The eighth-ranked Iowa State men’s hockey club played a hard-fought series and split with No. 7 Weber State.

Friday night’s game started off slow, and both teams looked sluggish. Despite good shots by both teams, the game was scoreless after the first period.

Iowa State came out fired up in the second period, and Zach Peterson scored just under two minutes in to give the Cyclones a 1-0 lead. The teams stalemated the rest of the period.

The third period was roughly played by both squads, and many penalties were called. Despite the physical play, the Cyclones were able to add to their lead. Four minutes into the period, Scott Hagen netted a four-on-four goal to give the Cyclones a 2-0 lead.

Iowa State then gave themselves a 3-0 cushion when Mike Moren scored just a minute later.

With a three-goal lead, the Cyclones focused on defense and shut down Weber State.

The Wildcats were able to get a goal with nine minutes left, but the Cyclones held on for the win — coach Alan Murdoch’s 800th at Iowa State.

The biggest factor in the Friday win was goaltender Trent Baker. He stopped 48 of 49 shots faced.

“[Baker’s] playing unbelievable right now,” Murdoch said.

Baker said he thought his defense played very good in front of him.

“I’m just seeing the puck good right now and am getting lots of good defense help in front of me,” he said.

Saturday night’s game was one of momentum changes. Weber State had it early, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the game.

The Cyclones then began to seize the momentum toward the end of the first period when Hagen scored his second goal of the series, making the score 2-1.

The Cyclones continued to own the momentum in the second period as Travis Fast scored a power-play goal three minutes into the period.

Just three minutes later and again on a power play, Brent Popadych netted the Cyclones third goal, giving them a 3-1 lead.

But the Wildcats staged a comeback. They tallied their second goal with a minute left in the second period to make it 3-2.

In the third period, the Wildcats scored again and again and held off the Cyclones for a 5-3 win.

Murdoch said he was pleased with his team’s overall play this weekend.

The Cyclones will have to be at their best again next weekend when they host No. 6 Minot State. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and 9:45 p.m. Saturday at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.