Who are the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers?

At the beginning of the year, nobody really knew, not even the coaches and players.

When asked, head coach Scott Balboni often replied that he knew what kind of team he had but that it would take awhile to find its true identity.

"We're not really a rah-rah, yell-scream team. We're a business-like team; we come and go to work. We do our job and we move on," he said.

But some of the bigger questions remained unanswered.

Were the Icers a so-so team or a great team? Were they national championship contenders or pretenders? Did they have enough leadership to overcome their youth or were they going to be chalk full of talent and overconfident?

Granted it is still early (19 games and the ACHA National Tournament remain), but Penn State (14-2-0, 14-1-0 ACHA) has answered some of those questions -- kinda.

During the opening stages of the season, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The Icers beat their weaker opponents (West Chester, Scranton and Weber State) and lost to some of their tougher opponents (NCAA-Division I Robert Morris and currently undefeated Oklahoma).

Then came Penn State's highly anticipated two-game set against Ohio University. With the luxury of playing at home, the Icers swept their interstate rival and made a statement to the rest of the conference.

They followed up those huge wins with a 6-0 rout of West Virginia and 11-0 shellacking against Drexel.

Everything appeared to be smooth sailing. That was until Penn State strolled into the Ice Castle in Pittsburgh for a meeting with lowly Duquesne on Nov. 11. In one of their worst performances of the year, the Icers narrowly defeated the one-win Dukes, 4-2.

After the game, Balboni was at a loss.

"Unfortunately, right now, as a young team, we don't have any sense of urgency whatsoever. I am really frustrated with that and we're having a problem with that right now," he said. "If anybody out there knows how to deal with that, give me a call because I need to know."

Apparently Penn State's first-year head coach got that call. On the road at No. 2 Rhode Island two weekends ago, the Icers earned the sweep and regained their confidence.

What made the accomplishment ever more impressive was that the Icers overcame the Rams' legendary home-ice advantage, especially the rowdy student section located directly behind the visitors' bench, to record the two wins. No. 4 Penn State became only the second team ever to win back-to-back games at the Boss Ice Arena. The first team to accomplish that feat? Penn State in 2002.

That brings them to today.

Through their first 16 games, the Icers have defeated two of the ACHA's top teams. However, they have not been devoid of some rough spots.Still, they have learned more about who they are by experiencing both the ups and downs.

So, are they are so-so team or a great team?

"We're a good team," junior forward Sean Kenney said.

"We're not a great team yet, but we definitely have all the weapons and the work ethic to get there."

Are they a national championship contender?

"The team is feeling pretty good about the start we've had," Balboni said, "but we've tried to reiterate to them that we have a long way to go to be a championship team."

Will they be overconfident?

"I don't really see that from this squad. I think it's more focusing one game at a time and kind of getting back on track," Balboni said.

Although they are beginning to build an identity, the Icers don't have the definitive answers to these questions -- yet.

Perhaps this weekend's home series with Delaware will help them find out a little bit more about who they are.