After nearly a month absence from competition, Cyclone Hockey got back on the ice last weekend for a nonconference home series against the Missouri State Ice Bears.

Although Missouri State (11-12-1) competes in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division II, the Cyclones still struggled to put the Ice Bears away in both games, barely pulling out 8-7 and 6-5 victories.

In the Sunday afternoon finale, the Ice Bears jumped all over the Cyclones in the first period, going up 3-0 just 15 minutes in, and building the lead to 5-1 halfway through the second.

But the Cyclones’ offensive firepower proved to be too much for the Ice Bears to handle, as they scored five goals in the final 26 minutes while shutting out the Ice Bears in the third period to erase the four goal deficit and finish the sweep.

“We gave up 12 goals in two games, which is way too many against a team like that,” said freshman Pete Majkozak, who scored the game-winning goal on both nights.

Scoring 14 goals in two days is incredible for our offense, but we need to step it up more on defense.”

Majkozak’s number 16 became a common sight for a drained Ice Bears defense in the final period, as he recorded a hat trick by scoring the Cyclones’ final three goals of the game in a 15-minute span, earning him Cyclone Hockey’s Player of the Week honors with a five-goal weekend.

Down 5-1 in the final six minutes of the second period, Josh Westbrook and Brent Cornelius each found the back of the net with two slapshot rockets just a minute and a half apart, and turned the tide slowly in the Cyclones’ favor heading into the second intermission.

“Getting those two quick goals after being down 5-1 in the second gave us a ton of momentum heading into the locker room,” said Majkozak.

We started slow but have come back several times this year, and we were confident that we could score three goals in 20 minutes.”

Majkozak used that momentum to score on a breakaway just 44 seconds into the third, then lit the red light again eight minutes later to knot the game at five. With 4:31 remaining, Missouri State made a costly mistake, turning the puck over to the red-hot Majkozak, who drove down the ice and fired the puck past Missouri State goaltender Mike Poepping for the game winner.

Junior Allen Raushel also had an outstanding weekend for the Cyclones, recording a hat trick of his own and two assists in Saturday afternoon’s 8-7 thriller, as well as a goal and an assist on Sunday.

“It was a great series to work out the kinks,” Raushel said. “This was the first time we have skated together for awhile, so we had a little trouble finding each other and knowing where everyone was at times, but this was a great tune-up for the three tough weekends ahead.”

One bright spot for the Cyclones was its work on the power play, scoring six power play goals on Saturday, and on Sunday scoring once shorthanded and twice with a one-man advantage. The Cyclones were six for seven on the penalty kill.

“We really focused on power plays in practice this week,” said Raushel.

Even after being apart for so long, our teamwork on the power play really helped us to be successful.”

With the sweep, the No. 6 Cyclones improve to 20-6-1 on the season, and stand in 6th place in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League with a 5-4-1 conference record.

The Cyclones will next host Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday.