The Cyclone hockey team will be facing the University of Central Oklahoma for a weekend series at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Last weekend, the Cyclones split their season opening fixtures, with a win Friday and loss Saturday to St. Cloud State.  

Central Oklahoma is ranked in the top 10 in the nation. Division I of the American Collegiate Hockey Association contains 56 schools.

“We will need to step it up a notch from last weekend,” said coach Al Murdoch.  

Iowa State has seen more ice time, and gotten more practices in than they did before their first games last weekend against St. Cloud State.

“Before the first game, they only had one practice. This upcoming game they have gotten more practice time in,” Murdoch said.

Murdoch said that to hang close with UCO, the Cyclones will need to be more aggressive than what they were. 

“We will have to be more physical, quicker, more clever, and faster at passing the puck around,” Murdoch said. “We need to win the race to the puck.”