Two club teams had strong Saturday performances, winning at home and on the road.

Men’s Hockey

The Div. II hockey team fell 4-3 on Friday night, but recovered Saturday to win 6-2 and split its weekend series against the University of Illinois.

“It was definitely disappointing on Friday to have a shootout loss in a game that we really felt we should have won,” said head coach Chuck Rinaldo. “But it was good to see the guys bounce back on Saturday and put on a good performance. Saturday they did everything that we needed to do that we didn’t do on Friday. It’s a loss in the standings that may come back to bite us in the end.”

Nick Remley, senior forward and team captain, was disappointed in Friday’s loss to the Illini (2-6) and said the game left a sour taste in his mouth.

“We just were not playing our game. We kind of sunk down to their level a little bit,” Remley said. “With all the fans there we wanted to play to our best, but that wasn’t the case. We came out kind of slow and let them get confidence, which was not something we wanted them to have.”

The Huskies (5-3) held a team meeting before Saturday’s game to get back on track.

“We talked about things we needed to work on and our goals for the season,” Remley said. “One of our goals is to never get swept, so we knew we had to win that game and we knew we had to win convincingly, so we can be ranked where we want when the rankings come out in a few weeks.”

Rinaldo believes the meeting was just what the team needed to get focused on working hard, staying disciplined and playing consistently.

“Once they got together Saturday afternoon to have their quick meeting, just to say, ‘Hey, let’s get back to the basics and back to what we need to do,’ it changed their mentality back to where it was, and the result was positive,” Rinaldo said.

Men’s Rugby

The men’s rugby team evened its record with a victory over Central Michigan University on Saturday.

“I feel like that was the most well-rounded game we have played so far,” said rugby president Pat Caulfield. “We continuously have new guys stepping up and playing at a higher level than we had originally anticipated, and they are doing it consistently.”

NIU (2-2) was in control most of the game. With a one-point lead late in the game versus CMU, the defense held strong.

“At that point, our guys fought hard to get the ball to fuel the victory,” Caulfield said. “We ended the game after a turnover and won the game because of that.”

After this game the Huskies are back to .500 and still have a shot at making the playoffs. The last weeks have marked a turning point in the season.

“We were unsure on player positions throughout the season — especially the first couple of games, they were kind of rough,” Caulfield said. “We were still trying to figure out which guys should be put at what positions. The last two games we finally found that good mix. We have made some big changes the last two weeks that have really paid off for us.”