After spending most of Thanksgiving Break on the road, the No. 6 Cyclone Hockey team will play the first of four consecutive home series this weekend when Ohio University pays a visit to Ames.

The No. 5 Bobcats (14-4-1), a conference rival and preseason favorite in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, have won its last four games and are 8-2-0 in CSCHL conference play.

“It’s an absolute war when we meet,” said Cyclone Hockey coach Al Murdoch. “Ohio is an extremely good hockey team that is similar to us, and we’re looking forward to a couple of very fast, competitive and physical games this weekend.”

This series promises to be full of offensive firepower, as the Bobcats and Cyclones have the first and third most prolific offenses in the CSCHL, respectively.

The Bobcats have swept the season series with the Cyclones each of the last three years, but the Cyclones are looking forward to turning the tables this year on home ice.

“The Ohio match up is always one of the toughest weekends of the season,” said senior Jason Brown. “For us, I think it’s even bigger than the Iowa-Iowa State rivalry, and it will be great to be back at home for these huge games.”

Ohio has had its fair share of road woes this season, going just 2-4-1 when playing away from Bird Arena in Athens. This includes a string of four losses on the road after winning 10 of its first 11 games.

The Bobcats are led by Dave Fitzgerald and Brandon Hanley, who both rank in the top 15 in the ACHA in points and assists. Ohio’s Travis Preble and Jim Fuhs are future teammates of Cyclone Hockey’s Allen Raushel, as they will compete together for Team USA in the World University Games in Turin, Italy, this January.

Raushel, Mike Paulsen and Trent Baker will all be back in pads for the Cyclones after missing the series against North Dakota State due to injury and illness. Freshman Matt Verdoni is still sidelined from a bone chip he suffered after taking a slapshot off his ankle against Eastern Michigan, and is not likely to see ice time against Ohio.

After having a successful weekend both offensively and defensively against NDSU, the Cyclones want to continue what they have started, as well as improve on all aspects of their special teams play.

“Ohio is a very good penalty-killing team, so we need to work on power-play systems,” said Murdoch. “But they are also very good at the power play, so we have some work to do on our penalty-killing as well.”

Game one of the series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night will be Red-Out Night at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena, and all fans wearing red will receive $1 off admission. Game two will face-off at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.