David Merrill – Daily Staff Writer

Following a 5-2 victory over the Eagles from Robert Morris College on Friday night, the Cyclones picked up right where they left off, with sophomore forward Mike Lebler scoring the game’s first goal 33 seconds into the opening period.

Senior forward Mike Murtaugh helped clear the way by putting an Eagle player on his back, allowing Lebler to give the Cyclones a quick 1-0 lead.

“They came out with everything they had and being able to score thirty seconds in is huge — it puts them down early and gives us momentum,” junior forward Brian Spring said.

Five minutes later, with the Cyclones on a power play, junior forward Pete Majkozak put the Cyclones up 2-0 when he put the puck in the net off a deflection, past the goalie’s outstretched stick hand. Majkozak was assisted by Spring and junior defenseman Adam Mueller on the play.

As the period reached the halfway point, it was clear the Cyclones were the more physical team, as they continuously created space for the puck to move by putting the opponent on the ice or against the boards.

With 4:17 remaining in the opening period, Robert Morris showed it wasn’t going down without a fight when freshman forward Brian Rooney picked up a penalty for the Cyclones, allowing Eagles forward Bart Reeves to pick up the shorthanded goal, cutting the score to 2-1.

Iowa State rebounded to score one more before the period ended. Majkozak found freshman defenseman Brody Toigo for a goal with 18 seconds left in the first period to give them a 3-1 lead and momentum heading into the second.

As the second period began, the Cyclones quickly put the pressure back on the Eagles. Spring capitalized and put Iowa State up 4-1 on an assist from Toigo five minutes into the second period as the Cyclones started to pull away.

Two minutes later, Iowa State expanded its lead to 5-1 on Lebler’s second goal of the night. Freshman defenseman Nick Larsen and senior forward Bill Adolph assisted Lebler on the play.

The Cyclones continued to find even more contributors when sophomore forward Josh Jeske put the Cyclones up 6-1 with nine minutes remaining in the second period. Rooney recorded the assist on the play.

With a man advantage, Eagle forward Nick Kostel made the score look a little less ugly with his goal that cut the lead to 6-2, which is what the Eagles stumbled into the third period with.

With seven minutes left the third period, Spring continued to make an impact on the game, putting the Cyclones up 7-2 when Majkozak picked up his second assist of the game, finding Spring, who beat the goalie stick side.

The win was Iowa State’s sixth in a row.