January 16, 2008 - It's been over three years since Kent State has been in Champaign to take on the Illini, and whereas they have never won a game on the Big Pond, it may be a trip they wish they could postpone even longer. Since joining the league in 1994, the Golden Flashes and Illini have met up 21 times, with the Illini having dominated the meetings, winning 19 times and losing only twice, with both of those happening at Kent State. One of those two losses happened just last season as the Golden Flashes handed the Illini their only loss in the first semester.

So far this season Kent State has a record of 17-9-0 and is currently ranked 9th in the latest ACHA poll. The Golden Flashes offense has been putting up good numbers, averaging around 5 goals per game, and coming from many sources as half of the team has double digits point totals. Leading the team overall in scoring are a pair of juniors, the first being Eddie Martin with 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists), followed by Ryan Nawrocki with 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists), who also leads the team with 6 power play goals. Sophomore Dave Bruder has had a hot hand in the goal scoring as well for Kent State, netting 16 goals so far, and helping out on 15 others for his 31 point total. Behind the offense, the Flashes defense has been trying to do their job as well, limiting the opposing shooters to just over 36 shots on goal per game, and of those shots, only 3.5 have been getting past their goaltenders. Doing the majority of puck stopping for Kent State is sophomore goaltender Ryan Gregory. Gregory currently has a Goals Against Average of 3.35, with a save percentage hovering around 90%, and one shutout to his credit this season. One other aspect of the Golden Flashes that could cause the Illini some grief are their special teams, as they have capitalized on 36 power plays as well as come up with 7 short handed goals so far. Look for some well fought battles in the trenches as both of these teams look for wins this weekend.

Each of these games will be worth 4 league points, something each team will be battling for as the countdown to the playoffs draws near. The puck will drop at 7:00pm both this Friday and Saturday night at the University of Illinois Ice Arena with live broadcast online thanks to 107.1 WPGU-FM