The ACHA pre-season rankings came out last Friday and have the ISU hockey team ranked No. 10.

The Cyclones hit the road to North Dakota this past weekend for a set of two games on Friday and Sunday against North Dakota State and one game against No. 7 Minot State on Saturday.

Iowa State (4-1-0-0) won both games against North Dakota State with scores of 9-4 and 5-2 but weren’t able get past Minot State (1-0-0-0), losing 4-1 in what a Cyclone Hockey news release called a “physical fracas.”

Near the 12:52 mark of the second period, Minot State’s Daniel Lamb speared ISU forward Georgi Iskernov, and Joe Bueltel retaliated with a cross check as the rest of the players on the ice started to scrum. When order was restored by the officials, the Cyclones were on a five-minute power play.

“We had a five-minute opportunity, and you should be able to capitalize on that and get at least one goal, if not two,” said ISU coach Al Murdoch in a news release. “We weren’t able to get back into it after that point.”

North Dakota State wasn’t ranked in the pre-season rankings but did receive top-25 votes prior to this weekend’s games.

In the first game, it took a seven-goal third period for the Cyclones to get the victory. Bueltel scored the tying goal early and ISU forward Jon Feavel scored to give the Cyclones their first lead of the game.

It didn’t get any better for the Bison after that, as the Cyclones went on to get five more goals in the period from Antti Helanto, Scott Antonsen, Bueltel and Derek Kohles.

“When it comes right down to it, we’re showing Cyclone Hockey has always been a third-period team, and tonight was no exception with seven goals,” Murdoch said in a news release.

In Sunday’s game against the Bison, the Feavel scored two more goals. Freshman Austin Parle also scored two goals in the game, and Antonsen had one as well.

The Cyclones return home Friday and Saturday for a pair of games against Kansas.