After an extended holiday break, the Penn State Lady Icers are returning to the ice and looking to improve on their up-and-down first half of the season.

The Lady Icers hosted Michigan on Dec. 4 and 5 to close out 2004, tying the first game 3-3 and losing the second 2-1. The loss left the players disappointed and anxious to get back on the ice to turn things around. With their current record at 3-5-4, the Lady Icers need to improve on their consistency and string together a series of wins.

One of the biggest challenges of being on vacation for so long is the inability to practice together and work on problem areas. That has been the main focus for the team as it prepared for its upcoming games.

"We had a long break and we're just trying to get our legs back," senior forward Katie King said. "Everyone has just been trying to practice what we've been working and get ready."

The Lady Icers begin the second half of the season tomorrow night when they travel north to face the University of Buffalo. They will also play a second game against the Bulls on Sunday afternoon.

In order to be successful, the team has been working on fixing some of the weaknesses that hampered it against Michigan in December. The loss to the Wolverines was particularly difficult, as the team gave up the winning goal with 2:45 left in overtime. One of the main causes the team attributes to the loss was a lack of focus as the game progressed.

"We need to keep up the same level of intensity throughout the game and work to not give up," sophomore forward Kristen Balotsky said.

Against Buffalo, the Lady Icers will be facing a team that they feel will challenge them. But Penn State remains confident that it can get a couple of wins against the Bulls.

"Buffalo is a very physical team," sophomore Esther Gomez said. "What they lack in skill, they make up for in brute force."

The Lady Icers will be able to match up well with the team in that area, as they believe that conditioning is one of their key strengths. This has been a necessary element for the team because it has dealt with having a short bench all season long and keeps players on the ice for long stretches.

"Our conditioning has been very good all season," Balotsky said. "It's something that has been able to take us through whole games."

Now that the team has had more than a month to mull over what went wrong in the first half of the season, the players feel that they are prepared to get back on the ice and turn things around.

"Everyone just wants to go out, play hard and do what it takes to win," King said.