USHL Tri-City Storm

Early Hole Dooms Storm in Sioux Falls

Published on January 2, 2015 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Tri-City Storm News Release


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Tri-City Storm (14-9-5) worked their way back from a big deficit but couldn't finish the comeback and fell to the Sioux Falls Stampede (15-12-2) by a score of 6-4 on Friday night at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Chris Wilkie had two power play goals for the Storm in the loss, while Bobby Nardella had a goal and an assist and Mattias Goransson had three assists of his own.

Sioux Falls took control of the game right from the start with five goals in the opening period, including three by Cooper Marody.

Kieffer Bellows bookended the scoring, finding the net just 41 seconds into the contest before sealing a Stampede victory with an empty net goal.

Sioux Falls forward Logan O'Connor also had a goal in the opening frame, in which the Stampede scored all five tallies during the first 12 minutes of play.

But Tri-City didn't go away quietly, scoring four straight goals of their own to slowly work their way back into the game.

Wilkie got the Storm on the board with a power play strike at 16:11 of the first, assisted by Nardella and Goransson.

The Omaha native struck again with the only goal of the second period in the final minute of the frame. Also a power play goal, Wilkie got his 17th of the season from Goransson and Joel Herbert.

In the third, Cody Milan made the game 5-3 with his seventh goal of the year at 12:45. Goransson led the White Lake, Mich. native with a perfect pass into the zone and the goal breathed life into Tri-City in the final minutes.

The Storm then made it 5-4 less than two minutes later on Nardella's fifth goal of the season. Assists were credited to both Wilkie and Chase Berger.

But the one-goal deficit was as close as the Storm could get before Bellows put the game out of reach with the empty net goal.

Stefanos Lekkas picked up the win for the Stampede in net, making 30 saves. Alec Dillon started the game for Tri-City, but was pulled in favor of Jared Rutledge after allowing two goals in the first. Rutledge finished with 19 stops.

Tri-City returns home to face Omaha in Kearney at the Viaero Event Center on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Tri-City Storm Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2015


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