“Krueger to Spring to Majkozak for a goal” has been commonly heard over the public-address system at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena this year.

There’s good reason for this – the three forwards spent a good amount of time working on it at the North Iowa Ice Arena in Mason City a couple years ago.

Although the Cyclones’ forwards on their “red line,” Pete Majkozak, Brian Spring and Brad Krueger are all sophomores, they have been playing on the same team – sometimes even the same line – for four years.

Krueger, Spring and Majkozak all played together on the same junior hockey team, the North Iowa Outlaws in the North American Hockey League, before joining Cyclone Hockey last year.

“Me and Spring are both from Des Moines and played on rival high school hockey teams,” Krueger said. “We weren’t really good friends until we met each other at North Iowa and we were kind of the only people that knew each other, so I hung out with him and ironically, Pete was living with him.”

Once they met, it didn’t take them very long to become good friends off the ice.

“First time I met Pete he was really loud and had a big smile on his face,” Spring said. “I mean, he’s the same now but, I don’t know, I thought I was going to have a fun year as soon as I met him, and I did for the most part.”

Even though Majkozak and Spring were roommates, they still saw a lot of Krueger.

“Me and Spring kind of got made fun of for how much we hung out, and they were roommates so all three us kind of hung out,” Krueger said.

“We used to hang out every day, I mean, that’s all there is to do when you’re playing juniors – play hockey and hang out with your teammates,” Spring said.

After playing for the Outlaws for a couple of seasons, it was time for them to move on and find a college.

Although going to the same college wasn’t necessarily part of their plan, it was in the back of their minds as they each started to choose where they wanted to go to school.

“I think it definitely helped,” Majkozak said. “It was really cool when me and Brad went on our visit together. We both had a great time, and we both decided that this was someplace that we wanted to play four years of hockey and go to school. Then we decided to live together and that really helped, knowing at least one other person in the school.”

Spring stayed out of college for another semester after Majkozak and Krueger came to Iowa State, but that didn’t end their friendship.

“Even before he came here he was always at our place on weekends watching our games and so he would practice once in a while with us too,” Majkozak said.

Today, Krueger and Majkozak are still roommates and Spring lives right across the hall.

The only thing that seems to be stronger then their friendship off the ice is their chemistry on it.

With these three playing forward on the same line, the red line has become one of the Cyclones’ top scoring units, with Majkozak and Spring being two of the top three scorers on this year’s hockey team.

Krueger is lower on the list but has had limited playing time due to injuries.

“They are different, but they are similar,” said coach Al Murdoch. “They are all very good skaters. All three are good with the puck, all three have excellent shots, and all three aren’t afraid to mix it up when it gets physical. So they are similar in that respect.”

Murdoch said all three had characteristics on the ice that made them unique.

“I would say that Majkozak is the sniper of the group, Krueger tends to be the physical one of the group, and I’m not sure if they would agree with me or not, but I see Spring as the playmaker of the group,” Murdoch said. “So that is a good combination in hockey.”

Not only do their skills mesh, but their personalities seem to, as well.

“I think we kind of give Spring a hard time because he yells at us a little more,” Krueger said.

“I’d say me and Brad are a little more relaxed, Spring is a little more high-strung,” Majkozak added, laughing. “If I screw up I’d never hear it from Brad, but I’d always be hearing it from Spring.”

“They make that sound like a negative, but it’s a positive,” Spring chipped in defensively. “I try to push my teammates, my buddies. I want to make them do well on the ice.”

This combination of skill and personality provided a solid chemistry for their line to work with.

“I think chemistry is a big thing – especially for me, because I need to know where my linemates are going to be so I can put it there without having to look,” Spring said. “I just know they’ll be there.”

When their line gets in the game, they have a lot of fun on the ice.

“I like to score. Pete says it’s a one-minute party after every goal. We have fun, I think we definitely play better,” Krueger said.

“When we are all healthy,” Spring said, looking at Krueger, who has been injured for the last five series.

When they are all on the ice, these three players have provided several exciting hockey moments. One of their favorite memories on the ice together is Majkozak’s first goal in the junior leagues.

“Spring actually gave me my first junior goal,” Majkozak said “He was coming down the left side and he passed it across to the right side and I just shot it bar-down-in.”

“I’m pretty sure I took a hit for it too, but I made the play and gave Pete the goal. I gave it to him to put it in, and he didn’t let me down,” Spring said, smiling.