The Illini (9-8-3, 21 pts.) recorded a season-high 90 shots this weekend in their series against the Northern Illinois Huskies (8-9-1, 19 pts.). Despite the high volume of shots, Northern Illinois held Illinois to a season-worst one goal across the two-game set.
The two stats stand in direct opposition, yet they paint a picture of a surging offense shut down by sheer goaltending dominance.
An unexpected hero
Northern Illinois’ junior goaltender Matthew Jurgens was nothing short of a brick wall against Illinois. Jurgens stopped 50 of the 51 shots he faced on Friday and all 39 on Saturday.
The junior, who started the season on the Huskies’ Division III team, appeared in just his fifth Division I series in 2024.
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Jurgens had only one Division I win to his name this season. He posted just a .893 save percentage and a 4.64 goals-against average in his previous appearances. He also allowed 14 goals over his last three outings.
Those numbers are hardly indicative of someone capable of stopping 89 of 90 shots over two days, but that’s exactly what Jurgens did.
Jurgens now carries a .915 SV% and 3.70 GAA in Division I play this season.
To his credit, Illinois senior goaltender Nolan Woodring put together a great weekend as well. Woodring allowed just three goals himself across the two games. Three was too many, though, as anything short of perfect wasn’t enough against Jurgens.
Progress doesn’t always equal results
Jurgens only posted his eye-popping numbers because the Illini peppered him with so many shots.
The team’s 90 shots this weekend are the most they’ve had in a series this season. They beat the previous high, set in the first series of the year, by 11.
Illinois has been frustrated when a high volume of shots hasn’t translated to goals a few times this season. This includes earlier this month against McKendree, but they had never been shut down to this scale.
Illinois had only been shut out twice, once against Minot State and once against Purdue Northwest. The team registered 37 total shots across the two games, two fewer than Jurgens stopped in his shutout Saturday.
Bucking one trend, creating another
The only player to beat Jurgens this weekend was sophomore forward David Etingen, who scored his sixth goal of the season Friday.
Etingen is now tied for third on the team in goals, along with senior forward Alexander Matveev, junior forward Gregory Etingen and freshman forward David Ras.
The Illini now have six players who have scored six or more goals and 11 players who have scored a single goal. The team has no players who have netted between one and six goals this season.
Saturday was just the second time this season that the Illini failed to record a point against an unranked opponent and the first time since the second game of the year. They didn’t just lose one, though. It marks the ninth series ending in a sweep out of 10 this year.
The team will receive a break this coming weekend before returning to action against Illinois State in their final series of the year.
