USHL Sioux Falls Stampede

Stampede Breeze Past Chicago Before Sellout Crowd at PREMIER Center

Published on March 10, 2018 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Sioux Falls Stampede News Release


Sioux Falls, SD-A four goal outburst in the third period propelled the Sioux Falls Stampede to a 5-1 thumping of the Chicago Steel before a sellout crowd of 10,678 fans Saturday night at the PREMIER Center. The win kept the Herd (27-13-8) in third place in the Western Conference and within three points of first place Omaha. Nolan Walker and Artem Ivanyuzhenkov tallied a goal and an assist each in the win while Mikhail Berdin stopped 42 of 43 shots in between the pipes for his 19th victory of the season. The Stampede are now 11-2-2 in their last 15 games and 13-6-6 on home ice this season.

The Steel have one of the best players in the league on their roster and he showed early why. Jack Dugan tallied a goal just 3:31 into the hockey game when he took the puck inside the right circle and wristed a shot past the stick side of Mikhail Berdin for a 1-0 lead. The Herd tried to battle back with a power play chance later in the period, but Chicago goaltender Oskar Autio stopped all 10 shots to keep the Herd off the board and Chicago led 1-0 after one period.

The intensity picked up greatly in the second period as it was evident that these two teams did not like each other. It all started at the 14:24 mark when Marko Reifenberger dropped the gloves with Tim Clifton. Just over a minute later Chicago's Aaro Vidgren crosschecked Adam Dawe in the face and then sent the entire Stampede line after him as both lines got involved in a scrum. It ended with Paul DeNaples receiving a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for crosschecking, putting the Steel on a power play for five minutes. Just a minute into the power play though it was the Stampede who would take advantage as Jaxon Nelson took advantage of a turnover right in front of the Chicago net and quickly slipped it through the pads of Steel goaltender Oskar Autio to make it a 1-1 game. Chicago ended the period with 39 seconds remaining on their sixth power play of the game.

The Herd killed off the penalty early in the third and took their first lead of the night at 6:46 when Mikhail Berdin sent a pass down the left wing wall for Nolan Walker who skated down the boards and cut inside the left circle before backhanding a shot under the left arm of Autio to make it 2-1. Less than two minutes later, the Herd found themselves on the power play and Collin Swoyer tallied his second goal of the weekend with a wrister from the slot that hit the back of the net for a 3-1 lead. Artem Ivanyuzhenkov made it 4-1 with his 16th goal of the season at 10:41. Kirill Panyukov brought the puck into the offensive zone before sending a pass through the slot to Ivanyuzhenkov who blasted it home. The Herd put the game away for good when Marko Reifenberger sent a perfect pass in front of the net to Griffin Lunn who posted his 11th goal of the season for a 5-1 advantage.

Chicago outshot the Herd 13-12 in the period and 43-30 on the night. The Stampede finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play and were a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.

The Herd close out the weekend with a Sunday night tilt with the Lincoln Stars at 6:05 PM. It is also non-profit night, fans can check out some of the great local non-profit organizations in the area during the game. Tickets are available through the KELOLAND Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet. The Stampede office will be open from 12 PM to 3 PM for ticketing needs as well.

Check out the Sioux Falls Stampede Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from March 10, 2018


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