A new season brings high expectations for Cyclone Hockey.

Last season, Cyclone Hockey went 31-11-2 and finished the season ranked eighth in the nation in the American Collegiate Hockey Association after a trip to the second round of the ACHA tournament.

Despite this success, the team was disappointed with their finish. The team has put that behind them, however. Coach Al Murdoch and the rest of the staff feel confident about their chances at making a run at this year’s national championship.

“This year is going to be special,” Murdoch said. “It’s going to be big for us.”

Murdoch begins his 40th season as head coach of Cyclone Hockey and he believes that with hard work from every player, this year’s team will be a contender in the ACHA.

Murdoch is also excited about this year’s recruiting class, calling it his second straight banner year for recruiting. He will look to every player to contribute whether he is an underclassmen or upperclassmen. He said he expects hard work and a competitive spirit from all members of the team.

Last year, Cyclone Hockey lost several close games, most notably two straight games against eventual undefeated national champion, University of Illinois. They were leading 2-0 in each game before losing in the third period. Murdoch does not expect a repeat of these events as he emphasized the amount of hard work the team has put in this off-season.

“We’re going to be bigger; we’re going to be faster,” Murdoch said. “We had a good year last year but we’re going to have an even better season this year. I feel like we’re pretty healthy, we had 56 players try out and of those I expect 28 solid players to make the team and the other 28 to make the practice squad.”

Although the team has high expectations, they have no delusions. They know the road to the championship will be tough due to what Murdoch feels is a difficult schedule.

Cyclone Hockey will begin the season at home this week against a Division II team and familiar Big XII rival Missouri on Sept. 19 and 20, but their schedule gets more difficult after that.

Cyclone Hockey will play 12 of their 22 series against teams that finished ranked in the top 25 in the ACHA in last season’s final rankings. They will play in a midseason tournament where they will face two teams from last year’s top 25 and one team that received votes in the final poll.

Despite the tough schedule, Murdoch remains confident that this team will be able to not only compete, but win.

“There isn’t a game that I go into that I don’t expect to win,” Murdoch said. “I don’t think we can expect any less, but we’ll just take it one game at a time. Our schedules are probably as tough as we’ve ever had. But that’s what the fans like and that’s what they deserve, they want top notch competition game in and game out.”

The Cyclone Hockey team feels this season has all the makings to be a successful and very exciting one. Murdoch believes in his coaching staff and in his team. After 39 years of coaching, Murdoch is looking forward to his 40th season.

“I enjoy it, I love it. It keeps me young, it keeps me going,” he said.