Cyclone Hockey snapped its four-game losing skid tonight, as No. 9 Iowa State defeated No. 17 Missouri State 4-2.

For the second straight weekend, the Cyclones started their Friday night fast by scoring two quick goals. The first of these came just 1:02 into the game off the stick of junior forward Tony Uglem, who scored his 15th goal of the season on a shot that trickled in after it bounced off of Bears’ netminder Bailey Stephens.

Just over six minutes later at the 7:04 mark in the period, sophomore forward Tommy Hanson extended the Cyclones’ lead to 2-0 with a wrist shot to the bottom right half of the net. 

Forwards Aaron Azevedo and A.J. Gullickson tallied assists on the Uglem goal, while freshmen forwards Jared Erickson and junior defenseman Nick Sandy picked up the helpers on Alcott’s goal.

The Cyclones defense also got off to a hot start, holding Missouri State to only six shots-on-goal in the period. Other than a shot that hit off of the right post toward the end of the frame, the Bears never really threatened Cyclones’ senior goalie Derek Moser.

Unfortunately for Iowa State, that quickly changed once the periods did. Missouri State responded with a two-goal period of their own to tie things up heading into the final period.  

The two Bears goals came courtesy of junior forward Travis Barrett, who scored just 1:48 into the period, and sophomore forward Shane Thornton at the 7:59 mark. 

As has been the case most of this semester, the Bears’ strong second period meant that the Cyclones would once again have to try to come away with a win in a tight game.  

Unlike the last two weekends, the Cyclones did exactly that tonight. Azevedo scored his 14th goal of the season to break the 2-2 tie at the 5:30 mark in the third. Azevedo received a great pass from junior forward Adam Alcott in the crease and tapped it into an open net for the score.

Iowa State got some insurance later in the period when Uglem buried his second goal of the night with six minutes left in the game, giving the game it’s final score of 4-2. The Cyclones’ four goals tonight were the most by the team since their Jan. 13 game against Ohio, when they scored five.

The two teams will play the second and final game of their only series this season on Saturday night at Ames/ISU Ice Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

(Note:  An earlier version of this story stated that Adam Alcott scored the Cyclones’ second goal of the game.  This has since been corrected and changed.)