By Dominic Renzetti

Managing Editor

@domrenzetti

After a weekend where Southern Illinois-Edwardsville swept the Eastern hockey club, the Panthers (1-3) will hit the road to take on Missouri (0-4) on Friday and Saturday in Jefferson City, Mo.

Despite the slow start in 2013 for the Tigers, Missouri was one of the top teams in the league last season, losing 2-1 in the MACHA championship to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

This season, the Tigers opened with a pair of losses to Illinois State 7-2 and 7-1, following with another pair of losses to Northern Illinois, 7-1 and 9-6.

Senior Eastern goalie Andrew Teske, who was ejected in Friday’s game against the Cougars, said on the team’s website that with both teams on losing streaks, everybody will be looking for something to prove.

“Both of these teams have something to prove,” he said. “We know they have struggled early, but so have we. Both of us are going to be coming into this weekend looking for two wins.”

Senior Chris Gallagher said after last weekend’s games that he knows Eastern can get better after its two losses.

“We are only going to get better from this,” Gallagher said. “We have a good idea what we need to work on in practice this week to come home with two wins against Mizzou this weekend.”

The team will have some help returning this weekend, as senior Zach Yurchak and Conner Cox will both be in the lineup, according to the team’s website.

Yurchak and Cox, who were both key contributors to the team last season, had taken time off to focus on academics.

Yurchak and Cox will likely be filling in on defense for the Panthers, adding depth to the Eastern lineup.

“We haven’t really ever played defense, but if it is what the boys need for us to do, we will do it,” Cox said.

The Panthers will also get back senior captain Andrew Maronich, who suffered a mild concussion in the first game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Maronich has been cleared to play against Missouri.

The Panthers gave up a season-high 12 goals last weekend against Edwardsville.

After the losses against the Cougars, Gallagher said there were a few areas the team needed to improve on in order to be successful.

“We need to stay out of the box and take more shots,” he said.

Eastern and Missouri will square off at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. Sunday at the Washington Park Ice Arena in Jefferson City, Mo.

The game will be streamed through the team’s Ustream account, accessible through the team’s website, www.eiuhockey.org.

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