INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Indiana Ice took an early lead and never looked back, defeating the Tri-City Storm (17-24-2) by a score of 4-1 at the Pan Am Arena on Friday night.

Storm defenseman Kevin Kerr scored his first USHL goal, while Tri-City goalie Hayden Lavigne played well in relief of starter Jacob Johansson, making 23 saves in 47 minutes of play.

Indiana scored twice in the first period and had a 2-0 lead in the first intermission. The Ice goals were scored by forwards Jason Salvaggio and Dwyer Tschantz and the second tally chased Johansson from the net.

Immediately after Tschantz scored, Storm head coach Jim Hulton pulled his starting goaltender in favor of Lavigne who started the night as the backup. Lavigne played well as a replacement and allowed just one puck to get by him.

That goal was scored by Brian Pinho just 1:30 into the middle period. After 40 minutes, Indiana had control of the game, sporting a 3-0 lead.

In the final period Tri-City got some momentum, controlling the play for most of the frame and outshooting the Ice 8-6.

Kerr found the back of the net at 11:25 with assists from forwards Chris Wilkie and Ryan McMurphy. The defenseman waited until his 36th game of the season to score his first goal, but it got his team back into the game.

Tri-City had a chance to get closer later when Indiana forward Aidan Muir was whistled for interference with less than four minutes remaining in the game, but the Storm failed to capitalize on the man-advantage opportunity.

Ultimately it was Indiana goaltender Hayden Stewart that stood strong, stopping 20 shots to earn the victory.

The two teams will be back at it again on Saturday night to finish their weekend series. The puck will drop at 7:05 p.m. EST.

Tri-City will return home to the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Joey DiBenedetto and Nolan Aibel, along with defensemen Cutler Martin, Sean Lang and Daniel Fritz.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

Indiana – Jason Salvaggio (unassisted) 10:51
Indiana – Dwyer Tschantz (Scott Conway) 11:27

2nd Period

Indiana – Brian Pinho (Jacob Pritchard) 1:30

3rd Period
Tri-City – Kevin Kerr (Chris Wilkie, Ryan McMurphy) 11:25
Indiana – Aidan Muir (empty net) (unassisted) 19:42

PENALTIES

1st Period
Indiana – Joe Sullivan – (Roughing), 2 min, 18:18

2nd Period

Indiana – Timothy Shoup – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 16:38

3rd Period

Tri-City – Fredric Larsson – (Tripping), 2 min, 7:18
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Hooking), 2 min, 13:04
Indiana – Aidan Muir – (Interference), 2 min, 16:23

Power Play

Tri-City –0/3
Indiana – 0/2

Shots

Tri-City: 4, 9, 8 = Total: 21
Indiana: 11, 15, 6 = Total: 32

Saves

Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 5/7, Hayden Lavigne – 23/24
Indiana – Hayden Stewart – 20/21

KEARNEY, Neb. – The Leadership Kearney program is helping to bring more fun to the Viaero Event Center on Mar. 2when the Storm battle the Fargo Force on a Sunday afternoon in Kearney.

The group will help provide kid friendly activities in an attempt to create a fun and friendly atmosphere to a game that will start at 3:05 p.m.

In addition, Leadership Kearney is raising funds for the Family Advocacy Network (FAN), an organization that helps with the prevention, identification and treatment of victims of abuse.

FAN works to support and strengthen families through education and direct services, thus settling in place a system that will break the cycle of abusive behaviors.

“One of the main reasons the Family Advocacy Network (FAN) was selected for our fundraising efforts is because of its immediate needs and inability to tend to those needs due to a large increase in workload,” said spokesperson Jonathan Ruyle. “As the government has tightened its budget, FAN has had to rely heavily on private donations from the community. At the same time, the number of families in need of FAN’s services has increased.

“Leadership Kearney’s goal is not only to raise funds for necessary upkeep to the facility, but also to raise awareness about what FAN is doing for our community and help it start a capital campaign for a new facility.”

FAN is a non-profit organization that receives funding from a mixture of government grants and charitable contributions.

Leadership Kearney will provide face-painting, bounce-houses and personnel to serve free ice cream sundaes at the game. In addition, they will be selling tickets to the game. A portion of the ticket sale will be donated back to the FAN program.

For more information on the Leadership Kearney ticket sale, contact Alicia Korte in the Storm office at 308-338-8809.

The Storm will be back at the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm (17-23-2) surrendered a two goal lead, allowing four straight tallies to lose 5-3 to the Sioux City Musketeers (25-13-2) on Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center.

Three different players scored goals for the Storm in the loss, including Ryan McMurphy, who has now reached double figures in goals with 10 on the season.

The Musketeers struck first late in the opening period. Forward Joe Snively gave his team a 1-0 lead, beating Tri-City netminder Jacob Johansson with a low shot that found its way under the netminder.

