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Storm Grab One Point In 3-2 Shootout Loss

tcstormOMAHA, Neb. – Cody Milan scored a tying goal late in the third period to send the game to overtime, but the Tri-City Storm (14-7-5) fell to the Omaha Lancers (13-8-4) by a score of 3-2 in a shootout at the Ralston Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Bobby Nardella had the first Storm goal of the evening, before assisting on Milan’s tally in the third. Tri-City netminder Alec Dillon made 27 saves.

The Storm are still one point behind Sioux City for the top spot in the USHL’s Western Conference, while the Lancers have won six consecutive games and are sitting in third place, three points behind Tri-City.

Neither team was able to score in the first period, but Omaha took a 1-0 lead in the second on defenseman Matt Joyaux’s first goal of the season.

Later in the middle period, Storm forward Chase Berger hit Nardella with a pass that set the defenseman free on a breakaway. The blueliner converted to score his fourth goal of the season, tying the game 1-1 at 17:37 of the frame.

In the third, the Lancers retook the lead on a goal by forward Louie Rowe. With the tally, Rowe extended his point scoring streak to 11 games and made it a 2-1 contest.

Milan got the Storm even once again with his sixth goal of the year at 13:03 of the final period. The tally was set up by forward Matthew Freytag, who passed the puck from behind the Omaha net right on Milan’s blade. Nardella picked up the second assist on the tying goal.

The two teams then went to overtime for the third time in four meetings this season, but neither squad could find the winner and they headed to a shootout.

Tri-City picked Chris Wilkie, Milan and Dan Labosky to represent the team in the skills competition, but all three forwards came up empty. Omaha forward Steven Spinner netted the winner in the third round to seal the victory for the Lancers.

Both teams ended with 29 shots on goal in the game. Tri-City has recorded points in all seven games in the month of December.

The Storm will close out the 2014 calendar with a New Year’s Eve battle in Sioux City on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City returns home to face the Lancers in Kearney at the Viaero Event Center this Saturday, also at 7:05.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Garrett Gamez and Kyle Eastman along with defenseman Tory Dello…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

(no scoring)

2nd Period

Omaha – Matt Joyaux (Jake Henderson, Josh French) 6:45
Tri-City – Bobby Nardella (Chase Berger, Wade Allison) 17:37

3rd Period
Omaha – Louie Rowe (Brian Williams, Nick Rivera) 8:56
Tri-City – Cody Milan (Matthew Freytag, Bobby Nardella) 13:03

Overtime
(no scoring)

PENALTIES

1st Period

Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Roughing), 2 min, 9:22
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Roughing), 2 min, 12:52
Omaha – Nick Rivera – (Slashing), 2 min, 17:20

2nd Period

Omaha – Louie Rowe – (Head Contact), 2 min, 0:12
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Roughing), 2 min, 13:30
Omaha – Jake Henderson – (Roughing), 2 min, 13:30

3rd Period

Tri-City – Bench Minor – (Too Many Men), 2 min, 1:50

Overtime
(no penalties)

Power Play

Tri-City – 0/2

Omaha – 0/3

Shots

Tri-City: 7, 10, 10, 2 = Total: 29
Omaha: 11, 5, 10, 3 = Total: 29

Saves
Tri-City – Alec Dillon – 27/29
Omaha – Kris Oldham – 27/29

Broncos Rout Raiders 47-14, Clinch First-Round Bye

DenverBroncosDENVER (AP) — C.J. Anderson ran for three touchdowns, and the Denver Broncos earned a first-round bye and the AFC’s No. 2 seed with a 47-14 rout of the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.

Peyton Manning guided the Broncos (12-4) to at least a tie for the best record in the NFL for the third consecutive season since his arrival in Denver. That’s something he accomplished just twice in his 13 years in Indianapolis before missing all of 2011 because of spinal fusion surgery.

Denver won’t have the top seed this time, however. That went to the New England Patriots, who rested many of their starters in a loss to Buffalo on Sunday.

And Manning, who completed 21 of 37 passes for 273 yards, failed to throw a TD pass for the second time in four weeks after throwing one for 51 consecutive games, just three shy of Drew Brees’ NFL record.

Chiefs Beat Chargers 19-7 as Both Miss Playoffs

Kansas City Chiefs LogoKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs beat San Diego 19-7 on Sunday to eliminate the Chargers from playoff contention, moments before they were eliminated themselves by games happening elsewhere.

