The weekend ended with a closed door team meeting called by the Cyclone Hockey players. The mood following Saturday’s game against No. 9 Arizona State suggested the Cyclones had been swept. Cyclone Hockey, however, was not swept; rather it split a two-game series with the Sun Devils with a win Friday, 7-4, and a loss Saturday, 5-3.

“This is a team that wants to play well all the time, without exception,” said coach Al Murdoch. “Yeah, we’re 6-4 and a lot of teams would be happy with that, but I don’t have a coaching staff that is happy with 6-4, and I have a team that’s definitely not happy with 6-4.”

Cyclone Hockey began last season with eight straight wins, which makes 6-4 look like a disastrous start to players and coaches, and a good reason for a team meeting.

“We talked about preparation and heart,” said assistant captain Jayson Peterson. “Allen Raushel had a story about why he plays the game and why he comes out hard every night and that was inspirational to everybody. We’re all just trying to figure out why we come to the rink and bring that with us and play with a passion every game.”

Cyclone Hockey was not completely disappointed with the weekend. It showed it has resiliency as it bounced back from a sweep at the hands of Michigan-Dearborn with a win Friday.

“You got to come out and be ready to bounce back,” junior Zach Hargis said. “The biggest thing is to find a way to win after being swept, and we found a way to win.”

Cyclone Hockey used a big third period Friday night that saw it score four goals to help ensure a 7-4 victory. On Saturday, Cyclone Hockey once again came on strong in the third period, but it was a first period that saw the Sun Devils jump out to an early lead that did them in.

Murdoch said a change in the scheduled start time by the administration from 8 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. was responsible for his players’ slow start.

“I’ll be honest with you, playing this goofy time is terrible,” he said. “It’s disruptive for their lives, and if it’s disruptive for their ability to play hockey, it’s disruptive for them for their classes and everything else. They are being treated like second-class citizens.”

Despite the loss, Cyclone Hockey is still 6-4 on the young season, and the fact that the players came together and called a group meeting following the loss shows that the wheels are still far from falling off.

“It’s a good sign when they can be talking about things they can do better,” Murdoch said. “If they didn’t care then things can deteriorate further.

“This team cares, and I think this thing is a good thing to occur after 10 games.”