After a weekend off, the Illinois Hockey Club team returns to action Friday night against the Michigan Wolverines.

Last season, the Illini mopped up Michigan 11-1 and 7-2, but that was against a team that had finished tryouts just days before.

This year is a different story.

Michigan has already played four games and is 3-1 on the year. Illinois junior defensemen Andy Lubesnick said to win, the Illini will have to be defensively solid.

“We’ve just got to work really hard and take the bodies out and play hockey,” he said.

Two weeks ago, defense was the strongest aspect of their game, and the Illini have yet to allow an opposing team to score.

But there are always things to improve on, and this weekend the Illini hope to cure the feast or famine nature of their offense.

Two weeks ago, the Illini scored once on 23 shots in the first period against Fredonia State, but scored six goals on 10 shots the next period.

This week’s practices have been full of scoring drills and one-on-ones for the Illini, and junior forward Steve Krates said it should lead to a fast start.

“We’ve had a good week of practice,” Krates said. “Everyone is moving really well, so I think we are going to come out stronger from that start than we did against Fredonia State.”

One thing that has been consistent so far is goaltending. This weekend sophomore goaltender Mike DeGeorge will try to add on to his 100 minutes of shutout hockey.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep this shutout thing going and give the fans something for their money this weekend,” DeGeorge said.

Even though DeGeorge said he gave up being superstitious, he did knock on the wooden wall at the mention of the word ‘shutout.’

The Wolverines enter the Ice Arena ranked No. 18 in Division II club ice hockey polls compared to Illinois’ No. 4 ranking in Division I. But DeGeorge said the important thing for him is staying focused on the ice by talking to the defense and keeping his head in the game.

As a whole, Krates said the team is coming together and tuning everything up right now in preparation for not just this weekend, but the bigger games down the road as well.