Although this Iowa State-Oklahoma series lacks the in-conference rivalry present when the two teams meet in other sports, two of the ACHL’s top teams are facing each other.

The No. 12 Cyclones (10-4) will face sixth-ranked Oklahoma (11-2) in a two-game series Friday and Saturday at 7:30 at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

Oklahoma’s No. 6 ranking puts them right behind No. 4 Ohio and No. 5 Lindenwood, the two teams that have accounted for the Cyclones’ four losses this season. The team, however, feels it will be better suited to meet this challenge than they have been in the past.

“I think that playing at home is going to be a big advantage, whereas Lindenwood and Ohio were on the road. It is later in the season, as well, so we are more mature,” said freshman forward Mike Lebler .

Coach Al Murdoch agrees with his forward. He also points out that, although the Cyclones were swept by Ohio and Lindenwood, they played tough in all of those games.

“I feel that we really should have had a split against Ohio and we really should have had a split against Lindenwood. Maybe we are playing just a little smarter now than we were in the early stages of the season, and I feel we are playing better hockey right now than we were at that point in time.”

The Cyclones feel that looking at this Oklahoma team is like looking into a mirror, not only because they are a young team, but because of the whole way their program is set up. It is very similiar to the Cyclones’.

“Oklahoma’s program is a lot like ours,” Murdoch said. “They recruit pretty heavily, they have good-quality players, their players come from all over North America, they are well conditioned, they have their own facility, and they have a great following of fans. It is a carbon copy of our program. They came in about five years ago and said they wanted to pattern their program after ours, and they have.”

Although Oklahoma is not in the Central States League, the Cyclones feel the fact both schools are in the Big 12 and see each other in every varsity sport is significant.

“Our student body is familiar with the Big 12, our fans are familiar with the Big 12, and they see that the Big 12 is tough in football, it’s tough in basketball, it’s tough in wrestling – and it is equally tough in hockey,” Murdoch said.

The Cyclones, after getting off to a slow 4-4 start, have really come on strong, sweeping their last three series, two of which were against ranked opponents. This will be, by far, the toughest game in that stretch, however, and the Cyclones are expecting a very difficult series.

“Every time we play them, it’s a really good game – really competitive – so I don’t think anything is going to change this year,” said sophomore defender Adam Mueller .

Despite the difficulty of facing Oklahoma, the Cyclones refuse to lower their expectations of themselves. They still expect to go out and win.

“We are at home – we want a sweep,” Murdoch said. “We are going to take it a game at a time, a period at a time, a shift at a time, but that is our overall objective.”