KEARNEY, Neb. – Chris Wilkie scored three times to record his first USHL hat trick and break a three game regulation losing streak in a 5-3 Tri-City Storm (15-10-5) victory over the Waterloo Black Hawks (9-18-3) on Friday night at the Viaero Event Center.
Wilkie now has 20 goals on the season, which leads the USHL. Two of his tallies came on the power play, and he now has 11 power play goals, which is tied for the league lead. The hat trick was the 24th in team history.
Both Dan Labosky and Matthew Freytag also scored for Tri-City, while netminder Alec Dillon made 20 saves to record his 12th win of the season.
Waterloo got off to a quick start, scoring on their first shot of the game at 1:22 of the opening period to make it 1-0. Defenseman Phil Beaulieu was credited with his 7th tally of the season.
But Tri-City got even just minutes later when Wilkie scored his first of the night on the power play. Assists went to Nick Master and Bobby Nardella.
Later in the period, while the Storm were killing a holding penalty to Cody Milan, Labosky got a steal at center ice and raced in alone on a breakaway. The Edina, Minn. native slipped a backhanded shot under Waterloo goalie Trevor Gorsuch for the team’s third short-handed strike of the season and made it 2-1 Tri-City.
The Storm pushed their lead to 3-1 in the second on Wilkie’s second of the night, which came unassisted at 7:30.
Tri-City held their lead for most of the middle frame, but the Black Hawks converted on the power play late in the period to cut the game to 3-2. Defenseman Hayden Shaw scored the goal, and got his first tally of the season.
Then early on in the third, Tom Novak evened the game at 3-3 with a power play goal just 4:04 into the final frame.
But the Storm re-took the lead less than three minutes later when Freytag converted with the second Tri-City power play goal of the evening. Freytag’s sixth of the season was assisted by Cody Milan and Mason Appleton.
In the final minutes, Wilkie completed the hat trick and sealed the victory with the squad’s third power play goal of the game. Labosky recorded his second point of the game with the first assist, while Chase Berger got his 10th assist of the season with the secondary helper.
The Storm finish their weekend series with Waterloo on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.
Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Garrett Gamez and Kyle Eastman along with defenseman Cameron Spicer…
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
Waterloo – Phil Beaulieu (unassisted) 1:22
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (power play) (Nick Master, Bobby Nardella) 4:51
Tri-City – Dan Labosky (short-handed) (unassisted) 11:57
2nd Period
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (unassisted) 7:30
Waterloo – Hayden Shaw (power play) (Tyler Sheehy, Henrik Rommel) 16:53
3rd Period
Waterloo – Tom Novak (power play) (Henrik Rommel) 4:04
Tri-City – Matthew Freytag (power play) (Cody Milan, Mason Appleton) 6:49
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (power play) (Dan Labosky, Chase Berger) 19:17
PENALTIES
1st Period
Waterloo – John Wiitala – (Hooking), 2 min, 4:22
Waterloo – Rem Pitlick – (Hooking), 2 min, 7:31
Tri-City – Cody Milan – (Holding), 2 min, 11:31
2nd Period
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Tripping), 2 min, 4:56
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – (Roughing), 2 min, 8:10
Waterloo – Sam Rossini – (Tripping), 2 min, 14:17
Tri-City – Nolan Aibel – (Tripping), 2 min, 16:40
3rd Period
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (Tripping), 2 min, 3:57
Waterloo – Rem Pitlick – (Tripping), 2 min, 6:05
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (High Sticking), 2 min, 11:39
Waterloo – Niko Hildenbrand – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 18:51
Waterloo – Niko Hildenbrand – (Checking From Behind) (Misconduct), 10 min, 18:51
Power Play
Waterloo – 2/6
Tri-City – 3/5
Shots
Waterloo: 7, 7, 9 = Total: 23
Tri-City: 12, 9, 6 = Total: 27
Saves
Waterloo – Trevor Gorsuch – 22/27
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – 20/23