In CSCHL tournament second-round action, the Iowa State Cyclones tangled with longtime rival Ohio University, currently the No. 4 team in the nation.

Coming off an impressive first-round win over Illinois, the Bobcats didn’t have enough momentum to match the host team, falling to ISU, 5-3.

“All of the games the rest of the year are going to be close, hard-fought matches,” associate head coach Bill Ward said. “Ohio’s a great team, and they’re very well-coached. We were just fortunate to come out with a win.”

The Cyclones excelled behind the inspired play of freshman netminder Dan LaVoie and the explosive offense of the scoring line consisting of Mike Ogbourne, Jesse Monell and Martin Birch.

“We got outstanding goaltending once again from LaVoie,” head coach Al Murdoch said. “Our defensemen are playing really well, and our forwards are really showing the speed and ability that I know they’ve got.”

LaVoie turned aside 16 of 19 shots but, more importantly, kept the Bobcats off the scoreboard before ISU could put together a sizeable lead early in the game.

Mike Ogbourne opened the Cyclone scoring with a rebound goal at 6:50 of the first period, and Monell tacked on a second just five minutes later on a shorthanded breakaway.

With just a few minutes remaining in the first period, Glenn Detulleo further increased the ISU margin. A perfect feed from Darren Anderson in the corner set up an impressive one-timer for the freshman from Porcupine, Ontario.

After their quick start, the Cyclones suffered from several mental lapses and found themselves shorthanded due to a number of penalties in the second period, but LaVoie and a vastly improved defense were there to bail them out time and again.

“When we went to Penn State, there was a quote in the paper that said our weakness was shaky defense,” freshman Rob Rose said. “We kind of took that to heart. We’ve been trying to stick it to guys now and show everyone that we have the best defense corps in the league.”

“The penalties took us out of the game a little bit,” Ward said. “We were very strong in the first period and at the beginning of the second, but we might have had a couple of lapses. Overall, though, it was a great hockey game and a great effort by our guys.”

Darren Anderson pushed the lead to 4-0 seven minutes into the period on a rebound goal shortly before Ohio scored its first goal of the game.

In the final frame, the Ogbourne-Monell-Birch line scored one more time, as Birch sandwiched a breakaway goal between a pair of late Bobcat scores.

“This was just one more step on our path,” Ward said. “The games just keep getting bigger each night.”