On its trip to face No. 3 Ohio, the Illinois hockey team will be without four key players for at least one game this weekend. The meeting will be the teams’ third of the season.
The ACHA handed out three one-game suspensions to freshmen forwards John Olen, Kevin Chowaniec and senior Nick Stuercke. Senior defenseman Kent Kovalsky received a two-game suspension for his participation in a fight last Saturday against Lindenwood.
Midway through the third period, Kovalsky and Lindenwood’s Cody Barra decided to drop the gloves, warranting an ejection for both players. Not long after, chaos erupted as the entire Illini line of forwards got into it with various Lions players. By the end of the game, eight ejections were issued between both sides, most resulting in suspensions.
According to ACHA rules, fighting during a game results in an automatic ejection as well as a minimum one-game suspension. Kovalsky, who had been suspended already this season for spearing, garnered another game because of his track record as a repeat offender.
Olen and Chowaniec were suspended for making illegal contact to the head of two Lindenwood players. Olen is one of the Illini’s leading scorers, leading in goals with 12 and tied for the team lead in points with 22. Chowaniec is fourth on the team in points with 16.
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“It’s going to be pretty frustrating watching from the stands,” Olen said. “It’s Ohio, it’ll be a big game. These are league points, so they’re big points.”
Head coach Nick Fabbrini said his four players will be sorely missed during Friday’s matchup with the Bobcats. Both Olen and Chowaniek showed up on the score sheet when Illinois blew out Ohio in a 5-0 win two weekends ago. The Bobcats’ loss was only their second in 15 games this season.
“Everybody needs to step their game up Friday night,” Fabbrini said. “There’s going to be a lot less margin for error, so we’re really going to have to tighten things up going forward.”
Illinois will go on the road for a rematch against Lindenwood in mid-January in a series that is expected to match the intensity of last weekend’s. Fabbrini said his team will not change its style of play when the two teams meet again, despite the fighting.
“We’re not going to back down from a challenge,” he said. “But we’ve got to stay out of fighting and keep our composure. We’re not that type of team. We’re going to stay away from that but we’re not going to back down from them trying to intimidate us physically.”
Blake can be reached at [email protected] and @BlakeP.
