Illini taking on Minot State

January 6, 2003 - The Illini are packing up their long johns and getting ready for the long bus trip to the frozen plains of North Dakota where they will take on the Beavers of Minot State. Coming off of the holiday break, the Illini will have two tough road weekends ahead of them starting this Friday and Saturday against ACHA #5 ranked Minot State, then followed by a weekend in Athens, Ohio to face the #6 ranked Bobcats of Ohio University. The Illini - Minot State games are usually tough, physical games, but the Beavers may be missing some of their players due to sitting game disqualifications from an all out brawl against the Lumberjacks of Minot State - Bottineau, in which 12 disqualifications were handed out and the game called on December 13th. The Beavers currently have a 16-7-2 record on the season have won seven of their last ten games, with the three losses all coming from the ACHA newcomers, Lindenwood University. Leading the scoring for the Beavers, and averaging at least a point per game, are forwards Chris Schollar, Taras Turko, and Trevor Popowich. Together with the rest of the MSU offense have been generating an average of four and a half goals per game. On the other end of the ice the Beaver defense has been allowing an average of three and a half goals per game which the Illini will need to take advantage of if they want to come away with the wins. Most of the Beaver netminding duties have been from Nathan Agdomar who is carrying a 2.99 goals against average and just under 90 percent save average, compared to the Illini's Danlow and DeGeorge who are allowing on an average less than two goals per game.

The Illini will return to the U of I ice arena for the Alumni weekend on January 23rd and 24th when they will face off against the Cyclones of Iowa Sate, so get your tickets quickly since they will go fast.