The alumni who returned this past weekend to watch the No.4-ranked Illinois men’s hockey club battle eighth-ranked Michigan-Dearborn were treated to a sensational performance by their former team.

In a pair of Central States Collegiate Hockey League games the Illini defeated the Wolves 5-1 and 3-1 last Friday and Saturday night. The wins improved the Illini to 23-5 overall and 12-2 in the CSCHL conference.

“I think our team finally came together,” junior goaltender Mike DeGeorge said. “We’ve been battling out of a slump and it’s a special thing to have everybody come together at exactly the right time of the year. I think now we’re going to get rolling and make a good run in the league and national tournaments.”

Friday night the Illini took the ice with a passion and played one of its best games all year.

With a combination of strong goaltending, solid puck movement, hard hitting and an efficient power play, the Illini would grab a 2-0 lead courtesy of two identical looking power play goals 27 seconds apart by sophomore Nick Fabbrini.

The Illini’s relentless forechecking would be its key to success the rest of the way, as it would continue to provide the Illini with good scoring opportunities while limiting the Wolves’ attack.

“We spent a lot of time working on our forecheking in practice this week,” head coach Chad Cassel said. “We were able to get all over them and create a lot of turnovers and take advantage of the opportunities.”

Midway through the second period, pressure provided by senior Mike Roesch and freshman Johnny Liang would cause a turnover behind the net and allow Liang to find junior Marshall Chubirka open in front of the net for his eighth goal of the season to give the Illini a 3-1 lead.

DeGeorge would shutdown the Wolves the rest of the way, stopping 25 of 26 shots on the night to allow the Illini to cruise to a 5-1 win. In the last four games DeGeorge has allowed only one goal per game and led the Illini to four straight wins.

“I have been able to regroup and get back to the basics,” DeGeorge said. “I talked to a lot of my goalie coaches and got my head back on straight. I have my confidence back and once you get your confidence back you can do anything out there.”

The Wolves would come out more competitive Saturday night, but the Illini would once again open the scoring when Roesch scored his 16th goal of the season to give Illinois a 1-0 lead after a period of play.

The Illini would add two goals by Laing and sophomore Joey Resch in the second period and take a 3-1 advantage in the third period.

By protecting the 3-1 lead in the final period the Illini improved to a perfect 23-0 in games in which they had the lead going into the third period.

“We always go into the third period wanting to play to win, and not wanting to play to lose,” senior assistant captain Andy Lubesnick said. “We make sure our defensemen don’t take as many chances pinching the zone and we keep our third forward high which is key to prevent odd man breaks.”

With the two wins the Illini jumped over long time rival Iowa State and into second place in the CSCHL standings heading into next weekend’s big games with the Cyclones.

“We have to have another good week of practice and continue to get better,” Cassel said. “It’s a tough place to play and the winner of that series is going to end up with the No.2-seed in the conference tournament so it’s big for both teams.”

The Cyclones enter next weekend’s games in Ames ranked just behind Illinois at No.5 in the ACHA with a 33-5-1 record, but have not beaten the Illini its last 13 match-ups, their last win coming on Jan. 26, 2002.

“It’s going to be fun going to Iowa State,” Lubesnick said. “They are two big games before the final seedings and we need to win them to keep our spot at No.4. They should be close games and fun to watch.