WEST CHESTER -- Seconds after the game ended, one half of the ice was dotted with navy blue gloves and hockey sticks. The other, faces of defeat. With the scoreboard showing Rhode Island 3, Penn State 1, players from both teams lined up for the traditional post-game handshake.

Rhode Island players meandered around the litter thrown on their side of the rink in celebration. Some Penn State players could only watch. Others couldn't. For some, it was their third defeat in an ACHA National Championship game.

Somewhere in this line, Penn State head coach Joe Battista came across Rhode Island goaltender Anthony Feyock.

"Thank god for those posts," Feyock told Battista, who coached the goaltender at Penn State Hockey camps throughout the years.

"Anthony, you're playing your angles correctly," Battista said. "If you weren't, those go in."

Those were two identical Penn State shots that rang off the goalpost behind Feyock in the third period, just inches away from being goals. The first originated from the stick of Icers leading goal scorer Luke DeLorenzo about 45 seconds into a scoreless final period.

Streaking down the right side of the ice, the freshman let a shot rip, sending the puck past Feyock's right side, hitting the goalpost about halfway up and ricocheting back into the defensive zone. The score remained 0-0.

Down 2-1 with 35 seconds left in the game, senior Justin DePretis, the Icers' all-time active leader in goals, let an identical shot loose. Skating down the right side, he blasted a wrister past Feyock's right only to see the same result as DeLorenzo's earlier attempt.

The Rhode Island goaltender said after the shots hit the post, he actually saw the puck go out between his legs, even feeling DePretis' shot hit his thigh.

"The first place I went after the game was to kiss that post," he said.

For the Icers, their third ACHA title game loss in as many seasons was made even more painful, not only for the way they didn't score, but the way Rhode Island did.

In between Penn State's two missed opportunities, the Rams scored two goals, both deflecting off Icers defensemen and past goaltender Paul Mammola, who had a solid game in net.

"It's very hard to lose when you know you should have won," Battista said.

Penn State outshot Rhode Island 34-17 and had the puck in the Rams' zone for the majority of the game. But by the time Rhode Island senior Brandon Kape buried a rink-long shot into an empty net after DePretis' shot hit the post, all that mattered to the Icers was the final score.

"Before the game, after the first period, after the second period, we were all ready to go," said freshman defenseman Andrew Magulick, who assisted on the Icers' lone goal, a wraparound by DePretis with 3:33 left that tied the game at 1. "Between the second and third period, Captain Willy [senior Brett Wilson], he stood up and put a speech on that just pumped us all up and got us ready to go. And we were ready. We came out flying, but the bounces didn't go our way this time."

About 30 minutes after the game, the two head coaches shook hands outside the locker rooms. Rhode Island's Joe Augustine, freshly doused in Gatorade by his players inside his locker room, held a partially smoked victory cigar. Battista, holding the runner-up trophy for the third year in a row and soaked with disappointment, could only give his coaching adversary credit for his first ACHA title in 17 years of coaching.

"It's a long time coming," Battista said to Augustine. "You guys have a great program."

Minutes later, Battista, leaning against a hallway wall and the runner-up trophy taken from him by an assistant, let out a sigh.

"It's never easy dealing with this."