The Chiefs needed Cleveland to beat Baltimore and Jacksonville to beat Houston, and neither of those outcomes transpired. The Ravens wound up with the AFC’s final playoff spot.

San Diego (9-7) needed merely to beat Kansas City (9-7) to reach the postseason.

Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston piled up four sacks to finish with 22 on the season, breaking Derrick Thomas’s franchise record, and Cairo Santos had four field goals.

The Chargers’ Philip Rivers threw for 291 yards, but was picked off twice. Branden Oliver ran for 71 yards and a touchdown.

Kessler leads No. 24 USC to 45-42 Win over Huskers

nebraska_helmetSAN DIEGO (AP) — Adoree’ Jackson scored on a 98-yard kickoff return and a 71-yard pass from Cody Kessler, and No. 24 Southern California blew most of an 18-point, third-quarter lead before beating No. 25 Nebraska 45-42 in the Holiday Bowl on Saturday night.

Kessler threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns for USC (9-4), which was playing Nebraska (9-4) in a bowl game for the first time.

USC stuffed De’Mornay Pierson on fourth-and-3 from the USC 31 with 2 1/2 minutes left. Nebraska had one final shot but Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s desperation pass as time ran out was knocked down inside the 10.

Armstrong had brought Nebraska back from a 45-27 deficit with a 65-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Westerkamp and a 15-yard keeper and a 2-point conversion pass to Kenny Bell.

Armstrong threw for 381 yards and three TDs.

USC had 515 yards of total offense and Nebraska finished with 525.

Kane helps Blackhawks to 5-2 Win over Avs

Colorado-Avalanche-LogoDENVER (AP) — Patrick Kane scored twice and Corey Crawford stopped 23 shots, leading the Central Division-leading Chicago Blackhawks to a 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

Brandon Saad and Brent Seabrook also scored for the Blackhawks, while Patrick Sharp celebrated his 33rd birthday with a game-sealing goal in the third period. Kane added an empty-net goal with 5.4 seconds remaining.

Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson had goals for the Avalanche as their three-game win streak was snapped.

This is the second time Chicago has beaten Colorado at Pepsi Center this year after going 0-2 in the building last season.

Crawford wasn’t challenged all that often in the third period, but came up big with the Avalanche on a 5-on-3 power play. He stopped a point-blank shot with his shoulder to help the Blackhawks successfully dodge both penalties.

Allison’s Winner Sends Storm Past Sioux City

tcstormKEARNEY, Neb. – Second period goals from forwards Chris Wilkie and Wade Allison pushed the Tri-City Storm (14-7-4) to a 3-1 victory over the Sioux City Musketeers (16-9-1) on Saturday afternoon at the Viaero Event Center.

The matchup featured the top two teams in the USHL’s Western Conference. With the victory, Tri-City has now won five straight games at home, and has secured points in nine straight contests in Kearney.

Storm netminder Jared Rutledge made 25 saves in his second appearance with Tri-City to get the win.

In the first frame, Tri-City outshot the Musketeers 11-4, but neither team was able to break through and get on the board.

But the second period saw two tallies from the Storm forwards and the team never looked back.

First, Wilkie scored on a deflection in front just 48 seconds into the frame for his 15th tally of the season, which is third-best in the league. Labosky was credited with the assist on the first goal of the game to make it 1-0.

Then later in the period, a perfect passing play from defenseman Mattias Goransson to Jake Wahlin sprung Allison on a breakaway. The forward deked and slipped the puck between the legs of Sioux City netminder Cam Gornet to make it 2-0.

Adam Johnson scored the only Musketeer goal of the game 3:18 into the third to make it 2-1, but Tri-City limited opportunities for the remainder of the game to keep themselves in front.

Storm defenseman Jalen Schulz sealed the win, scoring an empty net goal with 9 seconds left on the clock.

Both teams came up empty on their power play chances, with Sioux City earning five opportunities to Tri-City’s three.

The Storm are now one point behind the Musketeers for the top spot in the west.

