Penn State ACHA Division I Icers coach Joe Battista earned his 500th win in a last-minute victory against No. 10 Arizona State on Thursday.

The Icers then went on to sweep the Arizona State University's Desert Classic, with 4-3 and 5-4 wins against No. 12 Arizona on Friday and No. 5 Iowa State yesterday, respectively.

Right now, however, those last two wins, Nos. 501 and 502, may be more important for the team than any milestone.

With their three-game sweep in the Dessert Classic, the Icers have now won 11 straight games en route to a home showdown with No. 1, and defending national champion, Illinois this coming weekend. The two-game series will be a rematch of last year's national championship game, which Illinois won 4-3.

Thursday's win served as the rubber match in the season series against the Sun Devils, as the teams split the first two contests during the fall at Penn State.

Icers' leading scorer, junior Mike McMullen, netted a goal with 54 seconds left to put the Icers up 6-5 against Arizona State, securing Battista's 500th career victory.

After the game a small ceremony was held to commemorate Battista's win, complete with "I was there when JoeBa got his 500th win." T-shirts.

"I think it made it a little more special that it was a gut-check win," Battista said, who gave credit to the Icers "extended-family," including his own wife and children. "In the end it does not happen without an awful lot of people behind the scenes and I feel blessed that I have so many supportive members of the family."

For the players, it was a special moment to get their coach to that milestone, and they wanted to do it as soon as possible.

"That was a really nice accomplishment, we knew that with one win to go, we wanted to get that when we first came down here," McMullen said. "It was just a great thing to be a part of."

The Icers' redline continues to be a go-to group of players. McMullen ended the three-game Classic with three goals and five assists, while linemate Frank Berry tallied three goals and four assists, including the winner in yesterday's game.

"Frank Berry was phenomenal this weekend," Battista said. "In every game he contributed some big play -- some big goal, some big assist."

Yesterday's 4-3 win against Iowa State came as result of a dual between two of the ACHA's top coaches; Battista against Dr. Al Murdoch, whose 839 wins are the most in ACHA history.

Berry notched the game winner with 4:12 left in the game off a pass from linemate McMullen. In the last game of the weekend, which Battista called the best game of the series, there were four lead changes. The Icers even had to pull off a late penalty kill to preserve their one goal lead.

"Special teams was the difference in the game," Battista said in reference to his team going 3-for-7 on the power play against Iowa State who was held to one goal on six chances with a man advantage.

Sandwiched between the two momentous games was the Icers 4-3 victory against No. 10 Arizona on Friday, and as the win streak continued, so did the effectiveness of the Icers' power play. With McMullen and Berry scoring two third-period goals on the man advantage, the Icers held off Arizona for Battista's 501st win.

The Icers finished the Classic going 8-for-21 on the power play, which contributed important goals at crucial moments for Penn State. McMullen and Berry both attributed their scoring success to good puck movement and communication.

"When we got back into the swing of things and started to move the puck well, then we got a couple of lucky bounces here and there," Berry said. "We took advantage of the opportunities that we had."

Three wins against three highly ranked opponents are just a few more notches in the belt of a team that has seen its share of tough competition this season.

"Our schedule has been real tough all year, this weekend is huge, I can't wait to get a shot at Illinois, especially after last year," McMullen said. "Our fate is in our own hands -- if we play well we determine where will be ranked because we play all of the top teams."