Big opening weekend for Fury (USHL Sept. 26-28)

Among the highlights from the opening weekend of the United States Hockey League’s 2014-15 season was a trio of wins for the Muskegon Fury and franchise debuts for both the Madison Capitols and Bloomington Thunder.

Following is a summer of all of the games for the league’s opening weekend.

Sept. 26

Muskegon 5 Team USA 2

The Fury made two trips to Ann Arbor’s Ice Cube on the weekend, starting out with a 5-2 win over Team USA.

The home team actually owned a 2-1 lead after a period and that carried into the third after a scoreless middle period. But the visitors exploded for four third period markers to take the win. Jack Rowe scored the game winner 13:35 into the final period and David Trinkberger added insurance with his goal 10 seconds later. Trinkberger, Rowe and Matheson Iacopelli each picked up a goal and assist and the other Fury goals came from Christian Wolanin and Tom Marchin while Matej Paulovic assisted on two. Eric Schierhorn stopped 28 of 30 to get the win in goal.

Joey Anderson and Keeghan Howdeshell had the Team USA goals and Jake Oettinger stopped 38 of 43 shots in goal.

Fargo 2 Waterloo 1

The Force opened with a road win and all three goals in this one came in the first period at the Waterloo Young Arena.

Christian Cakebread and Mikey Eyssimont had the Force goals and Mathias Israelsson picked up the win in goal with a 38 save effort.

Brock Boeser scored the lone Black Hawks goal and Hayden Lavigne stopped 15 of 17 shots in goal.

Tri-City 4 Lincoln 3

The Storm spent most of its opening game at the Lincoln Icebox trying to catch up, but scored the lone goal of the third period to grab the narrow win.

Town 3-1 early in the second, the Storm rallied back with two before the end of the middle period setting the stage for the game winner scored by Chris Wikie with 7:13 remaining.

Wilkie also collected an assist in the game and Kevin Kerr had two set ups for the Storm. Other goals came from Kyle Eastman, Garrett Gomez and Mason Appleton while Alec Dillion stopped 21 of 24 to nail down the win in goal.

Biagio Lerario scored two for the Stars, Ludvig Hoff notching the other and Cam Hackett stopping 27 of 31 shots in goal for the Stars.

Sioux City 4 Omaha 3 (ot)

Ryan Walker’s second goal of the night, with just 53 seconds to play lifted the Musketeers into a 3-3 draw with the host Lancers at Ralston Arena and a shorthanded marker by Joe Snively with 36 seconds to go in the extra period lifted the Musketeers to a win in its opener on the road.

Robert Carpenter had three assists and Joel Janatuinen had the other goal for the Musketeers, Colin Olson stopping 36 of 39 shots to pick up the win in goal.

Jake Henderson, Anthony Angello and Shane Gersich triggered the Lancer goals and Niklas Folin assisted on all three. Hayden Hawkey stopped 26 of 30 shots in goal for the Lancers.

Sept. 27

Youngstown 2 Team USA 4

Team USA made up for dropping its home opener at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor the following night, outscoring the visiting Phantoms 3-1 in the third to break away from a 1-1 draw after two.

Matthew Tkachuk, Luke Kunin, Nick Boka and Christian Fischer scored the Team USA goals and Auston Matthews assisted on two of them. Luke Opika picked up the win in goal with 30 saves on 32 shots.

Maxim Letunov and Kyle Connor scored for the Phantoms and Colin DeAugustine had 26 saves in goal.

Madison 3 Muskegon 4

The Fury returned to Muskegon’s L.C. Walker Arena for the middle game of a busy weekend and spoiled the debut of the expansion Madison Capitols with a narrow edge.

The difference was an unanswered goal in the middle frame as both teams scored once in the first and added two more in the final period.

David Keefer scored two for the Fury and Griffen Molina added a goal and assist. Matheson Iacopelli scored the other goal and Mason Jobst picked up two assists. Collecting the win in goal was Eric Schierhorn with 22 saves.

For the Capitols, goals came from Ryan Lohin, Guilliaume Leclerc and Luke McElhenie and Darren Smith stopped 40 of 44 shots in goal for the Caps.

Sioux Falls 1 Bloomington 2 (so)

The Thunder made a successful debut at the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington but needed a shootout to settle the score.

Troy Loggins gave the visiting Stampede an early lead with the only goal of the first period but Van Barr notched the lone second period tally to pull the home team even. That was all of the scoring and the Thunder earned the edge with a 2-1 edge in the shootout.

Tyler Gernhofer and Vince Pedrie scored for Bloomington and Logan O’Connor notched the lone Stampede tally. David Jacobson stopped 29 of 30 in regulation then two of three in the shootout to pick up the win in goal for the Thunder. Arthur Brey meanwhile made 34 saves in the game and another in the shootout.

Chicago 8 Green Bay 2

The Steel opened with a huge win at the Resch Center in Green Bay, scoring the first four goals of the game and carrying a 5-1 cushion into the third period.

Mason Bergh had a big opening night with a goal and five assists for the Steel while Mickey Joyaux had a goal and two helpers, Robby Jackson adding a goal and assist and Connor McDonald assisting on two. Other Steel goals were scored by: Zach Osburn, Brendan Kearney, Tyler Sifferlen, Connor Murphy and Fredrik Olofsson. Cole Morris stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in goal.

For the Gamblers, Jake Kauppila and Sam Miletic had the goals.

Fargo 0 Des Moines 4

Ryland Pashovitz stopped all 23 shots he faced for the host Buccaneers at the Buccaneer Arena while Alec Rauhauser powered the offense with two goals and an assist.

Ryan Dmowski and Ara Nazarian had the other goals against Mathias Israelsson who stopped 29 of 33 for the Force.

Dubuque 2 Cedar Rapids 6

Four unanswered first period goal sent the Roughriders on their way to a successful home debut at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. Both teams added single goals in the second and third periods.

Jiri Fronk and Adam Gaudette had two goals apiece for the Roughriders and Adam Oglevie had two assists in the game. Ross Colton and Zach Court both added a goal and assist while goaltender Ben Blacker turned aside 39 of 41 shots.

The Fighting Saints got goals from Wyatt Ege and Blake Hillman.

Sept. 28

Muskegon 6 Team USA 4

The Fury grabbed a second win in 48 hours at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor, MI to wrap up a perfect weekend.

The Fury carried a 3-1 lead out of the opening frame but teams were deadlocked at 4-4 heading to the third.

Griffen Molin and David Keefer scored 32 seconds apart early in the third for the Fury to seal a third straight win to open the season.

Matheson Iacopelli, Christian Wolanin, Jack Rowe and Cooper Marody had the other goals, Marody, Robbie DMontis and Mason Jobst both assisting on a pair. Michael Latorella claimed the win in goal with 24 saves.

Luke Kunin scored twice for Team USA, Jeremy Bracco and Christian Fischer both adding a goal and assist.