The Storm found an equalizer before the end of the period however, tying the game during a 5-on-3 power play opportunity. After a scrum in front of the net, Chris Wilkie grabbed the loose puck and found Dan Labosky, who shot it over outstretched goalie Kyle Hayton and into the net.

The goal was Labosky’s fifth of the season, while both Chris Wilkie and Cody Milan were credited with assists. For Milan, the helper was his first point since joining the Storm.

Tri-City took the lead in the middle period, when Nick Hutchison found McMurphy on a rush and the Broken Arrow, Okla. native wristed a shot over Hayton’s right shoulder to make it 2-1.

Defenseman Grant Hutton, who was playing in his second game for the Storm, picked up the second assist on the play to record his first point with the team. Hutchison’s assist was also his first of the season.

The Storm then increased their lead later in the frame when forward Kyle Eastman found the back of the net while the team was killing a penalty to Drew Mayer. The shorthanded tally was Eastman’s third goal of the season, and the seventh time Tri-City has scored while down a man this year.

But Sioux City responded with two goals in 30 seconds from newly acquired defenseman Garret Cockerill and forward Brandon Hawkins to tie the game at 3-3 before the second intermission.

The Musketeers added two more tallies in the third from both Hawkins and Sam Saliba to win the game 5-3.

Sioux City outshot the Storm 46-24 in the game and Johansson made 41 saves while Hayton had 21.

The Storm will head back on the road next weekend to face the Indiana Ice on both Friday and Saturdaynight, before matching up with Chicago for an afternoon tilt on Sunday.

Tri-City will return home to the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

Notes: The Storm scratched forward Nolan Aibel, along with defensemen Cutler Martin, Sean Lang, Fredric Larsson and Daniel Fritz.… 

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

Sioux City – Joe Snively (Tyler Mueller, Waltteri Hopponen) 16:53
Tri-City – Dan Labosky (power play) (Chris Wilkie) 19:34

2nd Period

Tri-City – Ryan McMurphy (Nick Hutchison, Grant Hutton) 4:41
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman (shorthanded) (unassisted) 9:38
Sioux City – Garret Cockerill (Kyle Schmidt, Tyler Mueller) 12:39
Sioux City – Brandon Hawkins (Joe Snively, Waltteri Hopponen) 13:09

3rd Period
Sioux City – Brandon Hawkins (Waltteri Hopponen, Joe Snively) 6:59
Sioux City – Sam Saliba (Tyler Mueller, Neal Pionk) 13:48

PENALTIES

1st Period
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Slashing), 2 min, 5:38
Sioux City – Jerad Rosburg – (Fighting), 5 min, 8:25
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Fighting), 5 min, 8:25
Sioux City – Cedric Lacroix – (Charging), 2 min, 11:33
Sioux City – Jake Montgomery – (Holding), 2 min, 12:08
Sioux City – Nikolas Olsson – (Roughing), 2 min, 18:31
Sioux City – Tyler Mueller – (Roughing), 2 min, 18:31
Tri-City – Conner Valesano – (Roughing), 2 min, 18:31
Sioux City – Joel L’Esperance – (Tripping), 2 min, 18:44

2nd Period

Tri-City – Ryan McMurphy – (Tripping), 2 min, 2:03

Tri-City – Drew Mayer – (Interference), 2 min, 7:41

3rd Period

(no penalties)

Power Play

Tri-City –1/4
Sioux City – 0/3

Shots

Tri-City: 13, 7, 4 = Total: 24
Sioux City: 11, 19, 16 = Total: 46

Saves

Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 41/46
Sioux City – Kyle Hayton – 21/24

KEARNEY, Neb. – Recent injuries to defensemen forced the Tri-City Storm to be active at the trading deadlineThursday, acquiring two defenseman from the North American Hockey League in Donovan Gardiner from the Lone Star Brahmas and Grant Hutton from the Corpus Christi IceRays.

In exchange for Gardiner, Tri-City sent forward Thomas Aldworth to Lone Star, while Hutton was acquired in exchange for future considerations.

Including these most recent moves, the Storm have now made seven trades in the past month.

“Given our injury situation we’ve been in the market for defensemen for quite some time,” said Storm head coach and general manager Jim Hulton. “It became apparent that Cutler Martin won’t be back this season. With injuries last weekend to Sean Lang who is also out for the season and Daniel Fritz, it expedited our needs.”

“We wanted to add some size and right-shooting defenseman. Fortunately we were able to acquire that in both Gardiner and Hutton. Gardiner’s a 20-year old who brings junior experience. Hutton is 18 but he’s big at 6-foot 3-inches. They will complement the players we have here and we think it provides a lot more depth in our lineup.”

