The scene at Tuesday practice for the Illinois hockey team was players cheering each other on during shooting drills and mobbing one another after scoring on breakaway goals. The sense of grief was noticeably decreased, as the players finally had something to be happy about after ending their woeful six-game losing streak last Friday.
But the Illini are still nowhere near satisfied with the weekend split. They need to play at their highest level for the rest of the season to remain relevant in the ACHA Divison-1 playoff race, and that begins this weekend when the Ohio Bobcats come to town.
No. 11 Ohio will be the third-straight CSCHL opponent for No. 16 Illinois, continuing the recent streak of conference play.
Head coach Nick Fabbrini remembers Ohio being the Illini’s toughest opponent when he used to play and still considers them to be their No. 1 rival.
“They’re gonna be a tough, physical team,” Fabbrini said. “It’s a big rivalry for both teams, and I told the guys they’re our biggest rival.”
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
The Bobcats are fresh off a weekend split of their own against No. 7 Iowa State, in which they played well in two games decided by just one goal each. Fabbrini is well aware of their recent success and said he was impressed by how they played a tough Iowa State team on the road.
Illinois’ main struggle during their losing streak was scoring goals, and after scoring six goals over the weekend, Fabbrini has shifted his focus to the defense after the 6-3 loss on Saturday.
“Giving up six goals is never good,” Fabbrini said. “We’ve got to keep more shots to the outside. We tend to get beat off the boards occasionally, and we give up shots from right in front, whether it’s little deflections or tap-ins within five to 10 feet of the net. That’s an area we have to clean up.”
After this weekend, Illinois will be away from the comfort of the Big Pond for a while, as they have three straight weekend series on the road. Because of this, Fabbrini said it will be important for his guys to get a sweep this weekend.
“With everybody else splitting the majority of the time, it’s crucial for us to get sweeps whenever we can,” Fabbrini said. “I know (Ohio) will be tough. We expect them to be a physical team and well coached like they always have been, but I think we’ll be ready for them.”
Joey can be reached at [email protected] and @joeyfigueroa3.
