In the game of hockey, a power play goal can mean everything for a team.

The ISU men’s hockey team discovered that over the weekend as they scored three power-play goals to complete a sweep of the Minnesota Owls Friday and Saturday in exhibition play.

On Saturday, the Cyclones won 8-2 at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

ISU head coach Alan Murdoch said he was pleased with his team’s performance.

“[The weekend was] everything we wanted it to be and more,” Murdoch said. “The guys had a good victory [on Saturday]. We set some goals. We wanted to keep the goals against [us] down. We want to keep the goals for [ourselves] rolling. We got scoring from five different lines over the two nights. I think the fans got their money’s worth this weekend.”

In Saturday’s contest, the Cyclones attacked early in the first period but weren’t able to put the puck in the net. With 7:01 remaining in the period, freshman forward Kyle Norris put a backhand shot past the Owls’ goaltender to put Iowa State on the board. He was assisted by freshman forward Nick Tuma.

It was Norris’ first goal in his collegiate career.

“It felt really good,” Norris said. “The pass out of the corner — I was going around the slot and just picked it up and put it in through the backhand.”

Iowa State would add two more goals in the period as junior defender Mike Moren connected on the first power play goal for the Cyclones, and sophomore forward Rob Tauer scored the first collegiate goal of his career.

David Moline, Griffen Gale and Brooks Clinton scored goals in the second period for the Cyclones. Moline’s goal was on the power play. Junior forward Scott Hagen put Iowa State up 7-0 on a 5-on-3 short-handed goal. Minnesota put together two goals in the third period.

The Cyclones outshot the Owls 53-14. ISU freshman goaltender Trent Baker made 12 saves to get his first win of the season.

“It was a lot of fun. It was really cool out there, having all the fans and stuff to support everyone,” Baker said. “I was really surprised, since we’ve only been together for a week playing. [Our defense is] really good and you can trust them.”

Hagen said the team did a good job on special team opportunities during the weekend and liked what he saw from the younger players.

“We take a lot of pride in our power plays. Our penalty kill is just as good,” Hagen said. “It was a really good look at the incoming freshmen and new guys coming in. We’re pretty proud of the way they played, all four lines we saw. We played a lot of guys this weekend, which was good.”

On Friday night, Iowa State had three power play goals to win 7-2. Hagen and junior forward Travis Fast each scored two goals as the Cyclones outshot the Owls 41-15. Freshman forward Jason Brown scored his first collegiate goal for Iowa State.

Iowa State will return to play this weekend as it hosts Colorado State with games Friday and Saturday, each starting at 7:30 p.m.