AMES, Iowa – Another weekend, another ranked opponent for the Bearcats on the road. They traveled to Ames, Iowa to battle the 21st-ranked Iowa State Cyclones in a two-game set on January 19th and 20th. The Bearcats and Cyclones split the set with ISU taking game on by the score of 5-2 and McKendree took the second game 4-3 in dramatic fashion.
Game One – January 19th
After a scoreless first period which was low on shots for both sides. The Bearcats outshot the Cyclones 7-5 in the opening stanza, but we remained scoreless. Iowa State got the scoring started with a goal six minutes into the contest.
McKendree would take the lead just three minutes later as Matias Alexandrov netted his seventh of the season on assists by Ben Anderson and Trevor Voyda. At the 11:03 mark, Joe McCormick made it 2-1 Bearcats with Anderson picking up his second helper of the game and Brad Richardson on the power play. Iowa State tied the game at 2 with 40 seconds remaining in the period.
The Cyclones would add three goals in the final 20 minutes to get us to the final score of 5-2.
Chad Purdy stopped 27-of-32 shots in the contest.
Game Two – January 20th
Saturday's game was two different games combined into one. Iowa State took a commanding 3-0 lead with 13 minutes left in the second period.
The comeback was on for the Bearcats. It started with Connor Mullins finding the back of the net on the power play at the 10:44 mark with the helpers coming from Alex Kent and Cade Rosansky. Eight minutes later, Brad Richardson made it a 3-2 game with his seventh of the season. McCormick and Anderson got the assists on the goal. With 35 seconds left in the period, Rosansky netted his second of the season to tie the game at 3 with the assists coming from Mullins and Kent.
With time winding down in the contest, Jack Harris stole the puck from the defender and fired it from the near wall to beat the clock and goalkeeper to steal the win. It was Harris' 9th of the season, Alexandrov and Anderson picked up the helpers on the game-winning goal.
Goaltender Purdy stopped 33-of-36 ISU shots in picking up his ninth win of the campaign.
McKendree will remain on the road next weekend on January 26th and 27th as they travel to DeKalb, Illinois to battle the Northern Illinois University Huskies.
