While Friday marks the beginning of Thanksgiving break for many students, it will just be another day at the office for the Cyclone hockey team.

The Cyclones will go on the road this weekend to face St. Louis University. Both teams go into the weekend moving in opposite directions.

The Billikens are 7-9-1 and in the midst of a four-game losing streak. However, they have lost their last three games by a combined four goals.

“They are one of the most improved teams in the country,” said ISU head coach Al Murdoch. “It will be important to control the tempo early and get them back on heels.”

The Cyclones, 13-5 on the year, have won three in a row, including a sweep of Colorado State this past weekend. The ISU defense has been much improved during the last few games.

“We’ve put a lot of emphasis on our defense, including the back-checking of our forwards,” Murdoch said. “We have also worked with our goalies on stopping rebound opportunities. We want to reduce the goals scored against us.”

The squad’s schedule is now filled with important league games until the end of the semester. While most teams have already played at least seven CSCHL contests, the ‘Clones have only played four games against league opponents.

“Because of the amount of games we’ve played, we’re in fifth place in the league,” Murdoch said. “There are a lot of points at stake when we play those teams.”

Iowa State will be going into this important stretch of games with more depth than they’ve had in the past few weeks.

“We’re starting to get people healthy and get back into a rhythm,” Murdoch said. “I feel good about our practices this week, and our defense is starting to play more physically.”

The team will now go on the road to face a very young Billiken squad that is experiencing some growing pains as a team.

“They are kind of a hot and cold team,” Murdoch said. “They had a great off-season, recruiting some good talent, but the team is playing fairly sporadically.”

Along with youth, St. Louis University will also supply a new arena that just opened recently. The structure is similar to the one that will replace the Ames Ice Arena early next year.

“It will be fun to play in a similar kind of place,” Murdoch said. “This should give us an idea of what we should expect when the new arena is finished.”

The Cyclones will begin and end the break with series away from home. The first one is this Friday and Saturday in St. Louis. After that, they will head to the University of Findlay to play against an NCAA Division I team on Nov. 24th and 25th.