It was senior night and for the Cyclones, and that was not the only reason to celebrate.

Powered by four first period goals, Iowa State took game one of their last home series of the season, 9-2.

Iowa State got off to a quick start getting goals from forwards Brian Rooney, and Mike Murtaugh, as well as power play goals from Mike Lebler and Brian Spring.

Junior defenseman Brent Cornelius scored a short-handed goal 4:49 into the second period. North Dakota cut into the lead, scoring a goal 13 seconds later. Iowa State was able to get that goal back when Lebler scored Iowa State’s third power play goal of the night, also his second.

Thirty-four seconds into the third period, Iowa State scored its seventh goal of the night. Sophomore forward Jordan Pascale was able to take assists from fellow sophomore forwards Cort Bulloch and Chris Mackay and score. It only took Iowa State 33 seconds to score again when sophomore defenseman Pat Condon converted on an unassisted goal.

Rooney scored his second goal of the night with 11:40 remaining to make it 9-1. North Dakota State would go on to score another goal but it would ultimately not matter as Iowa State would win 9-2.

After the game, coach Al Murdoch was happy with the team’s performance but still found some nagging areas that the team could improve in.

“We could be a little stronger on cycling, where we keep control of the puck in the offensive zone and not have turnovers,” Murdoch said. “I thought through the neutral zone we were pretty quick, but we can be faster.”

Playing in his last home game ever, Murtaugh seemed very at ease. He believing that one of things that helped the team was not a physical element, but a mental one.

“From experience [with past senior nights], you don’t really have as much emotion when you’re not a senior,” Murtaugh said. “So being that we only had two seniors, I don’t think that emotions were anything we had to worry about as far as if we were going to win or lose tonight. We kept our emotions in check and went out there and did what were supposed to do. I don’t think [senior night] was much of a factor.”

Murtaugh himself was able to get over the possible distractions of senior night and decided early on how to approach Friday’s game.

“As soon as I woke up this morning, I decided I was going to a fun, good relaxed day and come to the rink and have a good time on the ice, during warm-ups, and have a good time during the game, and on the bench, in the locker room and everything else,” Murtaugh said. “I just made sure I kept it positive and maintained a good mood.”