The goalie carousel that Penn State ACHA Division I Icers head coach Joe Battista has employed the past two seasons swirled into the postseason and almost won the Icers an ACHA National Championship.

Junior Chris Matteo and senior Paul Mammola have shared the Icers starting goaltending duties since Mammola transferred to Penn State from UMass-Lowell two seasons ago. If Matteo started one night, Mammola would likely start the next, and vice versa. 1A and 1B, with no animosity towards the other.

Heading into this year's 16-team postseason tournament, the thinking was no different. Matteo and Mammola started two games each, with Mammola getting the nod in the ACHA title game against Rhode Island.

Battista believed the team which had the best goaltending and defense would win, and the way to do that was to have not only the best, but the most rested goaltender on the ice for any game.

This is exactly why, after giving up a total of four goals in four games, including one empty-netter, the defensive-minded coach was surprised that the Icers did not win the tournament.

Down the final stretch of the season, Matteo and Mammola struggled somewhat, but in the tournament they performed to near perfection. The switch in defensive scheme, from man to zone, from the end of the regular season to the beginning of the postseason certainly helped. The two goalies saw fewer shots per game, including just 17 on Mammola in the 3-1 championship game loss. Odd-man rushes, which plagued the team in losses during the regular season, were near extinct.

"I thought our defense was unbelievable," freshman defenseman Andrew Magulick said. "Losing a tournament with a goal against average is almost unheard of."

Matteo started the first-round game against No. 14 Delaware, an 8-0 win. Mammola was the expected starter for the quarterfinals against No. 11 Duquesne, but the night before the game, Mammola came down with a sickness of some kind. He barely slept and had a fever well into the night, around 4 a.m.

The decision to start Mammola wasn't made until pregame warmups and most players, even Matteo, where unaware that their starting goaltender was questionable. Only Mammola's roommate, whom Matteo normally is but was not during Nationals, and Battista fully knew what was going on.

But Mammola started and kept the Icers in a game in which they tripled the amount of shots Duquesne had, but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.

Down 1-0 in the second period, Mammola faced a breakaway attempt from 2004-05 ACHA Rookie of the Year Mike Heath, who put a move on reminiscent of an attempt by Vancouver's Pavel Bure on New York's Mike Richter in the 1994 Stanley Cup finals. Mammola, in turn, made a Richter-like save, turning the momentum of the game, which the Icers won, 2-1.

Matteo's performance the next day against No. 4 Illinois was equally impressive, shutting out the defending ACHA champions in a 1-0 win. But even after one of his best performances since the first half of the regular season, Matteo knew he would be a spectator the next day.

"Probably not," Matteo said when asked if he expected to play in the title game. "Doesn't matter. Whoever is in goal is going to play well."

After all, the rotating goalie plan had been executed for almost two years now. Why change with only one game left?

Mammola played well in the title game, with two out of three Rhode Island goals deflecting off Penn State defensemen, leaving Mammola with very little chance to stop them. The other was an empty-netter with Mammola pulled with 23 seconds left.

"I feel so bad for Paul Mammola. He played well," Battista said after the loss. "What are you going to do? Sometimes there's no justice."

Next season, with Mammola graduated, the goaltending carousel will lose one horse, 1A and 1B will be missing a letter, but Battista feels that one horse, Matteo, is ready to take over.

"I think he asserted himself here," Battista said.