Cyclone Hockey sweeps, finds issues
The Cyclones victorious. The home team wrested a win from the Illiana Blackbirds this weekend. After a shaky first period, the Cyclones won 2-0 in the first of a series of exhibition games.
February 16, 2015
Cyclone Hockey found some old parts of its game during the weekend, and they weren’t necessarily good.
The Cyclones faced off against a tier-III junior team, the Illiana Blackbirds, during the weekend and with it came a sweep and maybe some concerns, said Cyclone Hockey head coach Jason Fairman.
During the 2-0 win in the first game of the series, the Cyclones outshot the Blackbirds 55-24 but only put the two goals on the board. Scoring isn’t a new issue that the team is dealing with. It has dealt with it numerous times during the course of the season.
Despite clearly outplaying their opponent, though, that issue crept back into the Cyclones game.
“Story of our season,” Fairman said, addressing the scoring concerns after the 55-shot game. “Now we are playing without emotion. We have played too hard and too well this year to go back to those habits. This didn’t start tonight, this is something I saw [on Jan. 31] against Central Oklahoma. As the coach, I have to figure out what is going on because I am panicking inside right now.”
The first two periods of the next game were much of the same and the Cyclones fell back into some poor habits. Fairman stressed the importance of effort after the previous game and he saw it, but there were little results.
After a rousing second intermission speech by assistant coach Andrew Callahan, the Cyclones came out in the third period and found their stride and finished a 5-1 victory.
It was the period that Fairman was looking for.
“Saw more of the effort in the third [and] I saw more of what we do as a team,” he said, clearly more relieved after a successful third period. “We just weren’t playing high-percentage hockey [the previous night], but I thought we did better in that third period. It looked more like how we usually play, so I can live with that.”
With the series being an exhibition one, Cyclone Hockey also had the chance to try some new players in the lineup.
Clayton Janecke, sophomore defenseman, made his starting debut for the Cyclones. He came close to registering his first point, but was just outside the second assist on one of the goals.
Janecke has eight points on the Division III squad and has practiced with the team for the majority of the season, but hadn’t had the chance with meaningful time on the ice.
“It felt great and it’s always nice to get some ice time,” he said. “It was kind of spur of the moment. The [Division III] team had a tough loss [Feb. 13] and I didn’t know if I would be back in time, but I’m just thankful for this opportunity.”
Pegged as the backup’s backup, goaltender Derek Moser also had a chance to play late in the second period. With his team up 3-1, Scott Ismond was pulled and in came Moser. He made the most of his chance, saving all 10 of the shots he faced.
Moser had played in only two games before the night.
“It’s tough for me because I have to be ready to go all the time and I just do my best to be prepared,” Moser said. “We had a good third period, but we are working the kinks out and hopefully we will be ready for the [CSCHL] tournament coming up.”
