The Iowa State Cyclone hockey team ran its consecutive win streak to 18 after sweeping through the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament this past weekend.

The No.1 nationally ranked Cyclone squad had previously claimed the regular season league title and was seeking to win the league tournament as well.

The first game of the tournament matched the Cyclones against the Wolves of Michigan-Deerborn. The Cyclones defeated the Wolves 4-2, in large part to the play of first- team all-tournament player Aaron Scharf.

Scharf netted two goals in the Friday night victory over Michigan-Dearborn. Others scoring in Friday’s game were sophomore defenseman Chad Evers and freshman defenseman Bob Dressel.

The Saturday night league championship game pitted the Cyclones against their recent nemesis, the two-time defending national champion Ohio University Bobcats.

The Bobcats, however, proved to be no better match for the Cyclones, falling by a score of 7-4.

“I felt very good about this victory. I think they’re one of the top teams in the nation this year. It’s been a long time since the Cyclones won the league outright and won the tournament. It wouldn’t be surprising at all to me if we meet them again in the national championship game,” said ISU Head Hockey Coach Al Murdoch.

Junior center and first-team all-tournament player Darren Anderson led the team over the Bobcats with two goals and an assist.

Other Cyclone goal scorers included sophomore center Chris Poli, sophomore right wing/center Scharf, sophomore forward Mike Ogbourne, junior left winger Sean Weaver and senior right wing/center Doug Borud.

The Cyclones also brought home other honors, including Murdoch, who was named the conference coach of the year.

“That’s unique. Usually opposing teams dislike being beat so much by ISU that I lose some votes. When you’re kicking the heck out of the opponent you lose some votes. But I guess they felt we were deserving irregardless,” said Murdoch.

Other honors handed out included junior goalie Rob Howitt being unanimously named the all-tournament most valuable player and junior defenseman John Paolello being named to the all-tournament first team.

The Cyclones will now take their 30-4-3 record to the national tournament at Eastern Michigan March 4-8.

This tournament includes the top 10 nationally ranked teams by the American Collegiate Hockey Association. The bottom four teams will play their first game March 4. The two victors will advance to the next round where the teams will be reseeded.

“I’m glad we have a week to prepare for nationals. We’ll need to be ready both physically and mentally and I don’t feel we’re ready yet. College hockey is noted for lots of practices and I think we will need to be ready to play our best hockey at the nationals. It’s a tremendous challenge to play four straight days of hockey.,” Murdoch said.

The Cyclones are the No. 1 seed in this tournament and will play their first game March 5 against the No. 8 seeded team.

The teams will then play in a round robin tournament on March 5-7. The teams with the two best records will play for the national championship on March 8.