Cyclone Hockey is set for a new challenge, one it has not faced since it played Ohio last season in mid-October – rebounding from being swept on the road.

The Cyclones went on the road last weekend to play Michigan-Dearborn in the midst of a five-game win streak and came out of it on a two-game slide, and will try to rebound this weekend against Arizona State at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

“It’s time to turn it on, we have to turn things around right now,” said sophomore Mike Murtaugh. “We’ve played a lot of close games against a lot of teams we probably shouldn’t have. I think this weekend we need to turn it around and make a bit of a statement.”

The Cyclones have traditionally been a very good road team. Last season they went 12-4-1 away from the Ames/ISU Ice Arena and had avoided being swept in eight consecutive road series. The Cyclones probably should have kept that streak alive as they led both games against Michigan-Dearborn, but failed to hold on, as they dropped Friday’s game by a score of 7-5, and Saturday’s game in a shoot-out 3-2.

“Fortunately, the team feels down, because if they didn’t feel down, they’d still be skating,” said coach Al Murdoch. “They are willing to work hard so I feel like it is a very coachable team, and they will learn from their mistakes. It’s still early in the season, but we let a couple of wins slip away that we had in the bag.”

Fresh off two tough losses, the team had to load up on the bus for the overnight trip from Michigan back to Ames.

“It was a pretty quiet bus ride,” Murdoch said. “It was really quiet when we left the arena and even after we got a bite to eat, it was still pretty quiet.”

The bus ride was quiet because of the feeling the players had to deal with all the way home.

“Teams like Michigan-Dearborn, we need to beat them,” junior Jayson Peterson said. “Road games are especially the ones you want to take care of because of the long bus ride you get to think about it a lot.”

The mood on the bus afterward was somber, but it hasn’t carried over through the week.

“The overall atmosphere of our team has kind of not made a statement that we are down,” Murtaugh said. “We have a real upbeat attitude about playing Arizona State this weekend. We are not down about last weekend, and as Coach always says, ‘It’s water under the bridge.'”

The Cyclones are now 5-2-1 overall, 0-1-1 in the CSCHL, but with all the disappointment that came with the tough weekend, the team is just happy to be playing at home this weekend.

“It is always good to be home,” Murdoch said. “They have the pep-band, the cheerleaders and the home fans.”