Coming off a brutal two-game sweep at the hands of Ohio University, coach Al Murdoch and his staff went back to the basic fundamentals of hockey during practice: passing, shooting and scoring.

This weekend, Murdoch’s team responded nearly perfectly, sweeping the Kent State Golden Flashes on their home ice.

“We swept ’em real well,” Murdoch said. “What we lacked in ability we made up for in hustle. I thought we were a better skating, passing and shooting team than Kent State, and that’s what I wanted.”

Freshman Jake Flynn received the honor of ISU Player of the Week, notching five points over the weekend series. Flynn has 13 points on the season and is building a solid rapport with his teammates.

“We had a really good weekend overall as a team,” Flynn said. “Guys are really starting to build chemistry and playing well together.”

Murdoch approved of the choice for Player of the Week, noting the skill set and positive attributes Flynn is starting to show on the ice.

“He played real hard and real well,” Murdoch said. “He really has the ability to accelerate. He’s passing really well. He’s a good shooter, too — he can bury it. We’re looking for more of the same.”

The Cyclones have been working on chemistry all year. The young team has had difficulty finding the right mix of players that work best together.

Coaches have been switching up lines and power-play sets to try to pinpoint the lines with highest chemistry. They may have found some of the answers against Kent State.

“It’s as good as any team I’ve ever coached here,” Murdoch said. “I just have a good feeling about it. They’re very respectful and pretty darn coachable. I tell them something and they do it without hesitation.”

On the road for just the second time this season, Iowa State scored the first goal of both games and cruised easily to the series sweep, outscoring the Golden Flashes 11-4. Between games, the Cyclones had team dinners and stayed in hotel rooms, where the seniors showed their veteran leadership once again.

“All the upperclassman during off time had their books out studying,” Murdoch said. “So all the rookies have to figure, ‘Hey, in the free time let’s get the books out.'”

The season is about a third of the way complete, and Iowa State sits two games below .500. The schedule has been difficult so far, and there is a lot of hockey yet to be played.

For the Cyclones to be gaining that team effort with the majority of the schedule left ahead is huge. Of course, winning two games on the road is always nice.

“I thought it was a solid team effort. We were gelling really well out there,” said freshman Chris Cucullu. “I think we’re starting to find that offensive touch we’ve been looking for over the past couple weeks.”

Iowa State barraged Kent State goaltenders with 98 shots over the two games. The Cyclones improved on special teams as well, with three power-play goals and a shorthanded empty netter. Murdoch preached a mantra of simplifying things during a hard week of practice, and players took notice.

“I think we executed our passes a lot better; we were getting more quality shots on net, taking advantage of odd-man rushes and having really good physical play,” Cucullu said.

Despite the high coming off a series sweep, Murdoch sees much room for improvement to build on for next weekend’s home series against Indiana University.

“I’m not satisfied. I’d like us to be 16-0, but we’re 7-9, and we need to be 9-9 at the end of this weekend,” Murdoch said. “We need to work on more skating, more passing, more shooting. Nothing would make me happier than sweeping Indiana.”