As long as Joe Battista has been coaching at Penn State, he couldn't remember feeling the way he did after Saturday night's 8-3 loss to St. Clair College.

"It's the final home game of the year. It's the last for the seniors and there was no enthusiasm, no energy in the locker room. I'm at a loss, I really am," Battista said.

For the eight seniors that played in their last game at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, the Nittany Lion Invitational Tournament title game defeat was not they way the planned to close out their home careers.

The 13 freshmen that have depended on the leadership of the seniors at one point or another this season didn't want to see their leaders lose their home finale.

Neither did the sophomores and juniors, who next year will be looked upon to fill the leadership roles that this senior class held.

This year's captain, Brett Wilson, and three assistant captains, Teague Willits-Kelley, Brendan Martin and Luc Walker, will play their final games in a Penn State uniform during next week's ACHA National Tournament.

They may not register many goals on the scoreboard or dazzle on the ice, but their leadership-by-example is evident. There's a reason they wear the letters 'A' and 'C' on their chests.

"One of the best lines I ever heard," Battista said, "was, 'You need your stars to get you to the ball, but you need your grinders and grunts to win it all.' That's really the kind of guys that we have in this senior class. They're not going to break scoring records and that sort of thing. They're character guys. They're guys that play with heart. They're guys that lay it all out and leave it all on the ice. They play with a lot of passion and emotion."

The leadership that the captains provided, along with goaltender Paul Mammola, defenseman Matt Wallace and forwards Marc Switaj and Justin DePretis, was especially helpful this season, given that nearly half of this year's roster was made up of freshmen.

"They really helped us to figure out what we need to do to be successful here," freshman defenseman Craig Brooks said. "Even at the beginning, they just welcomed us right in. We just picked up on the inside jokes and all that, and it just grew from there. We just jelled right away, it seems. It's been like that all year."

The current seniors were members of Penn State's 2002-03 ACHA National Championship team that went 30-3-1. Also on that team was Brendan Martin's older brother, Dustin. Now, the younger Martin finds himself looking back on the state of the team as he prepares to leave, just as his older brother did four years ago.

"I pointed out that our class has a ring," Martin said. "This freshman class is very talented, and my brother's class, they went four years in a row with four championships.

I think this freshman class has the talent to do something special like that, too, but it starts now."

The Icers head to the ACHA National Tournament in West Chester next week, where they are seeded No. 3, behind Rhode Island and Ohio.

Battista hopes that the seniors can bookend their Penn State careers with national titles, and make it easier to forget their regular season ending defeat.

"They know what it takes to be champions," Battista said. "They won their freshman year. Obviously, I'm hoping we can send them out of here with a couple championships."

Next year, another group of leaders will emerge, another group of freshmen will come in, but this season's group will not be forgotten by at least one player.

"Probably the most fun hockey team I've ever been a part of," Brooks said. "It's been fun. We're definitely going to miss them."