Chris Matteo slowly shuffled to the locker room, wincing with every step. He leaned against the wall for a moment to catch his breath.

He was just in a car accident.

But instead of taking some time away from practice -- or going to the hospital -- the sophomore goalie popped six Tylenol and went right back to the rink.

"I just tried to gut it out on the ice," Matteo said.

Matteo was rear-ended by a truck a few hours earlier when he was taking a right turn onto Atherton Street.

"He didn't have ID on him," Matteo said. "It turns out he had his license suspended for DUI."

Of course, Penn State ACHA Division I Icers coach Joe Battista was worried about his player's health at the time. But Matteo assured him he'd be all right to practice -- as soon as he called the authorities.

"Instantly, right when I got hit, I was in a lot of back pain," he said. "So, I just called coach and said I'd have to stay for the police."

After practice -- that's right, after practice -- Matteo made a stop at the local hospital.

"They gave me muscle relaxers and stuff like that," he said. "But I also couldn't lift for a week; I was in a pretty good amount of pain."

For Matteo, though, nothing was more painful than sitting on the bench for the last month.

He wasn't injured; he lost his co-starting role after allowing nine goals in a span of four periods.

But after putting in a lot of hard work and remaining dedicated to the team, Matteo got another shot last weekend against Washington & Jefferson -- and made the most of it.

He recorded the second shutout of his career, the first at home, by stopping 26 pucks and making several acrobatic, jaw-dropping saves.

"I just had this mental image of just a dog in a cage rearing to go," Matteo said. "And I finally let the cage go."

The sophomore goalie was almost magic in the net -- as a matter of fact, he even made the puck vanish late in the third period.

After a Washington & Jefferson player took a strong shot, Matteo made the body save. As usual, an official skated over toward the goalie to retrieve the puck.

Only one small problem: the puck was nowhere to be found.

The official aided Matteo by taking off a few of his pads and shaking them in hopes the puck would fall out.

Matteo even jumped up and down to shake it loose -- to no avail.

Luckily, the referee spotted it right after bringing over a new puck for the faceoff. It was wedged between an awkward portion of his glove.

"It was just the weirdest thing," Matteo said. "I just don't know how it got there; it's pretty funny."

All joking aside, Matteo said he felt sitting on the bench the last four weeks might have actually helped his game.

"Watching the last month of hockey, in retrospect, could've been the best thing that they possibly could've done for me in preparation at Nationals," Matteo said. "I've got my confidence back again. And if you saw some of my saves out there, I got my swagger back a little bit."

According to Matteo, his swagger may have left him soon after January's Ohio game. Matteo was instrumental in the Icers' victory as he made what the radio broadcasters heralded as the "save of the century."

"The entire arena thought the puck was in the net -- the crowd, the players, everybody," Battista said at the time. "It was a showstopper."

Matteo believed that specific play caused him to rely more on his athleticism than his form.

And by changing his priorities, that led to his benching.

Despite riding the bench, though, he still hasn't been immune to criticism from other teams.

"At Illinois, one of their fans screamed down to me, 'Matteo, you ever gonna play again?' And I went over to [assistant coach Chris] Schmale, and I said, 'It's funny. I think the two most embarrassing positions, the two most nerdy for some reason, are backup quarterback and backup goaltender.' "

But Schmale replied by giving Matteo a different view, an explanation that has stuck with the second-year player.

"He said, 'We don't see it that way. We see it as two No. 1 goalies; we have a 1-A and a 1-B.' "

And according to 1-B, he wants to remain dedicated and positive -- because he knows he has a lot more to contribute in the future.