Former Icers coach Joe Battista sat down at his computer to read his e-mail a day after Penn State was eliminated from the national tournament. After sending an e-mail Sunday night to current coach Scott Balboni, he received a response yesterday morning.
"The sun did come up this morning," Balboni wrote.
For the first time in the past 11 seasons, the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers failed to reach the national championship game. The streak that started with a national title in 1998 ended with a 4-1 quarterfinal loss to Liberty on Sunday afternoon.
The Icers had set three goals at the beginning of the season: win the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL) regular season title, win the conference tournament and win the national championship.
While the Icers succeeded at the first two, they fell short of the third for a fifth consecutive season.
"Winning the season and league tournament titles really meant a lot to everyone," forward Luke DeLorenzo said. "It was disappointing we couldn't accomplish our main goal, but I'll remember the season for the seniors and coach [Matt] Bertani in our last game."
This year marked the beginning of the ESCHL, and the Icers dominated the regular season, going 18-2-0. Despite the Icers losing their last two regular season games to No. 4 Delaware, they defeated the Blue Hens to capture the inaugural postseason tournament.
And although it was ranked in the top three every week of the season, Penn State had an untimely loss in the national tournament.
"Only one of the 59 teams can win the national championship game, so you can't measure success on that scale," Balboni said.
"We can't always depend on our offense to pull games out when playing a hot goaltender."
The championship game streak has encompassed 10 seasons of different student-athletes, but they all shared a common thread.
During the streak, the Icers went 278-57-15, winning almost 80 percent of the games they played.
"[The streak] talks about the overall philosophy of our organization and the character of our kids," said Battista, who remains an integral part of the Icers family. "We have had a great bunch of kids and student-athletes and that's who it's all about. They have all had the Icers mantra of extended family all working towards one goal."
A great contributor to that family has been Balboni.
Joining the team in 1998, Balboni started as an assistant coach for Battista.
This hiring was a key to the Icers' success, Battista said.
"Scott did a fantastic job coming in at recruiting a different level of athletes and student-athletes to take the program to a another level," said Battista, who stepped down as coach two years ago to become the Executive Director of the Nittany Lion Club. "He brought in new ideas and enthusiasm that was a turning point in the program."
With the addition of Balboni, the team's streak began, but it was never the easiest road.
Battista remembers the 2000 national tournament in Minot, N.D., that saw the Icers come from behind to win in overtime for three consecutive games, including the national championship contest. Afterward, the run became known as the "Magic City Miracle." None of the games are more memorable than the contest against host Minot.
"The average temperature in Minot was about 10 above zero that time of year, but for the quarterfinal game it was a record 65 degrees outside," Battista said. "With 4,000 fans in attendance, the arena was like a sauna and fog was over the ice.
"We were losing 4-2 with five minutes left in the game when the star goaltender from Minot had to be pulled because of heat exhaustion. We scored twice to tie the game and then won in overtime. Those are the breaks that have to go you way to continue streaks like that."
Those breaks didn't happen to go the Icers' way this season.
Liberty goaltender Mike Binnie made great save after great save to keep the Icers off the board and give his team an upset victory in the quarterfinals.
Balboni had talked about the early round worries last week at practice, and Battista mentioned that they both felt the first two rounds made them more nervous than the latter two rounds.
"Teams in the first couple rounds play with a chip on their shoulder," Battista said.
"They play with the attitude they have nothing to lose, and they always make opponents nervous.
"The most remarkable thing about the streak was that we dodged first- and second-round bullets over and over again."
The unprecedented streak included five national championships, including four consecutive from 2000-2003.
While Sunday marked the end of the run, it wasn't the only thing on everyone's mind.
"We have to take care of one another despite not reaching the summit," Battista said.
"They are terrific young men, and the loss has a lot more to do with our seniors and players than the streak itself."
With the pressure of extending the run finally over, the Icers have a chance to move on and start another streak next year.
"It's a little bit of a wake-up call for us," DeLorenzo said. "There is more parity in the league now than ever before, and all the teams are getting much better.
"It's not so easy to make championship game after championship game."
