With the new ACHA rankings coming out today, the No. 4 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers are starting to make a case for a return to a more familiar ranking -- at the top of the league.

Riding a six-game winning streak, the Icers (12-4-2) have only a two-game home series with No. 13 Delaware (10-7) standing in the way of them running the table since Nov. 5. The teams will square off at 9 tonight in the Greenberg Ice Pavilion. The final puck of the semester will drop 3:30 p.m. tomorrow as the Icers close out the 2005 calendar year.

However, like the rest of their schedule, the Icers won't have an easy time finishing the semester on a high note. A Delaware assistant coach, Jim O'Connor, is a former Icer, having won a national championship in 1990 under Icers coach Joe Battista.

"They're a good group of people, a lot of their players know our players, a lot of the guys have played against each other -- we've developed a nice rivalry with them," Battista said.

"There aren't many secrets; it's more about adjustments -- if they do something, we're going to have to be able to adjust to it. If we do something, they're going to have to adjust to it."

Adjusting is something the Icers have had to deal with last weekend at the East-West Showcase in Michigan. Losing then-leading scorer Luke DeLorenzo to an injury forced Battista to insert freshman Brandon Rubeo on the team's top line. The results showed that the team has enough depth to make adjustments because of injuries.

Rubeo notched his first career goal as an Icer and helped set up forward Mike McMullen's first career hat trick during Saturday's 9-0 win against Michigan-Dearborn.

"If we have DeLorenzo in there, we know that he can score a ton of goals and then from what we saw last weekend, if he can't go, Rubeo can fit the bill perfectly," senior captain Brett Wilson said. "We have a solid lineup with either of those guys in there."

While the Icers are finding new ways to score, they must be ready to step up against a good defensive team, which, according to Battista, has two outstanding freshman defensemen.

With an outpouring of offensive production during the Showcase from players like McMullen, Frank Berry, Rubeo and Nate Obringer, the Icers can feel confident that players will rise to the occasion this weekend.

Some of the team's top performers are still questionable a far as playing this weekend. Senior goaltender Paul Mammola, who recorded a shutout in his last start against UM-Dearborn, is battling an infection that may keep the Icers from splitting the weekend, putting junior Chris Matteo on the spot.

Also, the team's second scoring line, the gold line, could be without its leading scorer in Justin DePretis, who along with senior Luke Walker, helped to spark Obringer's breakout weekend.

Those two injuries, along with the prolonged absence of senior defenseman Matt Wallace's experience and the possible loss of DeLorenzo could have most teams worried, but Battista says that his players are willing to step up.

"I'm learning more and more about our team every week, and I'm enjoying coaching this team," he said. "It's a good bunch of guys; we haven't had very many off-ice distractions, and that just makes it that much more fun work with this group."

With the fall semester and 2005 approaching the end, this group of players has one more thing left to prove to their coach and themselves before nearly three weeks off.

"We need to stay focused; this is pressure time for Delaware and us. Both of us are going to want to end the semester on a high note," Battista said. "We have unfinished business here; we said we wanted run the table, and they stand in our way -- we've got to be ready."