KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm raised a total of $2,478 during the month of November through both their Jerseys for a Cause and No Shave November campaigns. 100 percent of the proceeds have been donated to Relay For Life in Central Nebraska.

The Jersys For a Cause program presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska raised a total of $1,388 from jersey auctions at each of the four games during the month.

In addition, the team’s annual No Shave November promotion raised $1,090.58 during the same four games. Fans were asked to donate to whichever Storm player they wanted to see have their head shaved.

After the final home game of the month on Nov. 30 against Omaha, Storm forward Drew Mayer was announced as the winner of the contest and stepped up to get his hair buzzed.

Storm players were growing out both their hair and facial hair during the month in advance of the big night. Then, in front of fans and team staff, Mayer represented the rest of the locker room and had his long locks removed.

All of the funds will stay in Central Nebraska, as part of the Relay For Life organization.

For the remainder of the 2013-14 season, the Storm will raffle off one special edition pink jersey worn against Sioux City on Oct. 4 at each of their home games.

During the month of December, Tri-City has been collecting funds for the Make A Wish Foundation.

At the start of the new year in the month of January, the Storm will have six home games and will donate collected funds to the Phelps Memorial Healthcare association.

Tri-City is in the midst of a 12-day winter break. They are back in action on Dec. 27 when they head to Omaha to face the Lancers at 7:05 p.m.

The Storm are back at the Viaero Event Center on Saturday, Dec. 28 to play the Sioux Falls Stampede, also at 7:05.

KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm (8-16-2) used two goals from red hot forward Joel L’Esperance to defeat the Youngstown Phantoms (7-13-5) on Saturday afternoon at the Viaero Event Center by a score of 3-1.

L’Esperance is now second in the USHL with 18 tallies and has scored nine times in his last four games. His streaky play has helped Tri-City to wins in three of their last four games.

The Storm had their netminder Jacob Johansson serving as the backbone once again, making 24 saves and keeping the Phantoms off the board until the final minutes of the game.

The game was marred by lots of minor penalties on both sides, with the officiating crew calling 19 combined between the two teams. Neither side could take advantage of their chances early in the game, as the goaltenders kept the contest scoreless for the first 20 minutes.

Tri-City took the lead in the second when L’Esperance scored his second shorthanded goal in as many games. Forward Garrett Gamez started the play, winning possession in the Youngstown zone while a man down. Gamez put the puck right on his linemate’s stick, and L’Esperance roofed the puck top shelf over Youngstown netminder Sean Romeo to make it a 1-0 game.

The Storm extended their lead to 2-0 when Austin Poganski scored his sixth goal of the season with 7:20 remaining in the third. The tally was set up by his hard-working linemates Drew Mayer and Chase Berger, who were both credited with assists on the play.

A late power play goal from Youngstown forward Maxim Letunov got the Phantoms within one goal at 2-1.

But a bench minor assessed to Youngstown head coach Anthony Noreen complicated their comeback attempt, giving Tri-City a late power play.

The Phantoms pulled Romeo and L’Esperance capitalized on the empty net, sealing the win with his second goal of the afternoon.

Youngstown finished the game 1-9 with the man advantage, while Tri-City was 1-10.

Romeo kept his team in the game all afternoon, making 30 saves in a losing effort.

The Storm have the next 12 days off for winter break. When the players return to the Tri-Cities, they’ll head to Omaha to face the Lancers on Dec. 27 at 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City is back at home on Saturday, Dec. 28 to play the Sioux Falls Stampede, also at 7:05

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Kyle Eastman, Joey DiBenedetto and Nick Hutchison, along with defenseman Cutler Martin.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period
(no scoring)

2nd Period

Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (shorthanded) (Garrett Gamez) 8:43

3rd Period

Tri-City – Austin Poganski (Drew Mayer, Chase Berger) 12:40
Youngstown – Maxim Letunov (power play) (Kiefer Sherwood, Alex Rauter) 16:37
Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (power play) (empty net) (Garrett Gamez, Jacob Johansson) 19:52

