Illini hockey sets out for national title

It all comes down to this.

Despite all the accolades the Illini have collected this year - a No. 1 ranking, an undefeated record and a conference championship - a remarkable season will quickly turn into a disappointment if the Illinois hockey club leaves empty-handed at this weekends ACHA National Championships.

The American Collegiate Hockey Association's top 16 teams will converge at the ESL Sports Centre in Rochester, N.Y., for the tournament, which runs from March 1-5. Fifteen teams will look to bring the Illini's dream season to an abrupt end.

As the No. 16 seed, Robert Morris (Pa.) (18-10-3) will have the first crack at top seeded Illinois in the tournament's opening round on Saturday. The Colonials earned an automatic bid through their regular season Eastern Collegiate Hockey League (ECHL) title.

Heading into the season the Illini (34-0-0) had three goals in mind: a CSCHL regular season title, a CSCHL tournament championship and an ACHA national title.

They handily accomplished the first two, but head coach Chad Cassel said the third and final goal is "the most difficult and the most important."

"It's a long week, and we're going to have to play well," Cassel said. "Hopefully we'll be healthy and ready to go."

Illinois is approaching the final games of the season with all the confidence of a team measuring its winning streak in years, not games. The Illini's last regular season loss came on Feb. 24, 2007 to a CSCHL All-Star team.

A look at the tournament seeding yields a list of teams the Illini have already beaten this season.

Of the 16 teams who qualified for the tournament, Illinois has come away with victories against No. 2 Lindenwood, No. 3 Penn State, No. 7 Ohio, No. 10 Iowa State, No. 11 Kent State and No. 13 Western Michigan.

The Illini's incredible year is all the more remarkable considering the uncertainty the team faced heading into the season. Ranked No. 2 in the preseason, the Illini were without a starting goaltender after Mike DeGeorge's departure and were forced to convert two forwards to defense to shore up a lack of depth.

"I didn't think we'd be at this point, but the guys on defense have stepped up and played really well," Cassel said.

"We moved Hoelzer and Wicklin back from forward, and they've been just outstanding, and that was pretty difficult to predict, how that was going to turn out. Obviously (our goaltenders) have also played well all year, and it's been a great battle, so we're in a fortunate situation."

But despite Illinois' incredible run and season-long dominance, anything can happen in the most important tournament of the year.

Not only is the trek to Rochester the longest road trip of the season, but the games will be played on NHL-style rinks, meaning the Illini will no longer have the luxury of the UI Ice Arena's wider Olympic-style ice surface.

The width of the "Big Pond" provided a clear advantage for Illinois' fast skaters during the regular season.

"Anything can happen on a small rink. Obviously, (at the Ice Arena) we should be able to handle anybody, we already won against Penn State, Lindenwood and Ohio, and those are three teams that legitimately could beat us," forward Joey Resch said. "But if we play our game, we'll be fine."

Senior forward Alex Park said the speed advantage should carry over to the ESL Sports Centre.

"It helps on a smaller rink too," Park said. "We're a lot quicker. We have that quicker extra step, and it helps us get to the puck a little bit faster, helps us win the races."

In last year's National Championships, No. 3-seed Illinois reached the semifinals only to fall 3-2 to eventual champion Oakland.

This year, however, backup goaltender Nick Pecoraro said the Illini are more prepared than ever to avoid a disappointing finish and add another banner to the brick walls of the "Big Pond."

"Honestly, I think if we go in there, and we play like we can, we'll take home the national championship for sure," Pecoraro said.