Nick Fabbrini has always had a tough time coaching against Arizona State.

In Fabbrini’s first year as head coach for the Illinois hockey team in 2012, Arizona State knocked the Illini out of the National Tournament in the quarterfinals. A season ago, Arizona State swept Illinois and outscored it 14-1 in the two-game series.

This weekend, Fabbrini has a shot at redemption.

The Illini (12-5-0) will travel to the Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe, Arizona, to face No. 2 Arizona State (18-2-0). With the Sun Devils fresh off a national championship and now planning a move to Division I, Fabbrini said it will be the toughest series of the year.

“They’ve got a lot of guys back from the team that won last year, and they had some huge offseason additions as well,” Fabbrini said. “They’re probably going to be the best team we play all year, so we need to be ready.”

Arizona State is not the only team that made big offseason additions. Illini freshman Eric Cruickshank has made a positive impact, ranking third in points.

Cruickshank believes the Illini are capable of going on the road and playing well against Arizona State if they stay consistent.

“We haven’t been playing the whole 60 minutes or the whole 120 minutes the whole weekend,” Cruickshank said. “(Fabbrini) has really been trying to harp on our consistency and just continuing to play consistent night in and night out.”

If Illinois manages to play consistent against Arizona State, it hopes to walk away from the weekend with a sweep, or at least a split.

This season, Illinois has split against three opponents. Typically Illinois is not happy with a split. However, Fabbrini thinks that a split this weekend will be a favorable finish for the team.

“Anytime you go in and play a great team, especially on the road, I think that a split is a solid goal,” Fabbrini said. “We obviously want to win both games and I think if we play well, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win both games. If we were to go in and split, that would be a successful weekend for us.”

For Illinois, achieving a sweep or split will come down to each player knowing his role.

“I go in games and try to do what I can for the team,” Cruickshank said. “It goes for every player on the team, knowing your role. I think if we all take parts of our game that we do well and successfully do that, that will help us come out with a win and play a good team.”

Despite the bitter taste Arizona State has left Fabbrini in years past, he still has respect for the program. This weekend he has a chance to wash that taste away.

“They have a great program,” Fabbrini said. “We have a lot of respect for them, but we’re definitely not going to back down and we’re going there to get at least one (win).”

Matt can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @MattGertsmeier.