The ISU hockey team’s season has came to an end after it lost its first game at the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Tournament in Cleveland to No. 9 Oklahoma 8-2.

One of the things ISU coach Al Murdoch stressed before the game was the importance of staying out of penalty trouble, and it proved to be deadly in this game. The Sooners (26-12-2) were 4-for-7 on the power play while the Cyclones (28-10-5) were only 1-of-5.

“They’ve got several exceptional forwards who are really good with the puck, who can pass well and move the puck well,” Murdoch said in a news release. “There were several occasions on the power play where I saw two of their better forwards back playing the point, and they could move the puck very well from up top.”

The Cyclones had four penalties in the first period and the Sooners capitalized on two of them and went into the locker room with a 3-0 lead. Freshman defenseman Antti Helanto was penalized for hooking just 50 seconds into the game and ISU goaltender Paul Karus said they felt surrounded early.

“The penalties in the first period that we took, those were the crucial ones because those were the ones that they were able to jump out to their three-goal lead,” Karus said. “After that, toward the second and third period when we took our penalties, we were able to control their power play.”

The Cyclones had two goals in the second period courtesy of freshman defenseman Dominic Toigo on the power play and sophomore forward Mark Huber. Freshman forward Trevor Lloyd picked up the assist on Huber’s goal.

Huber scored his 10th goal of the season and is ranked sixth on the team in goals. He is 11th on the team in total points with 20.

Toigo finished his freshman year with eight goals and 13 assists. He is tied for ninth on the team with 21 points.

Both ISU goaltenders, Karus and freshman Jared Andersen, saw time in the game and gave up four goals each. Karus was taken out in the first period after allowing three goals on eight shots and was put back in late in the second period. He finished the game stopping 12-of-13 OU shots.

The Cyclones’ final placing at the tournament was 11th. The tournament continues until the championship game Wednesday.