Cyclone Hockey’s head coach, Al Murdoch, reached a milestone, getting his 900th career win on Saturday.

And it didn’t take long for number 901.

The 12th-ranked Cyclones swept 19th-ranked Central Oklahoma, winning 8-4 on Saturday and 9-3 on Sunday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena in the Cyclones’ first league games since winter break.

Al Murdoch is the winningest active coach in college hockey and second on the all-time list behind Ron Mason, an NCAA coach at Michigan State with 924 wins.

“I really feel, overall, I am very pleased to be a part of it,” Murdoch said. “I look upon it as such a great opportunity. I came in ’69 and you don’t always plan on being in Ames, Iowa, for that long, but I’ve had a chance to do a lot of different things.”

The win wasn’t just a special one for Murdoch; the whole team was excited to be a part of it.

“Having a coach with 900 wins – that makes not only us look good but the program too,” said freshman forward Jordan Pascale. “It was just an honor to be part of that historical moment.”

The Cyclones were able to get Murdoch that win mainly because their offense was running smoothly Saturday, with eight different players scoring the team’s eight goals.

They ran into a little bit of trouble in the second game of the series, however. The Cyclones were down 3-2 going into the third period before storming back with a seven-goal performance in the final period.

“On Sunday, obviously, Central Oklahoma, ranked 19th in the country, wanted to move up [in the rankings] and they knew the only way was to beat 12th-ranked Iowa State, so they came out really strong,” Murdoch said.

In addition to Central Oklahoma playing well, the Cyclones feel they may have underestimated the second game.

“We beat them in the first game so badly that I think in the second game we let up a little bit at the start of the game, then, when they were up on us, we realized that they came to play and we just went out and got the job done,” Pascale said.

With the two wins, the Cyclones brought their winning streak to 10, and the team feels good about how they are playing.

“We got points on all four lines. That shows that we have good depth, when all four lines get points and assists,” Murdoch said. “I think our team is really solidified and playing really well. I think teams that are going to play us are going to have to look out. We are the Iowa State of old coming back.”

To Murdoch, the “Iowa State of old” means the team dominates their opponents.

“We bury teams and don’t take any prisoners,” Murdoch said. “We get them down and put them away.”