Cyclone Hockey players rode back to Ames from Athens, Ohio, in silence. Most players sat in anger, reflecting on the 6-0 defeat at the hands of Ohio — the worst loss of coach Jason Fairman’s tenure.

“We made it very clear on no uncertain terms that [this weekend] was unacceptable,” Fairman said. “That was embarrassing. I’ll even go as far as saying that was humiliating.”

The players got Monday off to rest their legs after the long weekend road trip.

“I think everyone’s been working hard,” said co-captain Cory Sellers. “It happens. You learn from it and you move on. You try to forget about it and move on to the next weekend.”

The next weekend has arrived, and the opponent is the Dakota-Bottineau Lumberjacks, a junior college team. The Lumberjacks aren’t the typical opponent the Cyclones face each week. The Lumberjacks are made up of mostly 18- and 19-year-olds.

“Especially after the weekend we just had, I think everybody’s ready to go,” Sellers said.

The last time Cyclone Hockey played a junior college team was when Williston State came to the Ames/ISU Ice Arena and handed the Cyclone Hockey team its first loss of the season.

Dakota-Bottineau beat Williston State earlier in the season, and nobody in the Cyclone Hockey organization is taking the team lightly.

“They’re not going to be a bad team,” Sellers said. “They’re going to be a good hockey team.”

The game against Williston was on a Tuesday, the only midweek game of the season, and No. 2 Lindenwood came to Ames a few days later. Fairman decided to rest many of his top players, and the team suffered a 3-2 loss. This weekend, the Cyclones will be at full strength.

“We’ll have the full lineup out there,” said co-captain Alex Stephens. “I think we all want to win pretty badly.”

Cyclone Hockey was originally expected to join the CyHawk festivities this weekend by taking on the Iowa hockey club Sunday in Des Moines. But Iowa’s hockey team, which is now an entirely student-run organization, backed out of the matchup hosted by the Iowa Wild.

The Cyclone Hockey players will get an early start on their break after Saturday night’s game and will return to practice Dec. 29 in anticipation of hosting No. 1 and undefeated Minot State.

“It’s unfortunate the timing of that game because the students won’t be back,” Fairman said. “That should be some good hockey. Hopefully some students will be back because that will be fun when we knock off the undefeated No. 1 team in the nation.”

But before finals, break and the battle with Minot State, Cyclone Hockey will host Dakota-Bottineau in a much-needed game to bounce back after an embarrassing weekend in Ohio.

“If we don’t fair well this weekend,” Fairman said, “there will be no excuses.”