Icers coach Joe Battista works a little harder around this time of year.

He has no reason to do otherwise because he's recently reaped the benefits that he and his coaching staff have sown.

Since the turn of the century, Battista's teams have played exceptionally in March, winning four of five ACHA championships.

But bring up March 7, 2004, the day his team lost in the championship game to Ohio University after leading 2-0, and Battista knows there's a lot of hockey yet to be played.

His No. 2-seeded Penn State ACHA Division I Icers will compete in the first round of ACHA Nationals at 2 p.m. today against No. 15 seed West Chester.

Robert Morris College, located just outside of Chicago, is hosting the tournament. If the Icers beat West Chester, they could play the host Eagles in the second round. If so, it would be the fifth time in six years that the Icers played the host school of the tournament.

"We have as good a chance as any of the teams, but I also feel this is a year when a lot of teams could win it," Battista said.

The Icers (23-6-3) easily took care of West Chester in two games during the opening weekend of their regular season.

"We're not going in blind against a team we've never seen before, so we'll have some idea. It'll help us put together a game plan against them," assistant captain Brett Wilson said.

That weekend saw the debut in net of sophomore goaltender Paul Mammola, who transferred from UMass-Lowell before the season. In that game, Mammola gave up three goals on 20 shots in a 7-3 victory.

And until eight games ago, Mammola had been splitting time between the pipes with Chris Matteo. But knowing that superb goaltending can be the great equalizer come playoff time, Battista chose Mammola as his starter.

"Historically, when a goalie's on a roll, he's on a roll and you keep playing him," Battista said.

But at some point, history may become a factor. If they make it that far, the Icers could conceivably play rival Ohio in the third round of the tournament. In his career -- remember, he's only a sophomore -- Matteo has a 4-1 record against the Bobcats.

Battista said numerous times this season that his team is in the midst of a rebuilding phase. With 12 new players on this year's roster, Battista has been forced to play freshmen in crucial spots. No one knows how the younger players will take to playing for the first time at Nationals, but two of the Icers' top-three leaders in points are freshmen; Keith Jordan and Mike McMullen have 42 and 40 points, respectively.

Battista hopes that the experience they've gained will carry over into the postseason.

"You never know how a guy is going to react to the playoffs until they've been there," Battista said. "When the game's on the line, the environment is different. Hopefully, we've been through enough tough games this year. Our guys have grown up pretty quickly."

After jumping out to a 9-0 start, the Icers went 3-3-2 during an eight-game stretch in the middle of their season. But they are playing well now with a 9-1-1 record in their last 11 games.

"I'm really happy with what we've done this year, so far," Battista said. "We just gotta go back out and build on [it]. Let's make sure that we keep getting better.

"We haven't played our best hockey game yet. It's still to come."