The Eastern hockey club hit a bump in the road over its weekend road trip to take on Missouri State, losing both games 7-4 and 14-0.

The series marks the first time the Panthers have been swept since the late September series against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

The 14 goals were the most the team has given up since that same series against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

It was the first time this season the Panthers have been shutout.

Despite the rough weekend, junior forward Andrew Maronich said the team was happy with how close they played in the first game of the series.

“Although we are going to try and forget about the weekend and move on, one positive thing that we can take away is how close we played them in the first game,” he said.

Maronich was one of four players to score in the first game.

Senior forward Michael Sorrentino, senior defenseman Loren Jacobs and senior forward Sam Guttosch also recorded goals in the 7-4 loss.

“Although we don’t want to make excuses, we were playing very short staffed,” Maronich said. “We had a total of 12 skaters and a goalie dressed for the weekend, while MSU had the maximum of 20 skaters dressed and multiple healthy scratches.”

Sorrentino said the Panthers knew exactly how tough Missouri State was going to be heading into this game.

“We knew that Missouri State was going to be one of the toughest opponents we have played all year, they have a very powerful offense and they are a fast, well-disciplined team,” Sorrentino said.

The Panthers now have some time off before heading into their next game at the Chicagoland Winter Classic, hosted by Illinois State on Jan. 4.

The team is hoping to use this time to get healthy and regroup.

“We have a few weeks off, which is vital for us, we need to get some of the boys healthy, and regroup,” senior forward Dan Abernathy said. “We know we can play with anyone in the league after this weekend. We just need to get healthy and keep working hard. Our mindset right now is that we can play with anyone and we will continue to have that mindset as we go fourth.”

After the pair of losses, the team’s record drops to 8-7-3.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].