The Arizona club hockey team will take on Colorado State tonight at the Tucson Convention Center to start a weekend series that could make or break their season.

The good news for the Icecats is that one of their top goal scorers, Matt Conover, is expected to play after missing the last three games with a sprained left knee.

Arizona (2-7) will go up against a Colorado State (9-4) team, one that has beaten Colorado twice already this season. The Buffaloes swept the Icecats in last weekend’s two-game series.

“”Colorado State is a similar team to Colorado,”” said Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski. “”This weekend is huge just like last week’s games were. … We have to cut down on mental mistakes.””

The Icecats are currently riding a four-game losing streak and are still searching for their first home win of the season. The team split a weekend series with the Rams in the TCC last season and hopes to improve on that result by earning a sweep this weekend – a feat that could help the Icecats get back on track to make a push at the national championships at the season’s end.

The Icecats’ margin of error is slim, as they already have seven losses this season -ÿa total that’s just one game shy of last season’s total when they went 22-8-1 and didn’t qualify for the national tournament.

“”Obviously our ultimate goal is to get to nationals,”” Conover said, “”(but) we have to win a game first.””