Gardiner, who originally hails from Sterling Heights, Mich., played in 38 games this season with the Brahmas. The defenseman has four goals and three assists. A season ago, Gardiner played 45 games in the NAHL for three different teams including Texas, Kalamazoo and Janesville.

Hutton was in his second year with Corpus Christi and has six goals and 13 assists in 43 games played. The defenseman has also spent time on the power play and has five goals and six assists on the man-advantage.

A season ago, Hutton played in 42 games, putting up 10 points with a +16 rating.

The Carmel, Ind. native is now reunited with his former teammate Jalen Schulz, who played on the blue line with the IceRays last season.

Aldworth played in 29 games in his first season with the Storm, scoring three goals and one assist.

“In order to acquire a defenseman there’s a price to be paid and that was Thomas Aldworth,” Hulton said. “We’d like to thank Thomas for all he’s done for the Storm. We think he’s a player with a ton of potential that just needs to go to a new setting and get some confidence. We wish him well and we hope he returns to this league in the future.”

Both defensemen are expected to join the team on the road and make their debut this weekend.

Tri-City is preparing to begin a six-game road stretch starting in Waterloo on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

The Storm will be back at the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

KEARNEY, Neb. – After 65 minutes of scoreless hockey between the Tri-City Storm (17-21-2) and the Des Moines Buccaneers (14-20-4) on Saturday night at the Viaero Event Center, unlikely hero Cody Milan scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give his new team a 1-0 victory.

Storm goaltender Jacob Johansson stopped all 30 shots that came his way, recording his third shutout of the season and his second against Des Moines.

With the win, Tri-City picked up four points on the weekend and extended their winning streak to five games.

Des Moines netminder Billy Christopoulos also had a big night, stopping all 40 shots that came his way during regulation.

Conner Valesano also scored in the shootout for the Storm, who is now 3-2-0 in their five games with the Buccaneers this season.

Head coach Jim Hulton’s team finished off a perfect 4-0-0 homestand, winning two over both Sioux Falls and Des Moines.

Tri-City will now hit the road for a five-game stretch starting in Waterloo on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

The Storm will be back at the Viaero Event Center to face Lincoln on Feb. 22 at 7:05 p.m.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Nolan Aibel and Nick Hutchison, along with defensemen Cutler Martin, Sean Lang and Daniel Fritz.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

(no scoring)

2nd Period

(no scoring)

3rd Period
(no scoring)

PENALTIES

1st Period
(no penalties)

2nd Period

Tri-City – Fredric Larsson – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 14:01

Des Moines – Garret Cockerill – (Checking from Behind), 2 min, 18:09

Des Moines – Garret Cockerill – (Checking from Behind) (Misconduct), 10 min, 18:09

3rd Period

Tri-City – Drew Mayer – (Elbowing), 2 min, 6:51

Tri-City – Ryan McMurphy – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 12:33

Des Moines – Garret Cockerill – (Boarding), 2 min, 15:44

Power Play

Des Moines –0/3
Tri-City – 0/2

Shots

Des Moines: 10, 7, 9, 4 = Total: 30
Tri-City: 15, 11, 9, 5 = Total: 40

Saves

Des Moines – Billy Christopoulos – 40/40
Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 30/30

KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm (16-21-2) won in comeback fashion again Friday night at the Viaero Event Center, capturing game one of a weekend series with the Des Moines Buccaneers (14-20-3) 5-3.

Chris Wilkie stayed hot, scoring a goal to extend his point-streak to nine games, while Dan Labosky converted a penalty shot late in the third period to seal the victory.

The Storm have won their last three games after trailing earlier in the contest.

Wilkie, the North Dakota commit who was named USHL Player of the Week last week, found the back of the net first to give the Storm a 1-0 lead. The goal came on a crisp pass from forward Ryan McMurphy. The Storm took their lead into the first intermission.

Jack Jenkins answered back early in the second period for Des Moines to tie the game at 1-1.

After a chippy end to the second period, the Storm and Buccaneers entered the third tied at one apiece.                              

Six minutes into the third period Buccaneer defensemen Garret Cockerill, scored a power play goal by sneaking the puck past Hayden Lavigne to give his team a 2-1 lead.

Then with six minutes remaining in the game, the St. Cloud, Minn. native Austin Poganski rocketed a power play goal into the net, with assists coming from Garrett Gamez and Conner Valesano.

Poganski’s goal was his eighth of the year with a man-advantage, which leads the team.

With just 2:01 remaining on the clock, Labosky was dragged down while on a breakaway. The Colorado College commit converted on the ensuing penalty shot for his fourth goal of the season. The tally gave Tri-City the lead and momentum for the final minutes.

Des Moines pulled goaltender Ryan Ruck in the closing seconds in an effort to get back in the game. Defenseman Tory Dello took advantage, shooting from center ice on the open net for his second goal of the season.

