The ISU hockey team swept a weekend series for the first time this season breaking the “tie jinx” that gripped the team for the past three weeks.

“We played our kind of hockey,” ISU Hockey Head Coach Al Murdoch said. “We got on the board right away and didn’t let up.”

Ferris State came out strong Friday night as well and got the first scoring chance of the game on a two-on-one break three minutes into the first period. Cyclone netminder Rob Howitt denied the attempted one-timer, making the difficult save look easy as he has done all season.

ISU was be unable to convert on two power plays in the first half of the period, but cashed in 4 on 4 at 12:05. The puck was nearly cleared out of the Bulldog’s zone, but was held in by ISU blueliner John Paolello. Paolello returned the puck deep in the FSU end where it was picked up by Cyclone forward Chris Poli. Poli released a quick shot that was saved, but Poli snagged the rebound and deposited the puck in the FSU net.

The Cyclones pressed the attack and scored just over a minute later when ISU’s Jason Vega’s determination in a goal-mouth scramble payed off as the Cyclone winger poked the loose puck in for his sixth goal of the year.

ISU’s Mike Anderson would increase the Cyclone lead to 3-0 at 17:30. Anderson gloved down a shot from Mike Brown right behind the FSU goalie and smacked it in before the hapless goalkeeper knew what had transpired.

ISU held its lead thanks to some extra efforts that don’t appear in the game summary. ISU captain Rusty Crawford blocked no less than three Bulldog slapshots. Although blocked shots are not officially kept, Crawford is far and away the team leader in this vital if unheralded aspect of the game.

ISU captain Doug Borud continued to be the team’s number one ice presence in the first period, physically taking FSU out of the game in the early going.

The period ended with ISU taking the most ridiculous penalty of the weekend. ISU’s Wade Eldridge whacked FSU’s Tom Gibbons on the right knee pad prior to a faceoff. The entire crowd heard the smack of the pad. After a second had passed, Gibbons fell to the ice in a diving performance that was truly deserving of an Emmy. The Bulldog winger writhed in “pain” and Eldridge went to the box.

FSU got on the board 53 seconds into the second period to close the gap to 3-1. The inevitable Cyclone answer came three minutes later when Aaron Scharf scored on a sweet Darren Anderson feed from behind the FSU cage.

ISU continued to dominate both physically and on the scoreboard. ISU rookie Brian Paolello notched his third goal at 5:48 of the second and Borud would tally the eventual game winner with the man advantage at 8:04.

Poli continued his aggressive play and leveled Bulldog winger Shane Googins, hitting him hard enough to send Googins to the dressing room.

ISU senior Sean Weaver widened the gap with the first of two goals at 12:19, beating the FSU backstop on the short side. ISU scoring leader Darcy Anderson fed Weaver on the 3 on 1 break.

Darcy continued to pile up the points scoring on the power play at 18:30 to close out second period scoring.

With ISU up 8-2, Murdoch replaced Howitt in goal with Neil Gilmore.

“We know what Howitt can do,” Murdoch said. “With a lead like that we had a chance to get Gilmore in.”

The Cyclone onslaught continued in the final period. Weaver collected his second goal at 2:34 and Darcy backhanded a rebound by the Bulldog goalie at 6:48 to make it 10-2 ISU. Darren, the other half of the Anderson scoring machine, popped in the Cyclone’s eleventh goal at 10:25 of the third.

Darcy came back two minutes later and scored his fourth goal of the contest.

Borud kept the puck in the FSU zone and passed it on the tape to Darcy. Darcy held and waited for the Bulldog goalkeeper to commit. Once the goalie flinched, Darcy fired it home.

FSU took advantage of Gilmore losing his stick and score a meaningless goal at 13:46. FSU added a pair of goals, but it was much too little and far too late to affect the outcome as the Cyclones rolled to the 13-5 beating.

“We showed moments of brilliance tonight,” Murdoch said.

FSU’s play became chippier as the rout wore on.

“It’s sometimes tough to play with a lead that big,” ISU Assistant Coach Markus Olsson said.

“The other team has nothing to lose and they try to destroy your game. When that happens you try to stay focused and stay out of the box.”

“It’s tough to keep the level of intensity high when you have a big lead,” Borud said. “We skated really well and passed tape to tape all night.”

It was the first time in weeks that the Cyclones got off to an early lead, having had to battle back from three goal deficits in both of the previous weekend’s road trips.

“We learned our lesson,” Darcy said.

Darcy racked up seven points in Friday night’s contest playing on a recently assembled line with Weaver and Borud. According to Darcy, the line is a perfect combination.

“I love this line,” Anderson said. “Borud’s a big banger, digging the puck out of the corners and giving me and Weaver all kinds of scoring chances.”

“Weaver is a heads up guy,” Anderson said. “He always seems to know where I’m at and I always know where he’s at even when we aren’t looking at each other.”

Weaver agreed that the line was a great fit, having produced seven goals and 15 points Friday night.

“The line’s great balance wise,” Weaver said.

“Darcy’s a big time scorer and Doug works the corners.”

Saturday’s game had the looks of yet another ISU tie. The game was much tighter than the previous night’s affair with the Cyclones prevailing 4-3.

ISU struck first only a minute in when Borud stole the puck right off the stick of a Bulldog defenseman right in front of the FSU goalie and backhanded the puck in for the 1-0 lead.

FSU evened it up on the power play at 12:25 when Gilmore was beaten through a tough screen.

The score remained notted at one at the end of the first period.

ISU regained the lead with the man advantage at 5:56 of the second with Scharf beating the Bulldog backstop five-hole on a pass from ISU captain Brian Wierson.

Cyclone defenseman Anthony Penner slapped his third goal of the season at 10:37.

Weaver won a draw just inside the blue line. Weaver knocked it back to Penner who quickly fired the puck through the crowd of players catching the FSU goalie somewhat off guard.

The Bulldogs closed out the scoring in the second period, closing the gap to a single goal.

Only 24 seconds into the final period FSU’s Mark Disano tied the score at three.

Just when it looked like ISU was headed for another tie, Wierson scored the game winner at 7:05.

The puck was held in by Penner and picked up deep by Scharf.

Wierson took the pass from Scharf and went high over the shoulder of the Bulldog netminder to complete the Cyclone sweep of FSU.

“It feels good,” Murdoch said.

With the two victories, ISU improved to 5-0-3 in the ACHA and 2-0-2 in the CSCHL.

The Cyclones host the Governor’s Cup this weekend, November 1 and 2 with games being played at 4:30, 7:30 and 10:30.