Cyclone Hockey is now entering the portion of the year when perfection and mistakes are magnified — the postseason.

The Cyclones will take the ice at the Central States Collegiate Hockey League Tournament, and they are looking for more than just the title — they want to find their team identity.

The Cyclones will have no easy task ahead of them, facing four other top-20 teams in one of the toughest leagues in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. But they expect to be ready.

“We are 100 percent confident,” said Matt Cooper, who recently returned from Spain. “It’s tough because they are all good teams. But we are confident that we can go in there, run the table, and have an absolute great shot going into the [ACHA National Tournament].”

After failing to pull off a pair of wins against the Robert Morris Eagles two weekends ago, the Cyclones were left with the fifth and final seed in the tournament, giving them the disadvantage of having to win three games in a row to grab the title.

The wins will not fall into the team’s lap.

Cyclone Hockey head coach Jason Fairman hasn’t been pleased with the way his team played in recent games, adding that he hasn’t seen his team play to its strengths, two of which are neutral zone and board play. Fairman has brought those aspects into practice this week, hoping to bring those parts back into the team’s play.

Scoring has been the main issue for the Cyclones this season and it crept back into their game against Illiana, scoring only five goals on 108 shots in two games. In the CSCHL tournament, though, the team will try to focus on the aforementioned strengths, rather than its weaknesses.

“It is what it is,” Fairman said, addressing the scoring concerns. “Our identity has been established. We are a hard-working team. We get goals by pucks bouncing off of guys and in. That’s the way it is and that’s the way we win. It’s not going to change. We just have to outwork teams.”

The scoring issues seemed to be taking a turn after the new year with Chase Rey, Preston Blanek and Andrew Carlson entering the lineup. The Cyclones even started the year with a 10-goal, two-game sweep against Illinois, and showed signs of offensive life throughout games after that series.

But the team has repeated multiple times during the season that it is defense first. Fairman said it will be the main focus of this weekend.

The team will also get J.P. Kascsak back from the Winter World University Games, who is third on the team in goals with 11. He has a chance to help reverse the team’s recent scoring woes.

“We need to gets some pucks to the net,” Kascsak said. “We have been getting better at getting those pucks to the net and making opportunities. We just have to work hard every shift and make them all worthwhile.”

Cyclone Hockey will play Illinois in the CSCHL tournament play-in game. The winner will move into the semi-finals. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20 in Champaign, Ill.