Lancers Elevate To First, Win Eighth Straight
Published on February 7, 2007 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Omaha Lancers News Release
With a 2-1 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks on Tuesday, February 6th at the Mid-America Center, the Lancers claimed their eighth straight victory and vaulted into first place in the West Division of the USHL and into the top spot overall in the race for the regular season Anderson Cup championship.
A two-goal second period was the difference in the game for the Lancers, who fell behind 1-0 on Kyle Reeds' 13th goal of the season for Waterloo at the 15:30 mark of the first period of play.
Pat Schafer scored the Lancers' first goal, netting his 10th goal of the year at the 11:41 mark of the second period, thanks to a feed from Mark Olver at the side of the net. Nick Petrecki also received an assist on the goal, which came in a scramble around Waterloo netminder Ryan Rondeau.
It was Petrecki who next provided the game-winning goal later in the second period, as he jumped on a loose puck near the top of the slot area, blasting home the shot into the back of the net. Jake Marto and Matt Thurber received assists on the goal, which was Petrecki's sixth red-lighter of the year and second game-winning goal of the season. It came at 16:01 of the second frame.
From that point, the Lancer defense took over, especially goaltender Drew Palmisano, who stopped 11 of Waterloo's 17 total shots on goal in the second and third periods.
For the game, the Lancers out shot the Black Hawks by a 27-17 margin, providing 11 of their 27 shots in the second period. Mark Olver led the shooting attack with five of his team's 27 shots on net.
Neither team scored on the power play, with the Lancers ending up 0-for-5, while stopping all seven Waterloo power play chances. Omaha has now successfully skated off the opposition's last 43 consecutive power play opportunities.
In the contest, the Lancers took eight penalties for 16 minutes, while the Hawks were whistled six times for 12 penalty minutes.
Palmisano (13-8-3, 12-2-0 with the Lancers) was the winning goaltender with 16 saves. Rondeau (8-5-3, 0-3-0 vs. Omaha) took the loss for Waterloo with a 25 save performance.
With the victory, the Lancers claimed first place overall in the USHL by one point over Waterloo and two points over Tri-City and Cedar Rapids heading into this weekend's play. Omaha also leads the West Division race by the same two points over Tri-City and by three points over Sioux City, with the Lancers scheduled to play at Tri-City this Saturday night, February 10th, at 7:00 PM in Kearney, Nebraska.
The eight straight victories make up the second-longest win streak of the season for any one USHL team. The Lancers are 17-4-0 since December 1st.
United States Hockey League Stories from February 7, 2007
- Junior Blue Jackets lose shootout, game 6-5 - Ohio Junior Blue Jackets
- Bucs Make Roster Moves - Des Moines Buccaneers
- Cepis Named RoughRiders Assistant Captain - Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
- Purple Road Show kicks off - Tri-City Storm
- Lancer Second Period Upends Hawks - Waterloo Black Hawks
- Lancers Elevate To First, Win Eighth Straight - Omaha Lancers
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