Cyclone Hockey finished the weekend strong, beating Minot State 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night.

The Cyclones came into this weekend with one important goal: getting on the board first in both games. They did exactly that.

On Friday, sophomore forward Hunter Dolan scored for the Cyclones just 1:48 into the game. On Saturday, senior forward Adam Alcott capitalized on the power play with 2:52 left in the first period.

“Getting ahead early definitely gave us some confidence, and I think the guys built off that momentum,” said sophomore forward Dylan Goggin, who went on to score the game-winning goal in overtime.

The next two goals of Saturday’s game, however, were scored by Minot State, courtesy of Matthew Flom and Paul O’Connor.

With 27.1 seconds left in the second period, freshman forward Robbie McLean tied the game, and recorded his first goal as a Cyclone.

“It was pretty surreal,” McLean said.

The Cyclones then regained some momentum going into the second intermission, and third period.

McLean’s goal went on to be the goal that sent the teams into overtime, as the third period remained scoreless.

“That was a key goal [McLean] got,” said head coach and general manager Jason Fairman. “I think he brings physicality to our lineup, which we don’t have game in and game out.”

Fairman said the Cyclones were great on the penalty kill this weekend, as they killed 6-of-6 penalties between the two games. One of which, they had to kill 1:55 of in 4-on-4 overtime on Saturday.

Shortly after the Cyclones killed off the penalty in overtime, Goggin scored off a nice shot to win the game.

“It felt good, getting an overtime win is always nice,” Goggin said. “It was good that our guys got rewarded for hard work tonight. It wasn’t our best effort, but we came through as a team and really showed what we’re made of this weekend.”

Minot State completed the sweep against Cyclone Hockey last year during the regular season, so the Cyclones were happy to turn it around this season.

Minot State is ranked No. 6, while Cyclone Hockey is ranked No. 9, which made for two tightly-played games and good upset wins.

“That’s a good hockey team,” Fairman said. “We’re very fortunate that we were able to get a sweep against those guys.”

Cyclone Hockey will now head on the road next weekend to Oklahoma City, to play the University of Central Oklahoma in a CSCHL rivalry game.

The next home game for the Cyclones won’t take place until Jan. 18 of next year, so completing the sweep on home ice before hitting the road was huge for the Cyclones.

“It was a good four points, a good rivalry game,” McLean said. “It was definitely a weekend we got to see what our team’s made of.”