The Eastern hockey club will close out its season this weekend against Saint Louis, hosting the Billikens for two games Friday and Saturday at the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville.

The Panthers have not played at their home ice in Danville since November, but it was there that Eastern recorded its sweep over Eastern Kentucky. The two-game sweep was the last time the Panthers, who have lost nine straight, have won.

Eastern was supposed to play the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign’s Division-II team Tuesday, but hazardous weather caused both the David S. Palmer Arena and the Illinois Ice Arena in Champaign to shut down early, leaving the teams with no place to play. No make-up date has been set and senior Eastern captain Andrew Maronich said it is unlikely there will be one.

“(Illinois) had to pay the refs even though we didn’t play and don’t want to pay them again,” he said.

Maronich said the Panthers do not have the money in their budget for the season to afford to pay officials for an additional game either.

The Panthers had previously faced the Illini’s Division II team on Sept. 20, in Danville, and lost 11-6. The second game in the series, scheduled for Sept. 21, was canceled. The two teams were set to meet again in Bloomington the weekend of Nov. 16, but that game was also rescheduled.

Saint Louis, which swept Illinois in two games last month, comes into the series with a record of 21-7, having won its last two games 6-5 and 5-4 over Illinois State and Northern Illinois, respectively.

The Billikens have seen many of the same opponents as Eastern has this season, but have produced different results.

Saint Louis swept Loyola, split with Missouri, Missouri State, Louisville, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Eastern was swept by all of those teams, except Northern, which they split. Two of the losses for Eastern (Loyola and Louisville) came in overtime.

Senior forward Chris Gallagher said defensively, Eastern has changed up some things in practice in the last few weeks in order to cut down on the number of shots on goal allowed. Senior goalie Andrew Teske faced a total of 146 shots in Eastern’s last two games, giving up 15 goals in the process.

In the other net will be Saint Louis senior goalie Tyler Stewart. He has recorded two shutouts this season and has a goal against average of 3.77. Graduate student Charlie Garavaglia, a defenseman from St. Louis, is the current points leader for the Billikens. Garavaglia has 19 goals this season, averaging four points per game.

Freshman Steve Kinnison was the only player on the Panthers’ roster to score a goal last weekend against Missouri State. Kinnison’s goal came in the third period of the second game.

The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in Danville.

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