Cyclone Hockey head coach Jason Fairman had previously expressed concern heading into the team’s opening series against Illinois State, saying that the team’s lack of practice time and game experience compared to their ACHA counterparts as made him “nervous”.

If his team’s performances this weekend are any indication, Fairman is likely resting at least a little bit easier now.

For the second time in as many nights, the Cyclones picked up a 4-1 victory at Ames/ISU Ice Arena against the Illinois State Redbirds.

The Cyclones came out of the gate with guns blazing, getting several early looks at the net.  Although the score after the first was 2-0, it felt like the lead should have been even larger as the Cyclones dominated the Redbirds in the first period to the tune of a 21-5 shot advantage.

Kody Reuter got the scoring started for the Cyclones after Illinois State got caught in a shift change.  Reuter made the most of a clean look and put a wrister in the back of the net to give the Cyclones a 1-0 advantage.

“My [defensive] partner [Justin] Paulson got his head up and saw me far side, so I took it in,” Reuter said. “I saw that they were changing, so I was able to beat one guy and I got a decent scoring opportunity and it just kind of squeaked in for me.”

 A.J. Gullickson followed suit shortly after to give the Cyclones a 2-0 advantage, which they took into the first intermission.  Gullickson scored on a power play opportunity at the 16:49 mark in the period.

“We were moving around pretty well,” Gullickson said. “We got it high, I kind of got it back and I gave it down low to Tony [Uglem] and just went to the net.  He threw it to me and I got a lucky tip, and it went in.”

Illinois State was able to respond in the second after getting several clean chances early period, with Mike Kanavagh putting one in the back of the net at the 8:51 mark.  With new found momentum, Illinois State started to press the issue, and a penalty by Anthony Song with 6:27 left provided the Redbirds with a golden opportunity to tie the game.

Adam Alcott, however, had other ideas.

The junior forward got a breakaway chance with the Cyclones down a man, and after getting initially stopped, was able to get one past Redbirds goaltender Marc Hayton on the rebound.

This stopped any momentum that the Redbirds had previously, and with a two goal lead, the Cyclones had suddenly turned the tide of the game back in their favor.  

“He just looked right where he was passing and I had a chance to pick it off,” Alcott said. “You don’t get a lot of breakaways, but when you do, you just shoot and hope something goes in and that’s what happened.

“That goal helped us settle down a bit, and everybody kind of realized that we had the game in hand.  They weren’t going to get three more on us.”

In fact the Redbirds wouldn’t even get one more on the Cyclones, as the rest of the game went by without much trouble for the home team.  Iowa State did what they needed to do to finish off the game, and the defense along with goaltender Matt Goedeke stood tall when opportunities presented themselves.

Gullickson would go on to score his second goal of the night with under a minute left to seal a 4-1 victory for the Cyclones.

Goedeke picked up where his fellow goalie Derek Moser left off last night and gave the Cyclones another impressive performance in goal, stopping 24 of 25 shots on the night.  The two senior net minders, who are also roommates, have been pushing each other all offseason and provide the Cyclones with one of the better goalie tandems in the ACHA.

“It’s pretty competitive between the two of us,” Goedeke said.  “We always want to see each other do well, and we’re pushing each other so that way the guy who gets his playing time is earning it.”

“It’s good to have one area that you’re confident that you’re going to get consistent performances,” Fairman said on his two goalies. 

It was an overall impressive weekend for the Cyclones by most accounts, but coach Fairman still sees plenty that the team needs to improve on going forward.

“We had our moments where I thought we looked decent, but I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth for some reason,” Fairman said. “We’re a long ways from being the complete team that we need to be.”

The Cyclones will get a chance to show more progress next weekend as they take on Waldorf University in a home-and-home battle.  The first game will be Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Ames/ISU Ice Arena.