PENALTIES

1st Period
Youngstown – JJ Piccinich – (Tripping), 2 min, 0:43
Youngstown – Fredric Larsson – (Holding), 2 min, 3:29
Tri-City – Nolan Aibel – (Slashing), 2 min, 3:39
Youngstown – Conor Lemirande – (Tripping), 2 min, 8:46
Youngstown – Conor Lemirande – (Slashing), 2 min, 10:54
Tri-City – Nolan Aibel – (Holding), 2 min, 13:06
Youngstown – Josh Nenadal – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 15:50/

Tri-City – Christian Horn – (Slashing), 2 min, 16:31

Tri-City – Kevin Kerr – (Slashing), 2 min, 19:20

2nd Period
Tri-City – Nolan Gluchowski – (Holding), 2 min, 1:49
Tri-City – Jalen Schulz – (Hooking), 2 min, 3:22
Tri-City – Chase Berger – (Head Contact), 2 min, 8:21
Youngstown – Luke Stork – (Abuse of Officials) (Misconduct), 10 min, 10:15
Youngstown – Conor Lemirande – (Interference), 2 min, 10:15
Youngstown – Kyle Mackey – (Hooking), 2 min, 18:53

3rd Period

Tri-City – Kevin Kerr – (High Sticking), 2 min, 1:53
Youngstown – Ryan Schwalbe – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 3:34
Youngstown – Zach Evancho – (Interference), 2 min, 7:08
Youngstown – Lukas Klok – (Abuse of Officials) (Misconduct), 10 min, 12:40
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Hooking), 2 min, 16:16
Youngstown – Anthony Noreen – (Abuse of Officials) (Bench Minor) 2 min, 18:02

Power Play

Youngstown – 1/9

Tri-City – 1/10

Shots

Youngstown: 4, 13, 8 = Total: 25

Tri-City: 9, 9, 15 = Total: 33

Saves

Youngstown – Sean Romeo – 30/32

Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 24/25

KEARNEY, Neb. – Storm head coach Jim Hulton announced the leaders of the Tri-City Storm team for the 2013-14 season on Monday morning, choosing defenseman Nolan Gluchowski as the team’s captain and defenseman Garrett Cecere along with forwards Christian Horn and Drew Mayer as assistant captains.

The four players combine for experience at multiple levels of junior hockey, along with experience at the collegiate level.

“I think this group offers a great example of leadership in the way they guide the locker room and the way they guide the other players off the ice,” Hulton said “They exemplify the work ethic that we want this team to be all about. To me, that’s what a leader does. He leads by example, not necessarily with words.”

“These guys are warriors on the ice, they work hard in practice and they work hard in the weight room. That’s the example we want to set.”

Gluchowski is in his second season as one of the leaders on the defensive end. A season ago the Wixom, Mich. native played in 48 games, scoring eight goals and 11 assists. In 22 games this year he is fourth in team scoring with nine assists, five of them coming on the power play.

“I’m very excited,” Gluchowski said. “I learned a lot from our captains last year and I’m looking forward to putting our own spin on it with my assistants this season.”

The defenseman, who turns 20 next month and is committed to play collegiately at St. Lawrence, has previous experience in a leadership role, serving as captain of his high school team before joining the Storm.

“You can’t always be very vocal,” said Gluchowski. “You have to lead by example and take guys under your wing because they’ll learn from you by watching.”

Cecere is also in his second year with the Storm, and will help to lead on the defensive side. A native of West Des Moines, Ia., Cecere accounted for three goals and 16 assists a season ago, and has eight more helpers from the back end this season.

“I think this is going to be a turning point in the season for us,” Cecere said. “We are trying to loosen things up a bit and make sure guys are having fun all the time. You’re not going to play the game well if you’re not having fun. I think that’s something that all four of us want and I think we did that this weekend.”

Horn, who began his season with the University of Minnesota, has a collegiate experience under his belt, differentiating himself from the rest of the Storm roster.

After joining the team a few weeks in, the forward has been a big help offensively, with five goals and eight assists in his first 16 games.

“It’s a big honor,” Horn said. “I wasn’t really expecting it but for the guys to look up to me like this already it really does mean something. They’re a great group of guys and I’m having a blast out here; I absolutely love it. To be named an assistant captain is just icing on the cake to what has been a great couple weeks so far.”

Mayer, also a 20-year-old committed to play at Ferris State, is another positive voice for some of the younger players in the locker room. He also accounts for a big part of the Storm’s physical presence on the ice.

