When a hockey team is penalized in a game, it pays for it in the penalty box. When the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers commit infractions, they pay for it in practice.

In response to a penalty-ridden weekend, head coach Scott Balboni decided to crack down on his penalty-prone players by doling out more of a strenuous practice type this week.

"Basically, we skated for about 45 minutes of the practice," he said. "We skated pretty hard."

Balboni also devised more game-specific drills. He described one drill in which players weren't allowed to move their feet or take a penalty during an intrasquad scrimmage. If players did either, punishment would ensue.

"If they did, we just lined up against the boards and did sprints until they couldn't breathe," said Balboni of the punishment. "That's basically what we did all of Monday."

The team continued to practice all week using this idea. If the players took penalties in scrimmages or drills, the whistle would be blown and sprints would follow shortly after.

Senior forward Sean Kenney said these types of practice worked well for the team in previous seasons. He said the team did a lot of work on skating and not taking penalties during practice.

"Coming into this season, we kind of got away from that," he said. "These first couple of games really reminded us of to focus and not take penalties, so we need to start doing that in practice first and foremost. It's definitely what we need."

The beginning of the season was also a reminder of how physical hockey can be. Junior defenseman Andrew Magulick suffered a medial collateral ligament (MCL) tear during the first shift of the Illinois game on Oct. 12.

An MRI was taken yesterday to confirm the injury, even though two doctors had the same diagnosis and were 99 percent sure of the tear. Balboni said Magulick is not expected to return until near the end of the fall semester.

Balboni also said in addition to correcting the team's penalty woes, he would stress getting the puck to the net as much as possible.

Even though the Icers outshot Ohio this past weekend, Balboni said he wanted his players to start scoring "ugly goals."

"By ugly goals, I mean being able to get the puck to the net and crash the net for rebounds," he said. "We need to get goals that aren't like ESPN highlights.

"We're trying to sink that mentality into the guys."