Characterizing the Cyclone men’s hockey team as excited to play this Friday’s game would be an understatement.

The Cyclones will take on rival Illinois in Hilton Coliseum Friday at 7:30 p.m. — their one and only chance this season to play on Hilton ice.

Thursday evening the team spent its supper signing autographs, eating pizza with fans and whooping it up at Home Team Pizza, 2426 Lincoln Way, as KISS 107.5 broadcast the festivities live.

Head Coach Al Murdoch’s Cyclones have spent the past week promoting and are hoping the crowd will be out in droves to support the team.

“This is a big, big series for us, and it will be real physical,” Murdoch said. “It’s important for the seniors in their last year to get to play in such a fine facility.”

Along with the Cyclones playing to better their record, they will also be raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and Jerry’s Kids.

Murdoch said a portion of the ticket sales from Friday’s game will be donated to the MDA. In addition, the jerseys in which the team competes during the first period will be personalized and sold in a silent auction during the rest of the game, with 100 percent of the money raised also given to MDA.

“It’s a very gratifying and rewarding thing for our team to be able to contribute to an organization like the MDA,” Murdoch said.

However, with all the distractions of Homecoming and promotions this week, Murdoch is quick to point out that his team has been focused during practices and is ready to get on the ice against the Fighting Illini.

“This rivalry goes all the way back to the 1970’s,” Murdoch said. “Illinois is always a physical, hard-skating team, so we’ll have to be ready to play.”

After winning two out three games on the road this past weekend against Minot State and Northern State, the team is hoping the momentum will continue into this weekend’s conference games.

“They run a real hard-hitting system,” said co-captain Brian Paolello. “They are usually very feisty and will try to knock down whoever is around them.”

For Paolello, a senior from Illinois, there is more at stake than just playing his final game in Hilton Coliseum.

“Knowing some players from Illinois makes it somewhat of a personal rivalry to me, as well as a team rivalry,” he said.

The Cyclones are hoping to see a crowd as energetic as the crowd two seasons ago when the ACHA National Championships were played in Hilton.

“There is a lot of excitement to be playing in a facility like Hilton, which has so much history behind it,” Paolello said. “We’re grateful to the university for letting us play in here.”

The Cyclones will return to the Ames/ISU Ice Arena to play Saturday night’s game but expect to see a lively crowd each night, despite all the other Homecoming events.

“We realize there is a lot going on with Homecoming,” Murdoch said. “But with the team getting its record back on track and the rivalry we have with Illinois, we expect a pretty solid crowd.”