When Nick Signet graduated, Teddy Hume lost a mentor.

The two Penn State ACHA Division I Icers goalies had developed a close friendship as teammates, one Hume said remained strong last season as the two were competing for playing time as the starting goalie.

"Whenever I had a tough game or let in bad goals, he was there to give me advice," Hume said. "This year, it's gonna be tough without him."

Signet competed two more games than Hume last season, including the Icers' 3-0 loss to Illinois in the ACHA National Semifinals. His departure is the end of an era after he was a three-year starter for coach Scott Balboni and had the fourth most wins in Icer history.

But with Signet moving on, Hume now has a chance to fill the same role with his roommate and fellow goalie John Jay, who Hume expects to see a lot of playing time.

"It's the same thing with me and Nick. There's no animosity," Hume said. "It helps competition, but we both to play and we both want to do our best. But also, when the other's in net, we want them to do our best."

When he was called upon last season, Hume performed well. Hume went 15-2 in his 19 games last season, with a 2.69 goals against average (GAA) and two shut outs.

By comparison, Signet was 14-7 with a 2.31 GAA and a .908 save percentage in 21 games.

Coming into this season, Balboni plans to continue his philosophy of playing the hot hand, although he does expect Hume to come in as the top goalie right now.

But there could be an opportunity for Jay, who went 3-0 with a goals against average of one and a .944 save percentage last season.

"We'll play whoever's playing the best at the time," Balboni said. "Teddy has obviously had the most action out of anybody and played in a lot of crucial games and going into the year will be looked at as the No. 1 goaltender. I think he's certainly ready."

As Hume and Jay attempt to fill the void left by Signet, Balboni is looking to replace the 12 other Icers who had their swan songs last season, including last year's captain Frank Berry.

"Basically everyone we lost was pretty meaningful to the team last year, they all played a significant role," said returning forward Tim O'Brien.

Not only does Balboni lose his captain in Berry, he loses one of his most dynamic offensive talents in Luke DeLorenzo. Six defensemen also are off the roster due to graduation.

"We're gonna be extremely young," Balboni said. "Our goal is to win a national championship. We're gonna have to do a lot of teaching and learning at the beginning of the year to see what kind of team we actually end up with."

Penn State gets O'Brien, its leading goal-scorer and point-scorer, back, and also returns third-leading scorer Matt Kirstein.

But the players feel the re-

turning group, which includes Kirstein, O'Brien and forward Ryan Paradis, can quickly step

in and get Penn State back

toward an ACHA national championship.

"We have a lot of good talent coming back and I think we have a lot of guys coming back who are really buying into the system and want to work hard," Kirstein said.