By now, the No. 4 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers (14-2-0, 14-1-0 ACHA) are accustomed to winning, having done so in each of the last 11 games. They've won close games and blowouts alike, but the results have consistently been the same.

However, something was different when the team left the ice on Nov. 18.

Penn State completed a sweep of No. 2 Rhode Island (13-4-0, 13-3-0) two weekends ago, marking the first times this season the Icers defeated a higher-ranked team.

"It's good that we have a little confidence in us, a little swagger, and we definitely want to now keep working hard and getting at it," forward Sean Kenney said.

If sweeping one of the nation's best teams is good, then doing so on the road is even better. That's exactly what the Icers did when they handed Rhode Island its first and second losses ever in the Brad Boss Arena.

Penn State was also able to exorcise some of its demons from last year, when the Rams won three of four regular season meetings with the Icers and defeated them in the national championship game, as well.

With their confidence reaffirmed, the Icers now face a stretch of five home games to finish out the first half of their season.

"We're making sure that we're not getting overconfident, and we're just worried about winning the next five games," goaltender Nick Signet said. "It gives us a lot of motivation going into the next semester and we don't want to have a loss hanging over our heads."

Icers head coach Scott Balboni was impressed with his team's performances against Rhode Island, but doesn't want to turn his attention away from the task at hand.

"They're very confident right now, but we still have a long way to go," Balboni said.

"We've tried to reiterate to them that we have a long way to go to be a championship team."

The Icers did not have a game last weekend due to the holiday break. Balboni was happy that his team had a chance to rest its legs after playing its two best games of the year. With the schedule resuming, Penn State's number one priority is to close out 2006 on a high note.

"We kind of got Rhode Island out of our mind now and realize that we have five games left before the semester break and our goal is to go 5-0 in these games," Balboni said.

Balboni doesn't think that the players will allow the two recent victories to go to their heads. He feels that the Icers have learned from some of the mental lapses that almost cost them a few games earlier in the season. For now, he's focused on the next two games against Delaware.

"Balbs has definitely been stressing to us not to become overconfident and I don't think we have," Kenney said. "I don't think we've gotten to the point now where we're going to underestimate anybody."