Sports stats



USHL Tri-City Storm

Stampede Survive Late Comeback from Storm

January 11, 2014 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Tri-City Storm News Release


KEARNEY, Neb. - The Sioux Falls Stampede (21-11-2) withstood a late comeback from the Tri-City Storm (12-19-2) and held on to win 6-4 at the Viaero Event Center on Saturday night.

Nolan Aibel scored his first career USHL goal, while Dan Labosky, Chris Wilkie and Garrett Gamez each recorded two assists for the Storm in the loss.

The Stampede took control of the game in the opening period, scoring twice to take a 2-0 lead and outshooting the injury plagued Storm 16-7. Veteran forwards C.J. Franklin and Dennis Kravchenko each scored power play goals in the first frame.

Tri-City cut the lead in half early on in the middle period, when Aibel found the back of the net for the first time in his 12th game in a Storm sweater. Gamez and Patrick Curry were each credited with an assist on the play.

But the Storm couldn't stay out of the penalty box, giving Sioux Falls eight power plays in the first 40 minutes. The Stampede capitalized, scoring twice more on the power play, and once during a 4-on-4 situation.

After Dakota Joshua and Kravchenko had scored on the power play, Storm head coach Jim Hulton pulled starting netminder Jacob Johansson in favor of backup Hayden Lavigne.

Lavigne surrendered a fifth goal to defenseman Ed McGovern and Sioux Falls took a 5-1 lead into the locker room after two periods.

The Storm never gave up however, and made a game of it in the final 20 minutes of play.

First, Garrett Cecere found the back of the net for the first time this season while on a power play to cut the lead to 5-2. Both Labosky and Wilkie assisted on the man-advantage goal.

Just under six minutes later, Austin Poganski scored his 10th of the season and pulled Tri-City within two, at 5-3. Once again, Labosky and Wilkie had assists on what was the Storm's third power play goal of the evening.

Storm forward Ryan McMurphy capped off a three-goal run by Tri-City and pulled his team within a goal with under three minutes remaining in the game, taking a pass from Gamez and scoring his seventh tally of the season to make it 5-4.

But Tri-City ran out of time and Kravchenko completed a hat trick, scoring an empty net goal with 32 seconds left on the clock to seal the 6-4 win for Sioux Falls.

Both teams had big nights on the man advantage, as Sioux Falls scored on four of eight power play chances and Tri-City found the back three times in eight chances.

Winning goaltender David Jacobson made 28 saves and picked up his first assist of the season on the team's second goal of the night.

Johansson made 18 stops before being replaced and Lavigne saved 11 of 12 shots that came his way in the second half of the game.

The Storm will travel to Omaha for their final matchup of the season with the Lancers on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. Tri-City will then return home to face the Dubuque Fighting Saints at the Viaero Event Center on Saturday, also at 7:05.

Check out the Tri-City Storm Statistics



United States Hockey League Stories from January 11, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central