He said they weren't ready to play. They were sluggish, they lacked urgency, worst of all, they didn't respect their opponent.

Penn State ACHA Division I Icers head coach Scott Balboni didn't sugarcoat his feelings about the team's play last weekend, calling the players out for their performance during and after a narrow 4-2 victory against Duquesne.

Before Tuesday's practice, the first of the week, Balboni was still frustrated about the team's lack of energy in the last few games.

"I think we had a lack of intensity because we didn't respect our opponents," he said. "I think a lot of guys were reading too much into the past scores and the games they had played."

The players know that changes need to be made, too.

The Icers may have had trouble focusing since they were riding a seven-game winning streak into their match-up with the one-win Dukes, but that kind of attitude will be a recipe for disaster when No. 3 Penn State faces No. 2 Rhode Island twice this weekend.

"I think we kind of came out flat, especially the first two nights we came out really slow," forward Sean Kenney said of last weekend's performances. "We took them for granted a little bit. We didn't have our focus and business-like attitude that we have had when we are all over teams."

Balboni identified Kenney, along with defenseman Keith Jordan and forward Paul Zodtner, as one of the guys who he expects to step up this week and make sure the Icers are not caught off guard again.

While it is hard to overlook a team like Rhode Island, the reigning national champions, Balboni was concerned by what he's seen recently from the Icers.

"The one thing that worries me a little bit was that the crispness wasn't there," Balboni said.

"I think the effort will be there this week. They're really focused for Rhode Island. They've been talking about them for two or three weeks, obviously wanting some revenge for the team that beat us in the championship game last year."

By looking ahead to their game against the Rams before last weekend, the players almost overlooked some of their other opponents. But now the long-awaited rematch is at hand and Jordan hoped that the Icers can put forth their best effort of the year so far.

"Nothing needs to be said. We were [in the national championship] last year and we remember what happened. That's really kind of motivation for us. This is huge for us getting to play them in their own rink," he said.

The onus is now on Penn State to make sure it takes a more urgent approach to Rhode Island than it has to the last few games as to not run into anymore trouble.

This is one of the regular season's defining series and the Icers can expect the Rams to be ready to defend their home ice.