Cyclones head for Oklahoma this weekend

Clint Cole

A weekend of rematches will possibly pave the road for the ISU hockey team to the national tournament at the end of the year.

The No. 15 ISU hockey team is coming off a sweep against rival Iowa last weekend in Ames and will be leaving Feb. 7 for Oklahoma City for two games. On Feb. 8, the Cyclones will play No. 16 Central Oklahoma and on Feb. 9, they play No. 6 Oklahoma. Both Oklahoma and Central Oklahoma are Independent ACHA teams.

Last November, the Sooners (19-10-3-2) swept the Cyclones (17-14-1-2) in two games 4-3 and 3-1. The Cyclones split the series against the Bronchos (19-12-0-0) on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2012 in Ames with a 4-3 shootout loss and a 3-2 win.

ISU defenseman and captain Brandon Clark has a lower body injury and isn’t sure if he’ll play this weekend. Clark said he doesn’t know what the injury is yet but hopes to know what it is by Feb. 5.

Clark sat out of last weekend’s games against Iowa and said that the rest will be huge towards hopefully getting in the lineup this weekend. He said that he talked with ISU assistant coach Kyle McDonald about potentially playing the night of Feb. 2 against Oklahoma.

ISU goaltender Scott Ismond also didn’t play last weekend against Iowa. He took a puck to the neck in warmups the week before that, but Ismond said that sitting out last weekend was more for rest than to nurse an injury.

“Anytime you can get rest … it’s key,” Ismond said. “This year’s been a year that I wanted to get used to playing, you know, two games or more, be able to be at that level and so far I’m just, I’m not quite there, and that’s something I really want to focus on.

“Whether we keep going with two, three-goalie rotation going into nationals or if we have one guy run with it I need to be at that level and if I get that opportunity this weekend I’m going to … try to be that guy.”

The Cyclones play two games this weekend in Oklahoma City. The game Feb. 1 will be against Central Oklahoma at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena at 7:30 p.m. and the game Feb. 2 will be at the Blazer’s Center at 4 p.m.