file/Arizona Daily Wildcat Icecat sophomore defenseman Braden Koprivica eludes a check against a defender earlier this season in the Tucson Convention Center. The Icecats swept three weekend games in the Philadelphia area last weekend.

The Icecats only East Coast swing of the season earned them three consecutive victories and some much-needed respect as they all but secured a berth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament.

In what was a homecoming to the Philadelphia area for several Icecats, they easily handled West Chester, 7-3, and Lehigh, 7-4, before knocking off Drexel in thrilling fashion 5-4 in overtime Saturday night.

Icecat head coach Leo Golembiewski said that although his players did not play their best hockey of the season, they deserve a lot of credit for taking care of business on the road.

"Despite how well we accomplished things, categorically we didn't necessarily play as strongly as we could have," Golembiewski said. "We had a hard time of getting into our flow, but it would appear that we have punched our ticket to nationals."

The Icecats' initial struggles against West Chester Thursday night may have been partly due to the lengthy travel day that began that morning. Fifteen hours and three planes later, a tired UA squad was on the ice for its first road game in nearly four months.

"Thursday night, I think we were all a little tired," said senior co-captain Kyle Neary, a Pennsylvania native who returned to play in two familiar rinks from youth hockey. "It took us until the third period to really get going."

It was during that period that the Icecats put away an overmatched West Chester squad with three unanswered goals.

Neary and senior Pavel Jandura led the attack with two goals apiece, and freshman goalie and Philadelphia area native Bryan Aronchick turned away 23 shots for the victory.

There were two big goals that turned the tide in the Icecats' favor during the final two games of the road trip, and Friday night at Lehigh it was Jandura who powered his Icecats past the Mountain Hawks.

With the score knotted at four heading into the third period, Jandura - who was recently moved to forward for the first time in his four-year career - took one stride across the center-ice line and ripped a laser over the goaltender's shoulder.

The Icecats never looked back as junior Dave Loftus led the way with a pair of goals in the 7-4 victory.

After the consecutive victories, the most important challenge of the weekend for the Icecats came Saturday at Drexel. The No. 13 Dragons sat on the outside of the 12-team ACHA national tournament as the No. 11 Icecats came to town.

Despite twice taking two-goal leads throughout the contest, a defensive mistake by the Icecats allowed Drexel to tie the game at four with 1:34 left in the third period.

In the overtime period, a Dragon penalty put the Icecats on the power play for the final minute of the game.

After Jandura sent the puck deep into Drexel's end during the game's waning moments, a scramble in front of the net ensued and, several flying Icecat bodies later, UA had earned the game-winner with less than a second remaining on the clock.

"No one in the building is really sure how that one went in," said Neary of the game-winner with which he was credited. "I was lying out on my stomach, the puck hit something and managed to roll in.

"We felt like we dominated the whole game, and a couple of lucky bounces kept them in it, but we should've won no matter what it took."

It took an extra five minutes of hockey, but the Icecats (17-3-1) should now be headed to their 19th consecutive national championship tournament.

"I'm proud of the guys," Golembiewski said."They showed class and discipline on and off the ice. I believe in them, and they responded."