ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Matthew Freytag scored his second and third goals of the season to help the Tri-City Storm (5-2-1) defeat Team USA (2-6-0) 4-2 at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube on Friday night.

Tri-City continued to convert on the power play, scoring twice with the man advantage in the win. The special teams unit has produced plenty early on in the season, and is the top-ranked group in the USHL after the team’s first eight games, at a rate of 32.26%

The Storm power play opened the scoring in the first period when forward Joel Herbert deflected a Tory Dello shot past USA goalie Joseph Woll.

Just 1:02 later, Tri-City made it 2-0 on Freytag’s first tally of the night. The Wayzata, Minn. native scored off a pass from center Mason Appleton.

Freytag struck again at 5:52 of the second period with another wrist shot to beat Woll and make it 3-0 Tri-City.

Next, Storm captain Garrett Gamez put home a rebound in front of the USA net after a shot from forward Jake Wahlin. The team’s second power play goal of the night made it 4-0 and Tri-City never looked back.

Team USA forward Max Jones scored on a power play later in the second to make it 4-1 before the teams went into the locker room for the second intermission.

The only goal of the final period was scored by USA forward William Lockwood, and the game ended with a 4-2 win for Tri-City.

Storm netminder Alec Dillon made 21 stops in the win to pick up his fifth victory of the season.

Tri-City outshot Team USA 37-23 in the game.

The two teams will complete their weekend series on Saturday night in Ann Arbor at 6:00 p.m. CST.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Aleksi Ainali and Wade Allison, along with defenseman Jason Krych…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

Tri-City – Joel Herbert (power play) (Tory Dello, Chase Berger) 11:13
Tri-City – Matthew Freytag (Mason Appleton) 12:15

2nd Period

Tri-City – Matthew Freytag (Jalen Schulz, Kevin Kerr) 5:52
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez (power play) (Jake Wahlin, Chris Wilkie) 9:15
Team USA – Max Jones (power play) (Clayton Keller, Chad Krys) 14:32

3rd Period

Team USA – William Lockwood (Ryan Lindgren) 11:13

PENALTIES

1st Period

Team USA – Adam Fox – (Hooking), 2 min, 9:45
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Elbowing), 2 min, 16:30

2nd Period

Team USA – Chad Krys – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 8:56
Team USA – Nick Pastujov – (High Sticking), 2 min, 9:56
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman – (Roughing), 2 min, 12:33
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Boarding), 2 min, 14:04
Team USA – Luke Martin – (Slashing), 2 min, 14:42
Team USA – Michael Campoli – (Roughing), 4 min, 14:59
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Checking From Behind), 4 min, 14:59
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez – (Fight (Removal of Equipment)) 5 min, 14:59

3rd Period

Team USA – Joey Anderson – (Hooking), 2 min, 2:24
Team USA – Clayton Keller – (High Sticking), 2 min, 5:34

Power Play

Tri-City – 2/5

Team USA – 1/5

Shots

Tri-City: 12, 15, 10 = Total: 37
Team USA: 9, 8, 6 = Total: 23

Saves

Green Bay – Alec Dillon – 21/23

Team USA – Joseph Woll – 33/37