Tri-City will have a chance to move up in the standings when they head to Omaha Sunday to take on the Lancers at the Ralston Arena. Game time is at5:05 p.m.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Garrett Gamez and Kyle Eastman along with defensemen Gordi Myer and Tory Dello. Forward Joel Herbert was also scratched, serving a league suspension…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

(no scoring)

2nd Period

Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (Dan Labosky) 0:48
Tri-City – Wade Allison (Jake Wahlin, Mattias Goransson) 15:05

3rd Period
Sioux City – Adam Johnson (Ryan Zuhlsdorf, Neal Pionk) 3:18
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz (empty net) (Mason Appleton, Daniel Labosky) 19:51

PENALTIES

1st Period

Sioux City – Sam Kurker – (Slashing), 2 min, 13:03
Tri-City – Mattias Goransson – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 18:01

2nd Period

Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Roughing), 2 min, 1:45
Sioux City – Robert Carpenter – (Roughing), 2 min, 1:45
Tri-City – Bobby Nardella – (Slashing), 2 min, 6:43
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Tripping), 2 min, 9:35
Sioux City – Matt Berkovitz – (Holding), 2 min, 12:56
Tri-City – Bobby Nardella – (High Sticking), 2 min, 17:36
Tri-Ciy – Chase Berger – (Charging), 2 min, 19:58

3rd Period

Tri-City – Dan Labosky – (Roughing), 2 min, 4:34
Sioux City – Joel Janatuinen – (Roughing), 4 min, 4:34

Power Play

Sioux City – 0/5

Tri-City – 0/3

Shots

Sioux City: 4, 10, 12 = Total: 26
Tri-City: 11, 14, 6 = Total: 31

Saves
Sioux City – Cam Gornet – 28/30
Tri-City – Jared Rutledge – 25/26

Nebraska Agency sets Workshop on Trophy Scoring

Mule DeerLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has scheduled a Lincoln workshop on how to score a hunting trophy.

The free workshop is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 8 at the Game and Parks Outdoor Recreation Center.

Randy Stutheit will cover the basics of measuring typical and nontypical whitetail and mule deer and antelope. Stutheit is Nebraska big game records coordinator and a certified Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young Club scorer.

Participants may bring their own trophies to measure.

The workshop is limited to 20 participants. Go online at https://bit.ly/141BOUB to register.

Faried Grabs 25 Rebounds as Denver Beats Minnesota 106-102

Denver_NuggetsDENVER (AP) — Kenneth Faried had a career-high 25 rebounds to go along with 26 points, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 106-102 on Friday night.

Wilson Chandler scored 21 points for the Nuggets, who had lost two in a row. Ty Lawson finished with 16 points and 11 assists.

Faried tied the NBA’s highest rebounding total this season. Mavericks center Tyson Chandler also had 25 rebounds in a 109-102 victory over the New York Knicks on Nov. 26.

It was Faried’s best game since he had 22 points and 17 rebounds in a victory over Detroit on opening night.

Thaddeus Young led Minnesota with 23 points. Rookie guard Andrew Wiggins had 22 points for the Timberwolves, who have lost seven straight and 13 of 14.

Chiefs QB Alex Smith Out with Lacerated Spleen

Alex Smith
Alex Smith

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith will miss Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers because of a lacerated spleen. Chase Daniel will start in his place.

Team trainer Rick Burkholder said Friday that Smith was likely hurt on a hit during the third quarter of last weekend’s loss to the Steelers, but the quarterback didn’t have significant symptoms.

The lacerated spleen was diagnosed by a scan Thursday when Smith continued to experience mild discomfort after practicing all week. He will not need surgery and a full recovery is expected.

If the Chargers beat Kansas City, they make the playoffs. The Chiefs would need to win and have Baltimore and Houston lose to earn a postseason berth.

Smith would be out for a potential playoff game.

Daniel has one career start in six NFL seasons.

Nebraska Beats Ohio 71-58 for 5th Place

Nebraska-Huskers-BasketballHONOLULU (AP) — Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields each scored 22 points as Nebraska beat Ohio 72-58 on Thursday to claim fifth place in the Diamond Head Classic.

Petteway shot 6 of 14 from the field and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line and grabbed 10 rebounds. Shields made 7 of 14 field goals and hit all seven of his free throw attempts.

The Cornhuskers (8-4) did not trail in the game and also got 13 rebounds and eight points from David Rivers. It was their second consecutive victory and third in their last four games.

Javarez Willis had team-highs of 15 points and eight rebounds and Maurice Ndour chipped in 12 points for the Bobcats (4-6).

Nebraska held a 32-30 lead at halftime despite going scoreless for more than six minutes in the first half.

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