With 24 seconds remaining in last Saturday's game against Ohio University, Penn State forward Jaime Zimmel rifled in an empty-net goal that buried the Bobcats and punctuated the weekend sweep for the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers.

Having sent their archrival home winless, it was easy for the No. 3 Icers (7-2-0, 7-1-0 ACHA) to get caught up in the moment. After all, these were the two biggest wins of the young season, and defeating No. 4 Ohio on consecutive days was surely a task that would earn Penn State even more respect.

In reality, though, the true test has yet to come for the Icers. Any sports fan can tell you that behind every emotionally and physically draining victory lurks a scary proposition: Having to go out and do it again. Many teams have succumbed to the letdown game, looking back in admiration of their own success instead of looking forward to their next opponent.

Penn State head coach Scott Balboni has been around hockey long enough to know what happens when a team takes winning for granted, and he is out to make sure that the Icers don't suffer a setback.

"That's the first thing we talked about in our meeting [Monday] was to not have that letdown," Balboni said. "As always, after you come off big weekends, no matter who you are playing next, you worry about the letdown. We are just making sure the guys are really focused and come out really hard from the start."

If Penn State is to retain momentum, it will have to avoid such a setback, especially with West Virginia and Drexel coming to town. Balboni admitted after narrow victories against Scranton and Navy earlier in the season that his team may have played down to the level of its opponents.

Doing the same this weekend would mean trouble for the Icers.

No. 13 West Virginia (9-5-0) has been climbing the rankings since starting the year at 19th. The Mountaineers are 3-3 against other ranked teams, including a win against Ohio in their first game of the season. Drexel (6-2-0) is unranked, but is not to be taken lightly, especially after their recent 3-0 shutout of those same Mountaineers.

Despite playing two physical games against Ohio, Balboni has pushed the team in practice, wanting to get it ready for what lies ahead.

"We're going a little harder this week because the first couple of weeks we were on the road quite a bit, playing on Sundays and really didn't have a lot of time off," he said. "Even though we had two big games, two big wins, we were at home all this week and we're going to go a little harder."

Of course, if Penn State continues to play the way it did last weekend, it might be able to look back on its sweep of Ohio as the launching point to a very successful season.

However, Penn State should realize that it has to stay prepared, since it now has a target on its back and a potential letdown hiding around the corner.