While Friday the 13th is often seen as a scary date on the calendar, Friday, Oct. 13, 2006, is a date the ISU IceBirds hockey team has been looking forward to for quite a while.

For the first time in 20 years, the IceBirds have a home in the Twin Cities after the construction of the Pepsi Ice Center and U.S. Cellular Coliseum. With no ice rinks available locally, the ISU team has been based in Peoria for two decades.

The IceBirds home opener is at 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Pepsi Ice Center against DePaul. ISU also hosts DePaul on Saturday, with the puck dropping at 1 p.m.

The IceBirds have had a good run to start the season, go-ing 7-1, and are coming of a successful trip to the Little Muddy Tournament in St. Louis.

ISU defeated Missouri State, Southern Illinois - Ed-wardsville and Dordt College twice en route to winning the tournament.

"This past weekend gave us an opportunity to play two teams we had never seen before," ISU Coach Brian Corley said. "All three schools have respected programs.

"With over 20 Canadians on the roster and a D3 National Championship on the resume, Dordt College was espe-cially intimidating on paper."

ISU and Dordt went into their first face-to-face game 2-0 in the tournament. As Corley expected, Dordt was big, fast and physical, and the game turned into a special teams struggle.

"That is a battle we're well prepared to win," Corley says. "With the new NHL-style rules, we focused on special teams early and often in practice."

ISU beat Dordt 6-1, and then played a rematch for the championship, winning 5-3.

"I'm proud of the progress we've made as an organization and a team," Corley said. "We're all eager to show the home crowd where we are in our development."

The IceBirds hit the ice at U.S. Cellular Coliseum for the first time at 9:45 p.m. Oct. 20 when they host Bradley.

Team has new Web site, too

The Web site for the IceBirds has an all new look to go with the team's new home team presence.

The team's site is http://www.isuicebirds.com/. Users will find the ISU schedule, updates about recent and upcoming games, photographs, links to the team's leagues, and more.

The Web site was designed and developed by Tom Keller, who played forward for the IceBirds from 1995 to 1997.

Podcast: Coach Brian Corley

Pantagraph.com sports editor Joel Fellers spoke with ISU IceBirds coach Brian Corley this week about the season so far, the team finally having a home in Bloomington-Normal and Corley's experience with hockey in Illinois.

Download the podcast (15:04, 6.0 MB)