The Cyclones could not recapture the magic that helped them win the Central States Collegiate Hockey League conference tournament as fourth seed a year ago.

Cyclone Hockey, after taking an identical No. 4 seed this year, finished the tournament in fifth place in Illinois after losing to fifth seeded Kent State in a close 4-3 loss, and then beating Eastern Michigan soundly, 9-2, in the fifth place game. Top seeded Illinois won the tournament by beating Lindenwood 4-1 in the championship game.

Despite their disappointing place this year, the Cyclones remained upbeat about the tournament.

“We had a very positive weekend. I really felt good about the whole thing,” Cyclone coach Al Murdoch said.

Murdoch thought the team played well enough to win, but that they just had some bad luck.

“I thought we had plenty of opportunities. Fifty-six shots on net, and to only have three of them go in is unusual for our team. Our team has some pretty good athletes and some pretty good shooters, but their goalie just got hot,” Murdoch said. “That’s what happens in playoffs – a goalie can get hot, and Kent State’s goalie got hot – there is no two ways about it. We were the better team on the ice in all phases of the game so I really couldn’t feel bad about it.”

The Cyclones outshot Kent State 56 to 28 in the game, but just had trouble getting the puck into the net. The team got behind early, 2-1 after the first period.

Then they traded goals in the second period. In the third period, the Cyclones tied it up fairly early in the period and felt like they had the momentum, but Kent State scored a late goal to retake the lead for good.

“It was just kind of a learning experience like we have been having all year,” sophomore forward Brian Spring said. “We’ve got to start learning from those experiences though, otherwise it is pointless. I think a lot of the freshmen got their first taste of tournament play and they will be ready to go for Nationals.”

The Cyclones were disappointed going into the fifth place game after their loss on Friday, but they were able to motivate themselves before the game started.

“It was a fifth place game; it’s a game that is kind of tough to get up for,” Spring said.

“But then we have Nationals to look forward to, so we wanted to go out and take that game and use it to build for Nationals, and winning 9-2 helped that.”

After having a hard time finding the back of the net in the first game, it’s good to score some goals.”

Beyond building some momentum, Murdoch felt the team gained a lot of valuable experience from the tournament.

“We are young, the biggest thing that we can do is build experience,” Murdoch said.