Tonight at 9, the Greenberg Ice Pavilion will play host to one of the ACHA's biggest rivalries, as No. 4 Ohio University (10-1-0) visits No. 3 Penn State (5-2-0, 5-1-0 ACHA) for their first matchup of the season.

For the Icers, every win is important in their quest for an eighth national championship, but some games just have a different feel to them. This is one of those games.

"This is a very big weekend for us," Icers head coach Scott Balboni said. "OU is always a huge weekend because there are a lot of fans, the place is packed and the excitement is unparalleled here at the rink."

The Icers and the Bobcats will meet twice this weekend, the second contest at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. They will only count as two games on the record, but they mean so much more than that to Penn State.

Balboni has stressed how important this weekend is for the development of his young team. With Ohio lurking in the rankings, he feels that they are poised to jump ahead of Penn State if the Icers don't have a good showing.

"They're deeper than any other team we played," sophomore goaltender Nick Signet said. "They're good top to bottom. You're not going to get a bad line out there with them ever. They're going to be all over you every single shift."

Signet, who started the Icers' first two games of the season, returned to the role of backup until senior goalie Chris Matteo re-injured his groin during last weekend's ACHA Showcase. They both practiced this week as if they would be starting, but the final decision is in Balboni's hands.

Whoever gets the call, he can expect a lot of pressure from Ohio.

Last year, the Bobcats won three of the four meetings between the teams. To date, they are on a 10-game winning streak since dropping their opener to No. 13 West Virginia.

The Icers know they are in for a dogfight after easing into their home schedule with wins over unranked Scranton and Navy. But the squad knows this is not the time to be timid.

"They're a fast team and they're going to make us make decisions quicker," senior forward Michael McMullen said.

The Icers have played some tough teams this year, with mixed results. In the second game of the season, they lost 6-0 to Division I NCAA Robert Morris. Against ranked ACHA opponents, Penn State is 1-1, losing 5-3 to No. 7 Oklahoma and beating No. 14 Weber State 5-1.

None of those games had the atmosphere of a Penn State-Ohio match-up, though. McMullen, one of two seniors on the squad, thinks the younger players have a big opportunity to make an impact.