The fact that No. 1 Penn State is playing No. 2 Rhode Island this weekend doesn't excite Matt Wallace any more than he normally would be for a game against the Rams.

"We really don't need any extra incentive to play Rhode Island," the senior defenseman said. "We hate Rhode Island."

However, no one, not even Wallace, is downplaying the importance of this weekend's games.

Tonight at 9 and tomorrow afternoon at 3:30, the ACHA's two best teams will meet at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.

Whichever one comes out looking the best will be one step closer to guaranteeing itself the No. 1 seed at the ACHA National Tournament, which is now less than one month away.

Tonight will be the third time that Penn State (23-4-2) and Rhode Island (27-1-3) have met this season. The

first and second were back on Nov. 4 and 5 in Rhode Island, when the two

teams tied, 4-4, before the Rams prevailed in the second meeting, 5-2.

"There's a lot of people that are still bitter about that Saturday loss," Wallace said. "So we're looking to get them here."

The week after that loss, the Icers began their current 17-game winning streak, making Rhode Island the only team that the Icers have not beaten at least once this season.

"When we played them at Rhode Island, they were faster than us. They were more physical than us. They played better defense than us. They had better special teams than us," Icers head coach Joe Battista said. "But we've gotten a lot better in all those areas."

Since the November games against Rhode Island, the Icers have been scoring an average of 5.83 goals per game.

Yet while the offense has been on the fire, the defense has been struggling, especially as of late, giving up an average of 3.44 goals per game in nine games since the beginning of the semester.

In two wins last weekend against Michigan-Dearborn, the Icers gave up eight goals, four of which came on the penalty kill.

The Icers managed to score 15 times against the Wolves, rendering their goals against meaningless in terms of the result, but the Icers fear that eventually the porous defense will catch up with them.

"Everyone feels that if we give up five goals and our offense isn't there, that's most likely going to be a loss," freshman defenseman Andrew Magulick said, referencing last Friday's 10-5 win against Michigan-Dearborn. "Because there are going to be games that we're going to meet a hot goaltender. It's gonna happen sometime between now and next month."

Next month, specifically March 1, is when the ACHA National Tournament begins. With two wins this weekend, Battista is confident the Icers will have one of the top two seeds in the postseason, no matter how his team fares the rest of the season.

The Icers play No. 3 Ohio, whom they split with at home earlier this season, on the road twice next weekend.

"We have our fate in our own hands, and I like that," Battista said. "We can't blame anybody but ourselves with the outcome of the weekend. Hopefully, we'll be patting ourselves on the back if we get the job done."

Slap Shots

Senior forward Justin DePretis will not play after suffering a leg injury against Michigan-Dearborn last weekend. Freshman Dave Arcobello will take his place on the second line, teaming up with senior Luc Walker and sophomore Nate Obringer.