The last time the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers lost four consecutive games was nearly 13 years ago.

Not long before that, many of the current Icers were beginning their hockey careers. Now, the eight seniors that will be honored tonight will be looking to snap that skid during their last home weekend at Penn State.

The No. 3 Icers (23-8-2) host the Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament (NLIT) this weekend, taking on No. 19 Washington & Jefferson at 8 tonight at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion. The winner will take on the victor of the earlier 5 p.m. game between No. 13 Delaware and St. Clair College in the championship at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

"The thought's been going through my mind just that past -- how many years is it, 15 years now -- 16 years playing the game," senior goaltender Paul Mammola said about playing in his last home weekend. "Now, it's kind of winding down. Collectively it's been a thought process just looking over the past and looking to the next few games to go out the way you'd like to go out."

Mammola recently took it upon his shoulders to use his senior leadership to make sure his teammates, especially the 13 new players, were all on the same page heading into their last action before nationals.

"[Mammola] stepped up in practice [Tuesday], and he said some things that needed to be said to the team," Icers head coach Joe Battista said. "It's good that one of the seniors kind of put their foot down, if we want to be champions. It's easier for the younger guys, they don't have the same sense of urgency."

One thing the Icers will need to get on the same page will be their offensive output. Battista has shuffled the lines to try to add balance to the attack after last Saturday's loss to No. 2 Ohio yielded only one goal.

Even more glaring was the Icers power play during the four-game losing streak. The "power-less play," or the "power outage," as Battista referred to it, notched only one goal during those four losses. That goal came as a four-on-three man advantage against No. 1 Rhode Island two weeks ago.

Going into the NLIT, Battista has decided to go away from the team's standard umbrella style of power play and will also experiment with his personnel. Battista said maybe his system had gotten too predictable, but he would like to see his players react better to what their opponents are giving them.

"What coach is trying to do is just give us a chance to read off of other team's penalty kills better," freshman forward Luke DeLorenzo said. "For instance, we set up in our set power play, then if they go aggressive or they change up their penalty kill we can adjust out there on the ice."

Although the seedings have already come out for the national tournament in two weeks, Penn State is likely to see highly motivated competition on Saturday if it defeats Washington & Jefferson tonight.

Delaware will be the Icers' first round opponent at nationals, and St. Clair, a Canadian school, does not compete for the championship.

"This is their nationals," Battista said of the Canadian team that he thinks would be top-five in the ACHA.

With a final weekend at home before nationals to send off eight senior leaders, the Icers are also in no need of any extra motivation for the NLIT.

"The seniors have been such big influences for us all year, just showing the Penn State way," DeLorenzo said. "I guess it's kind of our night to make it their night."