The No. 4 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers headed to Rhode Island this weekend in hopes of finding out exactly how they would fare against one of the ACHA's elite teams.

They arrived back in State College around 7 a.m. yesterday morning, bruised, battered and without a win, tying No. 3 Rhode Island 4-4 Friday night and losing 5-2 Saturday afternoon.

"We aren't all on the same page yet. We still have too many guys trying to do things on their own," Icers head coach Joe Battista said. "We haven't had enough guys buy into the system yet. When you're young you still think you can do it all yourself."

The Icers (6-3-2) looked as if they solved their season-long Friday night struggles, coming out firing in a hard-hitting, high-scoring affair that was sent to overtime after an exciting regulation finish.

"Friday's game was one the best hockey games from a fan's perspective that you could ask for," Battista said.

Down 4-3 with 14 seconds to go in the third period and an empty net behind the Icers' defenders, junior Mike McMullen knocked home a loose puck off of a Luke Walker rebound attempt to send the game to overtimes.

In sudden death, freshman Frank Berry scored what was an apparent goal to give the Icers the win, but the referee had blown the whistle, stopping play, before the puck left Berry's stick.

The Icers' Justin Depretis struck first Friday scoring on a pass from freshman forward Jamie Zimmel 1:43 into the first period. The Rams (11-0-2) responded, scoring two goals in the next 45 seconds to go up 2-1. Walker, who tallied three points on the weekend, ended first-period scoring on a pass from Depretis to send both teams to the locker room tied at two.

The next goal from either team came on a Penn State power play with four minutes left to play in the third period. Freshman Luke DeLorenzo scored on assists from McMullen and defenseman Keith Jordan.

But the Rams responded, again scoring two goals in less than one minute before McMullen sent the game to overtime.

The tie left the Icers with several injures and as a result caused Battista to change his coaching strategy a bit as several members of the team were not at full strength.

"Physically that game took its toll on us. We were pretty banged after the end of that game," Battista said. "I was rather upset with the lack of calls, a couple checking from behinds that injured several of our players."

Rhode Island kept the pressure on Saturday, scoring two quick goals and staying in control of the game until another power play goal from DeLorenzo with 54 seconds remaining in the period to keep the Icers within reach of a win.

But the Rams closed the door on the Icers in the second and third periods.

"I'm not sure the game was as close as the score indicated. They pretty much dominated us. We played very, very poorly on Saturday," Battista said.

"Our youth, our inexperience, playing together as a team. You could see where [Rhode Island was] clearly more on the same page than we were."

The Icers power play continued to struggle throughout the weekend, going 3-for-14.

"We had plenty of opportunities to win Friday if our power play comes through. We had plenty of opportunities Saturday to get back in the game if our power play comes through," Battista said. "Instead, they got some big power play goals just when they needed them."