No. 19 Warriors Take Two from Cyclones
FREMONT, Neb. – No. 19-ranked Midland University and Iowa State University faced off in a two-game Midwest College Hockey (MCH) series this weekend, with games played in Ames, Iowa, on Friday and in Fremont, Nebraska, on Saturday. The Warriors displayed both poise and resilience, winning 3-0 on the road and 6-2 at home inside Sidner Ice Arena.
FRIDAY: Midland 3, Iowa State 0
In the series opener at ISU Arena, Midland and Iowa State battled through two scoreless periods before the Warriors broke through with three goals in the third while maintaining a shutout on defense. Jared Wisely scored the game-winning goal 4:36 into the third period, assisted by Tommy Babb. Just past the halfway point, Karl Grafelman netted an insurance goal on a power play, assisted by Leo Milan and Zak Justice, with 6:27 left on the clock. Babb added the final goal of the game on another power play, with assists from Ethan Brown and Milan. Elijah Marchese earned the shutout in goal, recording 32 saves as the Warriors outshot the Cyclones 40 to 32.
SATURDAY: Midland 6, Iowa State 2
After nearly a full period of scoreless play in Fremont, the Warriors opened the scoring with 42 seconds left in the first period. Tommy Babb found the net on an assist from Mathew Kochanowski and Karl Grafelman, giving Midland a 1-0 lead heading into intermission. As time expired in the period, a scrum broke out in the corner, resulting in a pair of minor penalties for Midland and a five-minute major and ten-minute misconduct for Iowa State. This set a combative tone for the remainder of the game, as the teams combined for 30 penalties totaling 127 minutes.
In the second period, Midland capitalized on a power play just past the midway point. Hugo Lukacovic scored with 9:12 left in the period, assisted by Logan Wotton and Kochanowski. Three minutes later, Babb scored his second goal, with Milan Breczko and Jared Wisely assisting, sending the Warriors into the final intermission with a 3-0 lead.
Iowa State got on the board early in the third, scoring just before the two-minute mark. Midland responded with a power-play goal two minutes later as Grafelman pushed the puck past the goaltender, assisted by Babb. The Cyclones countered quickly, narrowing the score to 4-2 with a goal at 5:48.
As the game progressed, penalties continued to pile up. Given their chances with the man advantage, the Warriors took full advantage. Breczko scored two power-play goals in the final half of the period. The first came at 11:28 off a feed from Zak Justice and Leo Milan, while the final goal, with 1:16 remaining, was assisted by Wisley and Kochanowski.
Nahuel Veyan stood strong in goal for Midland, making 30 saves. Both teams registered 32 shots on target.
Midland (8-7, 7-3 MCH) will hit the road next weekend for another set of conference games, traveling to Bismarck, North Dakota, to face the University of Mary (9-4, 7-4 MCH). Games are set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Schwan Cadillac Rink inside the Starion Sports Complex.