Despite shellacking St. Louis 11-2 and 7-3, the Illini hockey club’s regular season title hopes were put on ice.

Defending national champion Ohio University beat Kent State to win their second straight Central States Collegiate Hockey League title on Saturday.

“It’s a little frustrating, but it’s already in the rear-view mirror,” senior forward Brian Coleman said.

He didn’t want to take away from Ohio’s achievement, but Coleman said the league playoffs mean the most. The postseason starts Feb. 18, and after crushing No. 7 Robert Morris, the Illini made sure to avoid the letdown.

“It was a weekend to get down there, get two wins and get out,” Coleman said.

Friday night it was almost as if the Illini were scoring right as they got off the bus. By the end of the first period, it was 4-1. Illinois tacked on a five-goal third period to complete the rout.

Senior forward Brett Duncan led the team with three goals Friday, while three other Illini had a pair in the lopsided victory. Freshman goaltender Marcos Montoya got the start Friday because sophomore Mike DeGeorge was ill.

Senior forward Scott Kohler said the defense kept him from seeing a lot of action in the net, but he made big saves when the team needed him.

Saturday was another variation on Friday’s scoring theme. The Billikens had no answer for the Illini offense that scored seven goals – each by a different player.

“The addition of Alex Park has really allowed all the lines to come together,” Coleman said. “Having four lines that can score at any time is really beneficial.”

In the last three weeks, Illinois has suffocated their opponents, outscoring them by a total of 50-7.

Coleman also moved to 10th on the Illini all-time scoring list and is just one assist shy of the century mark for his career.

“I can’t believe I am up there with guys like Pat Olson, Brian Tilden and Luke Carlson,” Coleman said. “To now be up there with them is pretty cool especially playing against high level competition.”

But individual achievements aside, Illinois will find out if they have what it takes as a team when No. 2 Penn State comes to town for Alumni weekend at the Ice Arena. The Icers are five-time national champions and Illinois is 4-16 against Penn State, but this weekend the team will have the home-ice advantage.

“Two or three years ago I circled this weekend, with how good they are,” Coleman said. “You don’t usually see two teams ranked this high playing in February before playoffs – it’ll be good.”