The house was packed and rocking Saturday night at the Ames ISU Ice Arena as the ISU hockey team knocked off the top-ranked Ohio University Bobcats 8-5.

“As I have said before our crowd is easily a two goal advantage,” ISU Head Coach Al Murdoch said. “This is what it’s all about.”

Cyclone defenseman and captain Rusty Crawford said that the fans were an even bigger factor.

“The crowd gave us every goal,” Crawford said. “Our fans are the best in the country.”

The standing room only crowd was promised a barn burner and both teams delivered.

The Bobcats jumped out to the early lead when captain Dan Morris sneeked one by ISU goalkeeper Rob Howitt just twenty seconds into the first period.

The noise was nearly deafening when the Cyclones responded at 1:15 on the power play. ISU captain Doug Borud won the draw and slapped it past OU goalie Brody Danner. It was Borud’s fourth goal with the man advantage and 16th overall.

Howitt kept the Bobcats in check for the next two minutes as Cyclone Darcy Anderson sat in the box serving an elbowing minor. The junior netminder sticked away a shot by Morris and then denied OU on two consecutive rebounds with some great kick saves.

Cyclone forward Aaron Scharf was the ISU star of the night, notching a hat trick. The first goal of which came at 7:32 of the opening period on a breakaway. ISU’s Darren Anderson assisted Scharf with a nice pass from inside the Cyclone end.

Scharf fooled Danner as he went high to the short side after feigning the backhand.

With a 2-1 lead, the Cyclones pressed the attack. ISU’s Chris Poli scored his second power-play goal of the season. The tally was made possible thanks in part to the efforts of ISU rearguard John Paolello. Paolello has proved to be an extremely valuable asset on the Cyclone blueline over the past two seasons, particularly when ISU is a man up. Opposing penalty killers have found it a very tall order to clear the puck past Paolello. By keeping the puck in the opposing zone, Paollelo has created numerous scoring opportunities, including Poli’s tally.

The Bobcats showed why they were the top-ranked team as they valiantly battled back against both the opposing team and the opposing crowd as well.

Chants of “OVERRATED” were temporarily quelled by OU’s Justin Wolf when the Bobcat forward carried the puck behind the Cyclone net and wrapped it around on Howitt’s glove side unassisted to pull the Bobcats to within one.

Both squads picked up the hitting and the crowd responded enthusiastically. It was clear to everyone that there was no love lost between the two powerhouses with thoughts of the last meeting of the two at last year’s national tournament fresh on the players’ minds.

Ohio closed out first period scoring on a power-play goal by Brian Kelley, tying the score at three.

The Cyclones came out strong in the second period. ISU regained the lead at 3:50 when Darren Anderson scored on a breakaway. Sprung by a pass from Cyclone defenseman Chad Evers, Anderson backhanded the puck high into the OU net.

The game’s crucial call occurred at 8:05 of the period when OU’s Robert Smith was socked with a five-minute cross-checking major and a game disqualification. ISU’s power play, which had not been as effective as Murdoch and the players would have liked for much of the season, cashed in big, scoring three goals over the course of the penalty.

Scharf continued en route to his hat trick with ISU’s fifth goal. The Cyclone juggernaut continued to roll in high gear as Darren picked up his second goal of the contest with Evers getting his second assist.

Just over a minute later, Cyclone Sean Weaver increased the lead to 7-3 on a pass from Darcy Anderson.

Howitt continued his stellar play shutting the Bobcats out in the second period turning aside ten OU shots, including a two-on-one chance.

“Howitt was outstanding,” Murdoch said. “Especially in the second. He continues to be very strong in the net.”

The crowd would nearly boil over in excitement at 11:33 when Scharf completed the hat trick, once again with the man advantage. The score was Scharf’s team leading seventh on the powerplay. Scharf ranks third in overall scoring for the Cyclones. Scharf has quietly been getting the job done for ISU all season long. “I was just doing my job,” the Rice Lake, Wisconsin native said. “My linemates have really been feeding me all year long.”

The Cyclones held an 8-3 advantage at the end of two periods of play.

The final period witnessed some of the most physical play of the year by the Cyclones.

ISU’s Brian Paolello was on the bad end of a dirty check when brother John happened to be on the ice. John cruised in to even the score and the melee was on.

Four players received fighting majors and misconducts, including both Paolello brothers at 3:18 of the third. Before the game was over, no less than nine penalties were handed out including two more misconducts, both to OU.

The Bobcats began clawing back at 12:16 of the third. Morris picked up his second goal of the game closing the gap to 8-4. Four minutes later, the Bobcats edged closer with a score from Greg Cherne. It wasn’t enough, as this one belonged to the Cyclones.

“That was a convincing win,” Borud said. “We had ’em beat all the way.”

The win was particularly memorable for the big Cyclone winger.

“That’s the first time we’ve beat them since I’ve been here,” Borud said. “We’re both basically the same teams as we were last year. It meant everything to beat them.”

ISU’s power play was outstanding, registering six of their eight goals with the man advantage, an accomplishment made even more impressive because the Cyclones have struggled to get power play production this year.

“Our power play wasn’t where we wanted it to be,” Crawford said. “We worked on it for three or four days last week for at least half of practice. The hard work really paid off.”

The Cyclones fine-tuned their power play on Friday night against the Kent State Golden Flashes. ISU notched six power-play goals en route to an 18-4 blowout win.

Darcy and Darren each turned in hat tricks and Poli, Weaver and Jason Vega scored two goals apiece for ISU.

Saturday’s win gives the Cyclones the No. 1 national ranking in the ACHA. It’s definitely how the Cyclones wanted to end the first half of the season.

“This win gives us a lot of momentum that will carry over to the second half,” Crawford said.

Poli summed up the feelings of the Cyclone players saying that “it doesn’t get any better than this.”

ISU finishes the first half with a 14-3-2 mark in the ACHA and a CSCHL record of 7-3-2. Darren Anderson is the team’s goal scoring leader with 31 tallies while brother Darcy leads in assists with 30. The brothers are tied for the team lead in overall scoring with 54 points apiece.

Darren also leads in +/- with a +56 and Mike Brown leads in shorthanded scores with four. Borud and Vega are tied for the lead in penalty minutes with 52 minutes each.

ISU resumes play January 11 and 12 at home against the Kansas Jayhawks.