Cyclone Hockey played Alabama on Saturday night in the second of a two game home series. The Cyclones followed up their 4-3 victory Friday night with a 4-2 victory after the Cyclone offense hit a late surge in the third period.

The Cyclones and the Crimson Tide played a physical game that — just like the game on Friday — saw both teams battling a tie.

“We got tested a number of ways, learned a little bit about ourselves as a team this weekend,” said Jason Fairman, coach and general manager.

Freshman forward Nick Rogers gave the Cyclones the first lead of the game with 7:07 left in the first. Alabama’s Jacob Nau tied things up, scoring with only a minute remaining in the first period. The 1-1 tie would stick throughout the second period and into the third period.

The tie lasted until there was 8:32 left in the game when Alabama’s Nick Messina scored to give them a 2-1 lead.

Alabama’s defense contained the Cyclone offense for most of the game, with nothing being able to get past Alabama goalie Patrick Ostermann. It appeared Alabama was about to give the Cyclones their first loss of the season.

With only 4:30 left on the clock, freshman forward C.J. Banser broke the silence of the Cyclones offense, tying the game again at 2-2.

“Once we scored that second goal, we were pretty upbeat and ready to finish out the game strong,” Banser said. “Obviously we got a good bounce there at the end, so it worked out in our favor. Let’s hope we can keep it rolling.”

Alabama looked to retake the lead with Messina challenging Cyclone goalie Matt Goedeke, but Goedeke successfully stopped Alabama’s attempt at taking the lead.

With 2:44 left on the clock, sophomore forward Dylan Goggin broke the tie with a go-ahead goal, regaining the lead for the Cyclones at 3-2.

“It’s good that we had to battle some adversity this weekend,” Goggin said. “It really showed the heart and effort of the team.”

Time was running out for Alabama, who found themselves playing from behind. In an attempt to try to tie the game, Alabama pulled Ostermann out of the game, so they could have an additional man to help their offense out.

Alabama had the puck in Cyclone territory under a minute left in the game, trying to get late goal to tie the game, but giving up their goalie for an additional man meant that Alabama had an open net.

Senior defenseman Nick Sandy had an opportunity to clear the puck out and took his chance. The puck would find its way past everyone and go all the way down the ice. It found the back of Alabama’s empty net, bringing the game to 4-2 and sealing the victory for the Cyclones.

The Cyclone offense managed three goals in the last 4:30 of the game after scoring once through two and a half periods of play.

“Good teams find a way to pull out a win,” Fairman said, “It’s cliche, but dig down deep, find a way and we did.”

The Cyclones will practice before hitting the road for two games against Lindenwood next weekend.