The old cliché about rivalry games, “throw out the record books,” rang true at the Cy-Hawk series this past weekend. 

The No. 7 Cyclone Hockey team (28-8-2, 11-5-0 CSCHL) beat the in-state rival Hawkeyes (13-10-1) 1-0 on Jan. 24 at the ISU/Ames Ice Arena and 5-2 on Jan. 25 at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Even though the Cyclones won both games, their performance on the ice wasn’t quite what they expected.

“I recognize the colors of Iowa, the black and gold, but I didn’t recognize who was playing for us,” said ISU coach Jason Fairman after Friday’s game. “I didn’t have any idea who that team was.”

Division I Iowa State has historically outperformed Division II Iowa, beating them by an average of six goals in the past four years. The Hawkeyes were able to reduce this average to two goals in the most recent series.

They also saw a drop in shots on the net against the Hawkeyes from last year’s 112 to 90, as well as a drop of converting these shots into goals from nine to seven percent.

Fairman sees this as a wake-up call since the conference playoffs and American Collegiate Hockey Association tournament are just around the corner.

“We did take a bit of a step backwards,” Fairman said. “And my message to the guys was that next week we need get back to business because from here on out, it is not going to be an easy road.”

ISU forward Nate Percy said this regression is due to the fact the Cyclones abandoned their team-oriented systems and played a more individual style of hockey.

“It was a lot similar to the first Indiana game [Jan. 10] we played, where we just tried to put as many pucks on net as we could,” Percy said. “It is a little frustrating, though, when guys start trying to make cute plays and just keep firing the puck in on the net.”

Moving forward, ISU goalie Scott Ismond said Iowa State needs to focus on the tiny details and work on being more mentally prepared.  In the coming weeks he believes the team will be working on the rudiments of hockey, such as passing and shooting.  

Game preparation will be the main element the team will try to improve for upcoming Lindenwood, Fairman said, as he was confused on how Iowa State can be so good against some teams and struggle against others.   

“I don’t know how to explain how we can go out and dominate teams like Robert Morris and Ohio at minutes at a time and play our best hockey. Then there were stretches this weekend were I didn’t recognize what team was playing,” Fairman said. “I don’t have the answer, and that is frustrating because that is my responsibility.”  

On paper Iowa State was the clear favorite going into the games against Iowa, but the Hawkeyes ended up being tougher to put away than the Cyclones thought.

“Yes, absolutely,” Ismond said when asked if the Cyclones underestimated the Hawkeyes. “We thought it was going to be a lot easier week than it was. [Iowa] came out and got great goaltending and they played a good series. It is one of those things where you learn from experiences from before that you can’t take a team lightly.”

“Fortunately, this time around it didn’t end up costing us a game.”