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USHL Des Moines Buccaneers

Buccaneers lose to Stampede

April 1, 2016 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Des Moines Buccaneers News Release


The Buccaneers put 39 shots on goal but Stefanos Lekkas made 37 saves and that was enough for his Sioux Falls Stampede to come away with the 3-2 road victory.

The first period started out pretty evenly matched but the ice started to tilt Des Moines' way as the period wore on and Georgy Gorodetsky got the scoring started 7:01 into the game when he took a drop pass from Nick Wolff and skated it to the faceoff dot from the right circle and beat Stefanos Lekkas low on the far side below his blocker to go up 1-0. Des Moines then used that momentum to outshoot Sioux Falls 17-12 in the first period.

Sioux Falls again was outshot in the second but made the most of their chances as Parker Tuomie stole the puck from goalie Jan Ruzicka who was behind the net playing the puck and his wraparound at 3:35 tied the game at 1. Sioux Falls would then take the lead when Carson Gicewicz from a sharp angle along the goal line and to Ruzicka's right found the slimmest of openings and got the puck to crawl over the goal line at 9:29 of the period. Des Moines had 18 shots on goal during the period to Sioux Falls' 6 but the Stampede got the two that counted and nursed a one goal lead into the second intermission.

All that offensive pressure was too much for Sioux Falls to handle though as the Buccaneers would tie the game at 2 4:35 into the third. From down low the Buccaneers sent a pass meant for Zach Jordan between the circles but Jordan was tied up and that allowed the puck to sail out to Brendan Demler who slammed home his first goal through traffic. Sioux Falls would come back though with a goal at 12:17 when Lawton Courtnall was cut in from Ruzicka's right and while Courtnall was knocked to the ice he still finished his shot that ended up being the game winner. The only penalty of the game was called on the goaltender Lekkas for tripping with 1:45 to go and the Buccaneers pulled Ruzicka giving them a long 6 on 4 chance to tie it up but Lekkas came up with a few clutch saves late to give his squad the 3-2 win.

Lekkas made 37 saves in the win while Ruzicka had 23 saves in defeat. Up next for the Buccaneers is a road contest with the Chicago Steel on Saturday, April 2nd.

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