LINCOLN, NE (KELO.com) — The Sioux Falls Stampede defeated the Lincoln Stars 10 to four Friday night at the Ice Box. Seven different players tallied goals for the Herd, while Cole Sillinger tallied his first career USHL hat trick in the contest. Christian Stoever made the start in net, stopping 30 of 34 shots on net.
The first game of a three-game, road trip weekend could not have started any worse as the Lincoln Stars opened with two quick goals in the first seven minutes of the period. After James Stefan and Jake Beaune tallied goals for the Stars, Stampede Head Coach Marty Murray called a timeout. Thirty seconds later Cole Sillinger scored his fifth goal in six games for the Herd to get within one. Luke Toporowski provided the assist on the play.
Less than five minutes later the Stampede went on a scoring spree with three consecutive goals in less than 52 seconds. The first was off a beautiful pass from Nate Schweitzer to forward Reid Pabich in the slot on the power play past goaltender Ryan Oullette. Twenty-eight seconds after that a miss timed pass through the neutral zone came to the stick of Daniel Russell for the one-on-one goal. Tyler Haskins netted his third of the season 24 seconds later to give the Herd a 4-2 lead. Oullette was replaced by Aidan McCarthy in net.
Checking off the things you do not see every game BINGO card was a penalty shot by Lincoln Stars forward Zach Urdahl. Urdahl was able to beat goaltender Christian Stoever to give the Stars a 4-3 chance. But Sillinger was able to finish off the period with the first short-handed goal of the season for the Herd for the 5-3 lead.
The Lincoln Stars again attempted to rally back with a short-handed goal of their own six minutes into the second period, but five unanswered goals to end the contest ended their chance to reclaim the lead. Stampede leading scorer Michael Citara tallied a goal a minute later, Sillinger tallied the hat trick six minutes after that and defenseman Brent Johnson added two scores to finish off the period. Alternate captain Will Dineen scored his seventh of the season 8 minutes into the third period for the 10-4 victory.
Toporowski finished the night with four assists. Despitre scoring 10 goals, the Herd were outshot 30 to 34.
The Herd moves to 10-12-1 on the season and will travel to Sioux City tomorrow and Sunday night for a pair of back-to-back games against the Musketeers at the Tyson Events Center. Puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Fans can catch the games streaming live at HockeyTV.com or listen live on KELO Radio 107.9 FM, 1320 AM or Kelo.com.
(Jasen Robbennolt contributed to this report)
