Whenever a player faces the team he transferred from, one would expect there to be a bit of bad blood between the two.

However, that is not the case for Illinois hockey’s William Nunez.

Nunez spent his first two collegiate seasons playing hockey for Robert Morris in Bensenville, Illinois, before transferring to play for the Illini for academic reasons. This weekend, for the third time in his career, Nunez will suit up in the visitor’s locker room at a rink he used to call home when the Illini (12-7-0) take on Robert Morris (16-2-1).

“I had a great two years there,” Nunez said. “My coach gave me a great opportunity to play and helped me grow as a player. I have nothing bad to say about them or the school; I had a great time there. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be where I am at today.”

Not only is this weekend a chance for Nunez to play against some familiar faces, but it’s also a chance for Illinois to sweep a conference rival.

Head coach Nick Fabbrini knows this will be no easy task. Robert Morris will be one of the tougher teams Illinois plays this season. Last year, Robert Morris was the runner-up for the ACHA National Championship, falling to Arizona State in the championship.

“They’re a solid team,” Fabbrini said. “This is the biggest weekend of (the) first semester for us. It’s huge CSCHL games, so we’re going to be ready to go.”

The Illini used a week off over Thanksgiving break to rest and get healthy after being swept by the defending champion Sun Devils two weeks ago.

This weekend, Fabbrini thinks Illinois will need to minimize mistakes and capitalize on opportunities, which the team failed to do against Arizona State.

“They’re not going to make a lot of mistakes, and we need to play the same way,” Fabbrini said. “We had a ton of opportunities against ASU early in games and late in games and just weren’t able to capitalize. That’s something we’re spending some time on this week.”

For Nunez, he doesn’t believe he has an edge because he played two seasons for Robert Morris. The only advantage he thinks he has for this weekend is his familiarity with the rink. 

Despite playing his last game for Robert Morris two years ago, Nunez has stayed in contact with his old coaches and teammates. This past week a few former teammates have joked with Nunez that they know what Illinois will be doing on the power play, but this weekend Nunez wants to put all jokes aside and get two victories after Illinois lost four times to Robert Morris last season.

“We need two games,” Nunez said. “We’re 3-3 in conference play right now. We want to go into the new year on top and definitely put ourselves in the position to finish as high as we can, so we can be successful in the league tournament.”

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