The Eastern hockey club (1-1), which is coming off an 11-5 loss to Illinois-Urbana Champaign in Danville, will play Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (0-2) Friday and Saturday in East Alton.

The loss to the Illini was the Eastern’s first of the season, which saw the Panthers squander a first period lead.

“We were leading 3-1 heading into the second period,” senior Chris Gallagher said. “We learned very quickly that we have to come to play for a full 60 minutes and not just 20.”

The Panthers now take on a Southern Illinois-Edwardsville team, which is coming off two losses over the Illini’s Division I team. The Cougars lost to the Illini by scores of 6-0 and 9-2 last weekend in Champaign.

The Cougars were one of the top teams in the ACHA last season, winning the MACHA Gold Division title and opening the year with 10 straight wins, including two over the Panthers. 

The Cougars topped the Panthers last September in an 8-7 overtime win, then cruised to a 14-2 victory the next day. Eastern’s seven goals against the Cougars were tied for the most scored by any team in the 2012-13 season against Edwardsville.

Eastern’s leading scorer through its first two games is freshman Steve Kinnison, who is coming off a hat-trick against Illinois. Freshman Brendan Terbrock leads the team with two assists.

Senior Andrew Teske has stared each of the team’s first two games at goalie, while sophomore Zach Peifer, a transfer from Prairie State, saw his first action of the season against Illinois.

Gallagher said the loss against Illinois was a learning experience for the team.

“We learned a lot about ourselves as a team during this game,” he said. “We can use what we did wrong during the game and apply it at practice. There were definitely more negative things we did as a team than positives and now we get a week of practice to work out the kinks.”

Edwardsville’s goalies Danny Selby and Jake Davis each saw time in goal in the two-game series with the Illini’s Division I team. Selby had 12 saves in the 9-2 loss, while Davis had 18. Selby played all of the 6-0 shutout, making 31 saves. Both goalies are new additions to the Cougar’s roster this season.

Matt Burton and Taylor Emerick have the only two goals for the Cougars this season.

The Panthers and the Cougars will square off at 9 p.m. Friday and 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the East Alton Ice Arena.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.