After spending its first weekend of the season on the road, the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers (1-1, 1-0 ACHA) open their home schedule at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion tonight at 9.

They play the first of two weekend games against Scranton tonight, and the players and coaches are hopeful the fans will provide a boost for the team. On Sunday, the Icers play Navy at noon.

"It's always exciting to play at home. We have a great fan base with lots of support in the community," head coach Scott Balboni said.

The Icers split their first two games, defeating Washington and Jefferson 4-3 and losing to NCAA Division I Robert Morris 6-0.

Sophomore forward Brandon Rubeo noted that neither game had the kind of attendance that Penn State usually gets and that the Washington and Jefferson game actually had more Icers fans in the crowd.

"It's pretty huge, because we do get such a great crowd. They're known in the ACHA as being great," Rubeo said.

Tonight's home game will be the

first for Balboni. He replaces Joe Battista, a man who became synonymous with Penn State hockey, but the players are still operating under similar conditions. Sophomore forward Frank Berry said that they are playing in virtually

the same system as before.

"Balbs has been around Penn State hockey for like 10 years," Berry said. "We know what we have to do, just get the right attitude going."

The team hadn't had much time to practice before the beginning of the season. One of the focuses this week was on defensive zone assignments. With an increase in the amount of penalties being called recently, the Icers have also been trying to improve on special teams. They played a lot of four-on-four at practice this week.

But even after its lopsided loss to Robert Morris last Sunday, Penn State is not making any fundamental changes. The team will take the same approach this weekend as it would otherwise.

"[Balboni's] whole thing right now is he wants us to play our game," Rubeo said. "We don't care what they bring. We're going to play Penn State hockey and take them down that way."

When the Icers take on Scranton tonight, they should be close to full strength. Some players took some bumps and bruises last weekend, but Balboni assures that none of the injuries is serious.

His goal for the Icers this weekend is to just continue to improve as a team. Neither Balboni nor the players are getting too far ahead of themselves.

"Every year we try to get back to nationals and go from there," Berry said.

Tonight they begin that quest at home.