There were plenty of smiles this weekend at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

The ISU Men’s Hockey Club cruised to a weekend sweep as they defeated the University of Minnesota’s Hockey Club 7-1 and 9-0 to close the 2002 home schedule.

In Friday’s game, the Cyclones struck first in the opening period early and never looked back. Trent Mozak converted a rebound shot at the 3:42 mark off a feed from Mike Stellmaker and Tim O’Shea to make the score 1-0. Iowa State got their only power-play goal in the game as Stellmaker squeezed the puck past Golden Gophers goalie Trevor Fairly. Brent Popadych tallied a goal late in the period to make it 3-0.

Nick Spring’s goal at the 3:58 mark of the second period made it 4-0. Iowa State added two more in the period in a span of a 1:41 from Zach Peterson and Phil Hummel. Minnesota finally got the board with 3:01 remaining in the second period.

“We didn’t give them any momentum. I think maybe they had ‘bus’ legs and their goaltender was a little flat and that gave us an advantage,” said ISU head coach Alan Murdoch. “Everybody played well from top to bottom. We got all our scoring from our four lines. Special teams have been playing really well. This home win was good. We’re young and growing. Now we have to show that maturity.”

Andrew Murdoch rounded out the scoring in the third period. ISU freshman goaltender Darren Helmkamp recorded 14 saves as the Cyclones outshot Minnesota 34-15. The win on Friday stopped a four-game home losing streak.

“I thought we played pretty well. We took advantage on some of their weaknesses and capitalized,” Spring said. “It boosted our confidence when we came into the locker room.”

The Cyclones scored quickly in the first period in Saturday’s game at the 4:13 mark as Travis Fast’s goal trickled in. But Iowa State put the game away in the second period and did so in a very quick fashion.

Popadych tallied a short-handed goal 48 seconds in the period off a feed from Andrew Murdoch. One minute and 31 seconds later, Derek Young scored an unassisted short-handed goal to make it 3-0. Iowa State scored two more quick goals in a span of 55 seconds as David Moline and Hummel made the score 5-0. Andrew Murdoch scored the first of his two goals on the night.

“We came out hard. Minnesota is not a bad team. We had a tough week of practice. We work really hard and we came out ready to play,” Hummel said. “I got to give credit to the coaching staff and the guys giving their all this weekend. It was 1-0 going into that stretch and we got those two quick ones and their goalie was rattled and we scored two more quick goals and before you knew it, it was 5-0.”

Andrew Murdoch’s second goal of the night came at the 4:58 mark. Iowa State added two more in the period as Spring and Mike Moren scored the goals. Cyclone Brendan Kidd’s first shutout of the season was the first one for the team this season. Iowa State dominated shots on goal as they outshot Minnesota 51-11.

“It was a fun weekend. We gave everything we got. It was the biggest crowed of the year and it helped a lot having those guys here,” Andrew Murdoch said. “We wanted to get on the board and get ahead. We play better when we’re ahead. We just keep applying pressure and it was a harder time for them. We weren’t happy with our first-period performance.”

Hummel said the big crowd was a plus for the team. “It was pretty exciting for us on the bench and I think the crowd was having a good time tonight. We like to know how much we appreciate them because without them, we don’t know where we’ll be,” Hummel said.

Iowa State opens up the second half of the season Jan. 3 and 4 at Minot State.