The Penn State Icers didn't miss a beat this past weekend, despite missing leading scorer Tim O'Brien, energy forward Eric Steinour and head coach Scott Balboni.
The Icers got solid top-to-bottom performances from the entire lineup, taking both ends of the home-and-home series with West Chester. The Icers thumped the Golden Rams 7-1 on Friday night at the Ice Box Line in West Chester and then returned to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion on Saturday, where they posted a 4-2 decision.
There was a lot of speculation leading up to the weekend series about the impact several new Golden Rams players would have on the outcome of the games. One word answer - NONE.
Not only were the forwards mostly invisible, goaltender Randy Japchen was his own worst enemy. Japchen battled rebound control in both games, and the Icers capitalized by scoring a number of goals off those rebounds.
Credit the Icers forwards for getting to the dirty zone in front of the net, sniffing out the loose pucks and burying them.
Credit to the entire team for a solid effort in their end of the rink, the penalty killers for holding WCU to 2 power play goals on 10 chances (0 for 7 on Friday, 2 of 3 on Saturday).
Finally, credit to assistant coach Josh Hand for seamlessly taking over behind the bench.
With four straight wins and some momentum behind them, the Icers enter THE most critical stretch of the season. Next weekend, it's two games at #4 Delaware. That's followed by a visit to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion by the 6th-ranked Rhode Island Rams.
With Penn State currently ranked 11th, they'll need at least a pair of splits against their conference foes. Anything less could drop the Icers into a hole that they may not be able to climb out of.
Not only were the forwards mostly invisible, goaltender Randy Japchen was his own worst enemy. Japchen battled rebound control in both games, and the Icers capitalized by scoring a number of goals off those rebounds.
Credit the Icers forwards for getting to the dirty zone in front of the net, sniffing out the loose pucks and burying them.
Credit to the entire team for a solid effort in their end of the rink, the penalty killers for holding WCU to 2 power play goals on 10 chances (0 for 7 on Friday, 2 of 3 on Saturday).
Finally, credit to assistant coach Josh Hand for seamlessly taking over behind the bench.
With four straight wins and some momentum behind them, the Icers enter THE most critical stretch of the season. Next weekend, it's two games at #4 Delaware. That's followed by a visit to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion by the 6th-ranked Rhode Island Rams.
With Penn State currently ranked 11th, they'll need at least a pair of splits against their conference foes. Anything less could drop the Icers into a hole that they may not be able to climb out of.
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