Goals are usually hard to come by, but when you get the puck on net as much as the No. 3 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers do, the goalie can't stop them all.
The Icers swept Navy on the road this weekend, 6-2 and 6-1. Penn State has a six-game winning streak, the last four coming on the road.
Discipline problems early in the season had the Icers (10-1-2, 6-0-0 ESCHL) killing many penalties, but this weekend proved to be different.
"We were very disciplined and took very few penalties," Icers coach Scott Balboni said. "That led to an increase in power play opportunities. It was our best power play weekend of the year."
Penn State moved the puck well and got a lot of shots on net during the power play, junior Luke DeLorenzo said. It was one of the main reasons they dominated Navy.
Balboni has stressed taking shots and crashing the net all season, and the Icers accomplished their goals by outshooting No. 23 Navy (5-8-0, 0-8-0 ESCHL) in both games. Penn State had 57 shots Saturday night, compared to 30 for the Midshipmen.
"One of our goals every game is to get 50 shots on net and hold our opponents to under 20," DeLorenzo said. "Navy kept coming at us and got their shots, but our all-around game was pretty relentless and persistent."
The Icers had some extra motivation this weekend as they fell to No. 3 in the ACHA rankings behind rival Rhode Island. They also had to stay focused on Navy while two games against the Rams loom next weekend.
Penn State benefited from a balanced performance from the entire team. Six different players scored Saturday.
"A lot of guys stepped up and played well," Balboni said. "We rested some of our players with injuries, and some guys with bumps and bruises that could have played if absolutely necessary."
One of those injuries is to junior defenseman Andrew Magulick, who has a knee injury that will keep him out the rest of the semester.
The Icers used two goalies again this weekend, with senior Nick Signet getting the victory on Friday and freshman Teddy Hume winning Saturday's game. Despite a couple of lapses, the goaltenders were helped by strong defensive play and good penalty killing, Balboni said.
With a hard stretch of six games against top-10 teams in the coming weeks, the Icers are looking for continued improvement.
