WATERLOO, Ia. – The Waterloo Black Hawks (16-5-0) scored three straight goals in the second period and never looked back, defeating the Tri-City Storm (5-14-2) 4-1 in the teams’ third meeting of the season at Young Arena on Thursday night.
Joel L’Esperance scored a late power play goal for the Storm’s only tally of the night, while goaltender Jacob Johansson was stellar in between the pipes, making 37 saves.
Tri-City had the better of the play in the opening period but got nothing to show for it, unable to beat Waterloo netminder Mathias Israelsson on a couple good chances in the offensive end. The opening period ended with the teams still scoreless.
The Black Hawks took control of the game in the second, scoring two goals in just over a minute and adding a third later in the frame.
Waterloo forward Zach Sanford got the scoring started with a perfect deflection on a fluttering shot by defenseman Hayden Shaw to give the Black Hawks a 1-0 lead at 8:47 of the second.
Just 1:10 later, defenseman Mark Friedman took a long shot from the top of the zone that beat Johansson up high to make it 2-0.
The Black Hawks added a third goal from defenseman Brandon Montour in the final two minutes of the period and had a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Neither team scored in the final period until L’Esperance got Tri-City on the board with less than five minutes to go in the game. The Storm’s leading scorer found a loose puck in the crease and pushed it into the net to breathe some life into the team late in the game.
But a late comeback attempt fell short when defenseman Kevin Kerr was called for holding with less than two minutes remaining and the Black Hawks got an empty net power play goal from Blake Winiecki.
The Storm are back in action Friday night in Des Moines against the Buccaneers before finishing off the road trip on Saturday night with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. Both games will get underway at 7:05 p.m.
The Storm are back at home on Dec. 13 and 14 to face the Youngstown Phantoms in a two-game series.
Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Ryan McMurphy, Ross Olsson and Joey DiBenedetto, along with defenseman Sean Lang.…
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
(no scoring)
2nd Period
Waterloo – Zach Sanford (Hayden Shaw, Tyler Sheehy) 8:47
Waterloo – Mark Friedman (Lawton Courtnall, Tyson McLellan) 9:55
Waterloo – Brandon Montour (Austin Vieth, John Wiitala) 18:15
3rd Period
Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (power play) (Kevin Kerr) 15:50
Waterloo – Blake Winiecki (power play) (empty net) (Zach Sanford) 19:30
PENALTIES
1st Period
(no penalties)
2nd Period
Tri-City – Thomas Aldworth – (High Sticking), 2 min, 1:48
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman – (Fighting), 5 min, 4:52
Waterloo – Derek Pratt – (Fighting), 5 min, 4:52
Waterloo – Dane Cooper – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 5:32
Tri-City – Nick Hutchison – (Roughing), 2 min, 11:55
Tri-City – Nolan Gluchowski – (Holding), 2 min, 19:36
3rd Period
Waterloo – Patrick Russell – (Hooking), 2 min, 4:00
Waterloo – Patrick Russell – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 14:45
Tri-City – Kevin Kerr – (Holding), 2 min, 18:18
Power Play
Tri-City – 1/3
Waterloo – 1/4
Shots
Tri-City: 7, 7, 11 = Total: 25
Waterloo: 13, 19, 9 = Total: 41
Saves
Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 37/40
Waterloo – Mathias Israelsson – 24/25