The Cyclone Hockey team knew that winning against the eighth-ranked team in the nation wouldn’t be easy. And it certainly wasn’t.

Coming off a split weekend against the then sixth-ranked Lindenwood Lions, the Cyclones’ season didn’t get any easier as they fell victim to the brooms against the Robert Morris Eagles. The Cyclones again couldn’t overcome their one-goal game woes as they fell in a 3-2 shootout loss and dropped a 2-1 game the following night.

After falling 2-0 in the first period in the first game of the series, the Cyclones battled back despite registering 21 penalty minutes to tie the game at two and force an overtime. It eventually led to a shootout that went seven rounds before Robert Morris’ Nick Ernst sent everyone home by converting his chance.

“I don’t want to take anything away from [Robert Morris] because they took advantage of their chances, but we went into these mysterious penalties,” said Cyclone Hockey coach Jason Fairman after the game about the refereeing. “I didn’t even see where the penalties were. I felt like we were getting homered. It sucks because our guys battled.”

Following the game, the Cyclones found themselves down again. This time it was 1-0 in the third period as the Cyclones finally found the back of the net after Alex Grose’s shot was deflected in. It wouldn’t last long, however, as the Eagles grabbed a goal of their own to secure the 2-1 victory.

Coming from behind in both games, the Cyclones found something they haven’t seen much of this season—resiliency.

“Guys have been showing a lot more mental strength,” said assistant captain Antti Helanto. “To come back both nights, it was something that we needed. A lot of mental strength.”

Among the positives that the Cyclones found from the weekend series was the special teams. The penalty kill went 12-13 in the series along with the power play that went 0-7, but generated offensive-zone time that led to multiple goals.

“Our penalty kill has really progressed a lot,” Helanto said. “It’s really going to benefit us in the future when close games come down to it. We just need to get some bounces to go our way and we will start winning these close games.”

Close games have been a problem for the team this year, going 4-11 in one-goal games. But the Cyclones manage to find optimism.

“We’ve been dominating in these close games all season, and I’m assuming that it’s going to start going our way, it has to,” said defenseman Corey Sellers. “Once we get a few guys back that can score, we can start to get those goals that will win us those games.”

The games can also give the team much-needed experience come playoff time.

“It’s really going to benefit us when it comes down to it,” Fairman said. “I’ve seen teams panic in that situation, like the national tournament, but that’s every game for us.”

Cyclone Hockey will be done for the year but return to action January 9-10 against the University of Illinois.