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SPORTS
Iowa State Daily Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Cyclone Hockey swept twice Cyclones struggle with shots, saves and scoring
joined by Max Olson at the 3:20 mark, causing the Cyclones to skate 5-on-3 for 45 seconds. Cyclone Hockey killed both penalties to keep its 2-1 lead. Fairman said this helped the team but not immediately. “Generally, when you take a penalty — whether it’s 5-on-4 or 5-on-3 — it’s hard to regain momentum,” Fairman said. “It usually takes a couple shifts to get it back. We got a little bump from killing it, but it still takes a little bit of time to regain momentum and get back into the flow of 5-on-5.”
BY JARED.BRAVARD @iowastatedaily.com Cyclone Hockey traveled to Missouri to face off with the No. 3 Lindenwood Lions, with Lindenwood (23-7-0) sweeping the Cyclones (18-15-3) by scores of 4-1 and 3-2. The second game required a shootout, as the game was tied 2-2 after 65 minutes. After nine rounds in the shootout, the Lions prevailed.
EARLY-PERIOD, LATE-PERIOD SCORING Saturday’s game saw several early-period goals. Lindenwood took the lead at the 33-second mark in the first period. The Lions doubled their lead by scoring at 0:30 in the second period. The Cyclones answered 10 seconds later at 0:40, cutting the lead in half. In the third period, the Lions again tallied an early goal, this time at the 57-second mark. “The disappointing thing was they scored three of their goals in the first minute of each period,” Head Coach Jason Fairman said. “That’s never happened since I’ve been here. Generally, we don’t want to give up a goal in the first minute or last minute — particularly in the last minute — but certainly early shifts, they can be a negative tone setter for the rest of the period or even a game.” Lindenwood added a goal at 5:23 in the third to secure the victory. Sunday’s game had one early-period goal and a crucial late-period goal. Cyclone forward Matty Moran scored at 2:35 in the second period to open the game’s scoring. After a Lindenwood answer and another Cyclone goal, the score was 2-1 at the end of the second period in favor of the Cyclones. The Cyclones held this lead until Lindenwood defenseman Colton Craigo scored at the 15:35 mark of the third. Craigo’s goal sent the game
KARA DENNER/ IOWA STATE DAILY Cyclone Hockey played Missouri State Sept. 27 and Sept. 29 at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.
to overtime and eventually to a shootout, as no other goals were tallied after his. Fairman thought increasing the lead to 3-1 could have had a large impact on the outcome of the game, saying it would have helped the Cyclones’ psyche and possibly halted Lindenwood’s desperate hopes of a tying goal. “I think they were playing pretty desperate at the end to get that tying goal, and they ultimately did, but if we had a two-goal lead, I don’t know if they would’ve had the same energy,” Fairman said. “When you only have a one-goal lead, it’s desperation time for them, and they were able to capitalize.”
PENALTIES With the Cyclones down 1-0 early on Saturday, they were in danger of being down by 2 points when Matty Moran was called for tripping at 3:26 in the first. The Cyclones killed
the penalty, keeping the score at 1-0. In the second period with the Cyclones trailing 2-1, Lindenwood’s Blake Finley was sent to the box for slashing. The Cyclones couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing power play to tie the game. Fairman said Lindenwood was aggressive on its penalty kill, making it difficult for the Cyclones to score with the man advantage. Each team went 1-4 on the power play in Sunday’s game. Lindenwood used its power play to tie the game 1-1 in the second. “We just had some key breakdowns, sort of been our Achilles heel in addition to not being able to score timely goals,” Fairman said. A few minutes later, Cyclone forward Stuart Pearson used the power play to tally a goal to take back the lead. The Cyclones started the third period with a 2-1 lead. At 2:05 in the third, Cyclone forward Brian Bandyk was sent to the box. He was soon
SHOTS AND SAVES This marks the first time the Cyclones were outshot in both games in a series since November against Minot State. Lindenwood had 92 shots on goal across the two games to the Cyclones’ 53. “I think the quality chances for both teams were about even, so I think we did a good job of keeping their shots to the outside,” Fairman said. “I don’t know if there’s a better team in the nation than Lindenwood. I know they’re ranked third because Adrian and Liberty, but I have to believe that Lindenwood is much better than those two teams.” Cyclone Hockey outshot its opponents 377-352 in the last five series, including the Lindenwood series.The Cyclones were outscored 34-20 in that span, with a record of 3-6-1. Lindenwood’s goalies split time in the series. Cooper Seedott played on Saturday and Stephen Friedland on Sunday. Seedott entered the weekend with a save percentage of 94.8. His save percentage on Saturday was 95.7 (22 saves on 23 shots). Friedland moved to 4-0-0 with the Sunday win. He began the weekend with a save percentage of 91.5 and recorded a 93.3 percent on Sunday. Friedland has given up six goals on 75 shots this season. “We went toe-to-toe with the number three team in the nation — arguably, in my opinion, the best team in the nation,” Fairman said. The Cyclones close out the regular season against Oklahoma. The puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Ames/ISU Ice Arena. Saturday’s game is senior night.
