Stampede Tops U.S. Development Team

Four different players scored goals while David Jacobson earned his first career USHL victory in goal with 21 saves as the Stampede defeated the U.S. Under-17 Development Team 4-1 Friday night at the Ice Cube. The win was the Stampede’s 14th in their last 16 games and improved their record to aw Western Conference best 27-9-1 on the season. The Herd are now 4-1-0 on their current nine-game road trip and 10-5-1 on the road overall.

The Stampede jumped on the board first scoring 6:04 into the game when he tallied his 16th goal of the season. Matt Van Voorhis made a long pass off the left wing boards to Franklin who skated inside the left circle and blasted a shot past the stick side of USA netminder Edwin Minny to give the Herd a 1-0 lead. The NTDP responded six minutes later when Ryan MacInnis scored off a face-off. His initial shot went off the pad of David Jacobson, but bounced back to MacInnis who slipped the rebound past Jacobson to tie the game at one. That’s the way things would end in the first with Sioux Falls outshooting Team USA 10-9.

The second period was dominated by the Stampede who outshot the U.S. Development Team 19-5, but they were unable to get one past Minny until the 17:43 mark when Victor Bjorkung scored on the powerplay. Todd Skirving found Thomas Forgione at the right point and Forgione fed a perfect pass to Bjorkung down the left wing boards. Bjorkung one-timed the pass into the back of the net to give Sioux Falls a 2-1 lead after two periods.

The Herd wasted little time extending their lead in the third, scoring just 1:41 in on the powerplay from Thomas Forgione. Vinny Muto sent a pass through the slot that was tipped by Todd Skirving to Forgione who then used his speed to blow past the U.S. defense and wristed a shot through the pads of Minny to give Sioux Falls a 3-1 lead. Jacobson remained solid in goal stopping all seven shots he faced in the third period to keep the Development Team off the board. The Herd sealed the game for good at 18:02 when Tony Calderone tallied his 20th goal of the season. The Trenton, Mich. native knocked in a loose puck in front of the crease to make it a 4-1 game.

Sioux Falls outshot NTDP 41 to 22 on the night and finished 2-for-6 on the powerplay while going 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The Herd return to action on Saturday when they travel to Muskegon to take on the Lumberjacks at 6:15 PM. Pre-game coverage begins at 5:50 on KELO-AM 1320 and online at www.keloam.com.