A big win is sweet, but being the 600th career win for Iowa State Coach Al Murdoch makes the victory even sweeter.

Last night, Murdoch’s Cyclone team got the landmark victory from Arizona Icecats. The score of the match was 8-4.

Because the historical hockey moment had been staring him in the face, he said, “It feels pretty good to have it behind me.”

Thirty-three wins is the most a Cyclone team has had in Murdoch’s 28 years at the helm, and Murdoch is already looking for more. In particular, he and the ISU squad hope to get the next one from Penn State.

In the victory, ISU made a little more magic in Hilton than it did the night before. For Arizona, the magic hasn’t been there, as the Icecats fell in their second tournament competition.

The Cyclone skaters ruled the rink in the first and last chapters, once again showing signs of a traditional Murdoch squad, a squad that is tough in the third.

He said, “We had back to back nights of strong third period play.”

ISU took an early lead, scoring three goals before Arizona could answer.

Cyclone Brian Paolello lit up the board at 1:24. Only a minute later, Terry Conlin helped Darren Anderson push the puck past Arizona’s Jordan Bolton for an two-point advantage. The goal was shorthanded.

Darren Anderson said the Cyclones knew what kind of power play the Icecats had, making ISU able to “capitalize on opportunities” after forcing Arizona to make mistakes.

Tom Grimwood netted the third goal, assisted by Darcy Anderson.

At 14:52, Arizona’s Mark Harris knocked in what turned out to be his team’s lone goal for the period. Ed Carfora and Kevin Baskel assisted him in destroying any hope of a 20-minute shut-out for Rob Howitt.

For the hat trick, Darren Anderson, picked up a pair of goals before the end of the first chapter, one of which was on a power play. Russ Crawford contributed the passes.

Darren Anderson said, “I’m just glad it happened.”

He said the team was “feeding off the third period” from the Wednesday night match against Eastern Michigan, which ended in a tie.

Marc Harris knocked in Arizona’s lone goal for the period off assists from Ed Carfora and Kevin Baskel.

The second stanza played a little harder, so neither team made any noise until seven minutes had passed.

Murdoch described his team’s play as “a bit flat.”

With a little help from his friend Joe McCaffrey, Icecat Harris had a second goal at 7:58. Ben Ruston grabbed a goal five minutes later, assisted by Paul Dorn and Mike Graves.

The hot hand and quick reflexes of the Icecat goalie kept the Cyclones silent most of the period.

Things got a little crazy around the 10-minute mark, and the Cyclones went on a power play shooting spree.

Something upset Arizona’s goalie, and he made motion to wreak stick havoc on an ISU man nearby. Seeing the ref, he refrained, and the battle resumed.

With 43 seconds remaining, ISU took advantage of some open net. Darcy Anderson pounded the puck to close out the period at 6-3.

After catching a pass from his cousin Darren Anderson and seeing goal potential, Conlin sank the Cyclones’ second shorthanded goal of the match.

Icecat Baskel saw it fit to reply, and collected the fourth Arizona goal.

Then, the Conlin/Anderson combo repeated the previous third period play to put the score at 8-4.

“We knew we had to beat this team to stay in the hunt,” Darren Anderson said. “Now our destiny is in our own hands.”

Murdoch said that tomorrow night is a big game and the cardinal and gold will have to maintain their cool.

He said that the Cyclone squad is probably the underdog going into the Friday night contest.

“But that’s where I’d like to be,” he said.