LINCOLN, Neb. – Conner Valesano scored the winning shootout goal in his first game, vaulting the Tri-City Storm (13-21-2) to a 4-3 win over the Lincoln Stars (11-X-7) at the IceBox in Lincoln on Tuesday night.
The win was the first for Tri-City in Lincoln since a shootout victory on Nov. 23, 2011. The victory was also the first for each Storm player in Lincoln, as no current members on the roster were with the team at the time of their last win at the IceBox.
Storm netminder Hayden Lavigne was credited with his second win of his first USHL campaign, turning away 39 shots and stopping four out of five shootout attempts.
Tri-City took a 1-0 lead on their first shift of the game when forward Ryan McMurphy scored his eighth goal of the season just 35 seconds in. His linemates Drew Mayer and Kyle Eastman were credited with assists on the play.
After the Storm took their one-goal lead into the first intermission, Lincoln tied the game on a power play goal by defenseman Zach Frye and then took the lead on forward Ludvig Hoff’s first career USHL goal at 8:10 of the middle period.
But Tri-City responded immediately, tying the game at 2-2 on the next shift 22 seconds later. Chase Berger redirected a pass from Patrick Curry past Lincoln goaltender Jacob Nehama for his seventh tally of the year.
Storm forward Chris Wilkie had an assist on the tying goal, extending his point streak to six games.
Minutes later, Tri-City took the lead on defenseman Jalen Schulz’s first USHL goal. Coming out of the box after serving a tripping penalty, Schulz was sprung free on a breakaway on a perfect pass from Valesano. The d-man only had time to make a quick move and got the puck past Nehama. It was the first career point for Valesano, the newest member of the team.
Frye got his second goal of the night for Lincoln to tie the game with just 3 seconds left in the period, and the teams entered the final frame tied, 3-3.
Neither side was able to score in either the third or overtime despite a power play chance for Tri-City in the extra period, and the game headed to a shootout.
In the fifth round of the skill competition, Valesano found the back of the net before Lavigne stopped Lincoln’s Brandon Smith to seal the victory for the Storm.
Lincoln outshot Tri-City 42-33 and was 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Storm were 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Storm will head to Lincoln on Tuesday night to face the Stars at 7:05 p.m. Tri-City will be back in Kearney to face the Sioux Falls Stampede next weekend Jan. 24-25. Friday night’s game will get underway at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday’s contest will start at 7:05.
Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Joey DiBenedetto and Nick Hutchison, along with defensemen Kevin Kerr and Cutler Martin.…
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
Tri-City – Ryan McMurphy (Drew Mayer, Kyle Eastman) 0:35
2nd Period
Lincoln – Zach Frye (power play) (Thomas Carey) 5:14
Lincoln – Ludvig Hoff (Christian Lampasso, David Parrottino) 8:10
Tri-City – Chase Berger (Patrick Curry, Chris Wilkie) 8:32
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz (Conner Valesano) 13:35
Lincoln – Zach Frye (Christian Lampasso, John Simonson) 19:57
3rd Period
(no scoring)
Overtime
(no scoring)
PENALTIES
1st Period
Lincoln – Magnus Hoff – (High Sticking), 2 min, 1:52
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Tripping), 2 min, 13:21
2nd Period
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman – (Tripping), 2 min, 3:40
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Tripping), 2 min, 11:27
3rd Period
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez – (Interference), 2 min, 1:28
Tri-City – Patrick Curry – (Slashing), 2 min, 3:08
Lincoln – Max Humitz – (Hooking), 2 min, 7:00
Overtime
Lincoln – Biagio Lerario – (Roughing), 2 min, 0:44
Power Play
Tri-City – 0/3
Lincoln – 1/5
Shots
Tri-City: 12, 8, 8, 4 = Total: 33
Lincoln: 14, 17, 8, 3 = Total: 42
Saves
Tri-City – Hayden Lavigne – 39/42
Lincoln – Jacob Nehama – 29/32