Kearney, NE – The Tri-City Storm bounced back from last night’s loss in a 4-3 home win over the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Joey Cipollone, Chase McLane, Calvin Dybicz, and Matthew Knies all netted goals in the Storm victory. Tri-City now sets its sights on the team directly in front of them in the Western Conference standings, the Fargo Force. The Storm travel to Scheels Arena in Fargo, ND next weekend for back to back road games. The Storm return home to the Viaero Center on Friday, March 20th in a matchup against the Sioux City Musketeers. Next Friday’s game is a $5 Kids Friday and the Storm’s “Star Wars Night” promotion. Puck drops at 7:05pm.
After a scoreless 1st period, Joey Cipollone netted his 5th goal of the year at 4:16 of the 2nd period to give Tri-City a one goal lead in the game. Cipollone’s goal was assisted by Nick Portz and Matthew Knies and was scored on the power play. At 9:33 of the 2nd period, Chase McLane, who was playing in his 100th career USHL game, scored his 6th goal of the year to give the Storm a two-goal advantage. McLane’s goal was assisted by Joe Berg and Nick Donato. Muskegon’s Cameron Berg scored his 20th goal of the season on the power play at 12:49 of the period to cut Tri-City’s lead in half. After each team recorded five shots on net in the 1st period, the Storm outshot the Lumberjacks 12-3 in the 2nd period and carried a 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.
Calvin Dybicz scored his 2nd goal of the year at 7:51 of the 3rd period to give the Storm another two-goal lead in the game. The goal was assisted by Sam Rhodes. Minutes later, at 12:50 of the period, Muskegon’s Rhett Pitlick scored his 17th goal of the year to cut the lead in half. Leading 3-2, Tri-City’s Matthew Knies scored his 14th goal of the year at 14:05 of the 3rd period to give the Storm a 4-3 lead. With the goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, Muskegon scored the final goal of the game with 56 seconds left to play. The goal was netted by Iivari Rasanen. Tri-City picked up its 24th win of the season in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Muskegon.
Tri-City improved to 24-17-5-2 in the win and now prepares for a weekend series against the Fargo Force. Todd Scott made 13 saves on 16 shots to record his 8th win of the season in tonight’s game. The Storm is now 19-2-1-0 when leading after the 2nd period this season and is also 18-10-4-1 when outshooting its opponent.
Friday’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:05pm CT, and will be streamed live on HockeyTV, and Storm Radio. To purchase tickets to Storm home games at the Viaero Center, visit www.StormHockey.com or call 308-338-8144.
