The Iowa State University Governor’s Cup tournament turned out to be a one-team showcase this past weekend, as the host Cyclones cruised to the title behind an avalanche of goals and an impenetrable defense.

The Drake University Bulldogs and the Palmer College Dragons proved to be no match for the fourth-ranked Cyclones (16-3-2) as ISU erupted for 27 goals, while only surrendering five, in the two games.

In Saturday’s championship matchup, it seemed as though everyone short of the concession workers at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena scored as the Cyclones demolished the Dragons, 16-4.

Junior forward, and tournament Most Valuable Player, Doug Borud paced the Cyclone attack with his second consecutive four-point night.

Borud bolstered his status as the team’s leading scorer with a three-goal, one-assist performance, while junior forward Jason Vega recorded a hat trick of his own for ISU.

Among the 14 Cyclones that found their way onto the scoresheet were freshmen forwards Pat Feezor and Chris Poli, each tallied a goal and two assists, and Chad Evers and Sean Weaver, who piled on two goals apiece.

When he wasn’t thwarting away Palmer scoring attempts, even Cyclone starting goalie Kyle Geiger got in on the action, with an assist on the initial Borud goal.

Geiger’s prime objective was to stop the Dragons’ offense, though, and he did just that while playing his way onto the All-Tournament team by turning away 10 shots.

Afterwards, Geiger expressed his appreciation of the honor.

“It’s a good feeling,” the senior from Des Moines said. “It’s always nice to know you’re supposed to be one of the best out there. “

Midway through the second period, freshman Neil Gilmore took the net in relief of Geiger and stopped 9 shots, including two acrobatic saves on Palmer breakaways.

Despite the wide margins of victory, ISU head coach Al Murdoch was impressed by the showings of his team’s opponents.

“Even though the score didn’t indicate it, I thought that Drake played real well last night and I thought Palmer College played real well tonight,” he said. “The score is not necessarily an indication of the game.”

The Cyclones not only dominated the competitions, but the All-Tournament team as well, as Borud, Geiger, sophomore forward Brian Wierson and defensemen Rusty Crawford and Josh Ruston were named to the squad, along with Palmer forward Corey Calhoun.

On Friday night, the Bulldogs turned out to be mere puppies as the Cyclones hammered them for six third period goals in an 11-1 victory.

Borud and Poli led the ISU explosion with a goal and three assists apiece, and Wierson netted two goals, to go along with one assist, as the Cyclones steamrolled their way into the championship game.

Drake, which was undermanned due to inclement weather, was unable to amount any type of offensive attack of their own throughout the game as they were smothered by the Cyclone defense.

Sophomore Rob Howitt and freshman Mike Grammatikos split the goaltending duties for ISU and assured a Drake scoring drought as they combined for 18 saves.

Murdoch was especially pleased with his squad’s defensive effort.

“Our goaltending has just been outstanding this semester,” he said. “Our defense has really gelled, as young as we are.”

According to Borud, the meeting’s lack of competitiveness could prove as a positive for the Cyclones.

“It’s a nice game to have before finals next week,” he said. “They played us tough. They played us good, until the third period and then they just ran out of gas and we beat them.”

The night’s most exciting moment may have come during the second intermission when Molly Larsen of Ames, and also the girlfriend of Borud, was escorted onto the ice to participate in Score-O, a game in which a member from the crowd shoots a puck from various spots on the ice in an attempt to win prizes.

After winning a box of chocolates and a dozen roses with her first two attempts, Larsen set up to shoot for “an Iowa State hockey player” while Borud snuck along the boards on his way to the ice.

As Larsen took the final shot, Borud skated up to her, dropped to one knee and proposed marriage — teary eyed, she accepted.

The junior from Two Harbors, Minn., explained his plan after the game.

“I decided to make it a surprise and do it at a hockey game, because we met at a hockey game three years ago down in Des Moines,” he said.

“It just came to my head last night while we were eating dinner together,” the Cyclones’ captain added. “I put it all together this morning.”

Murdoch summed the event up as simply “another first for Cyclone hockey.”

Once the game continued, senior Mike Cech pushed the game out of reach with an amazing goal when he backhanded a shot by Drake goalie Tom Roche while sliding on his stomach.

Cech, Crawford, Evers and freshman Tony Finley each contributed a goal and assist to the Cyclone cause.