Thursday, February 26, 2004

By Scott Nulph, Sports Editor

The good news: Ames High has qualified for the state high school hockey tournament for the first time in six years.

The bad news: They have to play the state's top team in the first round.
The eighth-seeded Cyclones (10-16-1-3) will play top seed Des Moines Capitals (25-5) Friday at 7:45 p.m. at the Metro Sports Ice Arena in the final quarterfinal of the day.

But after missing the state tournament the last six years, not much is going to spoil the Little Cyclones' mood this weekend.

"We're extremely excited to be playing," said Ames coach Russ Moore. "We're looking to play well and win. The first thing is we're here, and that's a great thing for our program."

Ames used a late spurt to earn the No. 8 seed.

"We have a group of guys that made up their minds that we were getting to state," Moore said. "We're a young team and we have a lot of heart."
The Little Cyclones also have some more good news on its side.

Of the Capitals' five losses, one came at the hands of Ames, a 3-2 win in Des Moines in Dec. 5. Ames also lost two games to the Capitals, 5-1 in Ames on Nov. 15 and 9-1 in Des Moines on Feb. 12.

"The thing is we've beaten this team once and we know it can be done," Moore said.

The Little Cyclones have been led this season by junior A.J. Kuuttila of Nevada. Kuuttila is third in the state in goals this season with 31 and 11th in total points with 48.

"A.J. has a history of a player we rally around," Moore said. "He usually scores the big goals for us when we need them. He's good on defense and does well on the fore check."

Senior Brent Swanson is next on the team with 37 points (including 25 assists) while junior Alex Kuuttila has totaled 34 points. Rounding out the top six scorers are sophomore Kevin Woodward (34 points), freshman Andrew Hunziker (23 points) and junior Brandt Carlson (10 points).

Ames' top goalie is Tom Elston with a 9-17-1 record and a save percentage of .882. Aaron Mostrom has played in three games, going 1-2.

All six leading scorers are underclassmen, giving the Cyclones reason for optimism past this weekend's tournament.

"We're only losing four seniors and one (Carlton) has only played hockey for three years," Moore said. "This is a great opportunity for us to get some experience at the state level."

Ames hasn't won a state title since 1986, although they won the JV state championship in 1997.