The Icers will take on the Rams at 7:30 tonight and then again at 7:30 tomorrow night.
Next weekend the Icers won't have it any easier, with two home contests against No. 3 Ohio University, another team likely to jump ahead of the Icers in today's rankings. After that they must take on another top-10 opponent in Lindenwood, making this a grueling stretch of games for the young Penn State squad.
"We play a tougher schedule than [Rhode Island does], that's good on one hand because we're battle tested, but bad on the other hand because you have to factor in wear and tear," Icers coach Joe Battista said. "That's what happens when you play as tough a schedule as we've chosen to play this year -- we're hoping that in the end, it will pay dividends."
The Icers, who have been struggling to come out and play well on Friday-night games, will be tested often in the unfriendly confines of Rhode Island's Brad Boss Ice Arena.
Last season, the Icers finished their four game series 1-2-1 against the Rams, including a 4-2 loss and a 0-0 tie in Rhode Island.
Part of that was Rams' ACHA All-America goalie Anthony Feyock. Last season, Feyock was nearly unbeatable for the Icers, especially in the tie, when he stopped all 38 shots for the shutout.
The 6-foot-3 Feyock, a Johnstown native, has basically grown up in Penn State's Greenberg Ice Pavilion, attending hockey camps there since he was 10, Battista said.
"He's a great kid, I'm very close to their family -- they're family friends, and he's played well against us; he's always risen to the occasion," Battista said. "That's part of it, we need to find a way to pepper him with more shots than we did last year, but now up there."
In their last meeting with the Rams, the Icers were able to find a way to beat Feyock, four times, in a 4-3 victory at home. That experience will have to be something to draw on this time around.
"He's a big kid, he takes up a lot of net and he plays that well," Wilson said. "If he sees that first shot he's going to stop it, so we can't be looking all the time to score on the first shot, but to work hard to get the second one. So you can beat him there."
Just beating Feyock still won't be enough to come away with two wins on the road for an Icers team coming into the weekend as a rare underdog.
Last season the Icers were surprised by the team speed of the Rams, who were on the whole, faster than Penn State, Battista said. Additions to this year's young lineup should even that out, he said, but the Icers are in for a fight this weekend.
"I can't tell you the last time they got swept at home -- it's been years," Battista said. "I know one thing, we can't worry about the outcome of the game, we've got to worry about our effort and our execution and then let the chips fall where they may."
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