The ISU hockey team is in the full swing of practice and preparing for a pair of games this weekend to kick off the 2011-2012 regular season. The Cyclones will host the Division II ACHA St. Cloud State Huskies for two games.

Last season, the Cyclones also started the season against the Huskies. The Cyclones split the two-game series winning the first 7-1 and losing the second 4-2.

Senior captain and forward Brian Rooney, who had one goal and two assists in those two games, said this week has been about building chemistry within the team as it tries for a 2-0 start versus the 1-1 start it had last year.

“Last year we came in here and I think we were a little lackadaisical,” Rooney said. “This year, we’re not going to make that same mistake.”

Rooney finished last season with a career-high 25 points in 41 games.

One thing the Cyclones have been doing a lot of in practice this week is skating and conditioning drills.

“We’re nowhere close to where we need to be conditioning-wise,” said Coach Al Murdoch. “We can be stronger and we can be quicker.”

Aside from that, the Cyclones have been working on special teams this week. In two exhibition games against the Huntsville Havoc prospects last weekend, the Cyclones were 0-for-8 on the power play.

“That’s not unusual early in the season,” Murdoch said.

Assistant captain and defenseman Brandon Clark said the special teams will improve as the chemistry within the team builds.

“Nobody had played the power play with each other until last weekend, so we just had our regular lines going,” Clark said.

Clark finished last season with 17 points in 39 games.

This weekend the Cyclones will also be finding ways to experiment with different lines and combinations. Clark talked about the importance of this early in the season.

“It’s good to try that out and see who fits together well so we can get a good four lines,” Clark said.

The Cyclones start the season Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.