The Iowa State Cyclone hockey team has had its share of ups and downs over the years. They made the playoffs every year, winning the National Championship in 1992. But last year, coach Al Murdoch’s squad failed to reach the American Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs for the first time in school history.

A team comprised of more than a dozen freshmen combined with a lack of consistent offense culminated in an unexpected early start to the off-season for the Cyclones.

“It’s a case where we graduated quality people from last year and had pretty young team and it took time to develop fall semester in particular,” Murdoch said. “They showed spring semester they were strong but it was too little too late.”

The upcoming season proves to be quite intriguing for Murdoch and his team. Associate coach Brian Wierson has stepped down to pursue his career goals. But most of the team will have that first year of experience playing with each other and against league opponents.

Defenseman Brody Toigo will return after a medical redshirt forced him to sit out last year, giving him two more years of eligiblity. That makes Brian Rooney the only senior on a very young Cyclone team.

“The guys that graduated are all excellent players,” Murdoch said. “[Erik] Hudson especially is a huge loss in net, so we are going to have younger goaltenders.”

When the hockey season ends in early March, it will be time to start thinking about the boys of summer.

The ISU club baseball team plays six series in a club league that features teams from Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri. Since the varsity baseball team was eliminated several years ago, the ISU club baseball has succeeded in keeping baseball in Ames, albeit at a much less competitive level than it once was.

“It’s a way for college-age students to keep playing baseball,” said senior pitcher Jeff Peterson. “It’s a good way to meet other baseball fanatics that share the common love of baseball.”

Last year, the weather dictated a lot of the schedule. Rain, cold and blustery winds wreaked havoc on the baseball schedule. Two series ended up being cancelled, and opponent Minnesota State-Mankato had to come down to Ames to play since its fields weren’t ready. April is not an ideal time to be playing baseball, but when the semester ends with finals in early May, time is not on the club’s side.

“Our games are equal to the reward of all the work we put in,” Peterson said. “When you do all that hard work without the reward it’s just kind of frustrating because you want to see some benefits of all the time you spend in the off-season.”