Illinois hockey moving Hoelzer to forward in attempt to spark offense

Illinois' Brad Hoelzer (26) skates down the ice during a game against Oklahoma on Nov. 13, 2009. Hoelzer will move from defense to offense to replace JJ Heredia who suffered a separated shoulder during the game against Iowa State on Friday night.
Christine Chung The Daily Illini

The Illinois hockey team usually isn’t one for big changes, but with forward JJ Heredia out until the postseason and the rest of the squad searching for more offense, the Illini couldn’t help but make a splash.

Senior defenseman Brad Hoelzer has been moved from the blue line up to the forward corps. What line he will play on for the series against Ohio this weekend remains to be seen, but the Illini feel he will be the scoring spark they’ve been lacking.

“He’s one of our more dynamic players; he’s on the power play and plays well defensively,” goalie Mike Burda said. “He’s got a knack for getting pucks to the net, so we’ll see how it works out for us. But someone has to pick up the slack.”

Hoelzer, who became the Illini’s all-time points leader for defensemen earlier this season, is third on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 16 assists. Known for quarterbacking the top power-play unit, Hoelzer has done most of his scoring damage on the special teams. But with the power play struggling to convert on its opportunities so far in the second half of the season, the switch to forward may help to get Hoelzer — who has one point since winter break — and the special teams going.

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No rest for the weary as Illini icers battle Ohio this weekend 

Cassell to decide between Burda, Kohler for Ohio game

Another tough decision head coach Chad Cassel faces for Friday’s game against Ohio is one most coaches would love to have the luxury of making. He must choose who will start in goal for the Illini— Mike Burda or DJ Kohler. Kohler got the opening starts of series throughout the first semester, but Cassel acknowledged that Burda has been the better goalie in the early going of the second semester. However, he’s only notched two shutouts since the break and lost 1-0 in his other start so far.
“There’s no doubt Burda has been the best goaltender up to this point in the semester,” Cassel said. “But DJ, after getting off to a very shaky start Saturday (against Iowa State), came up big for us in the shootout. We’ll see how it goes and how it plays out, but Burda has definitely been consistent.”

“He’ll stay on top on the power play, but we have to pick up our production,” head coach Chad Cassel said. “Obviously he’s very gifted offensively, fast and skilled. So hopefully the move will boost our offense a little bit.”

Regardless of what the Hoelzer switch does for the Illini’s offense, other players know that they are just as responsible for filling in Heredia’s shoes.

One of those players is Matt Jennings. A senior forward like Heredia, Jennings knows exactly what Heredia is going through, having been sidelined with an arm injury himself at the end of the first semester.

Even more importantly for the Illini, Jennings knows what it will take to make up for Heredia’s loss.

“Guys got to step up now,” Jennings said. “JJ was a big part of our scoring, and to see him go down is never a good thing. Hopefully he can rest up and get back as soon as possible. But we’re looking for guys to step up — and me and (Daniel) Cohen are two guys that can do it.”

Cassel also expects some of the younger guys to pick up their games for the big weekend ahead against the Bobcats, who sit in second place in the CSCHL standings, one point ahead of the Illini. With guys like Andrew Cardona, Joe Sullivan and Sam Fatigato coming on strong as of late, the absence of Heredia may be the next step for the development of these players.

“We’re looking for guys to step up, but this (absence of Heredia) also gives younger guys a chance to step and fill roles they haven’t been in before,” Cohen said.

Despite the significant changes being made by Illinois, there is still one area resistant to it.

“As far as changing our game plan, we are still going to continue working on the same things,” Cassel said. “It’s just one less high-skilled guy, but other guys are just going to have to pick up the production.”