To the typical Cyclone hockey fan, senior forward Mike Murtaugh may come across as your typical, aggressive, hard hitting hockey player; but to his teammates, that is only one side of the Minnesota native.

“He’s a really easy going guy, he’s fun to be around, loves his video games. No one on the team has really ever had a problem with him, he’s just a really laid back guy who enjoys life,” said Brady Irwin, junior in marketing.

Growing up in Minnesota, Murtaugh began playing hockey at a young age. His reason for taking up hockey was in no way ordinary.

“When I was a little kid, I was about 6 or 7, my dad asked me if I wanted to do hockey or karate and I chose hockey, and that first year I was by far one of the worst kids on the ice,” Murtaugh said. “I never skated and I started a little bit late, but my dad just gave me two options and I picked hockey and I’m kind of glad I did.”

Throughout the years it was the motivation and support his parents gave him, as well as watching some of hockey’s biggest stars, that would help Murtaugh polish his skills. “My parents influenced me a lot, they kept pushing me to get better and took me to the rink everyday and paid the fees buying sticks and equipment. Just the time and effort they put into it, it’s truly astonishing,” Murtaugh said. “I also kind of idolized Jeremy Roenick [currently the center for the San Jose Sharks]. He’s always been a bit of point guy but he’s always been hard working, heavy hitting player who fights once in a while, I tried to be like him.”

Years later, Murtaugh would pursue a collegiate hockey career and wind up playing for coach Al Murdoch and the Cyclones’ hockey team. Murtaugh, one of two seniors on a young team, said it was the academics as well as the hockey team’s winning tradition that drew him to Iowa State.

“I had a couple options with hockey,” Murtaugh said. “I could’ve gone back and played with my junior team, there were a couple of Division III offers that I had, but I just heard a lot of good things about this school and the hockey program. Obviously they have a winning tradition here and it’s nice to be on a winning team and get a good education at the same time.”

In Murtaugh’s four years at Iowa State, there have been many experiences and many good memories with the team, but one stood out most for him — the year the team won the CSCHL Tournament Championship. An underdog Iowa State team beat highly ranked Ohio and Illinois. “It was an amazing feeling, we didn’t really expect to win anything like that that year, we weren’t highly rated or anything,” Murtaugh said.

The team hopes it can repeat that success this year and bring home a couple tournament championships. Murtaugh did not say how far he thought the team would go in the Tournament, but does believe that the team is good enough to be successful in the postseason.

“We’ve got a good team here,” Murtaugh said. “I’m not going to say how far we can but we can go a long ways. If we play like we have been, this team is going to be hard to beat.”

Murtaugh has seen his role on the team become one of a leader. Irwin thinks that some of Murtaugh’s best traits are also the ones you find in a leader.

“He’s a great player, has a great attitude. He makes you better in practice every day,” Irwin said. “He thrives under the pressure. Any time we need a big goal or a big hit he’ll step up and make that for us. He’s been here four years so he knows the tricks of the trade and he comes in and works hard day in and day out.”