January 27, 2008 - It was standing room only this weekend at the Big Pond as fans watched the #1 ranked Illini take on the #8 Bobcats of Ohio. No one should have left disappointed watching these two rivals battle to the bitter end with the Illini sweeping the Bobcats 5-0 and 2-1. The Illini improved their record to 25-0-0 with the two wins, and moved closer to taking over the number one spot in the league by picking up the 8 league points.

On Friday night the Illini came out and dominated the first period, but were just unable to get anything past the Ohio goaltender Paul Marshall. It wouldn't be until over halfway through the second period when the Illini would pick up a power play goal from Alex Park to get them on the board first. The Illini would turn up the heat in the third period as the Bobcats would start to fall apart, and net four more goals, including 3 on the power play. Jason Nemeth would start the scoring early in the period, followed by Johnny Liang, who would get the only even strength goal of the game. Alex Park would pick up his second goal of the game, while Nick Fabbrini would cap off the scoring in the Illini's 5-0 win. Mike Burda would pick up his 5th shutout on the season after rejecting all 17 of Ohio's shots on net.

Saturday's match would be a different game altogether. The Illini would come out quick and Tim Gilbert would put up a goal early in the first, but that would turn out to be the only goal the Illini would be able to net in the game. Ohio would break up an Illini power play in the second period and tie the game at 1 with a short handed goal from Jeff Jepson. The third period would go scoreless and so would the 5 minute overtime period. The game would be decided by a shootout, but that wouldn't be quick either as the Illini would come back from a 2 goal deficit and finally in the 11th round senior Joey Resch would pick up the 2-1 win for the Illini.

The Illini will be on the road for the next two weekends before returning home for the CSCHL playoffs.

( Game One Box Score ) ( Game One Recap )
( Game Two Box Score ) ( Game Two Recap )