Cyclone Hockey is hoping to prove themselves against Eastern Michigan in their home opener after being swept in open league play last weekend.

The Cyclones (0-2), and Eastern Michigan (0-1) were ranked ninth and 18th in the national American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings in the preseason polls. Both teams, however, will most likely drop after losing in their opening games last weekend.

Coming off a tough road trip to fifth-ranked Ohio, the Cyclones are excited to return to the rink.

“We are definitely happy to get back on the ice and redeem ourselves after the two losses, so we will be hungry for this weekend,” said freshman forward Mike Lebler.

Coach Al Murdoch, while disappointed with the results, remains optimistic about the rest of the season.

“It is one thing to get swept at the beginning of the season; it’s another to get swept at the end,” Murdoch said. “I don’t think we are going to get swept at the end this year.”

The reason for Murdoch’s enthusiasm lies with the players.

“I think we have a very enthusiastic group, a very capable group. We have a young team – we have to keep remembering that we have 13 freshmen.”

The Cyclones are not the only team with a lot of new players. Eastern Michigan has even more freshmen than the Cyclones on their roster – 17.

“There will be some errors, but it will be the team that creates the fewest back-to-back errors that will have the advantage,” Murdoch said. “We plan on making it the road team that makes those errors.”

Another key will be the Cyclones’ special teams. They allowed eight power play goals last weekend and struggled to put the puck in the net when they had the advantage.

“It is still young, it’s still fresh, it’s still new,” Murdoch said. “We are trying some new things with them on power play and penalty kill.”

The team feels last weekend was a wake-up call.

“It gave everybody a picture of what college hockey is,” said senior forward Jeremy Stegall. “The exhibition game was just to get us in shape, but now we are in the actual season. So now they know what level they need to be competing at for the rest of the year. We are not joking around.”

The Cyclones think they have learned their lesson and do not plan on being caught off guard again.

“It has been a pretty good week of practice. We are skating harder, trying hard in the drills, shooting better. What happened last week can’t happen again,” Stegall said.