First place Lancers host RoughRiders
Published on March 16, 2007 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Omaha Lancers News Release
The Lancers return home tonight to play the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the first of a two-game weekend home stand. Tonight's game is a battle between the Lancers, the top team in the USHL West Division, and the RoughRiders, the first-place team in the East Division and one point behind the Lancers in the overall USHL standings.
The Lancers enter tonight's action with an overall record of 30-13-4 for 64 points. The Lancers are three points ahead of second-place Lincoln in the division standings. At home, the Lancers have a 14-6-1 mark, are 8-0-2 in their last ten games, and have a three-game winning streak. Omaha has not lost a game in regulation time since January 16th, a run of 16 straight contests (14-0-2) since losing in regulation. After tonight's action, the Lancers host Des Moines on Saturday evening, and then travel to Tri-City to play the Storm on Tuesday, March 20th.
The RoughRiders are 30-15-3 on the season for 63 points and first place in the USHL East Division chase by two points over second-place Waterloo. Cedar Rapids is 12-7-3 in road games this season, 7-2-1 in its last ten games, and is riding a three-game winning streak. Cedar Rapids is coming off a 6-4 win over Sioux City Wednesday night, in a game where the 'Riders scored five-power play goals. After tonight, Cedar Rapids returns home to play Ohio on Saturday night and next Tuesday will be at Chicago against the Steel. A March 2nd scheduled game against the Lancers at the Mid America Center that was postponed by the early March snowstorm has been re-scheduled for March 27th, at 7:00 PM, again at the MAC.
RECENT HISTORY
Cedar Rapids leads the current season series with the Lancers by one point (1-0-1 for Cedar Rapids to 1-1-0 for the Lancers). Both previous games were played in Cedar Rapids, a 4-1 Lancer win on January 26th and a 4-3 'Rider victory in a shootout on February 17th. In the 2005-06 season, Cedar Rapids won three of five games against the Lancers (3-1-1), while the Lancers were 3-1-0 against Cedar Rapids in the 2004-05 season, when the teams tied for the Anderson Cup championship.
LANCERS REWIND
A 3-1 victory on Saturday night in Indiana assured the Lancers of first-place in the West Division standings and first place in the overall USHL standings heading into this weekend's schedule of games. The win was also the Lancers' 16th straight game without a regulation time loss, the league's longest streak of its type this year. Pat Schafer opened the scoring before fans at the Pepsi Coliseum had much of a chance to get settled in their seats, netting his 16th goal of the year just 22 seconds into the contest. Nearly 11 minutes later, Andrew Conboy scored the eventual game-winning goal at 11:00 of the frame for a 2-0 lead. Mike Phillippi brought Indiana within one goal at the end of the first period, and following a scoreless second period, the Lancers were finally able to put away the Ice when Conboy scored his 18th goal of the season into an empty net with 16 seconds remaining in the game. The Lancers were out shot 38-31 for the contest with winning goaltender Drew Palmisano making 37 saves. Omaha was 1-for-6 on the power play and stopped all eight Indiana power play opportunities.
CONBOY EARNS OFFENSIVE PLAYER HONORS
Lancer forward Andrew Conboy has been named the latest USHL Offensive Player of the Week. Conboy scored a pair of goals in each game against the Indiana Ice last weekend, both Lancer wins. He scored a power play goal and the game winner in Saturday's 3-1 victory. In Friday's contest, Conboy's two goals came in a twenty-second span of the first period to bring the Lancers from a 1-0 deficit to a 2-1 lead. He registered 10 shots on goal and earned a +3 plus-minus rating for the weekend. For the season, the Rosemount, Minnesota native and Nebraska-Omaha recruit is second on the roster in scoring with 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points. Conboy has scored seven power play goals and two game-winning tallies.
OLVER CONTINUES TO LEAD THE WAY
Lancer forward Mark Olver continues to lead the way on the team scoring list, despite being held off the score sheet in Saturday's victory in Indiana. Mark leads the Lancers in points with 49 on 23 goals and 26 assists. That puts Olver in a four-way tie for 13th in the overall scoring race. Olver is tied for second in the USHL in game-winning goals with five and tied for third in the circuit in plus-minus statistics at plus-24. Mark leads the Lancers in scoring against Cedar Rapids with three points in two games. He has scored 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) and is plus-13 in the Lancers' last ten games. In home games, Olver has scored a team-high 20 points on ten goals and ten assists. Three of his ten goals on MAC ice are game-winning scores.
JOKILA ON A SHORT LIST
First-year forward Jarmo Jokila is the Lancer leader in shorthanded goals scored with three, putting him in a three-way tie for third place in the USHL list for shorthanded goals. The native of Finland is the younger brother of former Lancer Janne Jokila, who played in Omaha in the 2002-03 season.
