Preview - Stars at Gamblers
January 25, 2019 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release
FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 2019 | 7:05 P.M. | RESCH CENTER
RADIO: LINCOLN STARS RADIO | WATCH: HOCKEYTV
Tonight's Game:
The Stars (8-23-3-1) are in Green Bay to take on the Gamblers (13-16-4-1) for the first time this season.
Last Game:
The Stars played host to the Muskegon Lumberjacks Sunday for Faith and Family Day.
Lincoln started the afternoon contest with a heavy, physical presence. After skating with Muskegon for the first half of the frame, the Stars switched to the attack in the second half of the period. Just after the 13:30 mark, Steven Agriogianis, stripped a puck free in the attacking zone and fed Josh Lopina a pass he promptly ripped past Ryan McInchak for the 1-0 lead. The Stars kept the pressure up through the remainder of the frame and in the period's final minute they were rewarded. In his first action against his former team, Hunter Skinner ripped a shot toward the net, where Tristan Ashbrook re-directed it through for the 2-0 lead at 19:19. Backed by a strong start from Samuel Hlavaj, who made 11 saves in the first, the Stars took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Muskegon got off the floor and answered with a strong push in the second. Egor Afanasyev struck first when he broke free on a feed from Max Ellis at 5:04. At 10:39, the Lumberjacks came back again on an odd-man rush in which Alex Yakovenko put home a Jagger Joshua cross-ice feed to tie the game at two. Lincoln pushed back in the late second, earning a power play when Skinner deked around a man and drew a trip. With 14 seconds left in the middle frame, Josh Lopina fired a rebound past McInchak to re-take the lead. For the second-straight day, the Stars were hampered by mistakes at the start of the third period. An effort to clear the net front led to an own-goal credited to Danil Gushchin, 42 seconds into the third. Yakovenko broke free and buried a puck less than two minutes later to give Muskegon their first lead of the game. Owen Farris capped the Lumberjacks surge at 4:40 by burying a 2-on-1 offering from Zachary Nazzarett to give Muskegon a 5-3 lead. The Stars turned the tables at 12:58 when Justin Lee's shot bested McInchak to trim the deficit to one. The next shift saw Josiah Slavin put the puck in the net, but upon further review, it was determined that Slavin kicked the puck through, disallowing what would have been the game-tying goal. Brandon Bussi came on in relief of McInchak. Through a final Stars push, Bussi and the Lumberjacks held on, allowing Mikael Hakkarainen to put a puck into a Stars empty net with one second to spare. The final score saw the Stars fall 6-4.
In their last contest, the Gamblers played host to Team USA's U17 team. Jake Sanderson led the way for USA early, scoring his second goal of the USHL season on the power play, just 3:21 into the first. The bump in the road did not stop Green Bay goalie Maksim Zhukov from posting a strong first period from that point on, stopping the other eight shots he faced. Drew Commesso was perfect for the U17's in the opening frame, stopping all eight shots sent his way. In the second, USA would add to their lead off the power play efforts of Thomas Bordeleau, who scored his sixth goal of the season at 3:31 into the middle period. Green Bay would strike back midway through the frame, when Benito Posa beat Commesso to trim the deficit to one. USA would get the goal back with under five minutes left in the period, when Brett Berard fired home his team's third power play goal of the game. Falling behind 3-1 didn't deter the Gamblers. In the third, they attacked with proficiency, scoring twice in the first eight minutes of play. Nicholas Zabaneh and Austin Heidemann each recorded tallies, with the latter's coming on the power play to tie the game for Green Bay. 3-3 would be the score through the end of both the third period and overtime, pushing the game to a shootout. Zhukov was excellent, pitching a perfect three-round shutout, allowing Austin Heidemann's goal in the second round to serve as the game-winner for Green Bay. The comeback victory gave the Gamblers the weekend sweep over their standings neighbor, placing them two points back of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Head-to-Head:
Tonight's contest will be the first meeting between Lincoln and Green Bay in the 2018-19 season. Lincoln swept the season series last year by winning 4-3 and 5-1 over the Gamblers at the Ice Box. Paul Cotter scored twice in game one of that weekend's back-to-back while current Stars forward Devlin McCabe found the twine twice in game two. Both players finished with three-point weekends.
