The weather didn’t stop hundreds of hockey fans from bearing witness to the dismantling of St. Louis University this weekend, 4-0 and 12-1.

The wins were a much-needed boost for the struggling Illini team, who have been without five starters and their head coach Chad Cassel – overseas playing in the World University Games for Team USA.

“Our opponents were a little over-matched I would say,” assistant coach Darin Trulock said. “They came in with 15 skaters so it was tough for them to compete on this size of a rink against four full lines.”

Friday’s game started with a Billikens odd-man rush and later a power play – a shaky start for the Illini. But after a scoreless first period, the Illini took the lead in the second and never looked back.

“Their goaltender held them in the game for a long time,” Trulock said. “He played awesome, and we had a hard time figuring him out.”

But the team eventually did figure out how to score. Sophomore forward Marshall Chubirka’s two goals combined with freshman goaltender Marcos Montoya’s first career shutout put away St. Louis.

“We just kept fighting and fighting, and eventually the pucks went in for us,” Roesch said.

It was clear after Friday that St. Louis – losers of 18 of their last 19 – simply could not skate with Illinois for 60 minutes. But it became painfully obvious Saturday when the Illini rattled off a 7-goal second period. Leading the Illini charge was junior forward Mike Roesch, who had three goals in the second – enough for fans to toss their hats on the ice – and two more in the third.

“We just focused on getting the puck in deep and wearing down their defensemen, and it showed in the later half of Friday and Saturday’s games,” Roesch said.

But in addition to Roesch’s five goals, fans got their first glimpse of the newest addition to the roster – freshman forward Alex Park. Park had three goals and two assists this weekend alone and has six goals in as many games.

“He’s a grinder, probably the fastest kid on the team, the hardest shot, and he’s a good presence on the bench,” Roesch said. “He’s just a great kid to have on the team.”

With their shortened bench, the Illini were a lukewarm 3-3 but are looking at the positives. With the addition of Park and Montoya’s play in net, the Illini were in every game except one, Trulock said.

“We didn’t feel we were that shorthanded,” he said. “Obviously, it would be nice to have those three goal scorers, but we were playing against Eastern Michigan who had a guy missing and Michigan-Dearborn who had a guy missing.”

Nobody will be missing next weekend when the Illini face Robert Morris College at home. Trulock said he has no problem giving Cassel his job back.

“It’ll be nice to have (Cassel) back,” he said. “I had fun with it, but I won’t miss it.”