The No. 1-ranked Iowa State team continued its winning ways on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a sweep of South Dakota State, 11-3 and 9-5, and a victory over Palmer College by a tally of 9-3 to bring the winning streak to 14 straight victories.

But ISU Head Hockey Coach Al Murdoch isn’t satisfied yet. After the second victory on Saturday, Murdoch held his team for a conditioning practice after the four-goal win.

“I’m sure a lot of people were wondering what I was doing. But I’m not in this to be popular. I’m in this to get the most out of the players and win hockey games. I felt like they strayed from their game plan and could have played harder. I felt we needed to be better disciplined,” Murdoch said.

The discipline payed off on Sunday when the Cyclone defeated Palmer by six goals.

“I felt the late workout helped. They played a stronger game, a more disciplined game. Palmer has a good team too,” Murdoch said.

A rare event also occurred on Sunday. ISU leading scorer Darren Anderson racked up what Murdoch called a “pure hat trick”.

“When they talk about a ‘pure hat trick’ they are talking about a player that scores three goals, back-to-back, in the same quarter. Darren Anderson did just that,” Murdoch said.

“He and his brother Darcy are having quite competition this season, Darren has 85 goals while Darcy has 82,” he added.

Despite the winning streak, Murdoch is not taking the team’s two final games of the regular season for granted.

Wisconsin-Whitewater will be coming to Ames this weekend to do battle on Friday and Saturday.

“They are a young but scrappy team. They finished being ranked No. 12 in the country such that they just missed the deadline for the nationals. The nationals only take the top 10,” Murdoch said.

“But they are scrappy. I’m sure they are going to come in here with a chip on their shoulder. This should be another one of those games that the crowd will love,” he said.

Murdoch, now with the regular season coming to an end, had time to reflect back on the regular season.

“The 26 wins alone are amazing. This year has been something else. But we know it gets a lot tougher form here on in,” Murdoch said.

Friday and Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. games will also be the last time Cyclone seniors Douglas Borud and Sean Weaver will skate in the ISU Ice Arena in competition for Iowa State.

“It should be another good one. It will be the last time this season that Cyclone fans will be able to see the Cyclones compete in Ames,” Murdoch said.