The Penn State Lady Icers have been chomping at the bit to return to the ice since their strong performance at the end-of-season ACHA national tournament in March.

They'll get their wish this weekend.

A veteran Lady Icers club that includes eight experienced seniors opens its season with games against North Carolina State this weekend at Greenberg Ice Pavilion.

The season opener is at 10:15 p.m. tomorrow. The series finishes with a game at 10:45 a.m. Sunday.

Senior defenseman Stephanie Feyock said the seniors are focused on making sure their last season is their most successful.

"We want to win everything this year," she said. "Every game that counts and doesn't count, every single game, we're going to be taking seriously."

While the Lady Icers do possess a bunch of experience, coach Chris Whittemore still has to work five freshmen into the lineup. Included in that group are two goaltenders, Gena Goldbaum and Melanie Klienmann, who will split action this weekend. The team's goalie last year, Tara Wheeler, is taking at least one semester off from hockey, Whittemore said.

While big games against the University of Rhode Island, Penn State's main rival in the Eastern Collegiate Women's Hockey League, await in mid-October, the main goal of this weekend's series will be on the big picture, Whittemore said -- not solely on gearing up for URI.

"This weekend is all about getting our rookies some action before we go up against URI, get a couple games under their belts so they're used to what it's all about," he said.

Feyock said the seniors on the team are looking at the URI weekend as the "real start" of the season.

Nonetheless, they're also looking at this weekend as a good opportunity to work on meshing with new line mates (Whittemore has done some shuffling to lines) and adjusting to changes in the team's playbook designed to open up the offense.

"Positioning is going to be key," Feyock said.

"We've been looking at some game tapes from last year... so hopefully we'll start ahead of where we were last year [in the opener]."