After almost all of the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers games this season, head coach Joe Battista has uttered the phrase, "I'm disappointed with our power play," in one way or another.

"I'm used to 30, 40 percent power plays out of a Penn State team. We're at less than 20," Battista said following a 3-3 tie against then-No. 17 Duquesne, three games ago.

"Our power play has been the difference, and not in a good way," he said this past weekend after a 4-4 tie and a 5-2 loss to No. 3 Rhode Island.

During those two games, the Icers power play went 3-for-14.

Through 11 games, the No. 4 Icers (6-3-2) are 16-for-80 on man-advantages, exactly at 20 percent.

"I'm disappointed because I feel with the talent that we have our power play should be a hell of a lot more successful," Battista said after practice on Tuesday.

With a two game series upcoming against No. 2 Ohio University (13-1-1) this weekend at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, Battista hopes that changes this week in practice to the power play unit pay off in a big way.

The Icers' top regular strength players, freshman Luke DeLorenzo, junior Michael McMullen and freshman Frank Berry, also lead the team in power play goals with four, three, and four, respectively.

This week though, several Icers including McMullen are sitting out of practice while they nurse injuries sustained during the two games against Rhode Island. Against the Rams, McMullen, the Icers' second leading scorer with 10 goals and 13 assists, re-aggravated a shoulder injury suffered against Duquesne the week before.

With several players not practicing or at full strength, one would think that this week is not the best time to be tinkering with the power play unit, but Battista said the changes were already in the works.

"We're trying some things different anyway. We needed to change either the personnel, the formation, or both, because what we were doing wasn't working," Battista said.

"Our power play doesn't go after the puck with any sense of urgency. We don't get rebounds. We don't screen the goal. We give up the puck too easily. Those are all things we have to get better at in a hurry."

The solution, from junior goalie Chris Matteo's perspective, is for the Icers to keep it simple and get back to the basics.

"We just need to take shots. There's no real secret to it," Matteo said. "We've always had a good power play every single year. We just have to commit ourselves to the system, do what coach wants us to do, and we'll be just fine."

If they can do that, Matteo says, the power play goals will come.

"We're going to break out in a big way and when we do you're going to see a lot of talent on the power play and you're going to see a lot of pucks go in the net," Matteo said.

JoeBa Radio

"The Joe Battista Show" aired for the second time last night locally on 970 AM WBLF and on the internet at fightonstate.com. The show will air Wednesday nights from 7:30 to 8 p.m. throughout the season.

It follows a similar call-in show featuring Penn State wrestling coach Tony Sunderland.

The half hour, which is hosted by Icers radio voice Steve Penstone, gives fans the opportunity ask Battista questions through e-mails and phone calls directly to the studio. Fans can also call in to talk about the team or just hockey in general.

DeLorenzo, the Icers leading scorer with 13 goals and 14 assists, had a few questions of his own.

"It's only half an hour? Is that going to be enough time?" DeLorenzo said.