The No. 16 Illini’s weekend matchup against the No. 11 Ohio Bobcats seemed like a rollercoaster ride. After losing 8-1 on Friday in a game head coach Nick Fabbrini called disappointing, Illinois bounced back in a big way on Saturday and came away with a 5-2 victory.

“It says a lot about our character to be able to rebound like that, and I think it should show these guys what they’re capable of doing when they’re bringing effort for a full 60 minutes like they did tonight,” Fabbrini said after Saturday night’s win.

The Illini began Saturday’s game playing very aggressively on offense, allowing senior forward Matt Welch to score the first goal of the game off a close rebound opportunity just seven minutes into the first period.

The Bobcats would respond, scoring two goals within minutes of each other midway through the opening period, but the Illini kept hold of the momentum after buckling down on defense and performing well on penalty kill.

Illinois opened up a 4-2 lead in the second period with two goals from sophomore forward John Olen and another by senior forward John Scully. Some pushing and shoving occurred toward the end of the second period and tensions boiled over, leading to a few players dropping their gloves to exchange blows.

“Fighting and aggressiveness is a part of hockey, and regardless if it’s illegal technically in the ACHA, I don’t care, I’m still going to jump in for my teammates,” freshman defenseman Cody von Rueden said.

After the scuffle subsided and penalties were given out, the Illini found themselves outnumbered five to three on the ice. The defensive effort that had been high all night notched up even higher as Illinois was able to escape the period with its 4-2 lead intact, even with senior captain Austin Bostock down on the ice for the majority of the defensive sequence after taking a puck to the knee.

“Killing off that five-on-three and getting those big blocks really put the momentum right back on our side, and I feel like we took it to them in the third,” said Bostock, who missed Friday night’s game for a job interview.

Bostock remained in the game after the injury, and Illinois took it to Ohio in the third period. The defense stayed stingy and senior goalie Nick Clarke reminded everyone why he was second team All-American last year with one impressive save after another.

Freshman forward Josh Belmont put the cherry on top of his team’s all-around performance with an empty net goal in the last minutes of the game, and the Illini defeated the Bobcats 5-2.

When asked what made the difference in the victory, Fabbrini raved about the shot blocking.

“We blocked 25 shots, which I think is more than they had on net,” said Fabbrini. “When you have a whole team paying the price like that in the defensive zone, you’re going to put yourself in the position to win a lot of games.”

Clarke sat out the last two periods of Friday’s blowout loss after allowing three goals in the opening period, but came out ready to go on Saturday. Clarke said he didn’t disagree with Fabbrini’s decision to take him out of Friday’s game and hoped it would cause a spark for the rest of the team.

“It’s nice to see him rebound,” Fabbrini said after Saturday’s victory. “We talked after the game (Friday), and I told him he’s still our guy, he’s still the second team All-American goaltender he was last year. Everybody in that (locker) room believes in him, and everybody on the coaching staff believes in him. It’s only a matter of time before he starts playing the way he’s capable of, and tonight was a big step in that direction.”

Illinois had five goals from four different players in the victory, which bodes well for their offense moving forward.

“It’s extremely important,” Olen said of the team’s offensive depth. “If everybody’s going, it just makes everybody else feel better. Everyone’s hopping on the bench and it’s nice to see other guys contribute.”

Joey can be reached at [email protected] and @joeyfigueroa3