ISU Hockey started the second half of its season on a good note with a series sweep of Buffalo this weekend. The 10-1 victory over Buffalo was the first action for the Cyclones since winning two games against Wisconsin-Whitewater.The Cyclones’ offense stormed out of the gate to an early lead when Mark Krueger scored on a power play midway through the first period. Less than a minute later, a goal by Mike Gilbertson had Iowa State at an early 2-0 advantage. Krueger would light the lamp again with two seconds left in the period on another power play to send the ‘Clones to the locker room with a 3-0 lead.The Cyclone offense kept pouring on the goals in the second frame, with or without a man-advantage. Phil Hummel’s power play goal put the home team up by four two minutes into the period. Jeremy Meyer showed that cardinal and gold could score short-handed when he made the score 5-0. Jason McCollum added to the lead with five minutes to go in the stanza to give Iowa State a six-goal lead going into the second intermission.Francis Fuest replaced Adam Golder in goal for the Herd, but the result was no difference. Chris Leyen, Scott Steinkamp and Glenn Detulleo scored three of the ‘Clones’ four goals in the third. The fourth tally was notched by Krueger, who finished off a hat trick.Buffalo had been shut down by Nate Dahlen until Tony Campenelli got a score with less than four minutes left. Detulleo’s goal gave him five points for the game and handed Iowa State a victory.ISU assistant coach Brian Preston said the team looked a little sluggish starting out the game but turned up the intensity later.”We came out in the second period, put things together and put them away,” he said. “[Buffalo] came out [Saturday] and played us tough for most of the game. But our guys know what they have to do, and they wanted the points. I’m real happy with the way our team came out and played.”Golder was back as goalie for Buffalo Saturday night, and early on, it seemed as if goals would come fast and furious. Detulleo started the scoring while Andrew Murdoch took advantage of a two-on-zero breakaway to pull ahead 2-0 after one period.Unlike Friday, Golder slowed down the ‘Clones’ offensive firepower and kept his team in the game. Buffalo struck quickly out of the intermission as Jason Kiel sent the puck past Ramyleo Abujobarah to cut the deficit to 2-1.The game stayed tight until the early portion of the third period when the Cyclone offense exploded. In a two-minute span, Buffalo mistakes led to scores by Murdoch, Eric Tofte and Rob Rose to expand Iowa State’s lead to four.That stretch was too much for the Herd to overcome as three more team players scored in the frame. Meyer and Detulleo scored short-handed, and Krueger added his fourth of the series to lead the home squad to an 8-2 win. Joe Giordano scored the second goal for Buffalo.”Their goalie played really well [Saturday night],” Tofte said. “We got a lot of shots on him, but he was pretty focused. We just kept pelting him in the third and scored enough goals to win.”While Friday’s game was the first that the ‘Clones had played in just under a month, the players said they did not feel out of rhythm.”After being on a break that long, it takes a little while to get used to the speed again,” said ISU forward Nat Little. “We just had to keep our feet moving and work through it.”Overall, Tofte said the team was well-focused about keeping in shape over break.”I don’t think [the break] hurt us too much,” he said. “We were ready to go.”Iowa State will stay in-conference next week to face Whitewater on the road. The Cyclones swept the Warhawks in Ames to end the first half of the season.”We need to concentrate on our systems and our defensive play, and go in there and play physical hockey to beat them in their barn,” Little said.