Stampede Stumble in Waterloo Friday Night
January 29, 2016 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Sioux Falls Stampede News Release
Waterloo, IA - Three goals against in the first 2:22 of the third period pushed the Stampede's losing streak to four games as Sioux Falls dropped a 5-2 decision to the Waterloo Black Hawks Friday night. The loss dropped the Herd a game below .500 at 17-18-2 and into a tie for fifth place with Waterloo. Joe Rutkowski and Alex Stevens tallied the Herd's only goals while Stefanos Lekkas stopped 37 of 42 shots in goal. The Herd will go for the weekend split Saturday night when the teams meet again.
The Stampede were awarded a pair of power play opportunities in the first period, but were unable to capitalize. Both teams exchanged some scoring chances, but were unable to score with both goaltenders playing well. It appeared we would have a scoreless first period, but the Hawks changed that by scoring with just 28.4 seconds remaining. David Cotton took a pass down the left wing boards and wristed a shot that was stopped by Stefanos Lekkas, but the rebound bounced right back to Cotton who quickly tapped the puck past Lekkas and into the net to give Waterloo a 1-0 lead after one period. Waterloo outshot the Herd 16-9 in the period.
Sioux Falls was hoping to rebound in the second, but struggled to get any offense going. After coming up empty on a power play chance, the Herd couldn't muster much pressure in the offensive zone tallying just three shots all period. The Black Hawks took a 2-0 lead at 16:23 on a power play goal from Shane Bowers. A shots from Brandon Schultz was stopped by Lekkas, but Bowers was right in front of the crease and quickly knocked home the rebound to give the Hawks a two-goal edge heading into the third period. Waterloo outshot the Stampede 10-3 in the period.
Things got away from the Herd early in the third as they allowed three goals in the first 2:22 of the third to fall behind 5-2. The Black Hawks came out of the locker room flying and got their first goal of the period just 1:01 in by Liam Pecararo followed by David Cotton's second of the night at 2:11 and Ronnie Hein's goal just 11 seconds later. The Herd would respond when Joe Rutkowski tallied first goal of the season at 5:43 from the point. Alex Stevens tallied a goal on the power play at the eight minute mark when he wristed a shot into the upper left hand corner of the net to make it a 5-2 game. That would be as close as the Herd would get however on the night.
Waterloo outshot the Stampede 42-26 and went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Stampede finished the night 1-for-4. The same two teams will battle on Saturday night at Young Arena beginning at 7:05 PM. Fans can catch the game live on KELO News Talk 1320-AM and 107.9-FM starting at 6:40 PM.
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