Showcase frenzy continues in USHL

Three Regional Showcase events wrapped up and another faced off on Saturday (Sept. 19) at four different United States Hockey League locations.

Iowa Classic

Fighting Saints 5 Musketeers 4

Judging the performance of the Musketeers at the Iowa Classic may depend on whether you are a glass half-full or half-empty type of person.

On one hand, the team ultimately skated off disappointed in two games, but on the other hand, they never lost in regulation time; dropping a 5-4 decision to the Dubuque Fighting Saints in overtime after falling in shootout the previous day.

This one saw a crazy seven-goal first period, the Saints scoring in the final minute of the frame to come away with a 4-3 edge and that stood up all of the way to the final period when Teemu Pulkkinen, 20, from Finland scored his second goal and third point of the game, sending it to overtime.

Charlie Combs, 19, from St. Louis, MO responded with his second of the contest, ending it 3:38 into the overtime segment.

Nathan Sucese, 19, from New York had a goal and assist in the game for the Fighting Saints and Pat Holway, 18, from Massachusetts assisted on two. Other Dubuque goals came from Keegan Ford, 19, from Waunakee, WI and Colin Theisen, 18, from Monroe, MI. Jaxon Castor, 18, from Arizona, stopped 21 of 25 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Fighting Saints.

Josh Wilkins, 18, from California had a goal and assist for the Musketeers, Eeli Tolvanen, 16, from Finland adding two assists and the other goal scored by Connor Valesano, 20, from Duluth, MN. Lukas Kania, 19, from Chicago, stopped 30 of 35 in goal for the Musketeers.

Blackhawks 3 Roughriders 1 

The Waterloo Blackhawks opened the  all-Iowa event Thursdsay (Sept. 17) with a 6-1 win agianst the Des Moines Buccaneeers and closed it out two days later with a 3-1 margin against the Cedar Rapids Roughriders.

Waterloo scored all three of its goals, one in the first and two more in the middle period before Mitch Reinke, 19, from Stillwater, MN finally got the Roughies on the board 3:41 from the end of the second. The 3-1 score stood up after a scoreless third period.

Ronnie Hein, 18, from Chelsea, MI; Brandon Schultz, 19, from Florida and Marshall Moise, 17, from St. Clair Shores, MI scored the Blackhawk goals and the goaltending chores were split between Dayton Rasmussen, 16, from Eden Prairie, MN and Cole Morris, 19, from Colorado. They combined to stop 16 of 17 shots.

Ben Blacker, 18 from Ontario made 31 saves in goal for the Roughriders.

The Blackhawks and Fighting Saints both wrapped up with 2-0 records at the Iowa Classic, the Roughriders taking a win and a loss. Musketeers and Buccaneers were both 0-2, but Sioux City’s losses came in shootout and overtime.

Battle in Lincoln

Storm 4 Stampede 2 

The Stampede made its only appearance at the Lincoln-based event and dropped a 4-2 decision to the Storm, who came on like –well– a storm in the third period wiping out a 2-0 deficit with four straight goals.

Carson Meyer, 18, from Powell, OH; Wade Allison, 17, from Manitoba; Jake Wahlin, 18, from St. Paul, MN and Alex Limoges, 18, from Virginia, scored the Storm goals, two of them assisted by Dan Labosky, 20, from Edina, MN.

Daniel Warpecha, 18, from Burr Ridge, IL and Eric MacAdams, 18, from Massachusetts scored the Stampede goals.

Jake Kielly, 19, from Eden Prairie, MN stopped 23 of 25 to pick up the win in goal for Tri City and Ales Stezka, 18, from Czech Republic handled 30 of 34 in the Stampede goal.

Lancers 5 Stars 3

The Omaha Lancers also paid its lone visit to the Battle in Lincoln, but made it count, with a 5-3 win over the host Stars.

Lancers owned a 2-1 lead after a period and 4-2 heading to the third, both teams adding one more in the first 94 seconds of the final frame.

Austin Alger, 18, from Livonia, MI picked up a hat trick for the winners and the other two goals came off of the stick of Nathan Krusko, 19, from Georgia. Nick Rivera, 19, from California chipped in a pair of assists.

