ISU assistant men’s hockey coach Brian Wierson foresees two victories this weekend for Iowa State – as long as his team has their minds in the right place.

“We want to get our guys mentally prepared to play 60 minutes of hockey from start to finish on Friday and Saturday.” Wierson said. “If we can just do that, we can’t be stopped.”

The Cyclones hit the home ice against Colorado Friday and Saturday night. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. for both contests.

This weekend’s game against the Buffaloes is perceived by many to be a showdown between two very talented teams, assistant coach Brian Preston said. He said both teams are trying to establish their dominance early in the season within a league comprised exclusively of tough teams.

Preston said Colorado is a very quick, efficient team. But he expressed confidence in the Cyclones’ defense and hopes that Iowa State will be able to stay out of the penalty box.

“This weekend we’re going to step it up,” Preston said. “We’re going to come out hard on Friday and carry the momentum on to Saturday.”

Last weekend, the club split a series with Colorado State in a pair of games in which the Cyclones won the first on Friday 6-4, and were defeated on Saturday 6-2.

“It was a good learning experience for the players, as well as for the coaching staff,” Wierson said.

Wierson said the key to the ISU win was their consistent pressure against Colorado State in the first game.

Iowa State was able to get out to a good lead and restricted Colorado State to merely two goals until near the end. The Rams then managed to score two additional goals.

However, Wierson said the second game of the series was not as successful.

“The turning point was in the third quarter,” Wierson said. “ISU was down 3-2 when Colorado State broke out and went on to score three additional times, while managing to completely restrain our offense.”

Wierson said several players distinguished themselves during the series. He recognized sophomores Travis Denzel, Brendan Kidd, Mike Moren and senior Andrew Murdoch for their outstanding play against Colorado State.