The Cyclones thought they had blew it again. A two-goal lead in the third period and now tied thanks to a pair of defensive lapses. The team thought the game was in the bag. Memories of past collapses lingered in players’ minds, but not for long.

In the closing seconds, the Bronchos tried to clear the puck but instead it went right on Preston Blanek’s tape. He had an open shot and he wouldn’t miss. The Cyclones had done it, they upset the No. 2 team in the nation.

In a game that was described as “relief” by head coach Jason Fairman, the Cyclones had won something much larger.

They have had 17 games against teams in the top 10. That experience helped them to a series split against the No. 2 Central Oklahoma Bronchos on Jan. 30 to 31 after winning a 5-4 game in dramatic fashion and dropping a close 2-1 game the following night.

The Cyclones’ struggles against top-10 teams have been prevalent this season. The team owned a record of 3-9-3 against top-10 teams entering the Central Oklahoma series.

But it seemed like something clicked for the Cyclones against one of the best teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association.

“I think we played some of the best hockey we have all year in the second period [of the Jan. 31 game],” Fairman said. “We beat the No. 2 team in the nation too. We lost 2-1 [in the second game], but I thought we played really well for the most part over the 60 minutes.”

After the Cyclones travel to Illinois to visit Robert Morris, another top-10 team, they make their way to the Central States Collegiate Hockey League playoffs. Each team in the CSCHL, widely considered the best league in the ACHA, is ranked inside the top 10. 

The timing couldn’t be better for the Cyclones to start figuring out tough teams.

“Things haven’t really gone our way in some of these last few games,” said captain Mike Dopko. “I feel like things might be turning around. We just have to stay positive. We can’t look at what we’ve done, only what we can do from now on. We beat the No. 2 team this weekend, so I think that is something that we can build on.”

Not everything went well for the Cyclones in terms of timing as they lost their top goal-scorer, Zack Johnson, to an apparent upper-body injury. After being check hard into the boards in the corner, Johnson was slow to get up off the ice. He went to the hospital immediately following the game.

The extent of the injury is not yet known, but if he is lost for an extended amount of time, it could prove costly for the team’s title hopes.

Despite the potentially huge loss of Johnson adding to the loss of J.P. Kascsak and Matt Cooper to the World University Games, the team still believes it has something to build on for future top-ranked opponents.

“This weekend shows that we can play with anybody,” said Seth Serhienko, who scored the lone goal for the Cyclones in the 2-1 loss. “We dominated play for the majority of the series and we just have to start playing that way for every game because there aren’t many left. It’s now or never.”