USHL Iowa Classic and Battle in Lincoln get underway

The United States Hockey League got a jump on the weekend with two of its four Regional Showcase events for the weekend dropping the puck Thursday (Sept. 17). Every team in the league is scheduled to be involved in one of the four Showcase events on the weekend before the start of the league’s regular season.

At Waterloo, the host Blackhawks turned aside the Des Moines Buccaneers 6-1 in the opening game of the Iowa Classic, a five team all-Iowa event and the ‘Battle in Lincoln’ event involving seven teams opener saw the host Lincoln Stars shutting out the Fargo Force 4-0.

Iowa Classic – Game 1

Blackhawks 6 Buccaneers 1

The Blackhawks took control of this one with three unanswered first period goals, both teams scoring once in the middle frame and the hosts putting it away with two more in the final 20 minutes.

Michael Davies, 18,  from St. Louis , acquired by the Blackhawks from the Dubuque Fighting Saints and David Cotton, 18, from Texas selected in the Sixth Round (169th Overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, both scored twice to lead the Hawks with the other goal coming from Ben Newhouse, 18, from Edina, MN.

Mikey Anderson, 16, from Roseville, MN and already committed to the University of Minnesota-Duluth for the 2018-19 season picked up two assists in the game as did Brandon Schultz, a 19-year-old forward from Florida who played with the Janesville Jets of the NAHL last season.

Drew Hotte, 18 from Pennsvylvania, picked up the win in goal for the Hawks, stopping 18 of 19 Buccaneer shots.

Kenneth Hausinger, 20, from Alaska scored the lone Buccaneer goal while Jan Ruzicka, an 18-year-old goaltender from Czech Republic stopped 38 of 44 for the Bucs.

Battle in Lincoln – Game 1 

Stars 4 Force 0

The Lincoln Stars opened its own tournament with a shutout win against Fargo, but the game was closer than it might first appear. Single goals in the first and second had the home side in control, but it wasn’t until an empty netter with 45 seconds to go that the Stars could breath easy in this one.

Anthony Wyse, 19, from Massachussets; Patrick Polino, 20, from New York; Sam Kauppila, 19, from Gurnee, IL and Biago Lerario, 20, from Addison, IL each scored once for the Stars while Ludvig Hoff, 18, from Oslo, Norway set up a pair. Patrik Virtanen, 20, from Vantaa, Finland provided the shutout goaltender, stopping all 26 of the Force shots.

Red Bull Salzburg 5 Omaha Lancers 3 

One other exhibition game played on the night was not a part of any showcase events, Red Bull Salzburg continuing its tour of the league with a 5-3 win over the Lancers at Omaha.

Teams were scoreless through a period and the Austrian squad scored a pair in the middle frame before both teams erupted for three down the stretch. Red Bull opened a 3-0 lead early before the home side charged back with three to tie it up. A powerplay with 4:59 to go stood up as the game winner for Salzburg and the other was an empty netter with nine ticks on the clock.

Maximilian Egger, 19 from Austria, scored twice for the winners with others from Christoph Koerner, Lukas Kainz and Florian Baltran.

For the Lancers, Josh French, 19, from Woodbury, MN; Grant Gabriele, 18, from Brighton, MI and William Fallstrom, a 17-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden scored the goals while Nick Rivera, 19 from California picked up two assists. In goal, Zach Driscoll, 18, from Apple Valley, MN stopped 18 of 22 for the Lancers.