A pair of ACHA heavyweights will clash this weekend in Kingston, R.I., as the No. 3 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers (12-2-0, 12-1-0 ACHA) travel north to take on the No. 2 Rhode Island Rams (13-2-0, 13-1-0) in a rematch of last year's national championship game.

The teams will play both tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30.

This is the first time they will meet since March 5, when Rhode Island defeated Penn State, 3-1, to clinch last season's championship crown.

The Icers have not forgotten that, and will look to use it as motivation.

"Everybody knows this is a big part of the year," forward Sean Kenney said. "Everybody's really coming together."

Penn State is a young team, and some of that inexperience showed earlier in the season when it failed to close the door on some of its opponents, allowing them to remain in games. Recently, though, the Icers have been firing on all cylinders, bringing a nine-game winning streak into this weekend.

Head coach Scott Balboni was disappointed by last weekend's performances, however, and hopes that his team's mental lapses will not continue.

"I'm hoping that our leaders and our senior guys [step up]," Balboni said. "They need to lead the guys out there and make sure the younger guys understand what this game means and the importance of it."

Rhode Island is riding a hot streak of its own, winning six of its last seven games, the only loss coming to NCAA Div. III Wesleyan College.

The Rams haven't dropped an ACHA game since Oct. 21.

Last season, Rhode Island dominated the series with Penn State, compiling a 3-0-1 record against the Icers, including a sweep of both its home games. This doesn't worry defenseman and captain Keith Jordan, though, who is excited to be able to play at Rhode Island. He is confident that this year's Icers are of championship-caliber.

"As we pull things together more and more, I think we are going to be in even better shape. I think we have a real good shot this year," Jordan said.

Balboni seems confident in the Icers' ability to play strong from the opening face-off, something they haven't done recently.

But he knows it's going to take a full 60-minute effort to beat Rhode Island.

"Rhode Island's a good, solid team that's very quick," he said. "We certainly have our work cut out for us this weekend. We need to play our 'A' game to be able to compete and to win this weekend. If we don't have all aspects of our game running and something doesn't show up, then we won't win."