Greetings everybody and welcome to beautiful, scenic Gates Mills, Ohio.

Casella, Myers and myself made the four-and-a-half hour drive from State College this afternoon to make tonight's semifinal with Illinois. Sports Editor Kevin Zitzman was kind enough to tag along - he covered the Icers last season, and this will be his first experience at the ACHA National Tournament.

The tournament is being played at Gilmour Academy, a prep school outside Cleveland. The seating capacity here isn't nearly as big as Greenberg, but the seats are filling up quick.

Be sure to stick with us tonight as we give you a real-time account of tonight's semifinal. This game's winner will take on No. 1 Lindenwood tomorrow night in the ACHA National Championship Game.

Here's tonight's starters for Penn State:

F: Jaime Zimmel

F: Frank Berry

F: Brandon Rubeo

D: Steve Thurston

D: Craig Brooks

G: Nick Signet

Penn State took the opening faceoff. The crowd here is about 50/50 between Penn State fans and Illini fans.

I'll take you guys as long as my computer stays alive -- after that, Casella will take over.

One of the Icers' hottest players, Marek Polidor, just had a nice single-man rush toward the Illinois net, but wasn't able to get off a crisp shot.

Tim O'Brien just had a look from in front of the Illini net, but Illinois goalie Mike Burda came up with the save. Still, the Icers appear to be dictating play early, although we're only at the 14:45 mark of the first period.

With 10:46 left in the first, Andrew Magulick was sent to the penalty box for roughing.

The Icers fought off the Illini power play with few Illinois scoring opportunities.

Frank Berry just had a shot on goal, but it deflected off Burda's shoulder. With 6:20 left in the first, Penn State is out-shooting the Illini 6-3.

Another Icers penalty -- this time it's Jaime Zimmel getting 2:00 for hooking.

Magulick just hammered an Illinois forward into the boards. Looks like the Icers are sticking with the gameplan that earned them a sweep over the Illini in January - physical play. Illinois is a smaller, quicker team, so the Icers look like they want to bring a physical presence to tonight's game again.

Penalty on Illinois' Gabe Heller -- 2:00 for elbowing. 1:15 left in the first.

We're going back to even strength. Illinois took the puck from defenseman Steve Thurston and Thurston had no choice but to drag the Illini player down.

Thurston got 2:00 for hooking.

And that's the end of the first period. Penn State and Illinois are deadlocked in a scoreless game.

Shots for the period: PSU - 6 ILL - 4

Here's an intermission update from our columnist-turned-sideline reporter Dean Myers:

When asked about missing a New England St. Patrick's Day parade for tonight's game, goalie and Massachusetts native John Jay said he was slightly disappointed, but "if we win it, it's OK."

We'll be checking back throughout the game with BTP's very own Craig Sager, Dean Myers.

Speaking of Dean, he's working tonight as our multimedia guy in addition to sideline reporter. He'll be bringing BTP various videos, slideshows and pieces of audio in the next few days, so be sure to check back with us frequently.

And here we go with the second period.

The Icers just had an open look at the net off a rebound, but no one was home in front of the goal to put it in. 16:56 left in the second.

It's tough to tell at this point whether the game is so evenly matched that neither team can get anything going or if the teams are scared of making the first mistake. Either way, there have been several offensive pushes by each team, but few real scoring threats.

Tim O'Brien and Illinois' Matt Jennings just were sent to the box with off-setting holding penalties. It's time to see some 4-on-4 hockey.

Nice play by Kyle Mills - he cut in front of a streaking Illini player who was uncontested going to the net. :42 left on each penalty, 7:19 left in the period.

With both penalties fought off, the Icers are mounting a threat on the Illini net. But after several open looks off rebounds, the game remains scoreless.

Illinois just used their timeout with 3:02 left in the period. The Illini look exhausted after having one line play a several-minute shift thanks to an icing call. The double-overtime game they played last night against Oklahoma probably doesn't help, either.

GOAL

Illinois just got on the board with 1:35 left on a goal by Jennings. Jennings took a rebound off Nick Signet, who was forced to leave the net on an Illini breakaway. The assist goes to Jordan Pringle.

That's the end of the second period. Illinois leads the Icers, 1-0.

Shots: PSU - 16 ILL - 11

My computer's about to die, so I'll hand the blog over to Casella for the rest of the game.

McDermott has officially passed the torch on and this is Casella bringing you the third period of the final semifinal of the ACHA tournament.

Illinois just lit the lamp only 41 seconds into the period and have taken a 2-0 lead.

This goal is just a flip of the first one for Illinois. Pringle scores the goal, assisted by Jennings.

The Illini are controlling the action here early in the third period with Penn State struggling to establish anything in the offensive zone.

Faceoff coming just to the right of the Illini goalie now with 18:03 left.

Penn State wins the draw and fires a shot toward the net, but nothing comes of the small scramble in front and the puck is cleared down the ice.

WIth the Icers putting pressure on the Illini defense, they are able to draw a tripping penalty, giving Penn State a power play with 16:51 left.

Halfway through the power play and Penn State hasn't been able to do much with it yet. Under a minute left in the penalty now and the Icers are still scrambling to set up the offense in the Illini zone.

Three, two, one...

And the power play is over. No goals, no shots for the Icers and it's back to full-strength with just under 15 minutes left in regulation.

Illinois puts a shot on net from the blue line, but it's gloved by Signet and he holds on for the faceoff.

Another Illini goal. A strong 2-on-1 push into the zone results in a one-timer right in front and the Illini have taken a commanding 3-0 lead with only 14:05 left.

The goal was scored by Johnny Liang with the centering pass coming from Jason Nemeth. Jennings also picked up an assist on the play.

Faceoff coming to the right of the Illini goal after the net is knocked loose. 12:33 to go.

With a comfortable three-goal lead the Illini seem to be content with sitting back in the defensive end for now. As soon as llinois crosses center ice the puck gets dumped into the Penn State zone and the Illini scramble to make a line change.

Shot from the point by Craig Brooks is gloved by Burda and after O'Brien makes some contact with the goalie, a bit of a scrum ensues. The pushing and shoving results in matching two-mintue roughing penalties for the Icers' Polidor and Illinois' Rob Deubel.

Four-on-four hockey for the next two minutes should open up the ice a little bit with 11 minutes left.

This is McDermott, back because Casella's laptop died. It's a rough night for our computers with no outlets readily available.

Penn State is trying to mount a comeback, but Illinois' goalie, Mike Burda, is stopping each attempt. 7:12 to go.

With 4:30 left and little offense being generated, things look bleak for Penn State. The Icers are doing everything they can to put pressure on the Illinois net, but the Illini have come up with clutch defensive plays each time.

Penn State has pulled Signet in order to get a sixth skater on the ice for a last-ditch attempt to get back into the game.

One minute left in the game - not much Penn State can do now.

And that'll do it. The final score: Illinois - 3 PSU - 0

Be sure to check back with BTP in the next few days as we wrap up the season with some final blog posts and Dean's multimedia content.