Sweeping the No. 10 Arizona State Sundevils last weekend was nice. It went a long way in helping the No. 13 Bronchos bust into the playoff bracket. However it was this weekend's monumental sweep of the No. 4 Fighting Illini in Champaign, IL that more than likely guaranteed them a spot.

It was monumental for the Bronchos for several reasons. One, they needed at least on win against Illinois to make the voters look really hard at who deserved to be in the tournament. Two wins just makes it that much easier to see the Bronchos are that team.

Second, fourteen of the players currently on UCO's roster are from Illinois. This game has become a big-time rivalry for the Bronchos and is almost like a homecoming for the majority of their roster.

Third, UCO snapped a series of futility between the two schools. The Fighting Illini have always seemed to have the Bronchos' number when it came to hockey. Coming into this past weekend, Illinois had a 6-1 advantage in the series. UCO's lone win was their upset over Illinois last season in which they downed the, then top ranked team in the nation, 6-4 at home.

The Bronchos still had a bad taste in their mouth from when they lost 4-1 against Illinois in the first round of last year's playoffs. It doesn't taste so bad anymore. UCO shut out Illinois on Friday night by a score of 1-0 and battled back from a two-point deficit on Saturday, winning 3-2.

On Friday night, an Illinois native was the hero for the Bronchos. At the 6:20 mark in the first period, team captain and Schaumburg, IL native, AJ Alfrey got the puck past Illinois goal tender, Mike Burda and UCO took a lead they would not relinquish.

Goaltender Justin Sgro played lights out hockey. Sgro faced 33 shots all night, and turned every one of them away. The senior goaltender also denied six Illinois power plays and rejected a late offensive surge in which the Fighting Illini shot the puck 11 times in the final 20 minutes.

Saturday night started rocky for Central Oklahoma and Illinois was flexing its muscles early. The Fighting Illini scored first at the 17:33 mark. They scored again just over a minute later. Down 2-0, the Bronchos needed a spark. They got it in the second period.

Erik Jansen took a pass from Jonathan Cannizzo on a power play and scored, making it a tight game at the 16:36 mark in the second. The Fighting Illini couldn't stay out of the penalty box, and UCO caught a break.

With 1:03 remaining in the second period, senior Shawn Steggles scored, assisted by Greg Masters on a power play. Suddenly, the game was tied and all the momentum was with the Bronchos.

Mike Haszto scored the game-winning goal in the third period with just under 13 minutes to play. Justin Sgro handled the rest. Sgro turned away the third period Illinois offensive attack and UCO hung on for the 3-2 come-back win. Sgro finished the game with 22 saves on 24 shots for a 91.7 save percentage. The Bronchos scored on 3 of 30 shots and converted 3 of 8 power play opportunities.

UCO moved to 24-10-2 on the season. They have now beaten three of the top five teams in the nation and five of the top ten. The last two weeks, have seen sweeps, on the road, against the No. 10 and No. 4 teams in the nation. The Bronchos will find out whether or not they receive a playoff bid this Friday.

The Bronchos now take on the Oklahoma Sooners in part two of this season's hockey bedlam. The two teams will take part in this heated rivalry on Friday night at 7:30 PM at Arctic Edge Arena in Edmond, and 7:30 PM Saturday night at Blazer's Ice Center in Oklahoma City.

There will be a special, "Ultimate Tailgate Showdown" on Friday night outside of Arctic Edge, starting at 6 PM. The event's facebook announcement says, "President Webb has commissioned a competition for the best tailgaters at UCO to show what they got at the Friday, February the 19th hockey game vs. our rivals OU"

The group mentions that the winning club or group will an award.