The Eastern hockey club kicks off the Halloween weekend with a late game Friday for the first of a two-game series with Lewis University.

The puck drops at 10:30 p.m. Friday at the David S. Palmer Arena, then again at 2 p.m. Saturday, also at home.

The Panthers are coming off a weekend where they only had one match, losing to Illinois State 14-1 on the road.

Lewis, however, has seen much more success recently, currently on a 10-game winning streak.

The Flyers are coming off two close wins over the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, having won 3-2 in overtime and 4-3.

Glenn Oskvarek, a senior forward, leads the team in goals so far this year.

Oskvarek had a hat trick in the team’s only wins of the season over Wright State. The Panthers are 2-9 at this point in the season.

This marks the third straight home game for the Panthers. The club is currently 2-3 on home ice.

When playing on the road, Lewis is 4-2. The Flyers lost to Illinois State on the road, and like the Panthers, lost by big scores.

Lewis lost to Illinois State by scores of 8-0 and 15-4 in the two game series to open the season.

The losses are Lewis’ only two on the season so far. Since those two losses, the Flyers have not given up more than five goals in a game.

After losing to Illinois State, the Flyers have only given up an average of 2.2 goals per game.

Eastern, on the other hand, has had trouble finding the back of the net, scoring only once against Illinois State.

In its previous series, two losses against Northern Illinois, Eastern recorded four-and-two-goal games.

The most the Panthers have given up this year was to Missouri State in the season opener, where they lost 22-0.

The Panthers also suffered a tough loss on the road against the University of Iowa, losing 19-0 in the first game of the series.

After this series, the Panthers head to St. Marys of Minnesota for a two game series, before heading on the road again to take on Illinois State again.

The Panthers also have a series against Northwestern before Thanksgiving break.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-2812 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.