By the Numbers:
Team Stats:
GF: GB-2.94 (14th) to LIN-2.69 (15th)
GA: GB-3.62 (12th) to LIN 3.86 (16th)
Shots For/G: LIN-28.40 (9th) to GB-28.35 (10th)
Shots Against/G: LIN-29.89 (12th) to GB-32.44 (16th)
PP: GB-23/122, 18.9% (12th) to LIN-20/146, 13.7% (16th)
PK: LIN-115/140, 82.1% (3rd) to GB-97/124, 78.2% (t-11th)
SHGF: GB-3 (t-8th) to LIN-1 (t-16th)
SHGA: GB-2 (t-2nd) to LIN-7 (16th)
Leading Scorers:
G: LIN-Caleb Rule 11, GB-Austin Heidemann 11, Paul Maust 11
A: GB-Jackson Perbix 22, LIN-Justin Lee 14
TP: GB-Jackson Perbix 26, LIN-Brock Bremer 20, Devlin McCabe 20
Goalies (Five Games Played or More):
W: GB-Evan Fear 9, LIN-Tyler Johnson 4
GAA: GB-Evan Fear 3.31, LIN-Tyler Johnson 3.34
SV%: GB-Evan Fear .902, LIN-Tyler Johnson .898
SO: GB-Evan Fear 2, LIN-Jacob Mucitelli 1
MIN: GB-Evan Fear 1177, LIN-Tyler Johnson 970
What to Watch For:
Debuts:
The Stars will have three new players in their lineup following the trades of Josiah Slavin, Shane Pinto, and Hunter Carrick. Ryan Doolin, acquired from Chicago, Michael Colella, acquired from Tri-City, and Zach Urdahl, an affiliate player called up from Team Wisconsin and Eau Claire North High School, will look for fast starts in Lincoln's forward group. Doolin is a big-bodied forward who scored five goals and nine points with the Steel prior to his arrival. Colella had five goals and 10 points between time with both the Omaha Lancers and Tri-City Storm this season. Three of those points came against the Stars. As a Stars affiliate, Urdahl has filled the stat sheet in both the UMHSEHL and the USHS. The recent Wisconsin commit has scored 6-7-13 in 18 GP for Team Wisconsin and 20-6-26 in 10 games for Eau Claire North High.
Green Bay Power Play Loves Home Ice:
The Gamblers man-advantage is third in the USHL at home, converting at a rate of 26.8% at the Resch Center. The Stars are the league's third-ranked penalty kill overall, and its fifth-best on the road, stopping 81.4% of chances against. Noah Prokop leads the Gamblers with five power play goals, while Jackson Perbix leads Green Bay with 10 power play points.
Building a Foundation:
Following the departures of Shane Pinto and Josiah Slavin, the Stars will lean heavily on the presence of surging veteran Tristan Ashbrook, and rapidly ascending rookie Josh Lopina down the middle. Ashbrook has tallied a goal in four-straight games, while Lopina collected two goals and half-a-dozen hits in last Sunday's game against Muskegon. More than anything else, the team will be looking for all of their players to play a style historically connected to the Stars.
"The Lincoln Stars for many, many years were a feared group to play against because they played hard," said head coach Cody Chupp. "Now I'm not talking about fighting, I'm talking about that they were a team that was hard to play against. Our organization was built on that culture. Our fans expect a group that's hard to play against. Ultimately from a coaching standpoint, that's what brings you success in this league: teams that are very difficult to play against make for a long night. We need to get that back in our game. Ultimately we have to be hard to play against. People have to come in saying 'This is going to be a long night,' no matter the result, 'We're in for a long night.' We're looking for a team that wants to compete, wants to battle, and wants to be hard to play against. We're looking for guys who are hungry to earn their next opportunity whether that's with us or at their college. Ultimately, we want guys who are extremely hungry to make an impression and prove a point. I can't guarantee results, but I can say that this will be a group with a focus of work and a focus of competing every single day. We will work and we will compete and that's the foundation that the rest of our success throughout the course of the rest of this year into next year will be built on."
United States Hockey League Stories from January 25, 2019
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