The No. 1-ranked Illini hockey team are returning from break to take on Western Michigan this weekend. The Illini were plagued early this season with the injury bug, but are back and healthy.

Head Coach Chad Cassel said he is happy to see the team back to full strength again after two weeks off.

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“But we’ve had an opportunity to get healthy which is good,” Cassel said. “The healthiest we’ve been all year, we got a full roster with the exception of JJ Heredia who is out with a broken leg. So i’m excited about that, but we’ll have to shake the rust off a little bit.”

Cassel said the game plan is still the same going into this weekend’s game.

“Well this week, because we’ve been off we’re kinda not re-learning everything but refreshing our memories on everything, so it’s a busy week of practice for us,” Cassel said.

The game starts at 7p.m. at the Ice Arena Friday and Saturday, and can be heard on WPGU 107.1 FM starting with the pregame show at 6 p.m.