All of the Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers' problems came to a head Friday night.

Subpar goaltending, an inability to capitalize on scoring opportunities and even selfishness played a huge role, as St. Clair topped the Icers 6-3 in Penn State's biggest defeat this season.

Luckily for Penn State, the Icers quickly regained their composure on Saturday and came out with a 1-1 tie against a team that Penn State coach Joe Battista acknowledged as one of the best squads the Icers have faced this season.

However, Friday night's loss wasn't without controversy.

In the second period, a fight broke out on the ice -- no five-minute majors were issued, but a total of 11 penalties ensued from the melee.

According to Battista, that was the turning point of the game.

"There was a fight, there was an actual fight," he said.

"Guys dropped gloves, threw punches and nobody got five minutes majors and kicked out of the game.

"How does that happen? That sends the wrong message."

At the time of the fight, the Icers had the 2-1 advantage and were out-shooting St. Clair, 20-11.

After the fight, when the Icers were forced to play without Drew Ward and Mike McMullen for 14 minutes (due to three penalties apiece), the Saints outshot the Icers 23-8 and outscored Penn State 5-1.

The melee started when McMullen left his feet and leveled an opposing St. Clair player.

Helmets then came off, and the entire crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of a hockey fight.

"At the blue line, I saw one of their players hit our guy, and I was just sticking up for my teammates," said Wade Clubb, St. Clair's assistant captain and one of the two Saints that received a 10-minute misconduct.

Friday's game saw its share of phantom calls, as team captain Kevin Jaeger and Battista cited bad officiating.

Battista said he was especially frustrated when one referee came over and told him to have Jaeger "quit diving."

Apparently, the officials believed Jaeger was acting -- but "Jaeger had a target on his back all weekend," Battista said.

"The ref was making stuff up all night, nobody saw a lot of the stuff he called," Jaeger said. "The ref, maybe he got hit in the head in the beginning."

A total of 25 penalties were called on Friday, and both Battista and Jaeger said that it seemed the officials were more intent on making certain the number of penalties for both teams was equal, rather than calling a truly fair game.

Injuries also plagued the Icers, as goalie Chris Matteo, who started Friday, was on crutches the following day after playing hurt. Battista said he was unaware of Matteo's injury at the time, but believed it affected his performance.

Jaeger was injured in the second game after aggravating his badly bruised left ankle.

He was forced to leave the game to get X-rays.

Despite an injury to the Icers' biggest scoring threat, though, it actually seemed like Penn State was going to pull off the overtime victory.

With 49 seconds remaining in overtime, McMullen skated up the ice on a breakaway but was taken down from behind.

Much to the chagrin of the crowd, no penalty was called -- despite their finger pointing.

"When I saw McMullen take down the boards with that puck, I thought 'Okay, Ohio all over again,' " Battista said. "Absolutely, it was [a penalty].

"But y'know what? The referee said 'Joe, if I'm going to call that, I could've called one on your guys down on the corner earlier. I made up my mind it's going to take nothing short of murder to call the penalty.' "

The Icers may not have won over the weekend -- the first time that's occurred at a homestand since Eastern Michigan in 1999. But Penn State demonstrated a lot of poise in the second game.

Even Saints' coach Kevin Hamlin wouldn't argue that.

"I got to tell you, we've played the whole gambit in this ACHA and they are, by far, the best team in this league, by far," he said.

"They're superbly coached, fairly well disciplined, got good skill, great goaltending -- they're, by far, the best team in this ACHA."