“We’re excited to get going and take it one shift at a time,” Mayer said. “We can’t focus on a negative; we have to focus on all the positives. Our coach wants us to have an ‘Us Against the World’ mentality and I think the four of us can help bring that to our locker room.”

The Storm are in the midst of back-to-back three-game weeks after a trio of games away from Kearney last weekend.

Tri-City heads to Omaha to face the Lancers on Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. before returning home for a weekend series with the Youngstown Phantoms on Dec. 13 and 14.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia. – Led by forward Joel L’Esperance who scored four times, the Tri-City Storm (6-15-2) defeated the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (13-7-1) 6-3 in a wild, back and forth game at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena on Saturday night.

Forward Garrett Gamez recorded four assists, while Christian Horn notched a goal and an assist and goalie Jacob Johansson made 29 saves to pick up the win.

L’Esperance got right to it, scoring 21 seconds into the game and giving the Storm a 1-0 lead on the first shift of the game. The forward took a pass from Horn and deflected it into the top right corner of the net, setting the tone for what would be a big night.

Tri-City extended their lead to 2-0 when Horn moved in on a two-on-one and beat Cedar Rapids goalie Chris Birdsall with a wrist shot.

L’Esperance made it 3-0 in the opening minutes of the second period, scoring his second of the game on assists from Gamez and defenseman Tory Dello.

Tri-City was in control of the game until the RoughRiders broke through at 8:01 of the second on a goal by captain Dylan Gareau.

Cedar Rapids ended up notching three goals in under three minutes to tie the game at 3-3 and even things up halfway through the game.

Things got physical in the latter part of the middle period and Christian Horn dropped the gloves with Clark Kuster for his first USHL fighting major. Garrett Cecere also got tangled up with Jason Kalinowski and both players were given double minors for roughing.

In the final seconds of the second, Corey Petrash hit Storm defenseman Nolan Gluchowski and was whistled for a major charging penalty, ejecting him from the game.

Tri-City began the third with a five minute power play and retook the lead. L’Esperance completed the hat trick, beating Birdsall over the left shoulder. Assists were given to both Cecere and Gamez on the goal.

The Storm never looked back from there, as L’Esperance picked up his fourth tally of the game minutes later and Ryan McMurphy sealed the win with an empty netter in the final minute.

It will be another three game week for Tri-City as they head to Omaha to face the Lancers on Wednesday at 7:05 before returning home for a weekend series with the Youngstown Phantoms on Dec. 13 and 14.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Thomas Aldworth, Joey DiBenedetto and Ross Olsson, along with defenseman Sean Lang.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period
Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (Christian Horn, Garrett Gamez) 0:21

Tri-City – Christian Horn (Garrett Gamez) 14:37

2nd Period

Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (Garrett Gamez, Tory Dello) 2:54
Cedar Rapids – Dylan Gareau (Andrew Poturalski) 8:01
Cedar Rapids – Corey Petrash (Ivan Provorov, Carlos Fornaris) 8:13
Cedar Rapids – Dylan Gareau (power play) (Judd Peterson, Charlie Curti) 10:28

3rd Period

Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (power play) (Nolan Gluchowski) 1:09
Tri-City – Joel L’Esperance (Garrett Cecere, Garrett Gamez) 5:42
Tri-City – Ryan McMurphy (empty net) (unassisted) 19:14

PENALTIES

1st Period
Cedar Rapids – Jason Kalinowski – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 4:51
Tri-City – Kyle Eastman – (High Sticking), 2 min, 10:48

Tri-City – Drew Mayer – (Holding), 2 min, 15:59

2nd Period
Tri-City – Christian Horn – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 10:05
Tri-City – Christian Horn – (Fighting), 5 min, 10:05
Cedar Rapids – Clark Kuster – (Fighting), 5 min, 10:05
Tri-City – Garrett Cecere – (Roughing), 4 min, 13:43
Cedar Rapids – Jason Kalinowski – (Roughing), 4 min, 13:43
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 2 min, 14:02
Cedar Rapids – Andrew Oglevie – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 2 min, 14:02
Tri-City – Dan Labosky – (Tripping), 2 min, 18:01
Cedar Rapids – Corey Petrash – (Charging), 5 min, 20:00
Cedar Rapids – Corey Petrash – (Charging) (Game Ejection), 10 min, 20:00

