January 30, 2008 - Just coming off of two big wins over Ohio University, the Illini will now head out on the road to take on another CSCHL rival, Iowa State. While the Illini defeated the Cyclones twice in Champaign during the regular season last year, it will be the loss to them in the CSCHL championship game that they will be looking to avenge.
Iowa State is ranked 11th in the latest ACHA coaches poll, and has season record of 24-8-0. The Cyclones are currently on a 14 game winning streak, not having lost a game since November 17th of 2007, coincidentally that was the last time that Iowa State played a team ranked higher than 20th in Division I. The Cyclones have been putting up some big numbers this season, averaging just over 6 goals per game while allowing just over 3. Iowa State's player stats sheet has some big numbers on it as well, with twelve players having earned over 20 points. The teams leading goal scorer is junior Bill Adolph, who has lit the lamp 25 times for the Cyclones, as well as helping out on 13 other ISU goals. There are 3 other players tied with 19 goals apiece, sophomore Brian Spring (27 assists, 46 points), junior Mike Murtaugh (25 assists, 44 points), and freshman Mike Lebler (18 assists, 37 points), that with Adolph make up the top four points leaders for Iowa State. On the back side of the ice, the Cyclone defense has been doing a good job of keeping the pucks away from their net, allowing just over 8 shots on goal per period. The sophomore Swede, Christian Johansson, has been the work horse in goaltending department for Iowa State, getting 54% of the time in net. Johansson has a 3.58 Goals Against Average, with a save percentage of 87%, and is still looking for his first shutout of the season.
The first game will take place at the Ames/ISU Arena in Ames, Iowa with a start time of 7:30pm, while the second game will move south to the Wells Fargo Arena in
Des Moines, Iowa with a 2:00pm start time. With 8 league points up for grabs, look for these to teams to battle it out wherever they play. |
