The Cyclones made the long road trip to Annapolis, Md., last week to play in the Navy Thanksgiving Tournament. The tournament proved to be a success for the Cyclones as they easily defeated Navy, West Chester and Washington and Jefferson en route to a tournament victory.

On Friday, the Cyclones took care of eighth-ranked West Chester, 7-1. The Cyclones then played the host of the tournament, Navy, and handed them a 5-2 defeat. On Sunday, the Cyclones took home the tournament trophy as they played Washington and Jefferson and cruised past them for a 7-2 victory.

The success the Cyclones found may be an indicator of things to come.

“There’s a little bit of destiny there, because the last time we won a national championship, we won the Thanksgiving tournament,” coach Al Murdoch said.

West Chester actually has a history of sorts with the Cyclones.

“Coming out Friday night and really taking it to West Chester … was huge for us,” said senior forward Bill Adolph. “There’s a little animosity there because [West Chester] was the team that knocked us out of the national tournament my sophomore year.”

For the Cyclones, the success they found at the tournament could not have come at a better time, as they entered the weekend having lost two games against sixth-ranked Oklahoma the previous weekend.

“Coming back this week, just to get some confidence after losing two out of three [the week before] and being able to know that we can go on the road and play some decent hockey and win, I think it built up some confidence for us for the future,” said freshman defenseman Brody Toigo.

The Cyclones did have a few areas they struggled in, but they still found themselves on the winning end.

“Luckily [Friday’s game] was just one of those nights where things just seemed to be bouncing the right way,” Adolph said. “Saturday’s game was a bigger testament of the way our team played because we weren’t getting the bounces that we were Friday night, and we still won 5-2. We didn’t play our best but still, to sustain the storm of bad bounces that tend to happen at any given time during a hockey game, that’s really what you need to win later on in the year during the national tournament and playoffs.”

It has been a recurring theme this season that despite the youth of the Cyclones they have still been able to find leadership in some of their upperclassmen.

“We’re a very resilient team so that’s going to pay off later in the season,” Adolph said. “Once we all get healthy, we’ll be back at it and start giving us a better chance to win games more than just 7-1.”