The Eastern hockey club, after three straight home games, will hit the road for a two-game series with St. Mary’s of Minnesota. The Panthers and Cardinals will play Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday, though a time has yet to be set for the second game. The games will be at the St. Mary’s Ice Arena in Winona, Minn.

The Panthers are coming off two losses to Lewis University by scores of 7-3 and 8-3. Eastern has not won since its two-game sweep of Wright State last month.

The Cardinals, though, have only won one game this season – the season opener against Minnesota-Duluth in a 4-3 shootout win. Since then, the Cardinals have lost six straight.

St. Mary’s of Minnesota was swept by Waldorf College, lost to Wisconsin-Lacrosse and was most recently swept by Michigan Tech.

The Cardinals have not scored more than four goals in a game, and after scoring four in the season opener, were only able to score one goal a game in three straight games. Since the start of November, the Cardinals have been able to find a bit more offense, scoring three, four and two goals in their last three games. Unfortunately for St. Mary’s of Minnesota, in those three games, they gave up totals of four, nine and eight goals.

Cardinals’ team captain Christian Esposito, along with Ryan Hippman and Barrett Lipinski each have three goals this season. Nick Esposito leads the team in points with seven, all off assists.

In goal, Rickie Williams has seen the most time for the Cardinals, posting a 1-2 record with a 4.69 goals-against average.

For the Panthers, senior Glenn Oskvarek leads the team in goals with six goals. Steven Kinnison has four goals for the Panthers. Junior Zach Piefer has seen the most time in goal for the Panthers, posting a 13,83 goals-against average.

Looking ahead to the remainder of the fall semester for the Panthers, Eastern has games against Illinois State on Nov. 20 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Bloomington and Northwestern on Nov. 21 and 22 at the Centennial Ice Arena in Highland Park. Start times have yet to be announced for each game.

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