Two weeks ago the ISU men’s ice hockey team rushed the ice after an emotional shoot-out win against the University of Illinois, but this weekend it was the Illini that stormed the ice, eliminating the Cyclones in round two of the Central States Collegiate Hockey League Tournament.

“It was a back-breaking loss,” said assistant captain Matt McLin. “We worked so hard, and it was the best defensive game we’ve played all season. To lose in overtime was just a real disappointment.”

Despite being eliminated by Illinois for the second consecutive year, the Cyclones said they feel they came out of the tournament with a positive experience.

“I think Illinois is a team that I’ve observed the last four years get stronger as they get closer to Nationals,” said coach Al Murdoch. “They’ve been a Final Four team the last four years, winning it last year. So if you’re going to find any silver lining in the clouds, we played them very well and we played them as well as anybody did.”

Illinois went on to win the championship 2-1 over the University of Ohio behind the play of last year’s World Games goalie and CSCHL tournament MVP Mike DeGeorge.

DeGeorge helped to end the Cyclones tournament. The Cyclones dominated the overtime period, taking 12 shots on the Illini goaltender, but DeGeorge failed to crack under the pressure of the Cyclone offense.

“He’s an outstanding goaltender,” Murdoch said. “He’s had that elite experience; he knows never to give up and a lot of young players don’t realize they have that extra gear, but DeGeorge does.”

The CSCHL tournament does not mark the end of the season, and the Cyclones may even get a chance to wash out the bad taste that remains from the loss against Illinois. If the Cyclones and the Illini win their first-round games in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournaments, they will face off one more time, this time the loser going home for the season.

“Losing to them in the CSCHL tournament was a pretty big loss,” McLin said. “In all reality we’re definitely looking forward to playing them in the national tournament, and winning that is way more important than the CSCHL.”

The heartbreaking loss against Illinois wasn’t the only tough loss of the weekend for the Cyclones. On Sunday they faced Robert Morris College in the third-place game. It was their third time facing Robert Morris, and for the third time they went to a shoot-out. This time Robert Morris came out on top, putting the Cyclones in fourth place.

The Cyclones did win the first game of the tournament in dramatic fashion. After trailing 3-2 in the third period, the Cyclones bounced back and scored twice for the come-from-behind victory.

That’s a feeling they hope to duplicate in their upcoming national tournament.

“It has been a while since we have had the experience of winning the first game of a tournament,” Murdoch said. “To be able to accomplish that is pretty gratifying.”

The Cyclones are 33-8-2 on the season and are preparing for their first-round game against Oklahoma.