Cyclone Hockey was able to remain focused and sweep its first Division II opponent of the season.

The Cyclones (14-8), ranked 12th in Division I, swept Missouri State (12-5), ranked fifth in Division II, by scores of 9-2 and 7-4 on Friday and Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

This sweep pushes the team’s winning streak to four games.

“The guys are really starting to roll. Practices are starting to pay off. The hard work is paying off,” said coach Al Murdoch.

“We were very quick this weekend. We are getting quicker every game. Our shots were better. Their goaltender wasn’t giving us much to shoot at, but we were hitting the openings.” that were there. We were jumping on rebounds a lot better then we have been, as well.”

One of the reasons for the Cyclones’ improved play lately is the number of players recovered from injuries. Freshman Cort Bullock was in the lineup over the weekend, and Chris MacKay has been practicing this week after sitting out earlier in the season.

“When the guys know that guys like that are getting healthy and coming back into the lineup, they work harder in practice. So, right now we only have one player out of the lineup, and that’s Brad Krueger – and he is probably within a week of being back in the lineup and at practice as well,” Murdoch said. “We are playing a lot better with the depth.”

As players begin to return to the lineup, they feel like they are playing more and more like a team.

“I thought we played really unselfishly with a lot of different people scoring,” said sophomore forward Pete Majkozak. “Fundamentally, I think we played good position hockey.”

Offensively, the Cyclones feet they had a really good weekend and generated some momentum for the rest of the season.

“I think our scoring was really sticking out, so I think we will take away a lot of offensive confidence from this weekend,” Majkozak said.

If there was any cause for concern this weekend, Murdoch believes it was with the defense.

“I wasn’t as happy about four goals against on Saturday, but we can live with it when we score seven,” Murdoch said. “I think there was still the occasional breakdown where a unit might stay on the ice a little bit longer than they should. When there is fatigue, sometimes we take penalties that we shouldn’t necessarily take. That resulted in one power-play goal each night.”

In order to keep the line changes moving, the team is keeping track of how long each shift is and working on getting off the ice in practice.

“We are playing really well in shifts that are 30 to 45 seconds,” Murdoch said.