turn to win it all, have one last chance to leave its mark on the conference before leaving to join the Super East Collegiate Hockey League (SECHL).

As was the case in the SECHL tournament, the Ice Lions will receive a bye on the first day of the UHL tournament. However, this time they will be the No. 2 seed, as IUP beat them twice in the regular season to take the season title. Those two losses were the only two the Ice Lions suffered in their UHL play. In last year's tournament, the seeds were reversed, and IUP won a 3-0 game.

Last weekend, the Ice Lions were the No. 1 seed in the SECHL tournament, but ended up falling to SUNY-Stony Brook. Penn State had problems with penalties and was forced to be on special teams a lot, but out-played Stony Brook 5-on-5.

"I think if we play like that against IUP we'll beat them," defenseman Jordan Katz said.

The two teams will have a chance to meet in the championship game, but before that there are more teams looking to get in both teams' ways.

West Virginia is the last seed in the tournament and didn't win a single UHL game all season. Penn State outscored West Virginia 20-2 in the two games they played early in the season.

Pittsburgh seemed to get better at the end of the season and its coaching staff prepares the team specifically for this time of the year. Maryland will be heading to the national tournament by default, as it is the host school.

"I think they are going to surprise teams. They deserve to be there," Ice Lions coach Mo Stroemel said.

Liberty, the team most likely to move on from the first round, may encounter some trouble against West Virginia. Three of the team's top players received disqualifications on the last weekend of the season. They will not be available for the first and second round should Liberty make it that far.

IUP's strong power play will be an asset for the team this weekend, given the nature of physical hockey that is played. The key to beating IUP is getting a lot of shots on goal, even though the team's two goalies are outstanding.