Club hockey to play Illinois State on Saturday

• Tweet
• 

The CMU club hockey team is coming off one of its best weekends of the season.

Filled with mediocre play, their slow season lead them to a No. 11 ranking. Now, the team’s true colors are beginning to show on the ice.

CMU split games against rival Michigan State last weekend. In the first game, the team came back from a five-goal deficit but came up short in the end, losing 8-6 on Nov. 12.

They rallied in game two Saturday to score two minutes into overtime, capping off a thrilling 4-3 victory.

“We played quite well on the defensive end of the ice, though there is still work to be done on the semi-new defensive system we are working with,” said head coach Mike Willett. “(It was) a great come from behind win for us.”

This weekend, CMU turns it attention to Illinois State University, the No. 6 ranked team in the Central Region. The game, set to begin at noon Saturday, will be played at the Mount Pleasant Ice Arena. Illinois State is 12-4-1, scoring 65 goals for while allowing 54.

“We feel really good coming off a split against with rival MSU,” said senior captain Jordan Jakubik. “It was our best weekend so far and the team hopes to continue it with another big game against Illinois State.”

The team looks to continue to improve their defensive play and made strides of improvement during the games against MSU. The team is carrying a lot more confidence into this weekend after the strong performance.

“We know it’s another big game and we seem to have some more confidence after last weekend,” Jakubik said. “Hopefully, we can just continue to play our game and pick up another big win.”

The players cohesionis beginning to show.

“We are starting to believe in each other and in the system,” Willett said. “We are looking at this game against Illinois State as a real opportunity to prove ourselves. The team is playing with a chip on our shoulder, with something to prove.”

After a win against Michigan State, a win against Illinois State would guarantee that CMU would rise in the rankings before the second ranking period on Nov. 29. This Tuesday, the team had its highest energy-filled practice since the season started and hopes to ride the momentum into Sunday.