After sweeping Oklahoma the previous weekend, the ISU hockey team moved up in the rankings from No. 8 to No. 5, but even that didn’t save them from being swept by Kent State.

Iowa State dropped a pair of games on Friday and Saturday at 13th-ranked Kent State, only scoring two goals each night. Kent State’s most effective player was goalie Ryan Gregory, who was solid in the net both nights.

“We didn’t score as much as I thought we were capable of, but Kent State’s goaltending had a lot to do with that,” said coach Al Murdoch. “[Gregory was] absolutely outstanding. We took close to 50 shots on him both nights and he still hung in there.”

Friday night, Kent State connected on four power play goals, which led to its 5–2 win.

The Cyclones had plenty of opportunities to score, though. Iowa State shot a total of 43 times, but only made two of them, both by Nick Larsen. The Cyclones were also only able to score once out of six times on the power play.

Murdoch said that in order to cut down the opposition’s power play goals, they would need to stop taking unnecessary penalties.

Saturday night was a different story, however. Going into the third period, the Cyclones trailed 2–0 and were looking for a spark. Ten minutes into the period, the Cyclones got just what they needed when last week’s hero Pete Majkozak scored a goal to bring the deficit to one.

Three minutes later, ISU forward Cort Bulloch got the puck past Gregory to tie the game. ISU goalie Paul Karus made a couple nice saves to hold off Kent State during a power play at the end of the period, which would go on to end in a 2–2 tie.

“I thought that Karus gave us the opportunity to win,” Murdoch said. “He put us in position allowing only two goals in three periods.”

In overtime, the Cyclones were forced to play defensively because they skated a man down for nearly half of the five-minute overtime period. Overtime ended with the score still tied at two, which sent the game to a shootout — Iowa State’s first of the season.

In the shootout, Kent State chose to shoot second. Iowa State’s first shot missed and Kent State scored on its first attempt. Iowa State needed to make its second attempt, but Gregory denied the shot. Kent State got the puck past Paul Karus on its second attempt and won the game.

The two loses bring the Cyclones’ record to 8–4 and they are yet to win a game on the road. Next week does not get any easier, as Iowa State will play No. 2 Illinois at home.

“It’s still early,” Murdoch said. “We’re just 12 games into the season, and we’re going to play four times as much, so we’ll have plenty of opportunities to come back.”