Cyclones fall to Eagles

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Sophomore Brooks Mitzel races towards the puck at Saturday’s game. The Cyclones lost against the Bronchos.

Jared Bravard

The lamps of The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville, Illinois, did not have a busy night.

Cyclone Hockey fell 1-0 to the Robert Morris University Illinois Eagles.

This is the first 1-0 game for the Eagles (12-14-4) this season and the second for the Cyclones (17-12-2).

Freshman goalie Aaron LaChance again got the start for the Cyclones after not playing last week against Central Oklahoma. His record now moves to 3-1 on the year.

“That might’ve been one of our most dominating games territorially,” Coach Jason Fairman said. The Cyclones outshot the Eagles 53-26, according to Fairman.

The score sat at 0-0 for over 40 minutes of play, as neither team capitalized on their chances until early in the third period. Joe Molfetta broke the tie at 4:15 with what ended up being the game-winner. The puck took a deflection on its journey to the net and passed LaChance.

The penalty boxes also had a lonely night, as neither team recorded a penalty. The Cyclones entered the night averaging 3.23 penalties per game to the Eagles 6.24.

“I definitely think that our lack of scoring — yet playing well on all other levels — is weighing on the team’s mind,” Fairman said.

These teams continued the narrative from earlier this season as their series in December finished with games decided by one goal (3-2 and 2-1). The Cyclones prevailed in each of those games.

Game two of the series is 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at The Edge Ice Arena. The audio broadcast can be found here.

“I thought tonight was a must win — certainly tomorrow is even more so,” Fairman said.