After a one-win October, the Illinois hockey team began to turn its success around with a huge win over Ohio to begin November. The momentum seemed to be in the Illini’s favor, which made this past weekend’s bye arguably ill timed.

Head coach Nick Fabbrini doesn’t think the Illini will suffer any setbacks because of it.

“I don’t think that’s something we can be concerned about,” Fabbrini said. “We were going to have a week off of practice anyways, even if we had played this week. I don’t think the momentum from Saturday necessarily was going to carry over to a Friday night game anyway.”

Having games last weekend may have allowed the Illini to develop a little bit more of a flow moving into a tough stretch of the schedule, but sophomore forward John Olen thinks the weekend off came at just the right time.

“I think in the position we were in, this was a good time for a week off because we could regroup and get all those people back from injuries,” Olen said. “Even though it’s nice to keep playing and keep staying in shape, I think we’ll be okay.”

The Illini have been a streaky team this season, opening with six straight victories followed by six straight defeats. After two consecutive weekend splits, Fabbrini wants his team to only focus only on the here and now.

“The last month of the season is over with,” Fabbrini said. “It’s passed and there’s nothing we can do about it. We just need to continue building up the way that we have been by moving forward and getting better every day.”

Something else Fabbrini doesn’t think his team should be concerned with is the weekly ACHA rankings. Illinois dropped from No. 16 to No. 18 after its weekend split against Ohio, but Fabbrini expects his team to move up soon because of the large amount of splits around the league last weekend.

“As long as we win games and control what we can control, it’s going to be reflected in the computer rankings,” Fabbrini said. “If we can get hot here and continue to win and play like we did (against Ohio), I think the rankings will take care of themselves.”

Aside from moving up in the ACHA, the Illini are looking to stay relevant within their own conference. Illinois still has four CSCHL matchups before the conference tournament, and Fabbrini still hopes his team can defend its league title.

“It won’t be easy, but if we can win the vast majority of our games moving forward, I think we’ll be in it at the end,” Fabbrini said. “I don’t expect anybody to run away with the league.”

Staying in the CSCHL race begins this weekend when the Illini square off against No. 25 Indiana.

Joey can be reached at [email protected] and@joeyfigueroa3.