The Div. II hockey team had a long, successful weekend, but the shorthanded Div. III team lost both of its games.

The Div. II team won two of its three games this weekend. The Huskies (8-6-1) beat California State-Fullerton 8-4 Thursday night, and NIU then split its weekend series versus Illinois State University (13-3). The Huskies won Friday, 6-2, and lost Saturday, 7-6.

“It was a good weekend,” said head coach Chuck Rinaldo. “We made a lot of progress this weekend. Against Cal State-Fullerton we basically outmatched them and took care of business…. Our weekend at ISU was definitely a great weekend for us, although we dropped the game on Saturday.”

Rinaldo believed the key for NIU this weekend was keeping things simple and playing hard.

“We were the hardest working team on the ice at all times,” Rinaldo said. “We swarmed ISU, we didn’t give them any room to breathe, and we didn’t give any chance to succeed. It just goes back to hard-nose hockey, just working hard and creating opportunities for ourselves.”

NIU, which is ranked 15th in the region, was out to prove to itself, and ISU, ranked first, that it is a different team this year. The Huskies did just that.

“[Winning at ISU] is a huge confidence booster,” Rinaldo said. “We have all had it in the back of our minds that we can play with anyone in our region, anybody across the nation that is a No. 1 seed or up there. We came close last year, and we knew it was one of our goals on our goals board to beat them, and we did it.”

NIU benefited from the return of some key injured players.

“In order to skate with a team like ISU, you have to have depth, both offensively and defensively,” Rinaldo said. “With [Justin] Rucinski and [Brian] Pickett coming back, two veteran guys with good skill, it really helped us find that depth that we needed to be successful… They were two missing pieces to the puzzle that we needed.”

The Div. III team was swept by Northwestern University over the weekend.

The Huskies (1-10-1) lost Friday 8-3 and Saturday 6-2.

“We played a pretty good team,” said head coach Nick Madonia. “We played Friday with 12 guys and Saturday with 11 guys. Considering the circumstances we played pretty well this weekend.”

Team captain JC Weems felt the scores didn’t reflect the way the team played.

“For everything being how it was, we played really good hockey,” Weems said. “Definitely nothing to hang our heads about. For most of the game I felt we outplayed them. We would go through little stretches where we would give up a few [goals], a few chances, and that was the turning point.”

Even though the score wasn’t in NIU’s favor and it was playing with a short bench, the team gave a 100 percent effort.

“They skated hard the whole game,” Madonia said. “Which I kind of felt was impossible for them to do, but they found a way to do it.”

Weems was also happy with the team’s effort.

“Playing college hockey with 11 and 12 guys is pretty unheard of,” Weems said. “I was impressed no one gave up and everyone skated hard throughout the end.”