Cyclone Hockey’s weekend was like having a dream that starts out well, but morphs and ends in a nightmare.

The Cyclones got off to a dream start against No. 7 Lindenwood on Friday, scoring the first of five first-period goals just 1:35 into the contest, allowing the Cyclones to coast to a 10-5 win.

On Saturday, however, the Cyclones collapsed, as they watched Lindenwood score five unanswered third-period goals in 10 minutes, to beat them, 6-1.

“It’s hard to lose a game like that, especially after a win like we had [Friday],” said assistant captain Allen Raushel. “We just need to come together as a team like we’ve been talking about all year.”

The quick start on Friday night had a hand in the way the Cyclones came out on Saturday.

“It gave our team a little bit of confidence, but it may have given our team a little bit too much confidence,” Raushel said. “We still looked at the final score as kind of an indicator as to how they were going to come out today and that wasn’t the case at all.”

The indicator the Cyclones should have used was the way Lindenwood played in a second and third period that saw both teams score five goals a piece.

On Saturday, the game was tied at zero things turned in Lindenwood’s favor. With the Cyclones on the power play late in the second period, Lindenwood’s Larry Kopecky cleared the puck back into the Cyclones zone, but the puck took a bad bounce past goalie Christian Johansson, giving Lindenwood a 1-0 lead.

“It took a funny bounce and bounced over the goalie’s glove and that happens sometimes, it happens to all the goalies in their lifetime,” said coach Al Murdoch. “It’s a momentum changer, no question about it.”

Lindenwood scored just 30 seconds into the third period to start Lindenwood’s offensive explosion and the Cyclone collapse.

“We were chasing them the whole third period,” Murdoch said. “When you get to a point where you start chasing a team, then all of a sudden you start taking a few penalties and you’re shorthanded. I think the guys didn’t respond as well as I hoped they would.”

Lindenwood scored four of its five third-period goals in about a four-minute span, completely demoralizing the Cyclones.

“It’s sort of like quicksand,” Raushel said. “It seems like you can’t do anything right, seems like the puck isn’t bouncing your way, and it’s going to bounce in favor of them.”

The Cyclones move to 10-3-2 on the season, but aren’t satisfied with a split with 9-5-1 Lindenwood.

“There’s a lot of stuff we need to work on,” Raushel said. “Not so much from the systematic point of view but from an internal point of view. You got to look at yourself and at your team, and look how you can turn it up.”