No Al Murdoch, no Allen Raushel, no problem.

Even with the absence of a head coach and an assistant captain, interim head coach Brian Wilkie guided the Cyclones to a sweep of No. 11 Western Michigan in his first weekend behind the Cyclone bench.

“Coach Wilkie was brought in for a lot of good reasons,” said sophomore assistant captain Mike Murtaugh, who had two goals and three assists on the weekend. “He stepped in and showed us some new things, and the team did a really good job of running with what he taught us.”

Despite committing an ugly 22 penalties, the Cyclones used a substantially improved defensive effort to limit the Stallions to just three power play goals on 18 chances.

“We made way too many dumb penalties and kind of shot ourselves in the foot a few times,” said Wilkie. “But the team started to come together and really stepped it up, and I’m proud of the way the guys played on defense this weekend.”

After handling the Stallions with ease in their 5-2 win Friday night, the Cyclones made things interesting Saturday, playing into overtime for the third time in their last six contests.

After the Stallions jumped out to a 2-0 lead ten minutes into the first period Saturday, Murtaugh, Jason Brown and Jayson Peterson all found the back of the net within eight minutes of each other to claim a 3-2 lead at intermission. Sophomore Bill Adolph then scored 1:13 into the second to extend the lead to 4-2.

Western Michigan took a 5-4 lead by scoring three unanswered goals before freshman Shane Mytnik saved the Cyclones with the tying goal six minutes into the third to finish the scoring and send the game into overtime.

After a scoreless overtime period, senior goaltender Trent Baker continued his strong play into the shootout, where he stopped four of Western Michigan’s six shooters.

Mytnik, the Cyclones’ fifth shooter, came through again in the shootout, saving the Cyclones from defeat by notching another equalizer to tie the shootout at two.

After Baker stopped Western Michigan’s Evan Visuri for the second time in the shootout, freshman Pete Majkozak slipped the puck into the net for his third game-winning goal in the last four games. The Cyclones now boast a 5-1 record in overtime games this season.

Without their fourth-leading scorer on the ice, the Cyclones still continued their recent offensive dominance, outshooting the Stallions 99-56 on the weekend.

“The team realized the fact that Raushel is gone and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Murtaugh. “We knew we had to step it up offensively and defensively, and I think everyone from Brian Spring to Bill Adolph and Trent Baker played extremely well this weekend.”

The Cyclones improved to 21-6-1 overall and 7-4-1 in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, and will continue their tough stretch when they pay a visit to No. 1 Illinois next weekend.