Ludvig Hoff, 18, from Norway; Adam Brady, 20, from Ontario and Jack Badini, 17, from Connecticut each scored for the Stars.

Zackarias Skog, 20, from Sweden stopped 32 of 35 shots to earn the win in goal for the Lancers and Peyton Jones, 19 from Pennsvylvania stopped 24 of 29 for the Stars.

The Lancers spoiled an otherwise perfect weekend for the Stars who finished with a 2-1 record in the Battle in Lincoln. The Fargo Force and Tri City Storm were both 1-1 while the Lancers finished with one win, Stampede and Red Bull Salzburg both ended with one loss.

Pittsburgh Showcase

Lumberjacks 5 Team USA U-17’s 0

Muskegon Lumberjacks wrapped up its brief Pittsburgh stop with a second five goal game, this time earning a 5-0 shutout against the US National Development Program U-17 squad.

The Lumberjacks scored once in both the first and final periods, burying three in the middle stanza to make the game a little more lopsided.

Joey Daccord, 19, from Massachusetts, a Seventh Round (199th Overall) Selection of the Ottawa Senators in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, picked up the shutout with 19 stops.

Jacob Coleman, 18, from Ontario scored twice for the winners with others from Carson Vance, 19, from Arizona; Collin Adams, 17 from Brighton, MI and Danny Digrande, 18.

Adam Scheel, 16, from Lakewood, OH stopped 24 of 29 in goal for Team USA.

Phantoms 2 Team USA U-18’s 0

The Youngstown Phantoms wrapped up the Pittsburgh event with the second shutout of the day, 2-0 against the US National Development Program U-18 team 2-0.

Ryan Bednard, 18, from Macomb, MI, led the way for the Phantoms, stopping all 35 shots he faced to earn the shutout. Lukas Craggs, 19, from Elmhurst, IL scored the game winner in the second minute of the middle period and the other goal came from James Winkler, 19, from Maine on a third period powerplay.

Jake Oettinger, 16, from Lakeville, MN turned aside 20 of 22 shots in the Team USA goal

The Lumberjacks and Phantoms both finished the Pittsburgh event with two wins, the two USA Development squads both with two defeats.

Bob Suter Memorial 

Thunder 3 Gamblers 1

Bloomington  Thunder kicked off the Bob Suter Memorial Tournament near Madison with a 3-1 win against the Green Bay Gamblers.

The Gamblers actually owned an early cushion as Joey Marooney, 19, from Eden Prairie, MN scored the only goal of the opening period.

Goals by Patrick Curry, 19, from Schaumberg, IL and William Harrison, 19, from Virginia had the Thunder leading by the end of the second and Ethan Somoza, 19, from California added some insurance with his goal with less than four minutes to go in the contest.

Hayden Lavigne, 19, from Ontario stopped all but one of the 36 shots he faced to pick up the win in goal while the Gamblers split the work between Ryan Wischow, 19, from Green Bay and Kevin Reich, 20, from Germany. They combined to stop 21 of 24 shots faced.

Madison Capitols 6 Chicago Steel 4

The Madison Capitols kicked off their own event with a 6-4 win over the Chicago Steel with 10 different goal scorers in the game.

Both teams scored once in the first period, the Capitols opening up a 4-3 lead in the second. The Steel tied the contest in the opening minute of the third period, but the Capitols wrapped it up with a game winner scored 3:56 into the period and insurance with just over five minutes remaining.

Mick Messner, 16, from Madison and Sam McCormick, 18, from DePere, WI both scored a goal and assisted on another and Luke McElhenie, 18, from Sauk City set up a pair. Ryan Lohin, 19, from Pennsylvania, Alexandre Payusov, 18, from Quebec; Tony Stillwell, 18, from Green Bay, WI and Garrett Klee, 17, from Colorado scored the other Capitol goals.

Lucas Michaud, 18, from Maine; Brandon Duhaime, 18, from Florida, Connor Murphy, 19, from Ontario and Jack Doremus, 18, from Colorado scored the Steel goals.

Garrett Metcalf, 19, from Utah stopped 24 of 28 shots to pick up the win for the Caps and Kristofer Carlson, 18, from Virginia turned aside 13 of 19 in goal for the Steel.