Cyclone Hockey continued its good start of the season after picking up two wins at home against Illinois State University. The Cyclones picked up a 6-3 win on Friday and followed that up with a 5-2 win on Saturday.

The Cyclone offense proved to be one of the biggest determining factors throughout both games.

The Cyclone offense outscored Illinois State 11-5 over the weekend, with goals coming from multiple players, some veterans and some rookies.

Senior forward Tony Uglem scored twice in the Friday night game and worked with fellow senior forward Aaron Azevedo on a deflection for a goal in the second game. Azevedo put up another score in the second game.

“What’s helped us so far is moving the puck out quickly, getting the puck in the offensive zone,” said senior forward Aaron Azevedo. “I think we’ve been able to control the puck in the offensive zone quite a bit, that’s been able to lead to offensive scoring chances.

Senior forwards Adam Alcott and Trevor Sabo also provided goals in the Cyclones wins. Alcott would score late in the third period of the first game, halting an Illinois State comeback. Sabo scored the Cyclones first goal in the second game, tying the score up 1-1.

The freshmen also left their mark in both games. Freshman forward C.J. Banser scored to put the Cyclones up 2-0 in the first game and took advantage of an open net, scoring late in the third period of the second game. Freshman forward Nick Rogers would also get on the board, providing the Cyclones with their fourth goal in the first game.

The Cyclones special teams also played a big role in their two wins.

On the offensive side, the Cyclones took advantage of power plays, scoring on 1-of-3 power plays on Friday night and scoring on 2-of-3 power plays on Saturday night. The Cyclones scored on a total of 50 percent of their power plays throughout the weekend.

Uglem scored the first power play goal in the first period of the first game, giving the Cyclones a 1-0 lead. The other two power play goals came from the first period of the second game, with a Sabo goal tying it up at 1-1. The other coming from an Uglem shot deflection off of Azevedo, giving them the lead at 2-1.

On the defensive side, the Cyclones only allowed one goal on four Illinois State power plays during the first game. The Cyclone defense didn’t allow any goals off of two Illinois State power plays during the second game. The Cyclones finished the weekend with 5-of-6 penalties killed.

“We usually start out pretty hot at the beginning of the year on our special teams,” said coach and general manager Jason Fairman. “So if we keep going at this pace, that’d be fantastic.”

While the Cyclones proved to be too much for Illinois State, there’s always room for improvement.

“I’m pleased with some of the lines and individual players,” Fairman said. “But we’ve got some [deficiencies] we need to address, which every team does in the beginning of the year.”

The Cyclones faced stretches of time where the offense wasn’t able to score and the Illinois State offense kept the Cyclone defense busy. The effort shown by the players is one area that they look to address.

The Cyclones will look forward to another week of practice before taking on another two-game home series against Alabama, starting Friday at 7:30 p.m.