Stars Reach 40 Wins for Fifth Time in Franchise History
March 15, 2025 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release
The Lincoln Stars earned their fourth straight win with a 6-4 win over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday night at the Ice Box.
Daniel Shlaine broke a 4-4 with 1:19 remaining by scoring the game-winning goal. Hunter Anderson set him up from the far corner for a one-timer from one knee at the near dot to give the Stars their third and final lead of the night.
Lincoln (40-13-1-0) reached 40 wins in a season for the fifth time in franchise history and the first time in the last 23 campaigns. The Stars' six goals give them a USHL-best 245 on the season and two goals away from passing the 2000-01 season (246) for their most goals scored in a single campaign. Lincoln needs four more wins over its final eight games to set its single-season wins record and pass the 2000-01 (43-7-4-2) and 2001-02 (43-15-0-3) seasons.
Bruno Idzan scored twice for his fifth multi-goal game in 28 games with Lincoln. His two tallies put him at 21 goals to join Jack Pechar (25), Dashel Oliver (22), Gio DiGiulian (21) and Shlaine (21) as Stars' 20-goal scorers. This season is the third time in franchise history that Lincoln has had five different 20-goal scorers in the same campaign and the first time since achieving it in back-to-back seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Idzan got the Stars on the board first thanks to a misplay by RoughRiders goaltender AJ Reyelts. The netminder left the crease to play the puck behind the net to the far corner but DiGiulian was there to intercept the puck on the far wall. He tossed it to the net and Idzan redirected the puck at the far post for his 20th goal of the season 4:46 into the game.
Idzan did it again at the 11:40 mark of the first to tie the game back up. It all started with Oliver hustling down the ice to wash out icing and using the boards to advance the puck behind the net to DiGiulian, who fed Idzan all alone at the base of the left-wing circle for a one-timer.
Cedar Rapids briefly took the lead in between Idzan tallies as Thomas Vandenberg cashed in on a rebound opportunity at the 4:46 mark of the first to tie the game up and then Maxon Vig's one-timer from just inside the blue line on the power play at the 10:28 mark put the RoughRiders up, 2-1.
Vig tallied again 4:11 into the second to put Cedar Rapids up, 3-2, but that lead would not last. Anderson tied the game up at the 7:48 mark after the RoughRiders failed to clear the zone. Kade Kohanski intercepted the clearing attempt and slipped the puck ahead to Shlaine, who made a nifty backhand pass to find Anderson over his shoulder with enough space to pull the trigger and score his 10th goal.
Lefty Markonidis gave the Stars a 4-3 lead at the 13:19 mark of the second period thanks in part to a fortuitous hop. Etienne Lessard wired the puck of the near-corner boards and the puck ricocheted to the front of the net. Michael Sandruck was denied from point-blank range but Reyelts was unable to freeze the rebound and Markondis poked it in to score his 17th goal and fourth in the last three games.
The Stars are off Sunday before hosting Fargo on Monday for a St. Patrick's Day showdown at the Ice Box. Lincoln will be wearing specialty green jerseys that will be auctioned off after their Mar. 21 game vs. Sioux Falls. Only five more home game remain in the 2024-25 regular season before the 2025 Clark Cup Playoffs. Get your tickets now at lincolnstars.com.
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