USHL: Stampede Roll Over Sioux City, 6-3

Sioux City, IA—Six different players scored goals as the Sioux Falls Stampede topped the Sioux City Musketeers 6-3 Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center. The win improved the Herd’s record to 29-14-8 and into a second place tie with Omaha in the Western Conference. Adam Dawe tallied a goal and an assist while Reid Stefanson tallied two assists while Mikhail Berdin stopped 41 of 44 shots in between the pipes for his 21st win of the season. The Herd are now 13-3-2 in their last 18 games and 16-7-2 on the road this season. Sioux Falls is 4-2-2 against the Musketeers this season.

The Musketeers looked like a team with eight days off and came out flying, scoring just 1:35 into the game when Dylan Mills wristed a shot from the right circle past the stick side of Stampede goaltender Mikhail Berdin. The Herd would respond at 7:36 of the period when Reid Stefanson took the puck back behind the Sioux City net and sent a pass in front of the net for Adam Dawe who one-timed the puck into the back of the net. Sioux City regained the lead at 15:58 when Micah Miller scored on his own rebound for a 2-1 advantage.

It appeared they would take that lead into the locker room, but the Stampede had other plans. Kirill Panyukov extended his point scoring streak when he connected with Artem Ivanyuzhenkov who spun around and blasted a shot into the upper right-hand corner of the net to tie the game 2-2 at 19:09. Sioux Falls took their first lead of the night just 29 seconds later when Reid Stefanson found Carson Dimoff down the right wing boards and Dimoff one-timed home his eighth goal of the season and the Herd skated into the intermission with a 3-2 advantage. Sioux City outshot the Herd 13-8 in the period.

The Stampede found themselves down a man early in the third period, but that didn’t stop Kevin Conley from scoring. Conley intercepted a pass, broke free down the middle of the ice, and backhanded a shot onto the net before crashing into the goal with the puck going past Matt Jurusik and over the goal line. The goal was Conley’s 15th of the year and third shorthanded this season. The Herd started to pull away at 11:51 when Cameron Burke tallied his 9th goal of the season. Jack St. Ivany sent a pass into the high slot to Burke who blasted a shot through traffic and past the glove of Jurusik and into the net for a 5-2 advantage. Sioux City outshot the Herd 15-9 in the period.

The Musketeers pulled back within two goals at 12:47 of the third period when Sammy Walker sent a pass through the Stampede crease to Mills who knocked home his second of the night to make it a 5-3 game. That would be as close as the Musketeers would come though as Berdin continued his solid play between the pipes and the Herd sealed the game with an empty net goal from Griffin Lunn for a 6-3 victory.

Sioux City outshot the Stampede 16-7 in the third period and 44-24 on the night. The Musketeers were 0-for-3 on the power play while the Stampede were 0-for-2.

The Herd return to action next Friday and Saturday with a weekend series in Kearney, Nebraska against the Tri-City Storm. Puck drop is 7:35 PM each night and fans can catch all the action on KELO News Talk 1320-AM, 105.1-FM, 107.9-FM and KELO.com.