The last time the ISU women’s hockey team played an opponent was nearly 50 days ago. But it’s time to get back on the ice as the team is set to host the inaugural Cyclone Invitational this weekend at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

Iowa State, ranked No. 4 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association women’s poll, will be one of the four ranked teams in the tournament.

The other ranked teams consist of No.1 St. Cloud State, No. 3 West Los Angeles College and No. 5 Colorado. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater will also participate in the tournament.

The tournament will be run round-robin style, with an at-large bid in the Women’s American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) National Championship at stake, head coach Blake Marshall said this weekend is crucial for his team.

“We’re in a position right now that we pretty much need to win all three games. If we win all three games, there should be very little chance of us missing an at-large bid for the National tournament,” Marshall said. “That’s been our goal from the beginning of the year and it could be a reality after this weekend.”

Iowa State, 8-6-1, will take on Colorado at 7:30 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, the Cyclones will play two games, against West Los Angeles College at 1.20 p.m. The other is set for 10:30 p.m. against Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“That is the pivotal game for us this weekend,” Marshall said of the West Los Angeles College game.

The Cyclones will conclude the tournament on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., when they take on the Buffaloes again.

“I’m hoping next year that we can end up with eight or 10 teams and make it a full-fledged tournament and make it an annual thing,” Marshall said.

Since the team’s last game on Dec. 7, the team did some skating during the holiday break but was able to spend time with family and friends.

“Basically my philosophy over the break here is let them get a chance to go home, let them get a chance to get away from the game for awhile,” Marshall said.

He said the team was allowed to”take a break, re-group, get rested up so that we can come into the second half of the season ready to go. Taking a break is a big part of it and it’s a great thing for them, especially since we have girls from northern Minnesota and Canada.”

Marshall said that the team has practiced well since the holiday break.

“We’ve done a lot of skating, a lot of re-orientated drills with the puck. This week we’re going to work on some system stuff,” said Marshall.

“We should be ready to go. I can tell they were on the ice over break which is a good thing.”

Freshman goaltender Justine Skibbe leads the Cyclones as she has recorded five shutouts and has a 2.12 save percentage. Freshman Kara Thompson leads the offensive attack with 22 goals while sophomore Katie Dunn has a team high 16 assists.

“We’ve been skating a lot in practices and trying to get into shape,” said Thompson.

“We need to continue to be good defensively because that’s one of our strong points for us. We also need to play smart hockey. Winning all three games is what we’re trying to accomplish this weekend.”

Marshall said that everybody has played well in the first half of the season, but is hoping his offensive production can match the team’s defensive intensity.

“We have some new players adapting to the game and they have actually been a tremendous asset for us,” Marshall said. “They have actually done a lot better then I’ve expected. All of our defensemen played very solid for us and it’s one of the areas where we do have some depth and experience. It’s great to see that.”