As the Penn State Division I ACHA Icers traveled home Saturday night, the bus was silent.
Neither coaches nor players felt like reflecting on their second and third losses in regulation of the season.
The No.2 Icers were swept by No. 5 Delaware (23-5-1, 15-4-1 ESCHL), 5-3 and 5-1 on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
In front of a packed house at Rust Arena in Newark, Del., Penn State (29-1-4, 18-2-0 ESCHL) surrendered only its 10th and 11th losses to the Blue Hens in its history of 84 games. The games were also Penn State's first losses to an ESCHL opponent this season.
In both games, the Blue Hens built early leads that Penn State never overcame.
"I couldn't pinpoint any one thing that lost us the games," junior Luke DeLorenzo said. "We just made a lot of mistakes and we didn't really get any good bounces."
The Icers seemed unmotivated on the ice, mishandling the puck, failing to score on key opportunities and continually making other errors. Balboni said his team was not prepared mentally for the games and lost for a host of reasons.
"We came in unprepared mentally and we didn't put up enough effort," Balboni said. "Plus we had plenty of problems dealing with the over-sized rink."
The ice surface at Delaware is an Olympic-sized rink, 200 feet long and 98.5 feet wide. It is 13.5 feet wider than the traditional NHL-size rink the Icers play on. According to Balboni, his team had major problems adjusting to the wider ice and was constantly out of position because of it.
Balboni also said his team had problems on the normally stellar penalty kill because of the rink. The Blue Hens scored on three out of four power plays on Friday night.
"Our systems weren't running as well on the penalty kill because of the unfamiliar surface," he said. "We couldn't be where we needed to be and the surface was frustrating us."
In contrast, Penn State's power play was only 2-for-6 on Friday night. They were without the power play services of junior defensemen Andrew Magulick and Steve Thurston, who were both serving a one-game suspension. Balboni said they weren't a reason for a letdown.
"We're not using their absence as an excuse for the poor play," Balboni said. "We have a deep team and there is no reason we shouldn't have pulled through."
The Icers scored a total of only four goals in the weekend, their smallest point total for a weekend this season. Delaware senior goalie Jimmy Depfer stopped 43 shots on Saturday night amid many scoring opportunities for Penn State. Balboni praised Delaware and its goaltender.
"They are a good team and they've beat some other good teams recently," he said. "Their goaltender was outstanding and they just played better than we did."
Another factor contributing to the weak goal production was the absence of senior Matt Schwartz. He has been a prolific scorer for Penn State but is out because of a knee injury he suffered against Drexel earlier this season.
The ESCHL playoffs are this upcoming weekend and it is possible Penn State may have to face Delaware again if the Blue Hens defeat Rhode Island in the first round. DeLorenzo said the team will have to make adjustments this week.
"We would like to peak going into the final games of the season," he said. "We just need to play a different game by moving the puck better and practicing better discipline on the ice."
