Things were hard for A.J. Gullickson.

The former High School Player of the Year in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the bigger hockey hotbeds in the Midwest, was struggling to get ice time in his freshman year for the Cyclone Hockey team. The sophomore forward didn’t play during the fall semester in 2016 and often didn’t see much playing time when he was active.

“I wasn’t sure coming in if I would play or if I would make the [Division 1] team,” Gullickson said. “It was exciting making the [Division 1] team, and it was tough not playing for a while. It was tough at first.”

Gullickson, however, stuck with it and continued to work to make himself a more complete player, and when an opportunity came up, he took full advantage. Now, he’s one of the key players on a talented Cyclones squad.

“He wasn’t a very good defensive player and he’d turn pucks over,” said head coach Jason Fairman on why Gullickson wasn’t seeing playing time. “We just couldn’t play him at that time because of the lack of attention to defense and turnovers.”

His breakout series came when the Alabama Hockey Club visited Ames last year.  In the series, Gullickson notched two goals and two assists, easily his best performance in a series to that point.

“I got a couple points and moved the puck pretty well,” Gullickson said of the series. “They’re a pretty good team, so they move the puck well. It just gave me more confidence, holding onto the puck, making plays and realizing I have a little more time to move the puck to everyone out there. It kind of helped me settle down a little bit.”

That settled pace of play led to Gullickson ending the year on a hot streak that vaulted him to fourth on the team in scoring with 25 points, including a stretch of 12 points in nine games. As a result, Gullickson earned Central States Collegiate Hockey League (CSCHL) All-Rookie honors and Cyclone Hockey’s Glenn Detulleo Rookie of the Year Award.

This season, while his numbers aren’t where they were at the end of last year, teammates have still noticed how much Gullickson has improved in the course of just one season, and subsequently regard him as one of the most important members of the team.

“He’s come a long ways since freshman year,” said Jon Severson, junior forward. “He’s been a good part of our team and a good goal scorer for our team, so he’s a really valuable part to our team.”

A big reason for that improvement, according to Gullickson, was the investment that he put into improving the smaller details of his game.

While increased confidence and an emphasis on getting to the net helped as well, Gullickson mentioned specifically that increasing his understanding of all of the systems the team runs was perhaps the most crucial aspect of his success.

“Learning them is one thing, but then being able to do that every day, game after game, that was a big part of that,” Gullickson said. “We run a lot of systems, so being able to do that helped a lot.”

The challenge now for Gullickson is continuing to improve. He said he still has a focus on getting better at the little things, such as stopping and starting with the puck, positioning and feet movement, but Gullickson also mentioned he has aspects of his game defensively that he needs to improve as well to take his game to the next level.

Fairman agreed with this notion. The Cyclones’ head coach has high expectations for his talented sophomore forward and challenges Gullickson to improve as a defender so he can become a complete two-way player. That, along with more consistent effort every shift, could be enough to catapult Gullickson’s game to new heights.

“He could be an all-league player for us,” Fairman said. “He’s got to play every shift though. If you want to be an all-league player, you can’t take shifts off. You’ve got to go hard every shift, and you have to play at both ends.”