Champaign, IL - The Central States Collegiate Hockey League playoffs kicked off at the Big Pond today, and as the host team the Illini got to sit back and watch three other first round games unfold in front of them. All three of these games had the lower seed scoring first, but in only one match was there an upset, and that was the first game of the day between #4 Iowa State and #5 Kent State. Also moving on to the second round were Ohio and Lindenwood, with the last spot up for grabs as the Illini took on Robert Morris College for the third time in a week.

From the drop of the puck the Illini took control of the game, and just 3:15 into the game, senior Johnny Liang chased down the puck and passed it from behind the goal line to Captain Drew Heredia in front of the crease, who in turn sent the puck into the Eagles net. A rash of Robert Morris penalties during the second half of the period left the Illini with a man advantage for most of the time, and the Illini capitalized on it. At the 10:14 mark, and the Illini on the first power play of the night, junior Jason Nemeth would pass the puck to senior Alex Park at the top of the slot, who with a deadly accurate slap shot put the Illini up by two. During the second power play, Alex Park would once again wind up, but his shot would miss the mark, bouncing off the end board, where junior Jordan Pringle would find it, pass it across the slot to Drew Heredia, who would then score his second goal of the game at 15:04. Just a minute and a half later, Heredia would be in on the third power play of the night, this time directing the puck to Daniel Cohen, who found junior Jason Nemeth across the slot, and from just inside the left circle fired a one timer into the Eagles net, thus retiring Robert Morris' Micah Robbins from the goaltending duties. Drew Stanton would take over in net for the Eagles, and would turn away all three Illini shots for the remainder of the period.

The three shots were easy, the onslaught of 22 in the second period was something else. At the 6:02 mark in the second, freshman Joe Cardona, with senior Dave Schmitt assisting, would fire a rocket from the point that would part traffic in front of, then find the back of, the Eagles net. Just over five minutes later the Illini would be given another of the many power play chances, and this time Johnny Liang would connect  from the side of the net, giving the Illini a 6-0 lead halfway through the game. Assisting on the Liang power play goal were Jordan Pringle and Drew Heredia. At the 13:06 point in the period, Heredia would pick up a hat trick as an Alex Park shot would rebound off of the Eagles netminder and onto Drew's stick, which he sent back past RMC's Stanton for the Illini's 5th power play goal of the night. The Illini were far from being done however, as junior Pat Saliba would find the puck laying in front of the net from a stopped shot, and quickly flip it into the Eagles net, giving the Illini an 8-0 lead before the second intermission. Picking up the assists on the Saliba goal were Joey Resch and Dave Schmitt.

If enough damage hadn't been done already, the Illini added to it in the third period. At the 8:24 mark, Drew Heredia would send a pass from the top of the zone to Jason Nemeth who headed towards the net and backhanded in a shot, giving the Illini the 9-0 lead, the second assist going to Joe Cardona. With less than five minutes to go in the game, Joey Resch would flip in a shot from the slot for the 10th Illini goal of the night, seniors Nick Fabbrini and Johnny Liang getting the helpers. The Illini out shot the Eagles 50 to 19 in the lopsided affair, sophomore Mike Burda was perfect in net for the Orange and Blue, picking up his sixth shutout of the season.

The Illini now move on to round two of the playoffs to take on Kent State Saturday night.