One thing was apparent this weekend during the two Penn State ACHA Division I Icers' wins against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The two teams won't be friends any time soon.
"There was a lot of hate between the two teams," Penn State freshman Tim O'Brien said.
Collectively, Penn State and West Virginia racked up more than 60 penalty minutes. This included more than 10 penalties for roughing, cross-checking, unsportsmanlike conduct and fighting. Icers coach Scott Balboni said it's typical of teams to become aggressive against his players.
"It happens a lot when teams come in and play us. We send one line after another, and we're constantly on them all night long," he said. "Inevitably, they get frustrated and they can't get into their game plan, and they end up taking stupid penalties."
The hatred culminated Saturday night when one of the biggest Penn State home ice fights of the season broke out. Junior Mountaineer goalie Rastislav Kret attempted to cover the puck while several Icers crashed the net to jar it loose. Immediately a Mountaineer threw a quick punch, and all hell broke loose on the ice.
While both teams were engaged in and around the West Virginia net, Icers junior Brandon Rubeo and Mountaineer Tom Anderson started throwing punches without dropping the gloves. Rubeo had Anderson on the ground after only a few seconds, punching him in the back of the head. Both players were ejected from the game and, according to ACHA rules, will have to serve a one-game suspension.
"I saw him go at one of my teammates, and then he came back and threw a punch at me when I tried to defend him," Rubeo said. "That's when I figured I had enough of that and went back at him. Something like that is totally emotional, and you just kind of go with it and hope you end up on top."
Big hits were numerous throughout both games and it seemed that not a minute passed when there wasn't a body on the ice. The glass in the corner of the arena was a testament to the physical aggression of both teams. It had to be replaced twice because of a high number of bone-jarring hits that it absrobed, dislodging the glass from the boards. There were many more on-ice conflicts that weren't called as penalties.
During Friday's game, much of the aggression started after Kret was called for interference when he was leaving the ice during a delayed Icer penalty and slashed a Penn State player near the bench.
A short time later, a West Virginia defenseman shot a puck directly into the Icers' bench, nearly hitting coach Scott Balboni. This led to a scuffle behind the West Virginia net where O'Brien was cross-checked into the back of the net where he lay for a moment in anticipation of a penalty that never came.
"You try to draw those and get a man up and maybe get a goal out of it," O'Brien said. "Usually it's called, but I don't know why it wasn't."
Mountaineer coach Jeff Anderson said inexperience leant reason for his team's lack of discipline.
"There was certainly some frustration, almost half of our team is freshmen," he said. "We have a lot of young guys, and they're somewhat inexperienced. That's why they played a little undisciplined at times."
Both teams felt the effects of such a violent weekend. Mountaineer freshman forward Brent Hart went down after a hit and didn't get up until almost 10 minutes later with the help of teammates and trainers. Freshman Sean McFadden went down early in Saturday's game but returned later.
Icers O'Brien and Jaime Zimmel sustained injuries, but played, scoring five goals between them.