3rd Period

Tri-City – Garrett Cecere – (Tripping), 2 min, 2:35
Tri-City – Drew Mayer – (Tripping), 2 min, 14:21

Power Play

Tri-City – 1/3

Cedar Rapids – 1/5

Shots

Tri-City: 9, 10, 9 = Total: 28

Cedar Rapids: 8, 11, 13 = Total: 32

Saves

Tri-City – Jacob Johansson – 29/32

Cedar Rapids – Chris Birdsall – 22/27

DES MOINES, Ia. – Des Moines Buccaneers (8-12-1) goaltender Ryan Ruck made 53 saves and kept the Tri-City Storm (5-15-2) off the board until the final minutes, backstopping his team to a 3-2 win at Buccaneer Arena on Friday night.

The Storm got back in the game with two late goals in the final five minutes from forwards Garrett Gamez and Chris Wilkie, but they couldn’t find the equalizer.

The game had a similar feel to Thursday night’s battle between Tri-City and Waterloo, as the Storm fought hard and had the edge in play during the first period, but both teams were held off the scoreboard.

Des Moines took the lead at 8:26 of the second period on forward Roman Uchyn’s first goal of the season.

Through two frames, Tri-City had a 32-17 edge in shots on net but found themselves trailing 1-0.

After an early penalty to Storm defenseman Cutler Martin for checking from behind 31 seconds into the final frame, Des Moines capitalized as forward Michael Marnell one-timed home a pass from Ryan Galt.

The Buccaneers made it 3-0 minutes later on a wrap-around goal by forward Tanner Karty.

It took until 14:55 of the third period for the Storm to get one past Ruck, but they finally put one home when Gamez deflected a Jalen Schulz shot into the back of the net to start a late comeback attempt.

With under a minute to go, Tri-City made it 3-2 as Wilkie took a pass from defenseman Garrett Cecere and notched his sixth goal of the season.

The Storm had a final chance to try and tie the game but fell short on a night when they outshot Des Moines 55-29.

Tri-City netminder Hayden Lavigne turned away 26 shots in the loss, keeping his team in the game.

Forwards Joel L’Esperance and Chase Berger each registered seven shots on net, while forward Christian Horn and defenseman Nolan Gluchowski each had six shots.

The Storm will finish up their road trip on Saturday night in Cedar Rapids against the RoughRiders. The game gets underway at 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City is back at home on Dec. 13 and 14 to face the Youngstown Phantoms in a two-game series.

Notes: The Storm scratched forwards Thomas Aldworth, Nick Hutchison and Kyle Eastman, along with defenseman Tory Dello.…

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Period
(no scoring)

2nd Period

Des Moines – Roman Uchyn (Tanner Karty, Danny Elser) 8:26

3rd Period

Des Moines – Michael Marnell (power play) (Ryan Galt, Garrett Cockerill) 1:43
Des Moines – Tanner Karty (Marcel Godbout) 4:12
Tri-City – Garrett Gamez (Jalen Schulz, Joel L’Esperance) 14:55
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie (Garrett Cecere) 19:22

PENALTIES

1st Period
Tri-City – Cutler Martin – (Checking From Behind), 2 min, 12:13
Tri-City – Ross Olsson – (Slashing), 2 min, 17:04
Des Moines – Garrett Cockerill – (Interference), 2 min, 17:46
Tri-City – Dan Labosky – (High Sticking), 2 min, 19:44

2nd Period
Des Moines – Ryan Galt – (Cross Checking), 2 min, 15:03

3rd Period

Tri-City – Cutler Martin – (Hooking), 2 min, 0:31
Des Moines – Garrett Cockerill – (Hooking), 2 min, 5:18
Des Moines – Tanner Karty – (Slashing), 2 min, 16:03
Tri-City – Nolan Gluchowski – (Slashing), 2 min, 16:03
Tri-City – Chris Wilkie – (Slashing), 2 min, 19:52
Des Moines – Michael Marnell – (Roughing), 2 min, 19:52

Power Play

Tri-City – 0/3

Des Moines – 1/4

Shots

Tri-City: 15, 17, 23 = Total: 55

Des Moines: 5, 12, 12 = Total: 29

 

Saves

Tri-City – Hayden Lavigne – 26/29

Des Moines – Ryan Ruck – 53/55