Black Hawks Pull Away Again

For the second consecutive night, a three-goal third period helped the Waterloo Black Hawks nail down a playoff victory against the Sioux Falls Stampede. The Black Hawks took the win in game two of the 2014 USHL Western Division Semifinals 6-3 Saturday at Young Arena.

Blake Winiecki recorded a goal and three assists, and the Hawks extended their edge in the best-of-five series to two-games-to-none. On Friday in Game One, Waterloo had topped Sioux Falls 7-3. Game three is Thursday, April 17 in Sioux Falls at 7:05 p.m.

The Stampede took their first lead of the series at 14:20 of the first period. Off a faceoff win at the dot to the left of Cal Petersen, the puck came to Tony Calderone, and he snapped a shot through traffic and inside the short-side post. One minute and 20 seconds later, Drew Melanson tied the contest, firing a wrist shot from the right circle over the glove-side arm of Arthur Brey, sending the game to intermission even at 1-1.

Sioux Falls struck to take the lead again during the early second period; C.J. Franklin scored during a power play, stuffing a rebound over the goal line at 3:47. Again, the Waterloo response was swift. The Stampede stopped playing when they believed a dump-in had gone out of play, but the Hawks continued on, and Blake Winiecki wristed a shot from the high slot past a startled Brey.

Another persistent effort at the end of the period put Waterloo in front. With the period clock waning, Tyler Sheehy flipped the puck to the right corner with Winiecki in hot pursuit. Winiecki’s centering pass from there found Patrick Russell coming up ice, and Waterloo’s top regular season goal-scorer nudged the Hawks in front with 0.6 seconds remaining before intermission.

As they had done the night before in Game One, the Black Hawks pulled ahead in the third. Just after a power play had ended at 3:01, John Wiitala sent a pass from behind the Stampede net to Jake Horton, who snapped a quick shot into the net. Zach Sanford followed up three-and-a-half minutes later, scoring on a power play rush with a wrister from the left circle. R.J. Majkozak knocked the puck into the Waterloo net on a goalmouth scramble at 7:29. However, Tyler Sheehy sealed the win with an empty net goal at 18:22.

Petersen claimed the win with 25 saves; Brey stopped 35 shots.