Last night, the Iowa State Cyclone men’s hockey team dominated in the first of two games in a home series against the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in a shutout performance of 7-0. Tonight, they finished off the series sweep against the Razorbacks winning the game by a score of 3-2, improving their overall record on the season to 8-2-0.

While Iowa State controlled the puck for most of the first period, there were a few bad turnovers in the Cyclones zone, creating a multitude of chances for the Razorbacks to score. Goalie Matt Goedeke held strong, making some key saves to keep the game scoreless. The Cyclones got things rolling just 4:15 into the game when Junior forward Aaron Azevedo scored on the powerplay with an assist from Junior Defensemen Jake Arroyo. With the goal coming off a penalty from the Razorbacks Defensemen Jesse Foskey, Azevedo was able to go in at put it behind Arkansas goalie with ease. Goedeke, who has had strong goaltending, stood strong tonight when he came out of his crease to challenge a puck, a risky play which could have evened up the score for the Razorbacks, keeping the game through the first period 1-0. “He got tested on a handful of breakdowns that we had, so he did a good job making those big saves.” commented Coach Fairman about Goedeke’s play.

There were two more goals for the Cyclones, but the swarm of penalties seemed to be what dominated the second period. In all, the Cyclones ended up having four different opportunities on the powerplay while the Razorbacks had two. Both Cyclone’s Tony Uglem and Arkansas Cal Owens (who had a total of three penalties during the game), got ejected for fighting after a scrum erupted between the two at center ice. Cyclone Adam Alcott got the second goal of the game off an assist from Kramer, making the game 2-0. Out of all the power play opportunities, one resulted in Dylan Goggin, who is on an all freshman line, get his first goal in a Cyclone uniform after he was pushed right into the Razorbacks goaltender Brock Thompson, allowing the puck to trickle in behind and make the game 3-0. Fairman commented about Goggins first goal saying that, “They have [The freshman] probably been our best line the last couple games, so it’s good to see that he got his first goal.”

The Razorbacks scored two unanswered goals in the final frame, the only goals scored for the team throughout the two game home series. The first goal coming from Collin Young, who scored on a rebound when the puck bounced off of Cyclone goaltender Matt Goedeke. The final goal was a buzzer beater from Luc Gradisar, but was not enough as the Cyclones held on to win the game by a score of 3-2.

The Cyclones will be back in action next week when the University of Las Vegas Rebels come for a visit. The puck drops for game one on friday at 7:30 pm at the Ames/ISU arena.