Although the Fighting Illini proved to be worthy of their nickname, they also proved to be no match for the Cyclone hockey team this weekend as Iowa State took two games from Illinois to open league play.

Goaltending was the story in both games as senior Kyle Geiger and sophomore Rob Howitt shut down the Illini and gave the ISU offense the opportunity to provide the winning scores.

Geiger stopped 29 shots on Friday night and sophomore center Mike Ogbourne netted the game-winning goal with just 58 seconds left in sudden-death overtime to give the Cyclones (4-0) the 4-3 victory.

Head Coach Al Murdoch said after the game that he had no intention of playing passively in the extra session and that he was very pleased by the efforts of both his veteran goalie and young center.

“I never have liked ties, so I wasn’t playing defensively to tie. We got outstanding goaltending from Geiger. He was absolutely great,” Murdoch said.

Murdoch also spoke of his faith in Ogbourne’s big play ability. “I knew he was going to do it. I knew it was going to go in. It was an absolutely beautiful goal.”

Things were not “beautiful” all night for ISU, though.

The Cyclones trailed for nearly the entire contest until freshman center Tony Finley beat Illinois goaltender Devin Huber to a loose puck near the blueline and tied the game 3-3 at 10:11 of the third period.

Not only did the goal ignite the capacity crowd at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena for the remainder of the game, it also set the stage for the Cyclones to take the game.

After mounting a stellar defensive effort to close out the third period, the Cyclones continued their assault into sudden-death where Ogbourne wristed a shot past Huber off a pass from fellow sophomore forward Brian Wierson.

“Brian Wierson gave me a great feed and I finally got one to go,” Ogbourne said. “It felt great.”

The players also said that last week’s thrashings didn’t affect their attitudes going into the game.

“We’ve been practicing hard all week and we didn’t take last week’s wins for granted,” Finley said.

Ogbourne added, “We knew it was going to be a tough game going in. Illinois is always one of our rivals so we were looking for a close game and that’s what we got.”

Jason Vega, another sophomore forward, added a goal and assist to the Cyclone cause.

The last time these two teams met was also decided in overtime when ISU beat the Fighting Illini at last season’s National Invitational Tournament.

“Illinois is going to be thinking they’re jinxed against Iowa State,” Murdoch said. “And that’s the way I want to have them think.”

Howitt was the star for the Cyclones on Saturday night as he stoned the Illini for 19 saves and continued the “jinx” with a 3-1 ISU triumph.

In Howitt’s opinion, the defense deserves the credit for his success.

“The defense is my best friend out there,” Howitt said. “When they play good, I play good.”

Murdoch was again thrilled at the play of the Cyclones’ net-minder.

“Howitt was just absolutely great,” Murdoch said. “He was everything I wanted him to be.”

The Cyclones once more fell behind early, but didn’t stay down for long as Ogbourne, freshman defenseman Chad Evers and junior left wing Sean Weaver all notched unanswered goals.