It was only the team's fifth win of the season and it came in sloppy fashion against an unranked opponent.
But the No. 6 Penn State Icers' 6-3 win over Drexel Friday night had more meaning than a typical regular season victory -- it marked coach Scott Balboni's 100th career win as a coach.
Holding the game puck in his right hand standing outside the locker room, Balboni called it a "great honor" and credited all his players, past and present, with the accomplishment.
But in terms of what the game meant to the season as a whole, Balboni wasn't as happy.
The penalty kill unit continued to struggle, giving up three power-play goals, junior Tim O'Brien received a 10-minute misconduct penalty, and the Icers needed a strong third period just to get by the Dragons, despite outshooting them 59-18.
With Penn State looking to pull away in the second period, junior Marek Polidor picked up a charging penalty while crashing the Dragons net. After the whistle, O'Brien had some words for the officials, resulting in his misconduct penalty.
Only 26 seconds later, Drexel scored a power-play goal to cut the lead to one, before adding another power-play goal just minutes later, tying the game at three after two periods.
Although O'Brien could have served his penalty sitting in the penalty box, Balboni sent him to the locker room for the rest of the period, and said he considered benching O'Brien for the third period, but ultimately decided against it.
Had O'Brien sat out the third period, the Icers would have been down two players for the night, as junior Taylor Cera left the game in the first period with an apparent ankle injury. Hobbling down the tunnel on crutches, Cera said it is being called a sprain for now, but he is scheduled for x-rays Saturday morning.
Penn State seized control of the game just over two minutes into the third period when senior Steve Thurston ripped a shot from the blue line that found its way to the back of the Drexel net, giving the Icers the lead for good.
Sophomore Chris Cerutti later added two goals, scored just 15 seconds apart, to round out the scoring.
The Icers will now travel to Drexel to finish off the weekend series at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Class of '23 Arena.
