Black Hawks Move into Second Place

It was a big win Saturday night for the Waterloo Black Hawks. The 4-3 victory over the Chicago Steel moved Waterloo into second in the Anderson Cup battle.

Entering Saturday's game, Chicago had the second best record in the United States Hockey League trailing the Sioux City Musketeers by two standing points. Waterloo was third, just one point back of Chicago and three behind Sioux City. The huge win in Waterloo allowed the Black Hawks to leapfrog the Steel in the USHL standings. Sioux City maintained its three-point lead over Waterloo thanks to an 8-1 win over Team USA.

The top two teams in the USHL meet Friday (March 24) in Sioux City. The Musketeers host the Black Hawks at the Tyson Events Center. The puck drops at 7:05 PM.

On Saturday, the Black Hawks return home to play the Dubuque Fighting Saints. On Sunday the team travels to Des Moines to battle the Buccaneers.

Game Recap Provided By Waterloo Black Hawks (Tim Harwood)

Kevin Charyszyn recorded the only goal in the first period at 15:07. Bailey Conger passed from the side of the net to Charyszyn – positioned inside the right dot – and the Hawks’ leading goal scorer snapped in a wrister. Peter Thome preserved the lead in the final two minutes before intermission making successive transition saves: first with the glove against Jason O’Neill, then with his left pad on Brannon McManus during Chicago’s next shift.

All the scoring during the second came during a one minute span. Reggie Lutz tied the game at 9:04, skating across the high slot and blasting a slapshot low to Thome’s glove side. Less than a minute later, Yuki Miura put Waterloo back in front. At 9:52, Ethan Spaxman’s wide shot from the left point bounced off the end boards to Miura at the opposite side of the net; Miura put it in to an open goal to establish a new Waterloo lead.

Jackson Cates scored in much the same way at 8:31 of the third. An errant Spaxman shot came off the end wall to Cates, who flipped it in. Jack Badiini answered just less than four minutes later when Reilly Walsh’s try was partially blocked but landed in front of Badini at pointblank range.

Garrett Wait secured the win with 38.8 seconds remaining, scoring into an empty net from just shy of the center red line. That proved to be the game-winner after Eduards Tralmaks flipped in a final Chicago goal with 13.9 seconds remaining.