The ISU hockey team is busy this week preparing for a two-game set against the Kansas Jayhawks. The Cyclones are going into this game riding a nine-game win streak and coming off two close games against Colorado State, one of which went into overtime.

Assistant coach Brian Wierson has been filling in for coach Al Murdoch while he represents Team USA at the World University Games in Turkey with goaltender Erik Hudson. Wierson said nothing is changing this week in practice.

“We’re just working hard,” Wierson said. “We’ve got to worry about how we play, we can’t worry about our opponent. We’ve got to just make sure we’re doing the things that we’re coaching to and make sure the guys are working hard.”

With a series at No. 1 Lindenwood coming after Kansas, the Cyclones have had no trouble keeping their focus on the Jayhawks and the matchup at hand.

“We talk to the guys every week about our biggest opponents and our next opponents,” Wierson said. “All we’re worried about right now are the first 20 minutes on Friday night against the Jayhawks.”

The Cyclones have been finding success this season with their current lineup and have no intention of changing anything up for the Jayhawks.

“We’ll stick to what we’ve been doing,” Wierson said. “We’ve got some good chemistry there with [Mike] Lebler’s unit, same with [Matt] Cohn, [Jordan] Pascale and [Cort] Bulloch. They’re our senior line and they’re playing real hard right now.”

Sophomore goaltender Paul Karus has been filling in as the starter while Hudson is away in Turkey. Karus hasn’t changed a thing in practice since Hudson’s departure. He has been taking the same reps every day. The difference is that he’s playing more minutes.

Karus, as well as the rest of the team, has been taking this season game by game.

“The team’s been focusing,” Karus said. “We’re just taking it one step at a time. We haven’t overlooked anything, and we’re just focusing right now, and it’s going to be a great weekend, and the team’s going to play awesome.”

The Cyclones face off against the Jayhawks at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.