While most ISU students were dining on leftover turkey last Saturday, the ISU hockey team was feasting on lion, Penn State Nittany Lion that is, and capturing the Chicago Classic championship.

The Cyclones began the holiday break on a sour note, traveling to North Dakota State and getting swept for the first time this season by close margins of 6-5 and 4-2 with the weekend’s final goal being shot into an empty ISU net.

The losses fueled the Cyclones for the following weekend’s action in the windy city.

“Those losses made us hungry,” ISU senior Sean Weaver said. “Everything really clicked well at the tournament.”

Cyclone Chris Poli agreed noting that North Dakota is one of the most underrated teams in the CSCHL.

“Nobody gives them much respect,” Poli said. “We got a big wake up call.”

The Cyclones definitely “woke up” in the first round of the Classic drubbing West Virginia 13-0 in the tournament opener.

Poli, Darren Anderson, Chad Evers, John Paolello and captain Brian Wierson all notched two goals each while captain Doug Borud racked up four points on a goal and three assists. ISU netminder Rob Howitt, who suffered his first loss of the season at North Dakota State, posted his third shutout of the year while improving his record to 10-1-2.

The Cyclones advanced to the championship game to face third-ranked Penn State.

ISU jumped off to the early lead at 7:39 of the first period when Borud scored his fourteenth goal of the season.

Weaver potted the Cyclone’s second goal 10 seconds later and the score remained 2-0 until the final period. After Penn State scored their first marker of the game at 3:44 of the third, Cyclone Darcy Anderson scored the eventual game winner at 8:50.

Anderson broke through the molesting Nittany Lion defenders to slam the puck past the Penn State goalie one-handed. With the goal, Anderson regained the Cyclone scoring lead from brother Darren. Darcy has 47 points in 18 games while Darren has notched 46 points in 20 games.

Penn State scored once more, but Howitt slammed the door shut totaling 35 saves in the 3-2 ISU triumph.