Coming off of a big series the week before, the ISU hockey team remained cautious about facing its opponent this weekend. It turned out to be a good strategy as the Cyclones swept a determined team from Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“Their record didn’t look very strong,” said Cyclone forward Glenn Detulleo, “but they’ve had a lot of real close games. This isn’t the first time they have played like this.”

Warhawk forward Justin Hanaman needed just 78 seconds to post the first score on Friday, but it wasn’t long before an answer was provided.

About three minutes into the first, Detulleo ripped a shot past Whitewater goalie Larry Clemens to tie the game. Two minutes later, the Cyclone sharpshooter struck again, this time on a power-play chance to give Iowa State a 2-1 lead. Tory Larson put the ‘Clones ahead by two as the period came to a close.

Mark Krueger used another power-play opportunity to hand the ‘Clones a 4-1 lead six minutes into the second period. Whitewater’s Troy Burgess kept the game within reach, scoring 27 seconds after Krueger to make the score 4-2. However, Andrew Murdoch all but ended the visitor’s hopes for a comeback with a goal later on in the frame.

Nat Little put the Cyclones up by four early in the third, and Dan Stich scored late past ISU goaltender Nate Dahlen, but the game had already been decided. The home team skated off with a 6-3 victory.

Both goalies returned for Saturday night’s game, ready for action. Iowa State controlled the scoreboard in the first stanza, receiving scores from Eric Tofte and Detulleo to lead 2-0 after one period.

Clemens would settle down in the second and allow his team to get back into the contest. Dahlen shut down the Warhawks until the 5:22 mark, when Kris Cramer scored on a two-on-one break to close the gap to 2-1.

The game stayed tense as both Dahlen and Clemens came up with stop after stop. The Cyclones finally put the game away with a minute to go, when Detulleo placed the puck into an empty net, ending the game 3-1 in favor of Iowa State.

“It’s one of those games that you love to hate to play in, but it was fun,” Dahlen said. “It was just a blast to have the opportunity to play in a game like that.”

Although Saturday’s game will show a loss for Clemens, he did everything he could to give Whitewater a shot at tying the game, turning away 50 of Iowa State’s 52 shots.

“He knows that for our team to win, he needs to play well, and he played extremely well,” said Warhawk head coach Greg Weum. “We just weren’t able to bury the puck enough to get the W.”

“We’ve had games this year where we have been outshot 50-20 and they’re 2-1 or 3-2 games,” said Warhawk forward Beau Bingham.

These same two teams will play again in mid-January, a series that this weekend’s visitors should be prepared for.

“We are playing a lot of tight games, but we need to get a couple of big wins,” said Warhawk forward Chris Finkler. “I think if we could play more physical, it could only be to our benefit.”

With this series over, the Cyclones will now take the winter break off before getting back on the ice against Buffalo in the first week of January. While players will take more of a vacation than they did at Thanksgiving, sitting on their laurels is not an option.

“We’ll skate with our old junior and high school teams and have some weight workouts,” Tofte said. “Then we’ll come back here and practice for a week before Buffalo comes in.”

“We haven’t had a weekend off since September, so this gives us a chance to get everyone healthy,” Detulleo said.