AMES, Iowa - Maybe it was the jetlag, the week off or the mountain-sized pressure associated with holding the No. 1 seed that had the Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers up only 1-0 late in the second period of its first round match-up against No. 12 Towson at the national tournament.
However, for most of the two periods of Wednesday night's 10-1 win, everyone would have said it was Tigers' goalie Kevin Birnstill, who kept things interesting to say the least.
Still, the Icers did manage to crank out 61 shots, score 10 goals, including nine in the final 23 minutes, and held the Tigers to under 20 shots. These are all things the Icers (33-2-0) can build on when they face host team and No. 8 Iowa State at 7:30 tonight at the Ice Arena.
"All four lines scored goals, [we got] a lot of help from the defense and I thought [freshman goalie] Chris Matteo wasn't challenged a lot, but he had to make some high quality saves and he did," Penn State Icers coach Joe Battista said. "It's a shame we lost the shutout."
Besides losing the shutout, they also missed numerous scoring chances, were sloppy in their own zone and really looked flustered and frustrated at times before busting the game wide open. Mistakes that will not be so easy to hide behind tonight.
"I think that it came down to bearing down in front," Battista said. "I was most disappointed that we were missing passing opportunities on the back door. We were shooting when we should have passed, passing when we should have shot."
Fortunately for the Icers, they were able to find a happy medium thanks to two goals each from seniors Bill Downey and Glenn Zuck and three assists from junior Kevin Jaeger.
The Icers got goals from senior Greg Windsor, juniors Chris Rome, Justin DePretis and Joe Maglaque and sophomores Brett Wilson and Teague Willits-Kelley.
Still, it is the match-up with the Cyclones that will determine whether the Icers will have a chance to extend their national championship streak to five. Having a day off yesterday, the Icers should be rested and ready for the potential one and done game tonight.
"Iowa State in their building in front of their fans, it's a great challenge for us," Battista said. "We're excited. I think our guys are going to be pumped up for that."
Notes: In other action on Wednesday, the top seeds held form, as No. 2 Ohio University handled No. 11 Arizona State 4-1 in Pool B, No. 3 Rhode Island defeated No. 10 West Chester 4-0 in Pool C and No. 4 Illinois narrowly avoided No. 9 Washington & Jefferson 3-2 in Pool D. Thursday's games were not yet finished at press time.
