Heading into the final series of the first half of the season, a sweep of Dakota College-Bottineau would mean a boost in momentum for Iowa State.

The Cyclones (12-10-1-1) are preparing for the Lumberjacks (2-9) during a stressful time in the life of a student.

With finals just around the corner, coach Al Murdoch decided to shorten practices from one-and-a-half hours to one hour and has done away with morning workouts for this week.

“The guys have got an extra hop in their step,” Murdoch said, crediting the added energy to the shortened practices.

Murdoch said some of his players would likely wonder why he wouldn’t have shortened practices every week. To this, he emphatically pointed out that Iowa State would never beat opponents in the third period if the team did not consistently work on strength training and increasing physical and mental stamina.

The players appreciate the small break from strength training and the shortened practices to focus on other things.

“Cutting practice down to an hour this week has been beneficial, because we got to put more focus on our academics this week,” said junior goalie Scott Ismond. “But we also gotta put more focus into the ice time, since it’s only that hour.”

Dakota College-Bottineau is ranked in the top four in the National Junior College rankings. Murdoch said many NCAA and ACHA Division I schools are looking at Bottineau to recruit its two-year players.

Aside from the roster, team schedule, game results, and player profiles, the Cyclones don’t know much about the Lumberjacks.

“We can see our opponent, which is good,” Ismond said of the scouting report. “But that’s about it.”

Junior forward Jon Feavel added that he doesn’t know a lot about the team, but has a simple philosophy for the upcoming series.

“If we play our game, we should be fine,” Feavel said.

Murdoch is focusing on quickness, playing physically with goaltenders being sharp in practice this week.

In addition, Murdoch said he incorporated a few drills where the emphasis was on scoring in a shootout, due to the team’s scoreless shootout appearance in the first game of the Central Oklahoma series.

Both Ismond and Feavel said a sweep this weekend would give the Cyclones a huge momentum boost to finish out the first half of the season.

“It would make the break a whole lot more enjoyable than having a split or, even worse, being swept,” Ismond said.

Iowa State and Dakota College-Bottineau face off at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.