The Iowa State hockey team returned from its Ohio road trip two wins richer, bringing its record to a spotless 8-0.

Coach Al Murdoch said beating Ohio University, the defending national champions, on Friday night was a “great feeling.”

ISU took the ice at Ohio expecting to play a physical, high-scoring game. However, the final 11-5 score showed ISU dished Ohio a physical and offensive beating.

Cyclone Russ Crawford said a typical game between ISU and Ohio is a “bruiser fest.” He said Friday’s game was probably the first time Ohio woke up the next morning with more physical ailments than ISU.

Even though the game’s fate was determined by ISU, Ohio put the first point on the board with a power-play goal in the first four minutes of gametime.

Crawford said the early Bobcat goal was “like a wake-up call” for the Cyclones.

Rather than becoming intimidated by the champion-caliber team, ISU chose to answer the wake-up call. The Cyclones pushed the puck past the Ohio goalie six times before the end of the first period.

“It was nice to see our guys respond with six goals in the next four and a half minutes,” said Assistant Coach Bill Ward.

He said the team did a “good job of stepping up” after the early deficit. He said ISU players were “fore-checking extremely well, getting to every loose puck, and crashing the net for rebounds.”

“Our defensive corps was outstanding,” Murdoch said. He commended Rob Howitt, Mike Grammatickos and Nick Makris for their goaltending in the weekend series.

Murdoch also described his Cyclone team as”well balanced from top to bottom.”

Demonstrating the team’s offensive power, Cyclones Mike Ogbourne and Mike Anderson picked up hat tricks in Friday night’s game.

It was Ogbourne’s second-consecutive hat trick in one week’s time. He earned the other during the previous weekend’s series against North Dakota State.

Other goal-scorers against the Bobcats were Darren Anderson, Greg Jones, Terry Conlin and Jason Vega.

Saturday night’s match was a different story with the same ending, as ISU defeated Kent State 6-3.

Vega, Crawford, Darren Anderson, Mike Anderson, Anthony Penner and Nick Krueger netted goals against Kent State.

“We showed up at Kent State with a lot of enthusiasm after beating Ohio the night before. Just about every player on the team got ice time, including the back-up goalies,” Crawford said.

He said the second game gave the puck-chasers a chance to work on stick handling and passing skills. It also was an opportunity to improve on the power play and penalty-killing phases of the game. Murdoch said the squad’s reserves displayed traditional ISU excitement and enthusiasm on the Kent State ice. He said playing more players “gives the team depth.”

The Cyclones are more advanced as a team this season than at the same time last year, Murdoch added. He said the players continue to progress and perform at higher levels, but haven’t reached their peak yet.

Cyclone defender Pat Feezor agreed that the team is moving along.

He said this year’s squad is a smarter group and plays with more experience than the 1996-97 team.

“We’re rounding-out well, ” Feezor said.

The Cyclones stay at home this weekend for a Homecoming-weekend series against Ferris State. The team is set to skate Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.