Hoosiers blast Boilermakers

Coming off a three-week break, the IU hockey team showed no signs of rust as it controlled both games of the weekend set against the Boilermakers — winning 11-4 and 13-3.\nIn game one on Friday night in Bloomington, the Hoosiers attacked quickly, scoring three goals in the first six minutes of action. IU sophomore defenseman Tyson Schroder started the charge, picking up his first goal of the season. After a 3-0 lead, Purdue quickly came back to get within one on two goals in the last six-and-a-half minutes of play in the first period.\nTaking a 3-2 lead after the first intermission, the Hoosiers never looked back and maintained their pressure as they outshot the Boilermakers 65-31 in the game. IU was able to put the game out of reach in the second period, scoring five goals and taking an 8-2 lead.\n"I think we had a tough time getting adjusted at first," IU senior forward Michael Kearns said. "But once everyone got their legs going again, we really turned it up." \nLed by senior forward Pete Johnson, who tallied two goals and three assists in the game, a total of nine Hoosiers found the net. Sophomore forward Dan Karlander racked up his team-leading tenth goal of the season. \nThe Hoosiers played together, out-assisting the Boilermakers 19-4 in the blow-out victories, a quality IU coach Rich Holdeman sees as more important than efficient goal-scoring.\n"We did a good job playing well as a team throughout the game," Holdeman said. "We got our timing back very quickly and played a team game."\nThe second game of the weekend set, held in Indianapolis, started off similarly to the first game. After leading 2-1 at the end of the first period, IU scored six unanswered goals in the second period to take a commanding 8-1 lead over the Boilermakers, now 3-15-1 on the season. \nOutshooting Purdue 57-26 in the game, IU notched five more goals in the third period to complete the weekend sweep and put them over .500 for the season. Junior goaltender Jimmy Hugill made 23 saves and picked up his sixth win in net for the Hoosiers, who travel to Columbus to take on conference foe Ohio State this weekend. \nIU junior forward Chad Fiala feels the team can look at these two games as a jumpstart to finishing strong the rest of the season.\n"I think the sweep is just what we needed to have full confidence going into our upcoming games," Fiala said.\nThroughout the season, one of the main problems the Hoosiers have faced this season has been seizing advantageous opportunities. After converting 3-5 on the power play this weekend, Holdeman was satisfied with his team's effort.\n"We got stronger as the game went on," he said. "Even if we're playing a team that doesn't have a very good record, it's still good to score and finish off goals. It was good to get two wins and we accomplished what we wanted to"