PETRECKI FOR THE DEFENSE
Lancer defenseman Nick Petrecki is among the league leaders in penalty minutes, but also shows up among the leaders in offensive statistics by a defenseman. Petrecki is second overall in the USHL in minor penalties taken with 52. Nick's 139 penalty minutes rank him third among USHL defensemen, but he's also tied for third in shorthanded assists by a blue liner with two, his .134 shooting percentage is number one among league defensemen, and his plus-minus stat of plus-17 is tied for fourth among defensemen along with Lancer teammate Keir Ross. Petrecki was honorable mention for the defensive player of the week award for his two assist effort in the weekend of games in Indiana.
PALMISANO STOPS 'EM AT THE CREASE
Lancer goaltender Drew Palmisano moved up another notch in the league stats for goals-against-average this week. Palmisano, sporting a 17-8-4 overall win-loss record, is now sixth in the USHL in GAA at 2.81. Drew's .916 save percentage is third in the USHL in that category. In home games with the Lancers, Drew has an 8-1-0 record, a 1.89 goals-against-average, and a save percentage of .925. He was a honorable mention for goaltender of the week honors after two victories in Indiana last weekend, including a 37 save performance in a 3-1 victory Saturday evening. Overall this year, Drew has posted a 16-2-1 record with the Lancers, has a 2.34 goals-against-average, and a save percentage of .924.
SPECIAL TEAMS COVERAGE.....
The Lancers' power play team is scoring at a 13.4% clip (45 of 337) for the season; tenth best in the USHL. At home, the Lancers have scored 19 power play goals in 159 opportunities for a percentage of 11.9%, which is 11th in the USHL. Meanwhile on the penalty kill, the Lancers have killed off 82.2% of their penalties (60 of 338), including an 83.3% effort at home (23 of 138). Omaha has scored seven of its ten shorthanded goals at home and has not allowed a shorthanded goal to be scored on MAC ice this season.
ALSO OF NOTE.....
The Lancers' scoring average ranks fourth in the USHL at 3.66 goals per game, and the team's scoring defense ranks fifth in the league at 3.17 goals per game. The Lancers rank fourth in the league in average penalty minutes per game at 22.62. Omaha is 2-1 in overtime decisions and 5-3 in shootouts. When scoring first, the Lancers have a record of 16-5-1. The Lancers have the league's best record against inter-division teams at 18-1-2. When leading after two periods, the Lancers have won 19 of 21 contests (19-1-1, 10-1-0 at home) and are 20-6-3 when outshooting their opponents. Omaha is 9-0-0 when in games decided by three goals.
LANCER STREAKS.....
Defenseman Chris Hepp has committed a penalty in 10 straight games, for a total of 24 penalty minutes in those ten games.
The Lancers' three-game winning streak, dating back to March 4th, is tied with Cedar Rapids and Green Bay for the longest active winning streak in the USHL.
Omaha's five-game home winning streak, dating back to January 16th, is tied with Cedar Rapids for the second-longest active home winning streak in the league.
The Lancers' 16 game non-losing streak is the longest of the year in the USHL, dating back to January 16th. Included in that is a five-game home non-loss streak, also dating back to January 16th, and 11 straight games without a regulation time loss, dating back to January 19th.
LARSON TO RETURN, BEAUDETTE TO JOIN
Two Minnesota high school hockey stars will join the Lancers for this weekend's schedule of games and finish out the season in Omaha. Nick Larson of Hill-Murray rejoins the team after playing his senior season for the Pioneers, while Joe Beaudette joins the team from Blaine High School's Bengals. Both players took part in the Minnesota Class 2-A state hockey tournament in St. Paul last weekend. Larson scored a goal for the Pioneers in their quarterfinal upset loss to Rochester Century, 6-5 in overtime. The Pioneers were then ousted in consolation play by Woodbury, 4-3 in double-overtime. Meanwhile, Beaudette scored a pair of assists, one in each game, but the Bengals lost a quarterfinal game to Burnsville 4-2 and a consolation round loss to Edina, 6-1.
Larson played ten games with the Lancers before tackling his senior season with Hill-Murray, scoring three goals and getting five points in those ten games. Two of his goals were power play goals and one was a shorthanded goal. At Hill-Murray, Larson was a finalist for the prestigious Mr. Hockey award. He was the captain of this year's squad and scored 31 goals for 61 points on a team that was 23-6-1 overall, 15-1-0 in Classic Suburban Conference play. Larson was listed 51st among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's early rankings. Both Larson and Beaudette were honorable mentions on the Associated Press All-State team. Beaudette was selected to the roster at the roster freeze deadline in February. He played under Coach Dave Aus, who led the Bengals to a 22-8-0 record and a 13-1-0 mark in Northwest Suburban Conference play. Beaudette scored 32 goals in his senior season. A 6-foot-2, 170 pound, right-handed shot, Beaudette was listed 172nd (just below Lancer forward Brett Bruneteau) in the NHL Central Scouting mid-season rankings of North American skaters.
United States Hockey League Stories from March 16, 2007
- Hawks Pull Away From Jackets - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Skaters As Waiters raises $1,242 - Tri-City Storm
- Weekend includes St. Patrick's Day home game - Tri-City Storm
- RoughRiders Alum Purcell Named Hockey East Rookie of the Year - Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
- First place Lancers host RoughRiders - Omaha Lancers
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