First Period:

No Scoring.

Second Period:

ILL: Heredia(Unassisted) PP [1-0 ILL] 14:47
ILL: Jennings(Mannina, Park) [2-0 ILL] 12:58
ILL: Fabbrini(Nemeth) PP [3-0 ILL] 9:26
ILL: Nemeth(Fabbrini, Pringle) PP [4-0 ILL] 8:33
ILL: Fabbrini(Heredia) [5-0 ILL] 7:27
ILL: Ergun(Saliba) [6-0 ILL] 1:46 

Third Period:

ILL: Nemeth(Liang) [7-0 ILL] PP 6:46

Ann Arbor, Michigan- There is a common adage that I live by when it comes to games or sports. Sometimes you just need to laugh to prevent yourself from crying. The #1 University of Illinois Fighting Illini tonight came into the Ann Arbor Ice Cube and thoroughly dominated the Eagles Hockey Team from start to finish resulting in a 7-0 victory. 

The first period set the tone for the entire game. The Fighting Illini looked like the EMU Eagles of old, way back when they were 34-3-2 and flying up and down the ice putting constant pressure on their opponents. However, goaltender Erik Schardt stood on his head in the first period making amazing save after amazing save. The Eagles had absolutely no offense in the opening period(the 5 shots were awful generous), but by some miracle the game went to the second period scoreless.

To quantify what happened in the second period, I have decided to do some composing of lyrics. Indeed, I am not a singer or would force my worst enemy to listen to me sing. However, I have come up with my new rendition to "When the Saints Go Marching In,"  entitled "When the Goals Go Rolling In"

Oh When The Goals Go Rolling In
Oh When The Goals Go Rolling In
Oh Lord, I want to see Eastern Score.
Oh When The Goals Go Rolling In.

Don't expect to hear that on the radio. The second period consisted of a barrage of six goals from the Fighting Illini, with three of them on the Power Play. Let me catch my breath before I start speaking. Alright. The Illini started the scoring barrage at the 14:47 mark with a Powerplay Goal from Drew Heredia, an unassisted goal which snuck by Schardt to put the Illini up 1-0. Two minutes later, Matt Jennings doubled the lead to 2. Back on the power play the Illini went and Nick Fabbrini scores to make it 3-0 with 9:26 left in the period. Less than one minute later, the Illini increase the lead to 4-0 on Jason Nemeth's Power Play Goal. One more minute later, Fabbrini scores again to make it 5-0. Out goes Schardt, in comes Craig Haa.  The sixth and final goal of the period came with only 1:46 left scored by Mark Ergun. The period then ended with the EMU crowd in shock, the 10 Illini Fans happy and the Eagles staring at a 6-0 deficit. The Eagles again, no offense yet were magically given 11 shots by the scorekeepers.

The third period consisted of the Illini just controlling the overall flow of the game and continuing to frustrate the Eagles more and more and more. The scoring concluded with only 6:46 left, on the fourth power play goal of the game. 

I don't know where to begin my praise of the Fighting Illini. This is a big, physical team that is fast. They are also smart and they moved the puck around the ice just brilliantly. They kept the pressure on the Eagles from the opening faceoff to the final faceoff. It really reminded me of the teams that were #1 back in 1998-1999 here at EMU. The only difference is that they didn't manage as many shots on goal as the Eagles did, and they played an even better brand of defense. I'll go out on a limb here and say that if the Illini continue to play like this, they will be your national champions at the end of the year. Since I've been going to EMU Hockey games there has been a traditional trend of the best team to play EMU each year would win the National Championship. Sure, for a long while that was Penn State. However, in 2003, Ohio University was awful impressive in their trip here. In 2004, the Illini came in and dominated the Eagles 5-1, they won the National Championship. 2005, the best team we saw in person was Penn State easily they finished runner up. Then last year, we saw the Eagles actually beat Oakland University, your 2006-2007 National Champions. So there is a trend here. It'll be very hard for me to change my mind about this.

Going back to the Eagles side of the ledger, there is a simple explanation for what happened. I have been going to games since 1998, thus making this the tenth year of games in January. This is easily the worst game I have seen the Eagles play. This includes all of the Penn State debacles. This includes everything. The Eagles had no offense, probably 2 chances to score and in addition they have now proceeded to be shut out in two straight home games that I have attended. Again, give a lot of credit to Illinois for being just so much better than the Eagles but it was a terrible effort on the part of the Eagles. In the first period, we looked as if we were trying to win a game in a shootout. We sat back, iced the puck at will, etc.. I usually have some sort of an idea of the plan of the Eagles offensively, but I am completely clueless on what they were trying to do tonight. Simply put, it was depressing.

Oh Lord, the next time I go next week, I want to see Eastern Score!
When the goals go rolling in.


Looking Ahead:
The Eagles conclude their series with the Fighting Illini tomorrow night back at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. Hopefully they can salvage something out of this series. Things don't get any easier for the Eagles as the Bobcats of Ohio invade the Ann Arbor Ice Cube next week for a pair of games.
Go Green!
-Kevin