Hoosiers swept away by No. 1 Fighting Illini

Early in a season, there are defining games that symbolize what kind of future lies ahead for a team. The IU hockey team experienced one of those games in a loss to the defending American Collegiate Hockey Association champion Friday night in Champaign, Ill. \nIllinois put an end to the Hoosiers' four-game win streak with a 10-0 win Friday and a 3-1 win Saturday.\nIn game one, the No. 1 Fighting Illini, now 14-0 on the season, dominated as soon as the puck dropped, firing shot after shot. Scoring five goals in the first period and another five in the second, Illinois outshot IU, 48-19. \n"We didn't do what we needed to do," junior forward Reed Schafer said. "The top D-I team in the country exploited all of our mistakes."\nA unique aspect about the rink the Hoosiers traveled to is its massive playing surface. The Fighting Illini play on a surface that is much longer and wider than what the Hoosiers are accustomed to. The rink played a factor in the outcome of the games, said IU coach Rich Holdeman.\n"It had a tremendous effect," he said. "It took us two periods to figure out where we were."\nSenior forward Michael Kearns agrees with Holdeman's evaluation of playing in unfamiliar territory.\n"We had a tough time adjusting to an arena that is about two and a half times the size of ours," he said. "We got behind early, and I think we hit the panic \nbutton."\nIn game two, the Hoosiers came out looking like a different team and stood with the No. 1 club team in the country for the entire game. Freshman forward David Murray continued his strong play as he scored his fifth goal of the season and the first goal of the game. Six minutes later, however, Illinois tied the game at one going into the first intermission. The Illini took the lead for good with a goal in the second period. After IU pulled junior goalie Jimmy Hugill, who had 23 saves on the day, Illinois scored a empty-netter with four seconds remaining in the game, solidifying the victory. \nHoldeman was impressed with how his team came out after its loss the night before.\n"We played extremely well and had a lot of chances to score, but their goaltending was strong," he said. "We came out with more intensity and concentration defensively."\nKearns was happy with how the team was able to put the past behind it.\n"What stood out the most this weekend was our work ethic," he said. "We never quit or believed we were out of the game. We did an excellent job coming back on Saturday and pretending like Friday didn't happen."\nAlthough the Hoosiers couldn't put together any victories this weekend, Schafer thinks his team learned a few things about itself this \nweekend.\n"We are not a team that is happy with a loss or believing in moral victories," he said. "But we may have just made ourselves believe that there is very little difference between the top D-I team and us."\nThe Hoosiers, 6-4 on the season, travel to Rochester, Mich., to face off against Oakland University this weekend.