The Cyclone Hockey team hit the road last weekend with hopes of extending their six-game win streak against their hated rivals, the No. 1 Illinois Fighting Illini. But after 120 minutes of fast, physical hockey, the Cyclones boarded the six-hour bus ride back to Ames empty-handed.

“I really think we played well enough to win,” said interim head coach Brian Wilkie. “I was happy with the way our defense played. If you only give up three goals a game, you should have a great chance to win, but our pucks just didn’t bounce into the net.”

The Cyclones (21-8-1, 7-6-1 CSCHL) surrendered three goals in the first 30 minutes on Saturday night, and could not answer against the Fighting Illini’s red hot goaltender Mike DeGeorge, who stopped all 34 shots against him to lead Illinois (22-2-0, 12-2-0) to the 3-0 victory.

“Although the score doesn’t show it, I thought we played better the second night than we did the first,” said Wilkie. “We just didn’t score, that’s the bottom line.”

In the opener on Friday night, the Cyclones jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on first-period goals by sophomore Mike Murtaugh and junior Jayson Peterson, but didn’t manage to hold on as they surrendered three goals in the third period to drop the game 3-2.

“In the second period I think we got into a mode of playing not to lose,” said Wilkie.

“We sort of turned into a prevent type of defense and made a few individual mistakes. You can’t do that against the No. 1 team in the country and expect to win.”

Illinois may have been without five players and head coach Chad Cassel, who were in Italy for the 2007 Winter World University Games, but they had thousands of screaming loyal fans behind them.

“We have a great section of loyal fans in Ames that cheer and heckle opposing players,” said Murtaugh. “But their entire arena was onto us this weekend. It is a major home advantage when their fans sit right on top of you over the glass, and I even got spit on a few times on Saturday.”

The sheet of ice at the arena in Champaign is also 25 feet wider than the one in Ames, which took some time for the Cyclones to adjust to.

“When some of us stepped out on the ice we were just in awe,” said Murtaugh. “One offensive zone looked like an entire rink in itself and a lot of guys have never played on a surface that big.”

Although the Cyclones only managed to land two pucks in the net on the weekend, freshman Pete Majkozak, the Cyclones leading scorer, landed several punches on Illinois’ Pat Mannina late in the third period on Saturday. Majkozak came back to win the fight in impressive fashion, but he will be suspended for next weekend’s Friday night opener against No. 4 Oklahoma. That game will start at 7:30 in the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

The Cyclones, who remain in fourth place in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, will play the second game of next week’s series at 3 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines as part of a doubleheader with the Iowa Stars.