One week ago against the Huntsville Havoc, Cyclone Hockey fell behind early and was forced to make a comeback. This week against the defending Tier III junior A national champion North Iowa Bulls that was not the case.

Iowa State scored six combined goals in the first periods of the two-game series with the Bulls, on its way to a sweep by the scores of 4-2 and 7-4.

“We exploded in the first period offensively,” said coach Al Murdoch. “We also shut them out. Matt Cooper played extremely well in the first.”

On Friday night, all four of Iowa State’s goals were scored by veteran players, but Saturday was a different story. Five of the seven ISU goals came off of the sticks of players new to the team.

For Murdoch, it will be tough to keep the young guys off the ice as they move toward conference play.

“If they keep showing up on the stat sheet like this, it would be crazy not to play them,” Murdoch said. “They are playing with a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of heart because they know there is somebody waiting in the wings to take their spot.”

Junior forward Trevor Lloyd was a big part of the offense during the series with North Iowa. Lloyd picked up a goal and an assist on Friday night before scoring two more goals on Saturday night.

“I felt like I had a pretty decent series,” Lloyd said. “I have to give a lot of credit to my line mates, Mark Huber and Mike Leskun. We have been clicking together, and it has worked out.”

For Lloyd, one of the keys of the series was that Iowa State finished off the chances they were given.

“We were able to bury the puck when we got the chance,” Lloyd said. “Also I really liked how physical we were.”

In the net for the Cyclones during the series was Cooper, junior goaltender. Cooper picked up the wins in both games of the series.

“I wanted to take a shot at playing Matt in back to back games for a full 60 minutes,” Murdoch said. “I think we let him down a little late but it was great showing from him.”

ISU junior defenseman Antti Helanto felt that the scores were not a good representation of how the series really went.

“They had a really good team,” Helanto said. “Their goalie was very good, but I think the score was a little flattering toward us. They are the defending national champs they are obviously very good.”

Iowa State’s next series will officially begin Central States Collegiate Hockey League play for the Cyclones. Iowa State will hit the road to take on Illinois on Friday, Oct. 3, and Saturday, Oct. 4.