After Adrian College snapped the Cyclones’ four-game winning streak in the opening game of the series, Iowa State showed the Bulldogs that they wouldn’t leave Ames with an advantage.

Junior forward Brian Spring started off the Cyclone attack with a goal at the 16:12 mark in the first period on a pass from junior forward Pete Majkozak, putting Iowa State up 1-0.

“It’s real key [to get the first goal], you want to get up early on them and get back to your game. We got that first one and we got back to our game and it worked for us,” Spring said.

The Bulldogs answered with a heavy load of pressure, but sophomore goalie Erik Hudson was able to fend them off with tough play out of the defense in front of him. As the period continued, the Cyclones’ wired energy continued to show as they routinely beat AC up and down the ice, but a number of their shots went airborne, over the top of the goal.

Past the ten-minute mark, Iowa State honed in on the net and the shots started to drop, helped out by the Bulldogs’ penalties giving the Cyclones a 5-on-3 advantage.

Senior forward Bill Adolph added to the Cyclone lead at the 7:48 mark as he put in a shot after two deflections by the goalie as the Cyclones pushed their lead to 2-0. Less than a minute later, junior forward Derek Behrman put in his ninth goal of the season making the lead 3-0 on an assist from freshman defenseman Brody Toigo.

At the 5:12 mark, junior defenseman Brent Cornelius continued the ISU onslaught, pushing the lead to 4-0 with the help of senior forward Mike Murtaugh. With the fourth goal, the Cyclones equaled the Bulldogs’ total goals for the last game in the first period. The first period ended with Iowa State up 4-0.

“We got at least three power play goals and a short-handed goal. That’s where we want to be. Special teams are playing real well; I’m real pleased. We have a youthful team and we’ll put those back to back,” head coach Al Murdoch said.

In the second period it was the Bulldogs providing the early pressure, but Hudson and the Cyclone defense were again able to hold off the attack as the score remained at 4-0 at the midway point of the second period. The second period also featured an impressive display of cycling the puck in the zone by the Cyclones, but the Bulldog goaltender deflected the shots.

Iowa State was able to break through at the 5:35 mark as junior defenseman Adam Mueller put the score up to 5-0 on an assist by Majokozak, who tallied his second assist of the game.

Despite his vision on the ice, Murdoch feels he could step it up a bit.

“He took a penalty that was a momentum shifter, I realize that the guy hit him kind of dirty, but we don’t equal a score so we don’t do that. He’s playing pretty well, but he can play better. He’s one of the guys on the World University Games team, but no one is going to give him a free ride anywhere, so he has to keep working hard just like everybody else on the team.”

At the 3:19 mark, the Cyclones increased their lead even more as Murtaugh put in the Cyclones’ third power play goal of the night, making it 6-0. This was his second goal of the game and his ninth of the season. The second period ended with Iowa State up 6-0.

Iowa State put pressure on AC to open up the third and kept it up through the first half of the period, but the Bulldogs exploited a chink in their armor as sophomore forward Mke Yakamovich made it 6-1 with just under eleven minutes left in the game. Murtaugh answered quickly with his third goal of the game with the Cyclones shorthanded, making it 7-1 a short time later. Iowa State kept it coming in the third as Spring put in his second goal of the match at the 9:05 mark in the third period, which would hold up for the final score as the Cyclones split the series 1-1, making their record 8-2. They are currently ranked eighth in the ACHA Dvision 1 standings.

“I think the biggest difference was in the game preparation — a lot more game preparation tonight,” Murdoch said. “When we lose on a Friday night, we know what their goaltending is like, we know what their defense is like, and we know what their forwards are like. We came in with a better game plan and played better defense. Offensively, we’re playing real good.”

Next week the Cyclones host second-ranked Lindenwood University, who ended Iowa State’s season last year at nationals, costing them a final four and possibly a national championship appearance.

Murtaugh says that will be a huge factor in the game.

“Its still on our minds, it’s a bitter taste in my mouth. They cost us a chance to go to the final four and possibly a national championship so the guys that experienced that last year are going to be coming out firing,” Murtaugh said.

Spring also agrees that Lindenwood is a big matchup.

“They are one of the top teams in the nation obviously. There’s been talk that they are better than the Illini [who are ranked first], but that doesn’t matter,” Spring said. They ended our season last year and whenever someone ends your season, you got to come out and put it to them and were definitely going to do that.”