The Cyclones are coming off a weekend that saw them split with then No. 23 Colorado State Rams, with the Cyclones picking up a 3-0 shutout victory Friday and dropping the game Saturday 2-1. The series against the Rams ended the Cyclones’ long homestand, which saw them host Robert Morris Illinois, Illinois, Lindenwood and Colorado State.

Now the Cyclones look ahead for another tough matchup, as they’ll travel to Athens, Ohio, for another ACHA top-five matchup against a CSCHL rival, the Ohio Bobcats. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Bird Arena in Athens, Ohio.

The Cyclones and the Bobcats already met this season when the Bobcats made the trip to Ames to face off against the Cyclones in October. That series ended with a two-game split, with the Bobcats taking the first game 4-1 and the Cyclones responding with a 5-3 victory in the second game.

The road trip to Athens will be the Cyclones’ first road series since Jan. 11-12 when the Cyclones went to Springfield, Missouri and swept Missouri State.

“It’ll be a little difficult to get back on the road, especially with a 12-hour road trip,” said freshman forward C.J. Banser. “We [have] just got to keep a positive mindset and stay focused, only a few weekends left, so I feel that if we can keep playing tough and work hard, the outcome will be where we want it.”

As the post-season gets closer and closer, every win the Cyclones can get becomes that much more important, especially when it comes to the ACHA National Tournament. Once the regular season wraps up, the Cyclones have the CSCHL Playoffs from March 15-17 and the National Championship Tournament from March 22-26 to look forward to.

“Every game is important from here on out,” said coach and general manager Jason Fairman. “Lose early to a team you can beat, it’s hard to recover, over the course of a season even. Now the stakes are high for national positioning for the National Tournament.”

One issue the Cyclones want to improve this weekend is finishing around the net. The Cyclones had no issues with getting shots during the series with Colorado State. Getting the shots into the net, however, proved to be an issue.

In the 3-1 victory, the Rams’ goaltender saved 37 shots out of the 40 shots the Cyclones put up. On Saturday, the Rams managed to save 61 shots out of a total 62 shots by the Cyclones.

For the series against Ohio, the Cyclones know they have to take advantage of opportunities and capitalize on them.

“Sometimes that’s the breaks, sometimes that’s maybe an individual player’s game,” Fairman said. “But, just got to hope guys can finish.”