The end of a six-week home stand could not be more fitting for No. 8 Cyclone Hockey as it welcomes the No. 2 Lindenwood University Lions.  

Last year, Lindenwood not only swept Iowa State in the regular season, but dashed the Cyclones’ championship hopes by defeating them in the ACHA National Tournament quarterfinals.  

This weekend, the Cyclones will not only try to end Lindenwood’s 10-game winning streak, but also avenge last year’s losses.  

“I’ve had this game highlighted on my calendar for a while now,” said sophomore forward Cort Bulloch. “They beat us, not only at their rink, but in the national tournament.” 

Lindenwood comes to Ames with a 10-0 record, playing well on both offense and defense. On the season, the Lions have allowed 1.2 goals per game while the offense has averaged 8.6 goals per game.   

The Cyclones go into the series with an 8-2 record, with success on both offense and defense. The offense has averaged 6.2 goals per game and the defense has given up 2.4 goals per game.  

Senior forward Bill Adolph thinks the key to success this weekend will be to stop a powerful Lindenwood offense with a strong defensive effort.  

“We have to play better without the puck,” Adolph said. “We’ve been stressing defensive zone coverage for awhile. Right now we’re not terrible at [defense], but we’re not as good as we could be.” 

Bulloch also said there were things the team needs to work on if it wants to have a successful weekend series. 

“We have to work on hitting and special teams,” Bulloch said. “Special teams are going to be really important for us this weekend. We need to capitalize on penalties and have a strong penalty kill [on defense].”  

Adolph also believes winning this series will result in much bigger things for Cyclone Hockey. 

“It’s going to help in rankings. It’s our first conference game, so this really sets the tone for the rest of the season,” Adolph said. “Also, for some of the guys this will be the first time they see this quality of a team.”  

Some of the older players, as well as some of the coaches, have talked to the team about the upcoming series and how well Lindenwood will play. 

“[Coach Al] Murdoch knows a lot about the teams we play,” Bulloch said. “Coach has said that with the kind of talent they have, they not only may be just as good of a team as last year, they may be better. I saw them last year and I’m hoping that if we just play our game, we’re not going to have a problem.”  

Past history shows that the Cyclones have had a hard time defeating the Lions. Adolph, however, remains hopeful that the team can find success against Lindenwood as well as allow him to pick up a few more wins against an opponent he has not been able to defeat in his time on the team.  

“I think I’ve only beat them twice in the four years I’ve been here … so they’ve been getting the upper hand on us,” Adolph said. “Mentally, it would be a huge boost in case we run into them at Nationals and the [Central States Collegiate Hockey League] playoffs knowing that we can get by these guys. You can’t put too much into the game, but it’s still a big game.”  

Both Friday and Saturday’s games begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.