According to Cyclone Hockey, scoring early plus depth equals momentum, which will lead to wins this weekend against Indiana.

For the past three seasons, the No. 7 Cyclones (11-2-1, 3-1-0 CSCHL) have had trouble putting away the unranked Hoosiers (4-4-0, 0-4-0 CSCHL), as they are 3-3 in that time span.

This weekend, the Cyclones will travel to Indiana to take on their Central States Collegiate Hockey League conference rival once again in a two-game series. This time, however, the Cyclones want to score early to gain momentum so they don’t play catch up against the Hoosiers.

“We don’t have to get the first goal every time, but we do need to make sure we get at least two or three goals in the first period in every game,” said ISU coach Al Murdoch. “We have the strength and the versatility to be able to do that. To have to crawl from behind 1-0 or trying to come from behind throughout the whole game ends up tiring are players physical and mentally.”

The Cyclones’ ability to score hasn’t been a problem this year, as they have five players on the roster with ten or more total points.

But after their 1-0 loss to Ohio last Friday, Murdoch saw that the Cyclones had issue with keeping their energy up on the ice. Murdoch said that to correct this, the Cyclones need to come out strong against the Hoosiers.

Murdoch’s emphasis on the need for the Cyclones to capture the momentum in the first period is because the Hoosiers have already almost upset Robert Morris and Lindenwood — two of top teams in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League — this season.

Cyclone goalie Matt Cooper shares his coach’s concerns. He said that even though the Hoosiers aren’t the most skilled team, they are still capable of piecing together a win against the Cyclones.

“[The Hoosiers] are a hard working team,” Cooper said. “They can beat us by getting a couple of goals here and there.”

To forward Jon Feavel, making sure that the team’s energy is high when they face the Hoosiers is the most important thing the team needs to attend to this week in practice.

“We need to be mentally preparing and focusing on our energy on the ice,” Feavel said. “We can worry about other stuff, like systems, during the game.”

The Cyclones’ roster depth will also be a key element in making sure that the Cyclones are able to keep up the tempo against the Hoosiers, Murdoch said.

“We have a couple of guys nursing some sore spots,” Murdoch said. “It is good to have an option and the depth to put other players in the lineup to give other players a rest.”

For Murdoch, this series against the Hoosiers is a must-win. He sees this series as an indicator on where the Cyclones will be in the conference this year.

“If we split the series, then all of [a] sudden it is not a race for who is going to come in first in the league, but it is a race for who’s not going to come in last in the league, and we don’t want to be in that kind of race,” Murdoch said.