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USHL Update - Week 21

Published on February 22, 2012 under United States Hockey League (USHL) News Release


Men of Steel ...The Chicago Steel had a productive weekend as the team earned three wins in a span of 48 hours. The stretch snapped their four-game losing streak. Over the three wins, the Steel allowed just five goals while scoring 14. Chicago turned away all eight power play opportunities and have successful killed off 15-of-16 over their past six games. Ali Thomas scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, in Friday's 4-2 win against Youngstown. He added another goal in Sunday's 5-2 win over Cedar Rapids, his fourth goal in four games. Canon Pieper scored a goal on Friday and then netted a shorthanded tally in Saturday's 5-1 win vs. Muskegon. His brother Bo Pieper also scored on Saturday and then recorded the game-winner on Sunday. Goaltender Mathias Dahlstrom recorded his 10th victory of the season on Saturday as he made 28 saves. Defenseman Bradley Shumway scored his first career USHL goal on Sunday for the Steel. Forward Phillip Marinaccio is riding a four-game point streak (1g, 5a) for Chicago.

Storm Watchers ...The Tri-City Storm were firing on the offensive side of the ice to pick up a pair of wins over the weekend. It pushed their winning streak to three games and gave them seven victories over their last nine contests. They scored four goals in the third period of Friday's 5-2 win vs. Sioux Falls. Brian Ward netted two goals in the game while Joshua Henke scored the game-winner. The Storm again had a four-goal period on Saturday on the way to scoring a season high in goals during the 8-3 win over Lincoln. It was the most goals they had scored in a game since March 25th, 2007 (8-4 win vs. Sioux Falls). Kenny Brooks recorded the 17th hat trick in team history during the win. Thomas Nykopp produced five points (2g, 3a) over the weekend.

Saints Go Marching ...The Dubuque Fighting Saints extended their win streak to three games with a pair of weekend victories. The defending Clark Cup champs have won five of their last six contests and currently sit in a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference. Max Gardiner scored two goals in Friday's 4-1 victory against Muskegon to give the Saints their 15th home win of the season which ties for the USHL lead. Goaltender Connor Girard made 25 saves to capture his second USHL win. Despite being out-shot 31-15 on Saturday, the Saints earned their 12th road win of the season with a 4-3 shootout victory against Waterloo. Defenseman Mike Matheson provided much of the offense as he scored two goals in regulation and converted the lone shootout tally, his first USHL career shootout attempt.

150 for Regg ...Des Moines Buccaneers head coach Regg Simon earned a milestone victory on Friday as he collected his 150th USHL coaching win during the Bucs 4-3 win over Indiana. The victory wasn't easy as the Bucs had two players in the penalty box during the final minute of regulation and withstood a rare 6-on-3 power play as Indiana pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker. All but 19 of Simon's USHL wins have come behind the Des Moines bench (he led the Tri-City Storm to a 19-15-2 record after taking over midseason in 2002-03). He is the 15th coach in USHL history to reach 150 wins and he is fourth in victories among active coaches, trailing P.K. O'Handley, Mark Carlson, and Kevin Hartzell who have all surpassed 400 wins. Simon's milestone win came one week after O'Handley collected his 450th USHL win.

Crowded House ...Attendance numbers continued to soar as more than 45,000 fans attended USHL games during "Hockey Weekend Across America". The Sioux Falls Stampede hosted 4,511 fans on Saturday, their highest attended game of the season and most fans in almost exactly one year when they equaled a record of 4,764 on 2/19/11. The Omaha Lancers had their fourth highest crowd of the season on Saturday as 4,617 fans attended their game. The Waterloo Black Hawks opened the doors to 3,500 fans on Saturday, the third time this season they have reached capacity of Young Arena. The Tri-City Storm had 3,265 fans at Saturday's game, their fourth highest single-game total of the season. A total of 3,412 fans were at the home game for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday, the fifth highest crowd for the team this season. The Des Moines Buccaneers welcomed 3,268 on Sunday, the fifth time in their last eight home games they have surpassed 3,200 in attendance at the 3,400-seat Buccaneer Arena.

The Kid is Alright ...Omaha Lancers goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped all 22 shots he faced to record his first USHL shutout in Friday's 7-0 win against Cedar Rapids. Demko, who just turned 16 in December, is the youngest goaltender in the USHL Tier I era to post a shutout. Team USA goaltenders Jared Rutledge (4/1/11 vs. Youngstown) and Collin Olson (3/27/11 vs. Des Moines) also recorded shutouts as 16-year-olds last season, both accomplishing the feat just before celebrating their 17th birthdays in April. Demko has won three of this last four starts.

Hats Off ...A pair of hat tricks were put on the board during the weekend. Lincoln Stars forward Will Suter scored a goal in each period of Friday's 4-2 win against Sioux City. He had scored just three goals total in 41 previous USHL career games. Kirill Lebedev recorded a hat trick for the Indiana Ice in Saturday's 6-3 win vs. Omaha. It gave him five goals over his last four games and seven goals in just eight USHL games this season.

What a Difference a Year Makes ...Playing in his 42nd game of the season, J.T. Stenglein scored a pair of goals for the Youngstown Phantoms in the 5-4 win over Team USA on Sunday. It gave him a team-leading 22 goals for the season. In 42 games last season for the Phantoms, he scored one goal.

Notes ...Sioux Falls Stampede forward Austyn Young equaled his USHL career high with three points (2g, 1a) on Wednesday to help his team to a 5-2 win against Des Moines and snap a seven-game winless skid (0-5-2)...Playing last weekend for the first time in nearly six weeks due to injury, Kevin Irwin returned to the Des Moines Buccaneers lineup and helped them pick up a pair of wins, including scoring the game-winning goal in Sunday's 4-2 win over Waterloo...Luke Voltin scored his first goal as a member of the Des Moines Buccaneers, the game-winner in Friday's 4-3 victory against Indiana...Ryan Papa scored the game-winning goal for the Waterloo Black Hawks during a 4-1 victory over Fargo on Friday. He has netted the game-winner in each of the last three games for the team and has collected five game-winners this season...Max Edson scored his first USHL career shorthanded goal on Friday which was the ninth of the season for Waterloo, the most the team has scored in a season since 2003-04...The 150th USHL regular season game for Soren Jonzzon was a memorable one as he scored two goals, including the game-winner, for the Youngstown Phantoms in their 5-4 win over Team USA on Sunday...Mike Ambrosia had his point streak halted at 12 games when he was held scoreless on Sunday. The Youngstown Phantoms forward put up 20 points (3g, 17a) during the streak.

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United States Hockey League Stories from February 22, 2012


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