Brindley ot goal leads Storm past Fighting Saints at USHL opener

By Jim den Hollander  

Editor/Publisher 

Midwesthockey.info 

The United States Hockey League (USHL) once again opened its regular season with a trip east to Pittsburgh for all 15 teams.  

The Dicks Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic ran in two halves in Pittsburgh with the Green Bay Gamblers, Dubuque Fighting Saints, Madison Capitols, Youngstown Phantoms and Cedar Rapids Roughriders from the Eastern Conference playing two crossover games each against the Tri-City Storm, Des Moines Buccaneers, Omaha Lancers and Lincoln Stars from the West on the first two days, starting Thursday, Sept. 23. 

On Saturday (September 24) the remaining teams are scheduled to take the ice with a huge number of college and professional scouts in attendance on all four days. 

The most interesting game of the opening day saw Gavin Brindley (‘04/Estero, FL) firing two goals including the game winner in overtime to lift the Tri-City Storm to a 3-2 edge against the Dubuque Fighting Saints.  

Brindley’s second gave the Storm its only lead of the contest as the team battled back twice from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits. 

Cole O’Hara (‘02/Toronto, ON – U of Massachusetts) fired the other Storm marker, Steven Halliday (‘02/Glenwood, MD) and Kenny Connors (‘03/Glen Mills, PA – Massachusetts) 

Arsenii Sergeev (‘02/Yaroslavl, Russia) stopped 16 of 18 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Storm, Philip Svedeback (‘02/Stockholm, Sweden), kicking out 32 for the Fighting Saints.  

Green Bay Gamblers 5 Waterloo Black Hawks 2  

The Gamblers collected a win in the first game of the season, breaking open a 2-2 draw with a pair of unanswered second period goals and one more down the stretch. 

Damian Carfagna (‘02/Wood Ridge, NJ –New Hampshire) scored twice for the Gamblers John Mittelstadt (‘01/Eden Prairie, MN — Minnesota) notching the game winner in the second period. Other Gamblers’ goals came from Jackson Hallum (‘02/Eagan, MN – Michigan) and Tim Delay (‘03/Hingham, MA). Aaron Randazzo (‘01/Alexandria, MN – St. Cloud State) stopped all but two of the 36 shots he faced to pick up the win. 

Garrett Schifsky (‘03/Andover, MN) and Nicholas Ahern (‘02/Chicago, IL) both scored for the Black Hawks 

Des Moines Buccaneers 6 Madison Capitols 3  

Capitols hit the board first, but the Pirates were up 3-1 after 20 minutes. Both teams added a single in the second and the Bucs scored two more before the Capitols finished it off with 3:01 to play. 

Mitchell Wolfe (‘02/Andover, MN – Bemidji State); Sully Scholle (‘03/Victoria, MN); Davis Burnside (‘02/Fountain Hills, AZ – Ohio State); Scout Truman (‘02/Lethbridge, AB – UMass-Lowell); Killian Kiecker-Olson (‘01/Andover, MN) and Tanner Latsch (‘02/Twin Lake, MN) fired the Bucs’ goals with Jack Musa (‘03/Mirmar Lakes, FL). Quinn Finley (‘04/Suamico, WI) and Luke Mittelstadt (‘03/Eden Prairie, MN – Minnesota) countering for the Capitols. 

Omaha Lancers 4 Cedar Rapids RoughRiders 1 

RoughRiders opened the scoring with a goal from Joe Fleming (‘03/Wellesley, MA) 86 seconds into the game, but the Lancers owned a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes and added singles in the second and third. 

Daimon Gardner (‘04/Winnipeg, MB – Clarkson) fired a pair, Alex Bump (‘03/Prior Lake, MN) scoring the game winner and the other added by Ryan Gillespie (‘03/Toronto, ON). 

Mason Kucenski (‘04/Gill, MA) stopped a dozen shots to pick up the win in goal for the Lancers while Connor Hasley (‘02/North Tonawanda, NY) was peppered with 43 shots in goal for the Roughies. 

Lincoln Stars 3 Youngstown Phantoms 2  

All but one goal was scored in the second period, Yu Sato (‘02/Saitama, Japan) burying the game winner for Lincoln with seven minute to play in the third. 

Michael Mastrodomenico (‘04/Kirkland, QC – Notre Dame) and Henry Nelson (‘03/Maple Grove, MN) scored the other Stars’ goals, Adam Ingram (‘’03/West St. Paul, MB) and Ryan Alexander (‘02/Toronto, ON – Arizona State) responding for the Phantoms.  

Kaidan Mbereko (‘03/West Bloomfield, MI) picked up the win for the Stars with 28 saves and Owen Bartoszkewicz (‘03/Northville, MI) kicked out 27 in goal for the Phantoms. 

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