Iowa State will face its toughest opponent in this weekend before the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament. The Cyclones travel to play No. 3 Ohio University Bobcats.

Iowa State just sweeped last place Eastern Michigan and plans to carry that momentum over to this weekend if it wants to pull an upset.

“The last two weekends, there have been a couple let downs here and there, but overall, I feel we’re playing some of our best hockey of the year,” said senior forward Brian Spring.

The last two weeks, Iowa State’s defense has been a strong point for the team. At Illinois, the Cyclones held the Illini to 10 or less shots in four of six periods, and last week at home, the Cyclones held Eastern Michigan to less than 10 shots in all but one period.

The Iowa State goaltenders caught fire as well. Junior Erik Hudson has five shut outs this season while freshman Paul Karus earned his first last weekend.

Both have a season save percentage close to 90 percent. With the season coming close to ending, the team has huge trust in both goalies.

“It’s nice to know that no matter who is between the pipes, they’re going to do a solid job,” said senior defenseman Matt Verdoni.

Iowa State has a record of 2-4 against opponents ranked higher than them. In each loss the Cyclones had a very good chance of winning, but couldn’t quite get there.

For Ohio, coach Al Murdoch is focusing on playing good defense and taking advantage of opportunities.

“That’ll be the difference,” Murdoch said. “The team that take advantages of opportunities will win.”

Murdoch also stressed the importance of not giving Ohio any opportunities by committing penalties. Last Saturday, the Cyclones committed seven penalties, some of which were penalties just playing tight defense. Murdoch said he has no problem with the penalties coming from good defense, but killing them off is important.

Last season, Iowa State swept Ohio in Ames, but failed to get past them in the championship game of the C.S.C.H.L. Tournament.

The Cyclones led 3-1 at the beginning of the third period, but three Bobcat goals in the third dropped the Cyclones.

“We owe them,” said defenseman Matt Verdoni said. “We blew a lead against them last year for the Championship. As long as we take the body throughout the whole game and wear them down Friday and Saturday — that should be key.”

Each game in this series is worth four points toward the rankings and if the Cyclones want to move up, winning both games would be huge.

“This should be a real fun weekend,” Spring said. “If we stay disciplined and stick to our system, we’ll be just fine.”