Final weekend for Iowa State sees ups, downs and injuries BY ZACH.MARTIN @iowastatedaily.com Four of the five months in the 2019-20 regular season have come and gone in a blink of an eye. Iowa State concluded the regular season with a 10-5 dual mark and a 7-1 record in the Big 12 Conference, sharing the conference dual title with Oklahoma State. Iowa State won half of its matches inside Hilton Coliseum and went 4-0 on the road in conference. The Cyclones wrapped up their final weekend going 1-1, losing to Missouri 27-6 before mounting two comebacks to triumph over North Dakota State 22-16.
IMPACTS OF LATEST INJURY Bubble wrap might be the best way to protect all the 133-pounders on Iowa State’s roster. That weight has described its entire season. Todd Small’s scream that brought Hilton to a stunned silence in the opening period against the Bison’s Cam Sykora was the lowest point the Cyclones have been in all year. The difference between this injury and the others was this happened in front of over 3,000 spectators, and it happened in a flash.
Head Coach Kevin Dresser said the redshirt junior will be off the mat for a couple of days but is hopeful the injury is not serious. Regardless, if this is just a week stint or an entire March thing, it impacts Iowa State in multiple ways. If Small can’t wrestle at the Big 12 Tournament in under two weeks, his resume is teetering for an at-large spot. His best wins came against Kent State’s Tim Rooney and Virginia’s Louie Hayes at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. His best conference win is against Utah Valley’s Taylor LaMont. His only “bad” loss was on Saturday against Missouri’s unranked Allan Hart. Small could never get to his offense. Hart is tall and lengthy at 133, the type of body frame with which Small struggles. If the over 10 days of rest can get Small back on the mat in Tulsa, how long can he wrestle? The allocation numbers for the conference tournament haven’t been released yet, but with five wrestlers at 133 ranked in the top-20 by InterMat, the number might be five or six. The Cyclones are either taking Small to the Bank of Oklahoma Center or not entering someone at 133, which shrinks their expected NCAA qualifiers down
Iowa State didn’t get to its offense quick enough against the majority of Missouri’s wrestlers, one reason why the four-match winning streak coming in was halted.
GRANT TETMEYER/ IOWA STATE DAILY Redshirt junior Jarrett Degen faces off against Max Thomsen on Feb. 16.
a notch, but this injury came at arguably the worst time.
BACKUPS FALL SHORT With four starters competing at the Last Chance Open at Gilbert High School and Ian Parker resting, it provided one final opportunity for five backups to take the mat in a dualteam setting. Noah Nemer (141), Issac Judge (157), Mac Southard (174) and Hank Swalla (184) grabbed a spot in the starting lineup for the first time in the Cyclones’ 27-6 defeat against No. 24 Missouri, while Ryan Leisure made another start at 149. Only Swalla fell to a bonus point defeat, with Swalla getting pinned
in the second period against Dylan Wisman. The others were all within four match points of going to overtime. Nemer rode out Alex Butler for the entire third period but fell one second short of the riding time point that would’ve tied the match at four. Butler got called for stalling twice in the period, but a takedown earlier in the match was the difference. Leisure and Southard fell victim to conservative wrestlers Brock Mauller and Connor Flynn, with the two Tigers combining for three takedowns in their respective wins. Isaac Judge faced the most complete wrestler of the quartet in Jarrett Jacques, as the 14th-ranked grappler used three takedowns to spur his way to a 7-3 win.
DEGEN DISPLAYS GRIT The shoulder injury Jarrett Degen suffered in December is going to be a nagging one. Plenty of evidence was found when his shoulder needed popping back into place in his battle with Northern Iowa’s Max Thomsen. Even on Sunday against Jaden Van Maanen, Degen struggled to execute takedowns he normally would. So when the match was tied at three and Iowa State was up three, the redshirt junior used one of his biggest strengths: riding. Degen rode out Van Maanen for the entire two minutes in the final period, making it a factor and giving himself that extra point that was the deciding point in the 4-3 win. It clinched the dual and capped off a season where they won the most conference duals in program history. As long as Degen’s shoulder stays in place, as well as claiming three wins on the weekend to up his winning percentage, he’s in a good position to claim a spot at the NCAA Tournament.
