After Friday night's 4-0 loss at home to the Windsor St. Clair Saints, Penn State ACHA Division I Icers' senior goaltender Chris Matteo precisely echoed the feelings of the rest of his team.

"[The Saints] are better than anyone we play in the ACHA. Hands down," he said. "But I have no doubt that if we come out and play our game, we can beat them."

Matteo's edict proved true Saturday afternoon as the No. 3 Icers rebounded nicely from the defeat that snapped their season-best 13-game winning streak with a hard-fought, 5-3 victory against the Saints.

The win not only assured that Penn State would avoid its first sweep at home since losing back-to-back games against Ohio last season, but also showed that it could handle the bruising and experienced Canadian team.

"We had a team come in that was big, strong, physical, and beat us up a little bit [Friday]. Then we came out [Saturday] and had the ability to fight back and showed that we had heart," head coach Scott Balboni said.

"I am happier than I have been after most of our wins because we did it as a team -- there wasn't one certain individual who stepped up. We had a great team, gut-check win and a lot of guys made big plays."

One of those guys was Jaime Zimmel.

With only fours goals and four assists on the season, the sophomore forward picked the right time to break out as he contributed two goals in the win.

Zimmel's first tally broke a 1-1 tie midway through the first period, while his second gave the Icers (17-3-0, 16-1-0 ACHA) an insurmountable two-goal lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third.

Yet, even though his performance was key in the victory, Zimmel was not about to take all of the credit.

"It definitely felt great, but what felt even better was that everyone put in the effort to get the goals," he said. "For my second goal, [sophomore forward Brandon] Rubeo made that one big play to take the hit and give me the puck. That's the effort you need."

In net, sophomore Nick Signet turned in another solid showing after getting some extra rest after sitting out the first game, which Matteo started. Despite persistent pressure by the Saints (12-3-0) through much of the second and third periods, he stood tall by recording 40 saves en route to his 14th victory of the season.

And just like Zimmel, Signet did not hesitate in shining the spotlight on his teammates.

"They played above and beyond," he said of the defense. "Even the goals that [the Saints] scored, I told them that they played it perfectly."

There were times, Signet recalled, when he would look up and gladly see sophomore defenseman Brent Tranter lying on his stomach after blocking yet another shot.

"Brent definitely stopped a few certain goals that they were going to score at the beginning of the game," he said. "I was definitely happy to see that."

Although the split won't affect the ACHA record or standings, and wasn't the ideal result of the weekend, it will do a lot of good for Penn State as the semester comes to a close.

"It boosts our confidence a lot," Zimmel said. "It shows us where we stand when playing against bigger guys and will help us prepare for the final weeks."