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The Sioux Falls Stampede let a 2-1 lead late in the second period slip away and eventually fell 5-2 to the Sioux City Musketeers Wednesday night at the USHL Fall Classic in Sioux City. Two empty net goals in the final 1:10 made the score look worse than it was. Tony Calderone and Dennis Kravchenko scored for the Stampede while Charlie Lindgren stopped 14 of 17 shots in goal. Sioux Falls outshot Sioux City 32 to 19 on the night.
The Musketeers grabbed the first goal 5:54 into the first period on a shorthanded goal from David Goodwin. The Stampede had trouble holding the puck in the neutral zone and Goodwin took advantage by stealing the puck at the blue line and racing down the right wing boards and firing a shot on Stampede netminder Charlie Lindgren. The first attempt was stopped, but the rebound bounced to Goodwin who wristed the puck past Lindgren to give the Musketeers a 1-0 lead. Both teams had chances on the powerplay in the first, but neither were able to cash in, going 0-for-3 in the period. The Herd trailed after one despite outshooting Sioux City, 8-4.
In the second, Sioux Falls got in the board at 12:44 Tony Calderone, the #1 overall pick in the USHL draft, one-timed a pass from Cody Milan. Milan fed the puck from the left point into the crease for Calderone who slide the puck through the pads of Musketeer netminder Austin Priebe to make it a 1-1 game. Sioux Falls grabbed the lead at 17:06 on a goal from Dennis Kravchenko. Zach Habscheid fed the puck to Kravchenko up the right wing boards who then brought the puck into the right circle and wristed a shot into the back of the net past the glove of Priebe.
It appeared Sioux Falls would take that lead into the locker room, but the Musketeers rallied late in the period. Goodwin tallied his second goal of the night at 18:58 when he brought the puck through the right circle and wristed a shot that was stopped by Lindgren, but the rebound bounced off Goodwin and into the net. Sioux City struck again just 10 seconds later when Goodwin stole the puck behind the Stampede net and fed Jordan Boucher-Gould in the slot who one-timed it past Lindgren to give the Musketeers at 3-2 lead. The Herd trailed at the end of two periods, despite outshooting Sioux City 17-9 in the period.
In the third, both teams had powerplay chances they were unable to connect on and the Musketeers put the game away for good with a controversial empty net goal at 18:55. It appeared a Musketeer player was off-sides when the shot was taken by Jared Kolquist at center ice, but the goal counted and Kolquist added another empty net goal seconds later off the face-off to make the score look worse than it really was at 5-2.
Sioux Falls outshot Sioux City 32-19 on the night and finished 0-for-6 on the powerplay, but went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill. The Herd return to action in the USHL Fall Classic on Friday when they face Muskegon at 4 PM. Fans can watch the game live online at www.fasthockey.com
Courtesy: Jim Olander, SF Stampede