Moments later, after a turnover by Des Moines, forward Chase Burger also made the most of an empty net, scoring his eighth goal of the season.

In the closing seconds with Tri-City in control, Cockerill scored his second goal of the game, but when time ran out, the scoreboard read a 5-3 Storm victory.

Lavigne won his third consecutive and fourth overall, finishing the evening with 23 saves. Ruck made 33 stops in the loss for the Buccaneers.

Tri-City will surge into February after finishing the month of January on a four game winning streak. The Storm had an overall record of 7-4 in the first month of 2014.

Head coach Jim Hulton’s boys are back in action Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. at the Viaero Event Center, looking to sweep the weekend series with Des Moines.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Nolan Aibel and Nick Hutchison, along with defensemen Cutler Martin and Sean Lang. Forward Drew Mayer was also scratched, serving a suspension.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period

Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (Ryan McMurphy, Dan Labosky), 19:10

2nd Period

Des Moines – Jack Jenkins (Jarkko Parikka, Jimi Kuronen), 2:31

3rd Period

Des Moines – Garret Cockerill (power play) (Willem Nong-Lambert, Tanner Karty), 6:44

Tri-City – Austin Poganski (power play) (Garrett Gamez, Conner Valesano), 14:08

Tri-City – Dan Labosky (penalty shot), 17:59

Tri-City – Tory Dello (empty net) (Austin Poganski), 18:47

Tri-City – Chase Berger (empty net) (unassisted), 19:17

Des Moines – Garret Cockerill (Marcel Godbout, Tanner Karty), 19:41

PENALTIES

1st Period

Des Moines – Willem Nong-Lambert, (Slashing), 2 min, 5:10
Des Moines – Danny Elser, (Charging), 2 min, 19:18

2nd Period

Des Moines – Connor Schmidt, (Boarding), 2 min, 4:28

Tri-City – Garrett Gamez, (Checking from Behind), 2 min, 4:45

Des Moines – Josh Couturier, (Interference), 2 min, 15:28

Des Moines – Josh Couturier – (Delay of Game), 2 min, 19:59
Des Moines – Tanner Karty – (Delay of Game), 2 min, 19:59
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman – (Delay of Game), 2 min, 19:59
Tri-City – Chase Berger – (Delay of Game), 2 min, 19:59

3rd Period

Tri-City – Thomas Aldworth – (Tripping), 2 min, 5:56

Des Moines – Connor Schmidt – (Roughing) (Double Minor), 4 min, 7:08

Tri-City – Joey DiBenedetto – (Roughing) (Double Minor), 4 min, 7:08

Tri-City – Joey DiBenedetto – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 2 min, 7:08

Des Moines – Josh Couturier (Slashing), 2 min, 13:51

Tri-City – Tory Dello (High Sticking), 2 min, 15:57

Power Play

Tri-City – 1/5

Des Moines –1/4

Shots

Tri-City: 16, 9, 13 = Total: 38

Des Moines: 10, 6, 10 = Total: 26

Saves

Tri-City – Hayden Lavigne – 23/26

Des Moines – Ryan Ruck – 33/36

KEARNEY, Neb. – For the second consecutive day, Tri-City Storm head coach and general manager Jim Hulton has announced a trade with the Sioux Falls Stampede.

Tuesday’s deal sends Christian Horn to the Stampede along with affiliate forward Will Harrison and a 3rd round pick in the 2014 Phase II Draft, in exchange for affiliate defenseman Gordi Myer and draft picks in the 2nd and 5th round of the 2014 Phase II Draft.

Horn, who was serving as an assistant captain after leaving the University of Minnesota to join Tri-City on Oct. 24, was one of the team’s leading scorers with 12 goals and 13 assists in 28 games.

The 20-year-old Plymouth, Minn. native plans on playing at a Division I University next season.

“Christian was a highly sought after commodity that we were reluctant to move,” Hulton said. “Ultimately, we decided that the return package was too enticing to refuse as, once again it addresses both immediate and long term needs.”

“We thank Christian for his many contributions to the Storm and wish him well in his future hockey endeavors.”

Myer is currently playing for the Cleveland Barons AAA Midget Major team and has seven goals and 13 assists in 30 games.

The Toledo, Ohio native is committed to play collegiately at Ohio State and was drafted by Sioux Falls in the 17th round (254th overall) of the 2013 USHL Phase II Draft. The defenseman is expected to be with the Storm full-time for the 2014-15 season.

“We are thrilled to add Gordi Myer to our group,” Hulton said. “He was the key component to this deal as he is a young defenseman with a real big upside. We firmly believe that championship teams are built around goaltending and defense and that has been our primary focus around these latest transactions.”

Tri-City hosts Des Moines this weekend for a series at the Viaero Event Center. Friday night’s game begins at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday’s contest gets underway at 7:05.