The Penn State ACHA Division I Icers (9-2-0, 9-1-0 ACHA) have enjoyed the luxury of playing at home the last four games, delighting the Greenberg Ice Pavilion crowd with four big wins and solidifying their No. 3 national ranking.

Tonight at 9, the team will play its last game in friendly confines before embarking on a long four-game road trip to last until the calendar turns to December.

No. 19 West Chester (6-5-0) will be visiting Penn State for the Icers' first of three contests this weekend. Playing three games in as many days will be physically demanding, especially given that they are all at different locations.

Tomorrow night at 8, Penn State will meet Duquesne (2-11) at the Ice Castle in Pittsburgh, followed by a 4 p.m. matchup on Sunday at No. 14 West Virginia (9-7-0).

Icers head coach Scott Balboni gave the team Monday afternoon off from practice and lightened the workload for Wednesday and yesterday in anticipation of the rough schedule. He knows the atmosphere will be much different now, too.

"We love playing at home," Balboni said.

"We love playing in front of the big crowd. It's obviously easier. It's a lot of fun, but we just have to go out with a business-like attitude no matter where we're playing or who we're playing."

Penn State has had only two true away games this season, as the ACHA Showcase in October was played at a neutral location in Youngstown, Ohio.

The last time the team faced a hostile crowd was during its 6-0 loss to NCAA Division I Robert Morris on Oct. 8.

The Icers have built some momentum with their recent six-game winning streak. They don't intend to change too much this weekend.

"We just have to stick with what we've been doing. We've been working hard in practice and are trying to make teams adjust to us instead of us adjusting to them," defenseman Andrew Magulick said.

Penn State will face West Chester and Duquesne for the first time this year, but West Virginia is a familiar foe.

Last Friday, the Icers dominated the Mountaineers in a 6-0 victory. As West Virginia grew increasingly frustrated, the game took a nasty turn, leading to a few scrums in the third period.

On Sunday, the Mountaineers will have a chance at getting that revenge.

"They're definitely going to come hard," Magulick said. "I don't see them as a team that's just going to roll over and die, and we're not just going to go down there and run over them."

Balboni has preached to his team not to take anyone lightly, a fact that was evident in recent blowouts in favor of the Icers.

"Penn State always kind of wears the bulls-eye on their shirts," Balboni said.

"So every game everybody is going to come out ready to play trying to upset us. We have to go out and do our job day in and day out and that's what will take the win."

Forward Jaime Zimmel agreed, saying that the team approaches every game as if it was against archrival Ohio University.