One team, four lines, eight different combinations.
That's been coach Scott Balboni's equation during the infancy of the 2009-10 Penn State Icers season. There have been two games so far, and four different forward lines have been used for each one.
With the young Icers' biggest test of the early season coming this weekend at Ohio, Balboni said he will probably juggle the forward lines yet again for this weekend. Whether he will, however, hinges on the health of his forwards entering the weekend.
"It depends on injuries more than anything," Balboni said. "If Taylor Cera is 100 percent, which it seemed like he was, he'll probably be back in that mix, back in that top-four lines. That 'black line,' the young guys, I'm keeping together for right now, but I think they'll be a little juggling with the other lines."
The "black line" Balboni was referring to was the unit of freshmen forwards Dominic Morrone, Eric Steinour and George Saad. The line opened the game last Saturday against Towson and dominated, tallying four goals and two assists Saturday. In the first two games, the three have combined for six goals, four assists and 10 points.
"George and Eric, they both played awesome," Morrone said last week. "They're both hard-working forwards. I think as a line, we clicked well because we're three different types of players. So, it's been good chemistry so far."
Balboni said he will also probably keep the line of Tim O'Brien, Marek Polidor and Ryan Paradis together for the weekend. They played together in practice Tuesday and had a strong showing on Saturday as well.
But the wildcard in his plans for this weekend is injuries, specifically to Matt Kirstein and also the status of Cera. Balboni said Cera was pain-free and cleared to play. Now, the only question is his conditioning, which will dictate where Cera plays if he is active Friday night.
"He said he's about 80 percent right now," Balboni said. "He's still a little step off, but if he can get his hockey conditioning up by the end of the week, he'll be ready to go and in the lineup. Injury wise, he's ready to go."
Kirstein is battling a lingering groin injury that has given him problems since the tryouts last month. He missed practice Monday, but was back on the ice during practice Tuesday. Kirstein was another Icer who found instant chemistry with his new line, netting a goal and two assists with linemates Chris Pronchik and Kurt Collins last Saturday.
"I should be ready to go this weekend," Kirstein said. "I'm just trying to be cautious this early on in the season. I don't want it to be something that nags on the whole year, so I'm trying to keep it under control here early on."
