After last Saturday’s game against Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Cyclones’ hockey team did not want another close game. Unfortunately, the Stallions of Western Michigan did not oblige Friday. Iowa State held on, however, and then cruised to victory Saturday to raise their home unbeaten streak to 17 games.Friday night’s contest started with the Cyclones going up quickly. Eight minutes into the first period, Andrew Murdoch scored on a pass from Mike Gilbertson. A minute later, Nat Little gave the home squad a 2-0 lead.Power play goals hurt the ‘Clones against Whitewater, and the Stallion’s Karl Merkle used a man-advantage situation to score his team’s first goal of the game. Gilbertson gave the momentum back to the Cardinal and Gold, turning on the red light with 15 seconds left in the frame.Iowa State built on their 3-1 lead early in the second with a Phil Hummel goal less than a minute in. Jason Chimel kept Western Michigan in the contest, scoring a unassisted tally past Nate Dahlen.Ten minutes later, the Cyclones showed how explosive their offense can be. Murdoch started a two-minute spurt that saw Mark Krueger and Scott Steinkamp stretch the advantage to five. It looked as if that would be the case at intermission, but Tanner Beuchler surprised the fans by scoring with 11 seconds left to bring the game to 7-3 at the break.Western Michigan refused to succumb to defeat easily. Penalties began to pile up for the Cyclones early in the third stanza, and the Stallions accepted the gifts.Kyle Kwasny was first to score followed by Merkle, who blistered two shots from the offensive blue line past Dahlen to finish off a hat trick. This pulled the visitors back within a goal at 7-6 with about 13 minutes left in the game. Although the attack was sudden, Dahlen was not completely surprised.”We were shorthanded, which always makes it tougher, and they just got some good breaks,” he said. “That’s the way hockey is.”Iowa State finally stalled the bleeding and helped their cause when Murdoch completed a hat trick of his own, giving Iowa State an 8-6 win.”We got into a lot of penalty trouble in the third period,” said ISU defenseman Rob Rose. “When you give guys that many opportunities to score on the power play, teams are going to bury the puck.”The first period of Saturday’s game saw the Cyclones respond well to a statement by Chimel, who gave the Stallions a 1-0 lead with a power play goal midway through the frame. Gilbertson, Hummel and Chris Leyen pelted shots that got past goalie Todd Hanchett to put Iowa State up 3-1.Western Michigan would get the last laugh in the stanza with another power play goal, this time by Ryan McEnhill to pull the visitors to within a goal at intermission.Following the break, the game belonged to the Cardinal and Gold. Krueger, Gilbertson and Jason McCollum extended the lead to four by the end of the second period.Saturday’s third frame was a complete reversal of the one played Friday. This time, it was the Stallions who suffered through penalty problems and the ‘Clones who took full advantage. Krueger, Murdoch and Rob Purviance all connected on power play goals as the home team coasted to a 9-2 romp.”The key was to stay out of the penalty box,” Murdoch said. “We also had to keep shooting the puck, busting the net and get production from all four lines, which we did.”Ramyleo Abujobarah improved on his play from the week before at Whitewater, completely shutting down the Stallions after the first 20 minutes.”I’ve had my opportunity to get in there and play as good as I can,” he said. “[Coach] could tell that I wasn’t in the last game I played at Whitewater. He just kept telling me to stay in my zone and I just tried to concentrate on that.”Another tough road test comes up for the Cyclones this week as they face the rival Illini of Illinois. Even though they’re on the road, the players don’t have any problem with playing in Champaign.”I love going to Illinois,” Andrew Murdoch said. “It’s a big rink, and the crowd’s always into it. We gotta beat them with our speed. In a big rink, speed in an advantage.””[The players] know that it’s the time of year where you have to play 60 minutes and maybe even 65 minutes if you go into overtime,” said ISU head coach Al Murdoch. “They are showing that they want to go to a higher level and that’s real gratifying for me as a coach.”