The ISU hockey team’s string of undefeated games came to an end as the Cyclones split a two game set at Wisconsin-Whitewater, winning huge Friday night 15-3 and dropping Saturday’s contest 9-5.

Friday’s game featured well-balanced scoring from ISU, a signature of this year’s Cyclone squad. ISU’s Aaron Scharf and Darren Anderson each racked up seven points with Scharf recording a hat-trick and four assists and Anderson notching two goals and assisting on five other ISU scores.

Cyclone Chris Poli added a hat-trick of his own and an assist while ISU captain Rusty Crawford scored four points to lead Cyclone blueliners in weekend scoring. Captain Brian Wierson chipped in a goal and two assists as did ISU defenseman Chad Evers.

ISU goalkeeper Rob Howitt turned aside 29 of 32 Whitewater shots to remained undefeated between the Cyclone pipes this season.

The Cyclones believed they had something to prove in Friday’s contest having been snubbed in the ACHA rankings, dropped from second to fourth below Eastern Michigan who the Cyclones have already defeated this season.

“Friday we were definitely on a mission,” ISU senior Sean Weaver said. “We were out to prove something in the ratings.”

Saturday’s game featured Cyclone goals from Mike Brown (2), Anderson (2) and captain Doug Borud (1).

The five goals ISU scored however would not be enough as Whitewater jumped out to a 6-1 lead after one period of play.

The ease with which ISU dispatched Whitewater on Friday may have affected the focus of the team for Saturday’s game.

“I think we went into Saturday thinking it was going to be easy,” Weaver said. “We gave up the early lead, fell behind and couldn’t catch up.”

The Cyclones will look to turn the negatives of Saturday’s 9-5 loss into positives during the coming week in preparation for ISU’s two-game home set with Marquette.

“The effort on Saturday was more offensive than defensive. Everybody was trying to score and there was no backchecking,” Weaver said. “I think that Saturday’s game was a wake-up call for us. We’re going to put in four days of hard work this week and come out strong this weekend.”