Pete Majkozak saved the Cyclones from back-to-back losses with two late goals in the Cyclones’ game one victory over Michigan-Dearborn on Friday night.

In game two, the Cyclones (18–8–3) were able to pull away from UM-D in the final two periods, winning by a score of 5–3.

“We beat a very good team there,” said coach Al Murdoch. “A very well coached team. They gave us all we could handle.”

Tensions flared at the 7:28 mark in the first period of game two when a Dearborn player was checked into the board and his teammate felt the hit was dirty and flew in to defend him.

No players were ejected, but junior forward Cort Bulloch was hit with a roughing penalty. This seemed to fire the Cyclones up, as less than 30 seconds later senior defenseman Brent Cornelius scored from the right-hand point on an assist from freshman defenseman Justin Wilkinson. This gave the Cyclones a 1–0 lead with 7:20 left in the first period.

Iowa State almost escaped the first period without a goal against them, but the Wolves’ freshman forward Rob Zubke fired a slap shot from their right-hand point that bounced off the leg pad of ISU junior goaltender Erik Hudson and into the back of the net.

The teams headed to the locker room, the score deadlocked at 1–1.

Between periods, Murdoch stressed the importance of playing heads-up hockey, playing the man and playing the body.

Junior forward Brandon Clark didn’t wait long to get things started in the second period as he took the puck and scored unassisted just 1:30 into the period, beating the goaltender glove side and putting the Cyclones up 2–1.

Dearborn answered back with 8:46 left in the second period on Zubke’s second goal of the game, evening the score at 2–2.

Four minutes later, junior defenseman Brady Irwin fed the puck to junior forward Chris Mackay at the blue line. Mackay skated the rest of the way uncontested and beat the goaltender stick side.

One minute later, Wilkinson took part in his second assist along with Brian Rooney; they connected with Derek Behrman in front of the net to put the Cyclones up 4–2 with 4:20 left in the second period.

The emotions, which had been on the verge of boiling throughout the game, finally spilled over with 12:32 remaining in the third period when a skirmish broke out involving Clark, Mackay, Nick Larsen, Hudson and Behrman as well as a number of other players from Michigan-Dearborn.

“I don’t think it was anything dirty,” Mackay said. “Both teams just wanted it really bad and are going to be more aggressive around the net. It’s a rough game.”

Junior defenseman Pat Condon joined the scoring party with 7:14 remaining in the game, taking the puck off some deflections and buried from the right hand point, beating the goalie stick side. This put the Cyclones up 5–2.

The Wolves weren’t done scoring as sophomore defender Mark Bekkala took a shot parallel from the left post of the goal and was able to bounce it off Hudson’s stick and the opposite post, into the net, cutting the score to 5–3 with five minutes left in the game.

Michigan-Dearborn put one more on goal when the Wolves pulled their goalie, making the final score 6–3 to complete the ISU sweep.

“I think the team has been working hard,” Clark said. “We kept things simple, crashed in a lot and bumped the body around.”