Cyclone Hockey had a lot to be happy about this past weekend after sweeping the series against St. Louis.

On Friday the Cyclones’ offense was led by a hat trick from senior forward Mike Murtaugh and the defense held St. Louis in check, shutting them out and claiming victory, 10-0. Saturday’s game saw two goals each from sophomore forward Jordan Pascale and junior forward Mitch Paulsen in route to another strong offensive performance and an 11-1 win.

Pascale said that this sweep showed the team’s ability to capitalize on momentum.

“We never let up,” Pascale said. “We scored a goal and then we scored another and another after that. We can never let a team come back as soon as you gain momentum.”

One of the most encouraging things to come out of this series for the Cyclones was their ability to score at any given moment. The Cyclones were able to convert on 9 total power play goals this past weekend, something that coaches and players alike have singled out as a part of the game the team needed to improve on.

“Power plays are one of those things you kind of have to build on,” Pascale said. “We’re definitely getting things rolling — once things get rolling and people start clicking, the points come easier. We worked on [power plays] a lot this week during practice, that was one of our goals, to boost our power play goals.”

Even though the offense converted on 9 power plays this weekend, the team knows that in order to be successful, they will have to continue to work hard in practice.

“We’re going to have to keep working on the power plays,” Paulsen said. “We’re going to have to keep letting the upperclassmen get the puck in the net because that helps to motivate the underclassmen to do the same.”

The Cyclones also scored 3 shorthanded goals this weekend. According to Paulsen, being able to convert on shorthanded goals showed a lot about the team’s character.

“Being able to keep our composure was huge, especially during the 5 on 3 we faced” Paulsen said. “It shows that we won’t give up, no matter how many guys we’re down. I don’t think they scored one power play this weekend, that shows that they have to work much harder because our penalty kills are going to put the puck in the net just as quickly.”

This series was the second straight series the Cyclones have been able to sweep and the fourth straight victory since falling to Missouri State.

“We’re just trying to gain momentum to carry us through the rest of this season,” Pascale said.

Coach Al Murdoch was happy about the quality play and the depth the bench was able to provide.

“We had a bunch of new guys in the lineup tonight and that showed our depth,” Murdoch said. “We scored 10 goals [Friday], got 11 [Saturday] and that’s exactly where we want to be.”

Cyclone Hockey not only had a lot of players play this weekend but the team feels they all played well also.

“We executed well,” Murtaugh said. “We’ve been getting chances and a lot of shots the past four or five games but the pucks weren’t going into the net. Some guys focused on burying the puck this week and obviously that worked out.”

Despite everything that went well, the team still found some things they could work on.

“We took some bad penalties,” Murtaugh said. “We have to avoid those — they can hurt us during some of the bigger games against Lindenwood and Illinois.”