After weathering the toughest stretch of the season against three top-caliber opponents, Cyclone Hockey will travel to Saint Louis University this weekend to face a team that has been buried at the bottom of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League standings all season.

The series comes right in the middle of crunch time for the Cyclones, with a huge conference series against No. 9 Kent State and the conference and national tournaments on the horizon.

Even after coming off three huge weekends and with many important weekends looming ahead, the Cyclones know the team on the other bench should have no effect on the way they play the game.

“We can’t go into this series thinking about the fact that Saint Louis has only three wins,” said assistant captain Jayson Peterson. “We have to play every game from here on out like it’s against Illinois. It doesn’t matter who we’re on the ice with, we have to bring everything for all 60 minutes.”

The No. 6 Cyclones (22-9-1) will again have the services of assistant captain Allen Raushel and coach Al Murdoch, who returned Sunday from the Winter World University Games in Torino, Italy.

“It’s always good to be home,” Murdoch said. “It was a great experience for Allen, who played tremendous all week. When other guys were tired, he was still going. He hustled and did everything he could every minute he was on the ice. Give me 22 Allen Raushels, and I can beat anyone in the world.”

Raushel has had to readjust to Cyclone Hockey this week, as well as getting to know the coaching styles of interim head coach Brian Wilkie.

“It’s been a challenge to get back to playing on a smaller rink and learning coach Wilkie’s drills,” Raushel said. “He’ll blow the whistle and everyone will go to a spot, and I’m always a couple of steps behind.”

Wilkie, who served as coach in Murdoch’s absence, will be kept onboard as associate head coach. Wilkie and Murdoch, who have played and coached against each other for many years, will be behind the same bench this weekend for the first time since coaching Team USA at the 2001 Winter World University Games in Zakopane, Poland.

Saint Louis (3-21-0) has one of the worst records in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, but has still found a way to upset Kent State, Michigan-Dearborn and Arizona, all of which are ranked in the ACHA top 20 poll.

Now that the season is dwindling down to the final stages, the Cyclones are doing everything they can to stay in top form and prevent a letdown against the Billikens.

“It’s now February, what I like to call championship month,” Murdoch said. “We’re taking the rest of the season one game at a time. It’s time to kick it up a notch, and send a message to everyone we play. We want the nation to know that we don’t want to lose.”