After playing a junior league team the week prior, Iowa State earned a series sweep of Oakland University last weekend, thanks in large part to special teams.

Iowa State (9-0-1) scored on half of its power-play chances, tallying four goals with the man advantage. The Cyclones did even better on penalty kills, allowing only one goal on 10 Oakland power plays.

The Cyclones host Arizona this weekend, and coach Al Murdoch emphasized the continuation of good special teams play.

“I think we’ll take six penalties in the game and we have to kill all six, so penalty-killing is very important,” Murdoch said. “I think they’ll take six penalties as well, so we’ll have five or six power plays. It’s very important that we score on the power play.”

Murdoch said the two teams are pretty even, so special teams might decide a close game.

Defenseman Brandon Clark plays on one of the top power-play units for the Cyclones. He said his line is starting to come together and is seeing progression each week.

“The things we have worked on in practice really translated into our games,” Clark said.

Clark had three points on the power play in last weekend’s series sweep. He said converting on odd-man chances and killing off the time down a man is key.

“Special teams are something every team needs to focus on because it’s such a big part of the game,” Clark said. “This week, as we face another ranked opponent, it’s really important for our special teams to be clicking.”

Fellow defenseman Justin Wilkinson said the team is cutting down on mistakes and improving in a lot of areas. 

“Special teams seem to be improving,” Wilkinson said. “Our penalty kill is really strong right now and our power play is continuing to improve. We just have to make sure we play a full 60 minutes.”

This weekend’s series against the Wildcats is part of Homecoming at Iowa State. Both Clark and Murdoch said they enjoy the added hype and atmosphere.

“Homecoming is always a big deal,” Clark said. “A lot of fans [and] parents show up. It’s always an important and exciting week for us. It gets you going when you see all those people in the stands.”

However, for Wilkinson, it’s just another game on the schedule.

“I don’t know, I’m not really into all that stuff,” Wilkinson said. “It’s just another weekend, another game.” 

The first of two games starts Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena. The Saturday game starts at 8:15 p.m.