USHL Tri-City Storm

Tri-City Storm News & Notes - Week 24

Published on March 9, 2012 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Tri-City Storm News Release


KEARNEY, Neb. - Entering this weekend's USHL action, the Tri-City Storm and the Omaha Lancers have played the most games (49) in the league. Therefore, with teams playing games in hand on the Storm, Tri-City will only play one game this weekend in a Friday night matchup with the Lancers at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

Tri-City (21-28-0, 42 pts - 6th in Western Conference) is currently holding onto the final playoff spot in the Western Conference a point ahead of Sioux City for sixth place, and two points back of fifth-place Des Moines entering week 24 in the USHL.

With a one-game weekend, the Storm look to utilize the light week trying to get healthy from injuries throughout the roster. The Storm could be missing D Dylan Maller, D Josh McArdle, D Bryan Sinz, LW Trevor Moore and RW Joshua Henke from the lineup Friday night due to injuries. McArdle's injury could force him to miss the rest of the season with a major injury. Several other players are battling through minor injuries, however should play Friday night in Omaha.

RW Grant Opperman will not be with the Storm until next week when Tri-City hosts the Fargo Force on March 2 & 3 at the Viaero Event Center. Opperman on Wednesday night assisted Breck High School (Minn.) to a 7-0 victory over Duluth-Marshall High School in the Minnesota State tournament. The NHL draft prospect forward had three points (1g, 2a) against Duluth-Marshall and now has 76 points (32g, 44a) in 29 total games this season with Breck. Breck plays against St. Thomas Academy at 11:00 a.m. Friday in the Minnesota Class A State Semi-Finals.

The Storm are 3-3-0 this season against the first-place Omaha Lancers in the Western Conference. In the last two meetings at the Omaha Civic Auditorium, including last Sunday's 4-3 win in Omaha, the Storm earned one-goal victories each time. Tri-City is now 2-8-2 (includes two playoff games in 2010) in Omaha since the start of the 2009-10 season. Also, the Storm are 19-21-0 overall against Western Conference opponents.

ESPN Superstation 1460/1550 AM will air Friday's game in Omaha with the Viaero Wireless Pre-Game Shows starting at 6:45 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to air on Classic Hits 98.9 FM, but due to a state basketball game conflict, it was moved on Thursday night.

Tri-City Notes:

Tri-City Storm - 21-28-0, 42 pts (6th in Western Conference)

- Last game - March 4 - 4-3 win @ Omaha Lancers

- Tri-City is now 15-13-0 under GM/Head Coach Josh Hauge after starting the season 6-15-0

- The Storm, who did not have a single player reach 20 goals last season, are on pace to have three players hit the 20-goal plateau - C Nick Lappin (21 goals), C Tim Bonner (17 goals) and RW Kenny Brooks (15 goals)

- Taking over the scoring leader position on the Storm is RW Kenny Brooks with 37 points (15g, 22a) in 49 games this season. Brooks has five points (3g, 2a) in six games against Omaha this season. Brooks has points in eight of the last 11 games for the Storm with 12 points (5g, 7a) in that span of games

- C Nick Lappin still leads the Storm with 21 goals and is only one point back of the scoring leader - Brooks on the Storm with 36 points (21g, 15a) in 43 games

- C Tim Bonner has tied a season-high with a current three-game goal streak and now ranks second on the Storm with 17 goals this season. Bonner has 25 points (17g, 8a) in 48 games as a rookie this season from Osseo High School (Minn.)

- Both LW Jared Linnell (6g, 14a) and LW Thomas Nykopp (9g, 11a) each became the seventh and eighth player respectfully to reach the 20-point mark on the Storm this season with assists in last Sunday's 4-3 win against Omaha

- G Adam Wilcox (19-15-0) has started 10-consecutive games for the Storm and now has a 2.89 GAA and .911 SV%. Wilcox's save-percentage ranks fourth in the USHL

- The power play is still 15th in the USHL going 29-for-222 (13.1%). the Storm are 2-for-27 (7.4%) on the power play in six games against Omaha this season. the penalty kill is 10th in the league at 81.3% (174-for-214), however the Storm are 29-for-30 (96.7%) on the penalty kill vs. the Lancers this season

Opponents Notes:

Friday, March 9 vs. Omaha Lancers - 30-16-3, 63 pts (1st in Western Conference)

- Last game - March 4 - 4-3 loss vs. Tri-City Storm

- The Lancers are 4-1-0 in their last five games

- Omaha is 23-3-1 when scoring the first goal this season

- C Jimmy Murray leads the Lancers in scoring with 60 points (17g, 43a) in 49 games, which has him ranked third among all USHL players. Murray leads all USHLers with 43 assists this season and leads Omaha with 18 multi-point games this season. Murray needs 12 more assists to tie the all-time record for assists in a season by a Lancer (Omaha's record for most assists in a single season remains 55 set by Donny Riendeau during the 1989-1990 season and Steve Suk during the 1990-1991 campaign - courtesy Dan Fremuth with Omaha)

- LW Casey Bailey leads all Lancers in goals (23) and is tied for eighth among all USHL skaters. Bailey enters the weekend with 50 points (23g, 27a)

- D Nolan Zajac enters this weekend tied for the USHL defense scoring lead with 32 points (8g, 24a) this season. Zajac has tallied just two assists against the Storm in six games

- G Alex Lyon (21-12-3) has a 2.83 GAA and .907 SV%. G Thatcher Demko (8-3-0) has a 2.89 GAA and .899 SV%. Lyon played in both games against the Storm last weekend and made 47 saves on 52 shots

- Omaha's power play is currently 6th in the USHL at 18.2% (43-for-236) and have scored the second-most power-play goals (43) in the Western Conference behind Fargo (44). the penalty kill is the best in the conference at 173-for-202 (85.6%), which has them ranked 2nd overall in the league behind Dubuque's penalty kill of 87.1%.

Check out the Tri-City Storm Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from March 9, 2012


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