First game played. First game won. The No. 5 Cyclone hockey team played it close until the third period when the score opened up and Iowa State defeated the Illinois State Redbirds 4-1.

“I was hoping for the best, but it was what I expected,” said coach Jason Fairman. “We got a long ways to go.”

Before tonight’s game, Fairman admitted he was a little nervous about playing a team that already had four games under their belts, while the Cyclones had only four practices. Even with those thoughts, Fairman thought the team played well.

It was a game of veterans and rookies for Iowa State.

Junior forward Tony Uglem got the scoring started at the end of the first period with a hard shot goal. Fairman expects him to be the leader not only on the ice, but also as a goal leader.

Uglem has been the goal leader for the past two seasons and played with Team USA, so Fairman expects his performance each game of the season. So, does Uglem.

“Oh, it’s nice [getting the first goal of the game],” Uglem said. “It’s nice to get that off my back right away and be able to roll. Hopefully it relaxed everybody.”

This would not be the only goal for Uglem tonight.

His second and final goal would come from back-to-back goals for the Cyclones in the early part of the third period.

Sophomore forward Anthony Song found a nice lane to connect with freshman forward Bryan Bandyk for his first goal of his Cyclone career. That goal came at the 16:45 mark in the third period.

After some quick handshakes from the bench, the Cyclones got ready to faceoff. Directly after the faceoff Uglem had a nice assist from juniors Nick Sandy and Trevor Sabo for his second goal of the night and a 3-0 lead for Iowa State.

Uglem’s goal came 12 seconds after Bandyk’s goal. Iowa State built its confidence up and Bandyk had his confidence increase tremendously after his goal.

“It was nice to get the first goal under my belt,” Bandyk said. “Hopefully a few more follow that one, maybe tomorrow and this season.”

Bandyk was not the only rookie to earn a goal tonight as freshman forward Hunter Dolan got his first goal with 8:22 left in the game.

“It’s always good to get a goal on your first game,” Fairman said. “It’s something you remember and we save the pucks. They can use them for paper weights or something when they’re older.”

Now the focus is on winning tomorrow night against Illinois State once again and needing a similar performance by Derek Moser. The senior goalie was unstoppable tonight with making several key saves.

Moser would have had a shutout if it were not for a late goal by Illinois State with a 1:23 left in the game. Fairman was impressed by his performance tonight and was hoping for the shutout.

Besides Moser, Fairman wants the team to come out firing on all cylinders tomorrow at the very beginning. In Fairman’s eyes, Iowa State allowed Illinois State to stay in the game for the first couple periods until a fire broke out from the Cyclones in the third period.

“I hope we get better game in, game out,” Fairman said. “We’re going to be learning while we’re going this season.”