Billikens Janes, Niedbalski, and Uvodich

December 03, 2003 - When St. Louis University comes to town, there are usually a couple of very good games of hockey to be seen.This coming weekend St. Louis will be bringing their "A" game to the University of Illinois Ice Arena and try work their way up the league ladder with at least a few points from this weekends matches against the Illini. The 6-11-1 Billikens started the season out strong with wins against both Iowa State and Ohio, but have fallen off pace lately and have fallen ten spots in the ACHA rankings since the first round votes. The SLU team would really love to turn their season around, and an upset win against the #2 Illini mean a lot to the club. The Billikens gave the Illini their only regular season loss last year, as they came into Champaign and after being beaten badly in game one, came back and took the second game. A few things that The Illini are going to have to watch out for are the duo of Jordan Janes and Tim Niedbalski who are in the top ten list of CSCHL points leaders, and Mark Uvodich who also has been putting pucks in the net. One of SLU's weaknesses might be its defense who have been letting theie goaltenders be bombarded with an average of 30 shots on goal per game. The Billikens come in after a weekend off, while the Illini return with their second place trophy from the BigTen tournament.

Once again the Illini will be helping to raise money for the Garnet Litherland Lukemia Fund by having a raffle at this Saturdays game against St. Louis.

For just $2 a ticket, or 6 for $10, you could win:

• An autographed Illini Hockey Jersey
• Hockey Sticks ( Courtesy Johnston's Sporting Emporium)
• Open Skate Passes ( Courtesy Campus Recreation and the U of I Ice Arena )