Ann Arbor, MI - It took the Illini a little while to come to life in the second game of the weekend against Eastern Michigan, but a hat trick game from senior Captain Drew Heredia helped the Illini knock out the Eagles 6-2 and pick up 4 more CSCHL points in the process.

Just minutes into the first period the Illini would find themselves on the power play, and at the 3:56 mark Eastern Michigan's goaltender Erik Shardt would give up a rebound from an Alex Park blast from just inside the blue line, which Drew Heredia would find and put into the Eagles net. The early lead for the Illini wouldn't last long as just 71 seconds later Eastern Michigan would regroup and the Eagles Joe Schweiger would fire a shot past the Illini's DJ Kohler, tying the game at one. The Illini would find themselves on the power play once again halfway though the period, and at the 11:09 mark, junior Jordan Pringle, teamed up with senior Nick Fabbrini would net a goal and once again give the Illini a one goal lead. EMU and the Illini would each get another short 5 on 3 chance before the period would end, but neither would be able to convert, so the Illini would take the 2-1 lead into the break.

While the Illini out shot the Eagle in the first period 18-8, Eastern Michigan would dominate the majority of the play in the second period, and even put more shots on goal than the Illini, 10-9, for the first time this weekend. Just seconds into the second period EMU would be given another power play chance and a minute and 39 seconds in, the Eagles Matt Opyd would pick up a rebound in front of the net and put it past the Illini's Kohler, tying the game once again. With just over half of the period over, Eastern would just finish killing off a penalty when Drew Heredia would pick up his second goal of the game at the 12:38 mark, assists going to Brad Hoelzer and Daniel Cohen. The Illini would be able to fend off the hard charging Eagles for the remainder of the period to preserve their one goal lead until the buzzer sounded.

The Illini opened up the third period on a positive note as Alex Park would pass the puck from the slot over to Jordan Pringle on the goalies left, where Pringle would fire the one timer top shelf giving the Illini a two goal cushion just 67 seconds into the final period. Another Illini power play would lead to another Illini goal with just under 11 minutes off the clock as junior Jason Nemeth would put in a shot from the side of the net with seniors Alex Park and Johnny Liang assisting. Just over a minute and a half later, at the 12:38 mark of the period, Drew Heredia would net his third goal of the game with a rocket from the top of the slot that would find the back of the Eagles net. The Illini's DJ Kohler had a quiet third period as the Illini defense stifled the Eagles shooters, not allowing them a shot on goal for the entire 20 minutes. .

The 6-2 win over Eastern Michigan take the Illini's overall record to 11-0-0, and takes their league record to 4-0-0. The Illini are currently in 4th place in the CSCHL standings with 16 points. With 4 more league games before the semester break, the Illini can earn another 16 points towards the league champion title.