Key breakdowns in bad situations. You’d think that would be an easy fix right? Well, not exactly.

Cyclone Hockey has experienced this problem in multiple games over the season and the latest breakdown came during the 5-3 loss last weekend against Missouri State.

“We need to not do it,” said Cyclone Hockey head coach on general manager Jason Fairman. “I don’t know how you stop guys from doing it. We set up drills and structure practices where these kinds of things should hopefully be eliminated.”

Whether it be a shorthanded goal from a bad penalty kill or a goal from the opponent right after they go ahead, the Cyclones cannot seem to catch a break from those “unlucky” plays.

“How do you stop a guy from doing this and that?” Fairman said. “These things that we are doing are leading directly to an opponent goal, but we have to eliminate whatever we are doing if we are going to have any success at nationals.”

For the second time this season, the Cyclones will be matched up to play against the Ohio Bobcats, a premier team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association that has been near the top of the national rankings all season. When the two met last in early January, they split the series.

The most memorable game of the series was when the Bobcats blew the Cyclones out of the water with a 5-0 win, with every goal coming in the third period. That was another example of those unlucky breaks.

“They have always been one of the top teams in the nation. They have always been good,” Fairman said. “Being one of the premier teams in the country, they will make us pay for mistakes and we want to be able to minimize those mistakes if we want to be successful against them.”

The Bobcats, who were on a seven game winning streak, lost in overtime to Illinois last Saturday. That game, plagued with penalties and shortened benches, is something the Cyclones know all to well and have experienced this season.

As the team enters the last few games heading into the playoff stretch, Fairman is confident he knows what he wants his team to accomplish in order to pull out wins.

“We need to have a complete effort. That’s been one of our biggest shortcomings this season is that we don’t always play a complete game,” Fairman said. “When we haven’t played as hard as we can, we fight for it and put ourselves in a hole. We need to have consistent play and that in the end will bring us the wins.”