February
13, 2008 - The Illini are hoping to play three
games this coming weekend in Champaign, but seven of
the CSCHL's best will have something to say about that
as the league playoffs start this Friday at the U of
I ice arena in Champaign. The Illini, as the #1 seed,
will be facing the #8 seed, Robert Morris College,
who the Illini just battled with this past weekend
in Bensenville. The Illini are looking for a repeat
of last weekends performance, as they swept
the Eagles with scores of 6-1 and 5-2 in their last
set of league games. The Illini, as host of the tournament,
will get the last games each day, which for Friday
and Saturday, will be the night games which start at
7:00pm, or normal game time for the Illini. The first
game of the playoffs, 10:00am on Friday, will feature
#4 Iowa State vs. #5 Kent State, followed by #3 Ohio
vs. #6 Eastern Michigan at 1:00pm. The late afternoon
game will have #2 Lindenwood squaring off against #7
Western Michigan. All of Saturdays games will depend
of course on the outcome of Fridays games. For more
information on the playoffs, games schedules, and results,
please check out CSCHL-2008.IlliniHockey.com.
With all 8 teams ranked in the top 25 of the ACHA, and a
good chance for 7 of these teams to make the National Tournament,
what kind of chance does the Illini have in walking away
with the playoff crown? A fairly good one. Currently ranked
#1 in the ACHA, the regular season champions of the CSCHL,
a flawless 29-0-0 record, and having beaten all of these
teams at least twice already, although not always easily,
are at least a few good indicators, but what about home ice
advantage? Could the Big Pond make a big difference? Perhaps
it just might. The last time that the Illini lost a game
at home was February 24, 2007 at the hands of the CSCHL All-Stars,
which included Illini players as well. The last time the
Illini lost to a regular ACHA team on the Big Pond was on
January 20, 2006 to North Dakota State after coming off of
a rough set of road trip games. As for the last time the
Illini lost to a CSCHL team at home, it was October 25, 2003
as the Illini fell to Eastern Michigan 5-4 in an overtime
match. And the last time for a CSCHL
team to beat the Illini outright at the ice arena was January
26, 2002 as Iowa State slipped by the Illini 4-3. Overall,
since January of 2000, the Illini have a record of 145-14-3
on the Big Pond, winning almost 90% of all home games, proving
that they can be beaten at home, just not very easily or
very often.
A special note for all fans coming to watch the playoffs
at the U of I ice arena, tickets will now be taken at the
doors between the lobby and ice rink and not at the front
of the lobby as in the past. If you already have your tickets,
you do not have to stand in line, you are free to enter the
lobby directly. Day passes are good only for non-Illini games,
and likewise Illini tickets are only good for the Illini
games.
As you could all season, you can listen to the Illini on
the air or online thanks to 107.1
WPGU-FM with the broadcast
starting at 6:00pm. The first 500 people there on Friday
can pick up a free Illini Hockey / WPGU t-shirt, provided
by our fine friends at WPGU.
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