Coming out flat for Friday night games is becoming a trend for the No. 2 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers. Luckily, so is rebounding from those games to close out their weekend with a victory.

The Icers (6-2-1) were able to rebound from a 3-3 tie against No. 17 Duquesne (3-3-1) on Friday at home to defeat the Dukes 7-4 in their rink yesterday.

"We played with a lot more energy and passion today," Icers head coach Joe Battista said. "Friday we just had a lack of respect for our opponent -- we learned that we can't just show up."

While the score remained close through the first two periods, the Icers were dominating much of the play, as shown by their 51 shots taken to Duquesne's 35.

With sixteen seconds left in the second period, the Dukes tied the score at three, and it looked as if the Icers might even miss the opportunity to close out the weekend with a win.

"It looked like they had all the momentum at that point, tied it at 3-3, their crowd was fired up," Battista said. "The boys got a little butt-chewing from me at the end of the period -- we came out flying in the third."

Playing physically in the final period, the Icers were even able to get their struggling power play going. Battista said that the tough, hard-hitting play of the Icers frustrated the Dukes, who took seven penalties in the period. Senior Luke Walker's goal less than two minutes into the period gave Penn State a lead it would never relinquish.

"We started to play like real men out there, instead of little kids," Walker said. "JoeBa came in and just screamed at us a little bit between the second and third periods and that got us going."

Just seconds later, freshman Frank Berry added another goal. Fellow red-liner Luke DeLorenzo tacked on two power play goals, both assisted by Walker, halfway through the period. The first goal came during a five-on-three power play and the next, DeLorenzo's fourth of the game, came about a minute later on the resulting five-on-four after that.

The two clinching power play goals came after Battista called a time out with about 12 minutes remaining in the game. At that point the Icers were holding a potentially dangerous two-goal lead and Battista said he basically challenged his team to score again, to put the game away. DeLorenzo's goals came seconds later.

The way the season has went, the win seemed almost inevitable -- the Icers would make adjustments after a disappointing Friday game and come out and add another tally to their win column.

Against a team with a top power play, the Icers allowed all three goals to their opponent's special teams. Friday's game, although not a loss felt like one in the locker room after the game, in a game where the Icers again out shot their opponents.

"I think the worst thing that happened to us this year was beating Robert Morris," Battista said Friday night, referring to the team's 3-2 win against an NCAA Division I team. "Our guys think we're better than we are, I think they don't understand the mistakes we make."

The lack of respect for Duquesne that both Battista and the players talked about led to penalties, crucial turnovers and odd-man rushes that sunk the Icers. The Dukes' third goal came as a penalty to Mike Heath expired. Duquesne's leading scorer for the night streaked out of the box and picked up a loose puck, beating Icers' goalie Paul Mammola.

Five minutes into the third period, senior defenseman Keith Jordan's high shot over the Duquesne goalie, Clint Hazen's, shoulder on his glove side, tied the game at three. The Icers seems to have gained the momentum but could not finish, with the score remaining deadlocked.

After a letdown like Friday's, a physical win yesterday was crucial to salvage the weekend.

"It was a real gut-check win for us at a time when really needed it," Battista said.