The No. 1-ranked Iowa state hockey team warmed up for next weekend’s conference tournament by handing two heartbreaking losses to visiting Wisconsin-Whitewater over the the Valentine’s Day weekend.

The Cyclones crushed the No. 12 ranked Warhawks 8-0 on Friday night, and then beat them again Saturday night 5-2. This brings the Cyclones winning streak to 16, and finishes the regular season with a 28-4-3 record. Head Coach Al Murdoch said that he feels that the team is playing great hockey at just the right time, with the CSCHL league tournament and the ACHA national tournaments rapidly approaching.

“We’ve got some momentum going. We’re a week away from the league tournament and three weeks away from the national tournament and I think it’s going to be real good. I think we are at a point where the guys are flowing and moving as a team well enough that it doesn’t really give the opponent a chance to get going,” Murdoch said.

Murdoch also said that often the best way to defend against a team is to have an overpowering offense.

“The score tonight (Friday) was kind of deceiving, even though it was a shut out for Iowa State that was a darn good Wisconsin team and offensively sometimes the best defense you can have is a good offense which was definitely the case tonight,” Murdoch said.

This idea was evident Friday night as the Cyclones fired 81 shots at the Wisconsin goal. Wisconsin answered back with only 17 shots at the Cyclone goalkeeper.

There had been some fear that Wisconsin-Whitewater would come into last weekend’s games attempting to make a statement.

The Warhawks will be excluded from this year’s national tournament because only the top ten teams are invited to participate.

“Wisconsin-Whitewater, though they’re not a bad team I’m sure they’re a bit down and maybe just a little bit disappointed about not qualifying for the top ten. Sometimes when you anticipate that they may come in with a bit of a chip on their shoulders you get just the reverse. Maybe they were a bit down, but they were playing against the number one team in the country so that’s a lot of opposition for you,” Murdoch said.

Coach Murdoch also explained what the team will be up against in next weekend’s conference championship. Two weeks after the conference tournament the Cyclones will be traveling to Eastern Michigan to play in the ACHA tournament for the national championship.

“The top ten teams in the country are invited to the tournament. The top six teams in the country get a bye in the first round. Then the next day the eight teams that remain play in round robin on that Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The two teams with the best records play that Saturday for the championship,” Murdoch said.

Four of the ten teams participating in the tournament for the national championship are from the Cyclones conference.