Midland is making its return to Ames after hosting Iowa State for three straight seasons. With one game on the weekend slate, the contest will declare a series victor following a split series in November 2025.
With two teams fighting for a way back into postseason contention, this matchup displays Midland (7-20-4) ranked No. 19 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division and Iowa State (8-16-1).
After a five-game losing skid, the Cyclones found themselves back in the win column with a 2-1 overtime victory over McKendree. Iowa State looks to a set of seniors to drive the offense.
Senior forward John Kovarik tallied three points in the McKendree series. With Kovarik back and contributing for the Cyclones following injury, the offense looks to strengthen.
“I was out the first half of the year,” Kovarik said. “It just made me want to go hard and pick up some wins.”
Kovarik was not the sole star in the series, as senior forward Michael Mulkerrin and freshman defenseman Greg Harley tallied on goals of their own.
Iowa State’s final road series displayed a diverse set of scorers and plenty of assists. Each of the Cyclones’ four goals in the series was assisted by five different players.
Leading defenseman junior Ben Pfannenstein, junior forward Chris Kondiles, alongside Kovarik, and Mulkerrin each tallied an assist.
Senior goalie William Pinney held down his crease quite well as McKendree lit him up with 111 shots on goal in the series. Pinney stopped 106 of those to hold a 95% save percentage.
Heading into the Midland contest, the Warriors look to rebound from a brutal 7-0 loss against the No. 1 team in the ACHA, Minot State. This is not the Midland’s sole flaw; the team enters the match-up with a five-game losing skid.
The Warriors come into the matchup with two keys to victory: special teams.
With 619 penalty minutes on the season, Midland’s messy play looks costly, but that is not the case, as the team has the second-best penalty kill in the conference at 84.2%.
Iowa State can not say the same, as the team has the worst penalty kill in the conference at 66.3%.
On the other end of special teams play, the combination of the Warriors’ 18.5% power play and the Cyclones’ limited penalty kill, Midland looks to find its scoring on the man advantage.
Iowa State’s keys to victory are limiting the leading scorers and staying out of penalty trouble. The Warriors’ leading forward, Thomas Babb, has seven goals and 16 assists.
With eight goals and nine assists, Ethan Brown leads the defensemen with 17 points.
The contest is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Ames Ice Arena.
