The ISU men’s hockey team could only muster a third-place finish in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament Sunday. The Cyclones defeated the Eastern Michigan Eagles 4-1 on Sunday in the consolation game at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

With the third place finish, the Cyclones are 25-15-2 overall.

“I would rather go 3-for-3 in this tournament but we’ll take 2-for-3. I thought the team played really well today,” ISU head coach Alan Murdoch said. “We had good solid goaltending and our defense played well.”

Eastern Michigan got to the board first in the first period. But with 1:51 remaining in the period, Travis Fast knotted the game at one all. Brent Popadych got the assist on the play.

The second period, however, belonged to the Cyclones as they exploded for three goals.

One minute into the second period, Zach Peterson put Iowa State up for good at 2-1 off a feed from Phil Hummel.

“My goal was huge. I really wasn’t expecting it,” Peterson said. “My lineman Phil Hummel gave me a great pass. I went into the net and he did all the work. It was a huge momentum swing for us.”

Also scoring in the period were Popadych and Andrew Murdoch.

Iowa State outshot Eastern Michigan 36-27 in the game as goaltender Jason Katz made 26 saves.

Alan Murdoch said that his team played a much better second-period than the Saturday night game.

On Saturday, the Ohio University Bobcats scored four second period goals to defeat the Cyclones 6-2. Prior to the contest, Iowa State had won seven straight home games.

“We followed up on our back-checking assignments. Our power play was there today but didn’t get the puck in the net,” he said.

Peterson said that the team played a much better game than their previous game.

“We came out strong and today we played really well,” Peterson said. “We played a more physical style of game which is our style.”

During Saturday’s game, Ohio took a 1-0 lead in the first period before Scott Hagen knotted the score on the only power play goal for Iowa State in the first period. Ahead 2-1 in the second period, the Bobcats scored on a controversial goal with 14:33 remaining in the period and netted two more after that. Phil Hummel rounded out the Cyclones scoring late in the third period.

Alan Murdoch credited the power play to be the difference in the game.

“They were 3-for-6 on the power play and that was the big difference in the game,” he said. “That was not a typical Iowa State team. Ohio University is playing playoff hockey. No question about it that the second period hurt us. They outhustled us, outhit us and outshot us.”

Even though Iowa State converted on 11 Western Michigan penalties in Friday’s night contest, the Cyclones used some solid goaltending from Katz to defeat the Stallions 5-2.

Western Michigan had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first period. But an unassisted goal by Tony Daniels with 10:16 remaining in the first period knotted the score at two-all and the Cyclones never looked back.

With 12:16 remaining in the second period, Mike Stellmaker put Iowa State up for good at 3-2. Andrew Murdoch and Daniels rounded out the scoring for the Cyclones.

Iowa State outshot Western Michigan 31-22 as Katz made 20 saves.

“We played them a couple of weeks ago and I actually played both of those games. I kind of knew what to expect,” Katz said. “Defensively, all of our players played really well. Our whole team played really well.”

Iowa State will close out the home season next weekend, hosting Robert Morris College.