Stay the course.

That was the message from the top down for Cyclone Hockey this past week. From head coach and general manager Jason Fairman all the way down to the players, the belief in the building was that, eventually, the mistakes and unlucky breaks that plagued Iowa State the past two weekends would even out and things would turn around.

While that was the case on Friday night, those mistakes reared their head once again on Saturday.

“We’re having key breakdowns in bad situations, and it happened again tonight,” Fairman said. “We gave up a shorthanded goal, and the goal that we gave up at the end was a back-breaker.”

Those two goals ended up being the difference as Iowa State fell to Missouri State 5-3 to move to 17-14-3 on the season. 

After playing even, but ultimately suffering sweeps the last two weekends to Central States Collegiate Hockey League rivals Illinois and Lindenwood, the Cyclones took one of two from the Ice Bears despite arguably playing worse this series than in the past two.

Playing a large role in the Cyclones’ downfall were the struggles of a defense that had been stout, particularly in 5-on-5 situations, the past few weeks. On Saturday, Iowa State gave up four even strength goals and five goals total, the most it’d given up since a loss to Ohio on Jan. 12.

“We weren’t picking up guys in front,” said sophomore forward/defenseman Anthony Song. “Passes were getting through across the crease and there’s nothing the goalie can do about it.”

Making matters worse for the Cyclones was the fact that two of those goals were almost immediately after Song himself tied the game two different times, eliminating any momentum gained by the team.

This isn’t the first time this issue has popped up for the Cyclones, as there’s been multiple instances of the team giving up a goal shortly after scoring one this season. 

While it was more of an issue in the first semester, it’s still frustrating for a team that’s struggled with consistency all season to see an old problem reoccur. Senior defenseman and captain Kody Reuter couldn’t pinpoint exactly why the issue reappeared tonight, but he did offer a solution.

“We might just be getting a little bit too high and not focusing on the details,” Reuter said. “I think we just need to stay focused and have a good first shift back after we score those goals.”

While Saturday night could be considered a setback with all of the mistakes that were made, both Reuter and Song agree that going back to the drawing board isn’t necessary. Both players reiterated that it was important to keep with the “stay the course” message, even if the results haven’t come yet.

However, Reuter and Song, along with Fairman, know that those results won’t come next weekend against No. 4 Ohio if they don’t figure out quickly how to stop making the key mistakes that have led to the Cyclones losses in five of the last six games.

Ohio is traditionally one of the top programs and most talented teams in the ACHA, and this season is no exception. Additionally, the Cyclones saw already how explosive Ohio can be back on Jan. 12, when the Bobcats scored five unanswered goals in one period to win 5-0.

As a result, Fairman said that the team will have its hands full when the Bobcats come to Ames. What does give the Cyclones some confidence, though, is the fact that the team was able to get a split against Ohio in Athens, an environment Fairman has said they historically struggle in.

So while the Cyclones aren’t intimidated by their upcoming foe or down on themselves (or the process) after Saturday’s loss, they know that things need to be cleaned up in order to come away with wins against Ohio. According to Reuter, the team knows what their capable of, now it’s on them to execute.

“We know we can play against a team like that and we’ve done it before,” Reuter said. “But the preparation needs to be there and we need to be focused, otherwise we’re not going to show up again and we’re going to have the same results.”