JOHN HELGERSON/Arizona Daily Wildcat Center Mickey Meehan helps goalie Bryan Aronchick defend the Icecats goal against Weber State University earlier this season.

It has been almost four months since the Icecats played a game outside the friendly confines of the Tucson Convention Center.

Tonight all of that will change.

UA will dress in the visitors' locker room for the first time in 17 games when it takes the ice against West Chester.

The Icecats will continue their three-game Philadelphia-area road trip with contests at Lehigh and Drexel University the following two nights.

After a 12-3-1 home stretch, UA will have to continue to impress on the road in order to solidify a position in the American Collegiate Hockey Association national playoffs in May.

While the top 12 teams in the league make it to nationals, the Wildcats are not comfortable with their No. 11 ranking. A slip-up against any of the teams this weekend could mean the Icecats will be sitting at home during nationals for the first time in 20 years.

Head coach Leo Golembiewski said he has felt all season that his team has been slighted by the ACHA despite its dominance over everyone this season with the exception of top-ranked Penn State.

"It's not our fault that no one wants to come play us," said Golembiewski, whose team will play two top-20 teams in Philadelphia this weekend.

"With the talent on our team and the type of kids we have, it would be a travesty not to get to nationals because of politics," he said.