It’s one of the hardest things for a college team to recover from and one of the most distinct aspects about college sports — the departure of the seniors.

Seniors become such a large part of any collegiate athletic team but, sooner or later, they all move on to life after college. That is the exact problem that Cyclone Hockey faces after graduating nine seniors this season, consisting of two defenseman, two goaltenders and five forwards.

But even with the holes left by this year’s class, the team believes that it made a big enough impact to brighten the future.

“[The seniors] rubbed up off us for next year,” said forward Zack Johnson. “So we are just going to pick [up] where we left off. We are supposedly bringing in a good group of guys, so the team might be just as good next season.”

The American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament run that carried the Cyclones to the quarterfinals and an eventual loss to Central Oklahoma — the team that would later win the title — showed the the Cyclones that they could compete with the best competition the country has to offer.

“I think guys realize that we are close. We are close,” said Cyclone Hockey coach Jason Fairman the week after the national tournament loss. “I think that beating Oklahoma and these elite teams at the end of the year has to bode well for their confidence that we are close. If we can add some elements with our recruiting class next year, I think guys will think, ‘wow, we were so close this year.’”

One of those holes lies in the goal-scoring department. The Cyclones scored 140 goals in the 2014-15 regular season, which ranked 20th in the ACHA, but the Cyclones played the most games out of any team in the league. And the team leader in goals, J.P. Kascsak, will be among the departing seniors.

The answer may be in next year’s recruiting class as Fairman has mentioned that will be a key focus in the offseason. One player Cyclone Hockey doesn’t have to worry about scoring is Johnson.

Johnson, a freshman, led the team in goals before he left a game against Central Oklahoma with an upper-body injury that would cost him the rest of the season. He had 13 goals and nine assists.

Johnson immediately made his mark on the program by scoring four goals against Harbin, a hockey team from China. He struggled when the calendar flipped to 2015, scoring a goal and assisting on two in seven games, but he will still be one of the key players on the Cyclones’ roster next season.

“He has a bright future,” Fairman said. “He has good speed and he can score. He seems to be that difference maker. We need some of that in guys, and I think he is going to be better at that as time moves along.”

Another point of emphasis for the Cyclones’ offseason will be the loss of two senior goaltenders, Matt Cooper and Scott Ismond. The former was awarded all-conference honors in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League on Saturday.

The Cyclones have Derek Moser, who was the third-string goaltender and played in four games this season, as well as Michael Smart, who played all year on the Division III squad. But Fairman added that the team is also aggressively recruiting goaltenders to try and fill that void.

“It’s going to come down to an open competition for that spot,” Fairman said.

The goaltender that emerges will have the chance to play with one the best defenses in the ACHA in front of him. The Cyclones ranked eighth in the league in goals allowed among teams with at least 30 games played.

Even though they will be graduating Mike Dopko and Antti Helanto, who became the team’s and league’s best defensemen, the Cyclones have much of their core returning. Two players at the heart of that core, freshmen Kody Reuter and Jake Uglem, were integral in the Cyclones’ top-10 defense during the season.

“Uglem along with Reuter are the big D-men that we need,” said forward Chase Rey. “They work hard and play the game the right way.”

If the team mixes it all together, it could have a good batch brewing for another shot at the ACHA national title.

“Once we get past the early-season growing pains, I think we can be a great team next year,” Fairman said. “It’s just a matter of filling those few holes, and we have a legitimate shot at being one of the best teams in the ACHA.”