Stars Drop Regular-Season Finale
April 12, 2025 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release
The Lincoln Stars fell to the Tri-City Storm, 3-2, in overtime in the regular-season finale on Saturday night at the Vireo Center.
Lincoln (44-15-3-0) ended the regular season on a five-game point streak but saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.
Brady Cunningham scored his first USHL goal at the 8:30 mark of the first period. His wrist shot from the left dot was the lone goal of the first period. Cunningham became the Stars' first affiliate to score a goal since Griffin Brown did it vs. Tri-City Dec. 15, 2023.
Another Stars affiliate go on the scoresheet later as Griffin Sturm assisted on Kade Kohanski's eighth goal of the season at the 4:22 mark of the second. Sturm's shot from the left point right off a faceoff win was denied by Kohanski was there far-post side to clean up the rebound and give the Stars a 2-0 lead.
Cooper Simpson scored for a fourth straight game to cut the Lincoln lead in half at the 17:07 mark of the second. The Storm nearly tied it up in the waning seconds of the period but the horn sounded as the puck came to a rest at the top of the crease off a rebound.
Tri-City (29-29-3-1) evened the game up on a terrific goal by Rylan Bonkowski at the 16:03 mark of the third and then Mason Jenson scored on a rebound with three seconds left in overtime.
The Stars held the best record in the USHL in the 2024-25 regular season and won their fourth Anderson Cup. This is the fourth time in franchise history winning the Anderson, joining the 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2002-03 seasons. Lincoln has guaranteed that it will have home-ice advantage for the entire Clark Cup Playoffs in addition to a first-round bye.
Lincoln broke its single-season wins record Friday night, surpassing the 2000-01 (43-7-4-2) and 2001-02 (43-15-0-3) seasons for the most wins in a single season in their 29-season history. The Stars' 44 wins are tied for the 10th most in a season in USHL history.
The 2024-25 Stars shattered their single-season goal record with 272 tallies, blowing past the previous mark of 246 in 2000-01. Six different Stars recorded 20-or-more goals, also breaking a team record. Lincoln had 27 different games scoring five-or-more goals, tied with 1997-98 season for the most in franchise history.
Ethan Weber skated in his 62nd game to become the only Star to appear in every regular-season game with the team this season. This is the 44th time in franchise history that a Star has suited up in every regular-season game in a campaign and Weber is the 43rd different Star to achieve the feat. Marc Suderman appeared in each of the franchise's first 110 games of existence and is the only Star to play every game in a regular season multiple times. Weber finished the 2024-25 season with the fourth-best plus-minus in the USHL at plus-37.
Dashel Oliver did not play Saturday night but finished the season with a plus-minus of plus-40, good for second-best in franchise single-season history behind Kevin Roy, who finished at plus-44 in 2011-12. Oliver and fellow Saturday-night scratch Jack Pechar are tied with Brandon Bochenski (2001-02) for the 11th-most goals in Stars history with 47 apiece.
Defenseman Caeden Herrington also did not play Saturday but finished the regular season with 16 goals, tied with Eli Vlaisavljevich (2005-06) for the second-most goals in a single-season in franchise history. Herrington lead all USHL defensemen in goals, power-play goals (7) and tied for the most game-winning goals (four).
Purchase a Playoff Push Pack now at lincolnstars.com to secure tickets to Game 1 and 2 of the second round for just $18 at lincolnstars.com. Game 1 of the second round will take place April. 18 or 19 and the first two games of the second round will take place at the Ice Box.
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