The Cyclone Hockey team traveled 744 miles over the weekend and came up with a less-than-stellar result — two games, two losses.  

Cyclone Hockey has had its fair share of road troubles and that was certainly the case Jan. 16-17 at the Bird Arena in Athens, Ohio, against the Ohio Bobcats, when it lost 3-1 and 4-1.

On the road, the Cyclones owned a 1-5-3 record in American Collegiate Hockey Association play heading into the two-game series against the Bobcats. That record would be further blemished after being handed the sweep at the hands of the No. 5 ranked team in the ACHA.

There has been no love lost when traveling away from home. It certainly didn’t help that Ohio was undefeated on its home ice.

“Everybody has to deal with travel in any sports,” said Cyclone Hockey coach Jason Fairman. “This was our longest road trip, but every team has to deal with that with some degree. Road games aren’t easy, especially over [in Ohio] because they have a great environment over there.”

The tough environment includes a smaller rink than most others in the league. The arena is usually packed because of the college’s move to fill it up with the hashtag “PackTheBird.”

“On the road it is always a bit tougher, but there is a small effect with the ice being smaller and refereeing changes from place to place including there,” said assistant captain Antti Helanto on the environment. “Sometimes they let you take hacks at guys. That being said, we should definitely be able to scrape more points on the road.”

Despite the tough losses, the Cyclones now have to focus on the last stretch of the season. They will face off against Central Oklahoma and Robert Morris to close out their Central States Collegiate Hockey League schedule.

Forward J.P. Kascsak believes that the rough weekend can serve as a motivator for the rest of the way.

“After losing a few to our biggest rival, Ohio, we are really ready to get back at them in the CSCHL tournament and eventually the ACHA tournament,” he said. “We just have to make it happen in these last few games.”

The Cyclones have had scoring troubles over the season as well. From the beginning of the season, the team echoed that they were a defensive-minded team. That has been true, but the offense has been slow to follow.

That old nemesis crept back into the Cyclones’ game over the weekend. They only managed to score one goal in each of the games, not enough to down a top-five team.

“If we can get pucks on net, we can make a lot of space,” Kascsak said while also mentioning that will be a key focus against Iowa for the team’s next matchup. “When we get time to shoot, we have to start capitalizing on it. But I think the big key is to just get pucks to the net and make them work to get it out of the zone.”

Captain Mike Dopko mentioned that the team has to fix some offensive issues but also believes that there were positives to draw upon over the series.

“The neutral zone [at Ohio] is small so it is more of a board battle,” he said. “We did play well in the neutral zone and, at times, I thought we outplayed them in a lot of aspects. But they are a great team and really know how to use their ice to their advantage.”