AMES — With the third and final meeting with Midland this season, on home ice, Iowa State met its physicality match in the border battle.
Coming into the contest, the Warriors were No. 18 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), ready to disrupt. A late third-period rebrand for the Cyclones landed the team its second straight victory.
“Oh, they [the crowd] were unreal,” senior forward John Kovarik said. “ I was like, listen to them, we had ‘go state’ chants and we could hear them, so it definitely helped us get this comeback.”
With a shorthanded nightmare, Iowa State found itself down 4-1 heading into the final 20-minute slate. The Cyclones’ newfound momentum revived the team’s chance at a postseason push.
Three of the Warriors’ four goals came on the power play, with defenseman Ethan Brown tallying one of the goals and recording an assist on the man advantages.
Following the journey to a peak, Midland soon found itself in a valley with a scoring drought in the third period.
Iowa State losing its senior defenseman, Riley Kress, to injury led to a type of physicality that only resulted in penalties. The Cyclones earned a broken stick and a goal against before tallying a point.
Iowa State’s opening goal came at 17:54 in the second period sophomore forward Trevor Slaught lit the lamp, and Kovarik tallied the assist.
“We needed to start the game off quick,” Slaught said. “We scored that goal and got some momentum there.”
The deeper the Cyclones got into their shorthanded scare, the farther victory felt, but with two goals in 21 seconds, Iowa State found itself in the game. A power play goal at 12:49 in the third period from forward Frank Kula, with assists from playmakers Kovarik and Slaught, earned the path to a hard-fought victory.
With offensive tactics similar to vultures, both Iowa State and Midland began fighting for possession to light the lamp. Following the second goal, the Cyclones made the most of the offensive zone possession with a pair of Minnesota menaces.
Kovarik found the back of the net at 12:28 to land a 4-3 deficit. The goal was assisted by freshman forward Max Johnson.
Iowa State freshman defenseman Greg Harley would secure the ticket to overtime. While Harley and the Cyclones fought for the school’s victory, another Harley family member is displaying the same talent on a worldwide stage.
Harley’s brother, Thomas, a National Hockey League (NHL) defenseman, punched his ticket to compete and represent Canada in the Olympics.
“He deserves it, he’s a lot better player than I am,” Harley said. “It’s really cool to see.”
Harley’s goal at 1:26 in the period was assisted by sophomore forward Matthew Mahoney and Kovarik. The victory-crushing goal portrayed Harley in a light similar to his brother’s, highlighting excellence as a family affair.
With things tied up at four, one thing lied ahead: overtime. After five minutes and no goals, a shootout was the only thing holding either team from a victory.
“Even though I let up four goals, I didn’t let that affect me, so going into the shootout, I had a lot of confidence,” senior goalie William Pinney said. “I had that feeling that we were going to win once we got to the shootout.”
The unexpected comeback set the stands into a frenzy as fans erupted into chaos.
“That was the loudest I’ve heard them [the crowd] ever in my time here at Iowa State,” Pinney said.
With the victory-determining shootout, Iowa State got the job done in six rounds. The Cyclones tied things up at one with Kovarik’s goal, but senior forward Sam Eaton sent the Warriors one final dagger.
“ I kind of lost the puck a little bit, and I was like, I gotta score now, or else I’m gonna look like an idiot,” Eaton said.
