After leaving practice on Tuesday, Penn State ACHA Division I Icers head coach Joe Battista crossed paths with football coach Joe Paterno in the parking lot between the Greenberg Ice Pavillion and the Lasch Football Building.

Paterno congratulated Battista on the Icers' three wins last weekend against NCAA Div. I team Robert Morris, No. 13 Mercyhurst and No. 14 Washington & Jefferson. Battista returned the favor to Paterno regarding the Ohio State victory.

"It was a great weekend to be a coach from Penn State named Joe," Battista said to Paterno.

This weekend Battista and the Icers (3-0, 2-0 ACHA) will look to have another productive few days when they travel north to Ontario, Canada for a two game series against St. Clair College.

The No. 2 Icers face the Saints (3-1) at 8 p.m. tomorrow and again at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

"We won't take them for granted. This will be a very tough set of games on the road. They're very physical." Battista said. "Already it's been like playoff-level hockey, and this [weekend] is going to continue that."

St. Clair went on the road to No. 3 Ohio University and split games with the Bobcats just two weeks ago.

The No. 2 Icers have been riding the hot streak of its newly assembled top line, or red line, of junior Michael McMullen, freshman Lukas DeLorenzo and freshman Frank Berry.

"Those guys have only been together for a couple of weeks and they look like they've been together all year," Battista said.

McMullen, who transferred from Division I Fairfield before the start of last season, has five goals and five assists through three games.

DeLorenzo, who comes to Penn State after having played two years of junior 'A' hockey in Canada, has scored three goals and tallied seven assists while Berry, with a year of prep school behind him, has notched three goals and six assists.

Despite the three victories to start the season, Battista said the Icers could improve in both the defensive and offensive zones. He pointed to the Icers' defensive zone coverage and penalty killing.

"Even though we kept the puck out of the net most of the weekend when they had their power play, we got a little lucky at times. We just have to make sure we're all on the same page," Battista said.

"We're also going to work on generating a little bit more offense from behind the net. We passed up too many scoring chances."

The Icers have not exactly eased into regular season competition this year. But the three games in three days to open the season last weekend -- including one against a Division I opponent -- allowed the team plenty of time, on and off the ice, to get to know each other.

"We did that on purpose," Battista said. "We wanted to give them baptism by fire and I'd say so far we passed the test so far."

This weekend, a coach named Joe and the Icers will look to pass another.