As practice unfolded on Monday afternoon and the Penn State ACHA Division I Icers coaching staff watched, another set of eyes carefully followed the action.

Those eyes were Tim O'Brien's.

O'Brien, the star forward who led the Icers with 32 goals last season, watched Monday's scrimmage from the top row of bleachers in the Greenberg Ice Pavilion and lamented his absence on the ice.

"I'd much rather play than sit up here," O'Brien said. "It sucks sitting up in the stands watching all these guys."

The forward's absence was related to a wrist injury that O'Brien suffered last December and has nagged him ever since.

During a morning skate at the Salem St. Holiday Tournament, O'Brien jammed his wrist and left practice. He went on to play in that night's game, a decision that was left up to him and one he said was not the smartest decision.

For the rest of the season, O'Brien wore a brace on his wrist, which he said limited his range of movement while out on the ice and continued to receive treatment with no positive improvement.

Over the summer, the junior visited a doctor who told him to take 10 weeks off and see how it feels, with the diagnosis possibly being tendonitis or carpal tunnel. O'Brien said he took an MRI and an X-ray, both of which came back clean.

While there is no guarantee that the time off will do the forward any good, O'Brien said there's no way he's going to miss any ice time.

"If it still hurts, I'll wear the brace and play, if not, tape it up and play..." O'Brien said. "...if it kills me, if it's 100 percent hurt, I'll still play. I can't hurt it any more. I played with it all last year with the same injury."

That mentality is one the Icers believe shows O'Brien's leadership and an attitude that has spread throughout the rest of the team.

"I think it shows a lot of heart and a lot of determination," forward Matt Kirstein said. "I think we have a lot of guys on this team that would play through injuries and do play through injuries.

"Tim has a lot of heart and I know a lot of other guys out here have a lot of heart. It shows a lot that a guy like that, who scores a lot of points, wants to be in the lineup every game."

But for now, O'Brien says that his wrist feels better in his limited workouts since the diagnosis and is optimistic about his condition going forward.,

However, if O'Brien tests the wrist and it's not fully healed, the Icers know that his injury, combined with the loss of 13 graduating seniors, is going to force the team to look to other players on the team to help carry the scoring load.

One of those players is the forward Kirstein, who logged 17 goals last season -- the third most on the team -- and had a breakout junior year.

According to Icers coach Scott Balboni, the team will also look to some of the young talent on the team to expand their roles from last year, like sophomore Paul Daley.

"We didn't look to him to do a lot of scoring last year, this year, we're going to be leaning on him to play a little more offense for us and shoulder a little bit more responsibility this year," Balboni said.