The Div. II hockey team had a rough weekend at Southern Illinois University — Edwardsville.

The Huskies (10-10-2) fell 8-3 Friday and 10-0 Saturday. NIU struggled without its starting goaltender, Alex Hare, and leading point scorer, Justin Rucinski.

“Tough weekend,” said head coach Chuck Rinaldo. “SIU-E is a good team. They played very well, and unfortunately we did not. We were missing a few good, key players, but it shouldn’t be an excuse. There are guys looking for opportunities to step up, and this weekend was their opportunity, and they didn’t get the job done.”

The Huskies have struggled lately, losing six of their last eight games. Rinaldo believes it may be because of the expectations the team has.

“They have high expectations of themselves as a team,” Rinaldo said. “Every team goes through a slump, and every team goes through tough times throughout the year.

Right now, I think their expectations are keeping them from staying basic and doing the work that needs to be done. Getting back to the basics and working hard is going to be what makes the difference.”

NIU will have to rebound versus the University of Illinois Div. I squad.

The Huskies will take on the Fighting Illini (11-11-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Campus Recreation Ice Arena in Champaign.

“Obviously with their team being at a higher level than ours, if we make mistakes, good teams capitalize on every mistake, and it can get out of hand really quick,” said senior forward Nick Leon. “Where if we play a simple game of hockey within our capabilities, we will be able to hopefully chip away, put a couple goals in the net and hold them to a few goals and keep it close in the third period to give us a chance.”

Div. III will return to action for the first time since Nov. 23.

The Huskies will face off against Aurora University at 8:30 p.m. Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva.

JoJo Durrbeck, Bryan Peterson, Brian Staffeldt and JC Weems played at the Div. II level last weekend. They will look to use that to their advantage at the Div. III level.

“It will definitely help give us a step advantage over the other team,” Weems said. “You see things up at the Div. II level that are more of how hockey is supposed to look. All you can do is go out there and bring a Div. II style to the Div. III game, and when you do that everything tends to be all right. You will generally have more chances, [be] faster, have better shots, and everything is better. I think it will definitely do us well.”

While a few of the players have seen game action, most of the team has not. NIU’s players have worked to stay in game shape since their last game. Aside from being in game shape, a big key for the games will be to do the little things right.

“[Div. II] Coach Chuck and [Div. III head coach Nick Madonia] always preach on doing the little things to get the big things right,” Weems said. “Everything from getting calls to getting bounces tends to happen whenever you are working hard. That’s when things go right for you. We are just going to have to get in the corners, get in the dirty areas, play full speed and just grind everything. It is going to be tough with 12 guys, but we have been playing that way all year.”