The American Collegiate Hockey Association tournament isn’t until next week. But coach Al Murdoch— knowing his team won’t be making that tournament — considered last week’s Central States Collegiate Hockey League tourney his and Iowa State’s national championship.

“I thought our team played as good last weekend as they’ve done all season,” said Murdoch. “I was real proud of our coaching staff and real proud of the players being ready to go.”

Iowa State beat Indiana University 5-2 on Feb. 18, marking the milestone No. 1,000 victory for Murdoch. It ended up losing to eventual CSCHL tournament champion Ohio University, which blew out powerhouse Lindenwood University, 4-0.

The Cyclones now have Northern Iowa on their radar.

The Panthers will roll into town for a two-game set that will drop the curtain on what has been a trying season for Murdoch and his staff. A tough schedule eventually came back to bite the Cyclones, losing 8 of 10 at one point this year.

Wins in the second semester turned out to be too little, too late to make it into nationals.

“We knew exactly how it worked and the way it worked and we knew we had to be in the top 12, and in the fall semester, losses hurt us when it came right down to the wire,” Murdoch said, adding he would likely have a similar tough schedule next year.

But come Friday night, the emphasis will be on a win and celebrating the five seniors who will leave the Cyclones following this season. For freshman Chris Cucullu, it’s tough knowing his senior teammates won’t be competing for the Murdoch Cup.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” said Cucullu. “The seniors have been there the past three years, and rookies like myself wanted to go because we’d never been there before. We thought we could’ve competed, but sometimes it doesn’t turn out in your favor.”

Northern Iowa is another D-II opponent that Iowa State should expect to obtain easy victories this weekend, as they have done all semester against lesser foes. But wins against lowly opponents pale in comparison to the thought that the season will end this weekend. Murdoch understands that, and has taken this opportunity for a teaching moment for the young guys.

“[I told them to] learn from the upperclassmen and particular the five seniors, who have been excellent role models,” Murdoch said. “You know, with Erik Hudson making the World University Games, people need to set their goals on that in the future. We’ll miss the seniors in the future, but we have 19-20 guys coming back.”

Iowa State will conclude the 2010-2011 regular season beginning with Friday’s game at 8:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.