When Rhode Island's Andrew Lisi slumped onto the ice Friday, the Icers mobbed freshman Tim O'Brien while the capacity crowd pounded the glass.
With little more than two minutes remaining, O'Brien's slapshot from 30 feet away sailed past the Rhode Island goaltender and capped the No. 2 Penn State ACHA Division I Icers' comeback victory.
The momentum helped the Icers (29-1-4, 18-0-0 ESCHL) sweep the physical, penalty-ridden weekend series against rival Rhode Island 3-2 Friday night and 5-0 Saturday afternoon in the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
On Friday, the Icers committed numerous turnovers and penalties, leading to a Rams' goal just 59 seconds into the game. Rhode Island carried a 2-0 lead into the middle of the second period, courtesy of two power-play goals.
But midway through the second, Icers' forward Luke DeLorenzo scored a power-play goal on a favorable bounce over Lisi's glove, swinging momentum to the Icers.
"That goal was definitely huge for us because we couldn't afford to go down 3-0," forward Jaime Zimmel said. "We had to prove to ourselves that we were a better team than them, and we didn't do that the first period."
The Icers dictated play the rest of the game, outshooting the Rams 46-23 and scoring the final two goals. Penn State forward Nate Obringer scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game, and O'Brien ended the comeback with the first even-strength goal of the game with just more than two minutes remaining.
"It's a character win for us," Penn State coach Scott Balboni said. "We were a little soft mentally because we thought we were better than we were, and it was a good thing for us to get it handed to us for a period.
"The inner-fortitude of our guys to be able to come back and turn it on will be big for us moving forward this season."
Saturday's game was never in doubt, as Icers' forward Sean Kenney scored a power-play goal less than five minutes into the game. Zimmel added two goals and two assists.
Goaltender Nick Signet stopped all 26 shots for his sixth shutout of the season, and picked up both wins this weekend.
"We talked about me going out there again Saturday, and I told him I felt pretty good after the first game," Signet said. "The physical games really fueled the team and I wanted to be a part of both games."
The fierce rivalry showed the entire weekend with big hits that boiled over into a fight on Saturday afternoon. After the Icers' Steve Thurston and Andrew Magulick were ejected for a fight in the third period, referees and others had to keep them separated from Rhode Island players in the locker room.
In all, the weekend included 59 penalties, six game disqualifications and 43 power plays, resulting in five of the 10 goals. Thurston, Magulick and Brandon Rubeo will all be suspended for next Friday's game as a result of their disqualifications.
"The physicality of the two games makes everything a lot more intense and gets you on your toes," Zimmel said. "We like to play a physical game and some teams are scared of that, and we want them to be scared of us. If we play a physical game we're going to come out on top."
