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USHL Omaha Lancers

Lancers Hush Waterloo's Offense in Shutout Victory

March 25, 2023 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Omaha Lancers News Release


WATERLOO, IA. - The Lancers hit the road again for a two-game weekend, paying visits to both the Waterloo Black Hawks, and the Sioux Falls Stampede. And tonight (3/25) the opponent was the Black Hawks at Young Arena.

Heading into tonight's game, the Lancers sit at 1-0-2-1 against Waterloo this season, as they have kept a 17-game point streak alive (11-0-3-3 in that stretch). With the most recent Waterloo regulation victory over the Lancers dating back to December 14th, 2019. Which was a 3-0 Waterloo victory in Omaha.

The first period brought even play on all fronts. With the total amount of faceoffs being 23 on the period, the Lancers were able to in 11 of them, with the Black Hawks taking the other 12. Shots on goal was a solid count of 9-8 in favor of Waterloo, but Lancers' netminder Michael Hrabal turned aside all nine shots he saw as Jack Spicer was only able to tame seven out of the eight he saw on the other end.

Mateo Picozzi missed a shot from the blue line that Aleksi Kivioja picked up and sent through the mouth of the goal crease. And sitting backdoor was Ryan Kusler to knock in his third goal of the season, sending the Lancers into the first intermission with the one goal lead.

The second period brought 20 minutes of scoreless hockey, but the stellar play kept up by both squads. With Waterloo leading in second period shots 9-8, that brought the total tally to 18-16 through 40 minutes of play.

7:12 into the period Haden Kruse was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct on a very questionable head-contact call. The Lancers phenomenal penalty kill was able to get the job done while down a man, as they took their 1-0 lead into the final period.

The majority of the third period of play was controlled by the Black Hawks, with outshooting the Lancers 17-9. But the Lancers managed to net three more goals while silencing the Waterloo offense.

Just 1:46 into the period Nick Pierre and Griffin Jurecki tipped the puck around the Waterloo goal crease before knocking a pass out to William Smith who netted a wrist shot, glove side on Black Hawks' goaltender, Jack Spicer to make it a 2-0 lead for Omaha.

Just over six minutes later, Aleksi Kivioja chased down Miko Matikka and forced him to tip the puck in front of his own net where Ryan Kusler was left alone. Kusler found the top shelf, scoring his second of the night and extending the Lancers' lead to 3-0.

From there on out, Waterloo was in control, but could not slip one past Michael Hrabal who ended up racking up 35 saves in his third shutout of the season.

The last goal for Omaha came with just 2:18 left to play as Drew Montgomery knocked a defensive end faceoff onto the stick of Adam Cardona who sent a 150-foot shot into the empty Waterloo net to seal the 4-0 road victory. Stretching the Lancers point streak against the Black Hawks to 18 games.

The Lancers boarded their bus and will head straight up to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a Sunday afternoon showdown with the Sioux Falls Stampede (3/26). Puck drop is set for 4:05PM CST. and can be caught on FloSports and Mixlr.

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United States Hockey League Stories from March 25, 2023


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