Walking away from last weekend’s disappointing shootout loss to border rival Illinois, the Cyclones were looking to bounce back against the Twin City Steel and gain some momentum for their last few regular-season matchups of the season. 

“We had a chip on our shoulder coming out tonight, we wanted to prove that we could win,” said defenseman Jake Uglem, who had two goals Friday night.

Dominating the first period and scoring goals early on appeared to give the Cyclones the edge and the 5-2 win against the junior league team, which stepped into play when Iowa canceled back in December.

Winning wasn’t the only objective going up against the Steel. With the post-season around the corner, the game served as a means of making sure everyone was ready.

“We were disappointed,” said coach Jason Fairman of last weekend’s loss against the Illini. “[Illinois] was the toughest loss of the season last Saturday night. There was just more of putting it behind you and moving on to the next game, so I think that’s what we did but this was an opportunity to rest some guys and we got everybody in the lineup tonight.”

With players being given the rest they needed before the next big matchup, it gave an opportunity for others to see the ice, stretch their legs and work out some kinks.

This opportunity served the team well, especially junior Derek Moser, who was the starting goaltender for the night. Moser had missed the first two weeks of the second semester stretch of the season due to injury.

Starting the game against the Steel gave Moser the chance to make sure everything was working correctly and that he could get the job done without further hurting himself.

Stopping 21 out out 23 shots from the Steel, Moser was also able to get back into that gameplay mindset after missing out for a period of time.

“Very exciting, very good. It’s a relief to be playing all out again, not having to hold back,” Moser said about coming back into the lineup. “I was so ready to just get back in the rhythm of things, and it had been a while since I played last.”

With the team well rested and ready to go, it’s time to crack down and look toward the next opponent.

Next weekend, Cyclone Hockey will take on No. 4 Central Oklahoma, which it swept earlier in the season. But being in playoff mentality, the circumstances are different.

“Big week of practice, big weekend,” Uglem said. “It’s playoff hockey from now on.”