Home teams snatch control in USHL Conference finals

After earning a split in the first two road games, the underdog Dubuque Fighting Saints and Waterloo Black Hawks looked to take advantage of home ice in the crucial third game of their respective USHL Conference finals on Friday (May 5, 2017).

Nothing doing.

A 28-save effort from Matiss Kivlenieks in goal led the Sioux City Musketeers to a 3-0 shutout win at Young Arena in Waterloo in Game 3 of the Western Conference final while Brannon McManus lifted the Chicago Steel to a 4-3 edge in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final at Mystique Ice Center in Dubuque.

Both the Musketeers and Steel finished as overall leaders in their respective conferences this season and now both are within a win of moving to the Clark Cup Championship.

Musketeers 3 at Black Hawks 0

Offensively, the first period was the first period was the most active of this game – at least in terms of shots as the Musketeers picked up 13 of the 24 shots in the frame. In terms of goals there was nothing on the board, both Kivlenieks and Robbie Beydoun of the Black Hawks matching each other shot for shot.

Tarek Baker finally found the mesh for the Musketeers 5:28 into the second and Matt Hellickson added another just 22 seconds from the end of the period.

Odeen Tufto fired the lone third period marker into an empty Waterloo cage with 37 seconds to play.

Musketeers will be looking to wrap up the Western Conference final Saturday (May 6) with Game 4 also slated to be played at the Young Arena.

Steel 4 at Fighting Saints 3

Like the other game, Steel and Fighting Saints also played through a scoreless opening 20-minutes, but a bulk of the work in this one fell to Jaxon Castor in goal for the Fighting Saints as Steel failed to capitalize on a 10-4 edge in shots.

Marc Johnstone did get the Steel on the board 38 seconds into the middle period but the home team exploded for three goals in 5:46 to carry a 3-1 cushion out of the middle period. Zach Solow, Colin Theisen and Patrick Kudla scored the Fighting Saints goals.

The Steel started on the road back with a goal from Eduards Tralmaks to get within a goal 7:21 into the final frame and Jake Jaremko fired the equalizer a little under five minutes later, setting the stage McManus’ game winner with just 3:11 to play in the contest.

Ales Stezka picked up the win in goal with a 25-save performance and Castor stopped 24 shots for the Fighting Saints.

With the win, the Steel moves to within a win of claiming the Eastern Conference title and earning a shot at the Clark Cup when teams meet again on Saturday (May 6).