Hockey needs road wins down the stretch

After winning three of four in a two-week home stand, the IU club hockey team takes its show on the road as they look to finish strong in a tight race for the National Tournament in February.\nTaking two games from Purdue and a game from Ohio State, the Hoosiers find themselves in a tight battle for third in the central division the last position to advance to nationals with Bowling Green.\nThe Falcons trail IU by a few points but gained some ground in a last-second tie against No. 2 Miami of Ohio. With only three weeks left before the conference tournament, IU controls its own destiny but faces nothing less than must-wins down the road.\nSophomore forward Jon Laughner said winning this weekend's games is crucial but the team can't afford to look too far ahead.\n"These next two weekends are huge for us," Laughner said. "They are must-wins. But at the same time, we aren't looking ahead at all. We are just going to take it one game at a time. We aren't going to win four games in one period. Right now our only concentration is Michigan State and Ferris State."\nAfter a disappointing 4-1 loss to Ohio State, the Hoosiers returned to practice focused and ready for their road trip. Whereas in Friday's game against Ohio State everything seemed to come together, Saturday, the Hoosiers come out flat on offense and disjointed on defense. \n"The stats don't lie," IU coach Brad Lutsch said of his team's performance. "We think because we out-shoot a team, our offense is where it should be. But we aren't taking advantage of our opportunities."\n"We need to put the puck in the net, bottom line. Out-shooting a team like we did, then losing 4-1 just shouldn't happen."\nDefensively, IU struggled with mistakes in its own zone and had a high number of penalties against Ohio State. If the Hoosiers expect to have success against Ferris State and Michigan State, defense and penalty killing must be improved.\nIn the last meeting against the Spartans, IU got embarrassed as Michigan State scored five goals in five minutes to blow the Hoosiers out of their own rink. The Hoosiers will add this to their long list of motivators as they try to scrape out a tough win on the road.\n"We owe Michigan State," Laughner said. "They embarrassed us in our own rink. We still remember that, and are ready to show them that it was a fluke."\nAgainst Ferris State, IU also anticipates facing the challenge of getting out of their game. Ferris State carries a reputation of dirty play and hard-hitting, a combination the Hoosiers have struggled with in the past, senior captain David Ravensberg said.\n"We definitely need to bare down on the power play and stay out of the box," Ravensberg said. "We expect a pretty cheap game from Ferris State, so playing smart and staying out of the box will be huge to grab a win on the road."\nThe Hoosiers are finally back to full strength after serving a series of suspensions. Ravensberg said that although Ferris State has a reputation of playing a dirty game, the team is going to try and let their play dominate the contest rather than retaliate and find themselves in the penalty box.\n"It is always tough when you finish the game with only five guys on the bench," Lutsch said. "We're back to full strength, and we're going to need all of these guys down the stretch."\nThe Hoosiers hit the ice tonight at 10:30 p.m. in East Lansing, Mich., and look to bring home another road win at 10 p.m. Saturday.\n-- Contact staff writer Jeff Fuldauer at jfuldaue@indiana.edu.