It took an overnight defensive makeover, but the ISU hockey team was able to bounce back on their first road trip of the season and salvage a split.

The No. 6 Cyclones (11-2-1-1) traveled to Tempe, Ariz. to play a two-game set against the No. 3 Arizona State Sun Devils (9-2-1-0). The Cyclones lost on Friday night by a score of 7-2 and bounced back on Saturday to get the 2-1 win.

Freshman goaltender Peter Alexander took a big hit when he left the net to play the puck and was slow to get up in the first period. Alexander stopped 19/24 shots and gave up five goals before being pulled about halfway through the second period. Freshman goaltender Jared Andersen took over at that point and stopped 15/17 shots and gave up two goals throughout the rest of the game. Despite giving up five goals, coach Al Murdoch did not think Alexander played badly, especially after the hit that he took.

“He was playing fine,” Murdoch said. “I just wanted to change the momentum. Andersen came in and played outstanding in my opinion.”

Sophomore forward Jon Feavel scored both goals for the Cyclones on Friday night and freshman defenseman Dominic Toigo notched two assists. Junior goaltender Paul Karus said that the first game was “shocking.”

“The simple fact is that those games do happen, and it’s all about how you rebound from that,” Karus said. “This team did a heck of a job rebounding from that.”

On Saturday, the Cyclones played a completely different game with Karus getting the start. Karus stopped 33/34 shots from the Sun Devils.

The game was scoreless until the third period when Arizona State’s Dan Styrna scored in the first minute. The Sun Devils would do no more damage in that game though. The Cyclones had a third period goal by junior forward Derek Kohles and a power play goal by freshman forward Jake Rombach on their way to the 2-1 win.

“The penalty kill was excellent and the power play did its job,” Murdoch said. “Sometimes all we need is one power play goal and that was the difference in the game.”

The Cyclones will be back at home this weekend for a two-game set against No. 10 Minot State.