CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA— The Sioux Falls Stampede ran away with the scoreboard against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Saturday evening, claiming the victory 7-1.
Chris Pelosi found his first USHL hat trick,
John McNelis earned two goals of his own, and
Gennadi Chaly and
Will McDonough each tabbed individual goals.
Michael Chambre earned the weekend sweep between the pipes for the Herd.
Forward
Chris Pelosi and goaltender
Michael Chambre owned the first period with Pelosi netting two goals and Chambre not allowing a single puck into his net. Pelosi's first goal of the period happened just over the halfway point at 12:07 on the Stampede powerplay. Assisted by
Beckett Hendrickson and
JJ Wiebusch, this goal opened the flood gates for Pelosi. He would then score with just 33 seconds remaining in the period, again with help from Wiebusch, to put the Herd up 2-0 entering the first intermission.
The Stampede dominated the second period, tabbing five goals versus the RoughRiders one.
John McNelis found his first goal of the night 4:40 into the period, helped by
Artur Cholach, after the RoughRiders were able to steal one from
Michael Chambre 1:26 in. McNelis went on to score a second time around six minutes later with help from
Will McDonough. The highlight of the night came at the 11:05 mark in the second frame when
Chris Pelosi tabbed his first USHL hat trick, unassisted, to push the Stampede up 5-1. This goal prompted a goaltending change for Cedar Rapids, removing Rudy Guimond from the net and replacing him with Sam Scopa. Rounding out the period,
Gennadi Chaly and
Will McDonough added to the Herd's lead to make it 7-1 heading into the final frame.
In the final period, the Stampede had a pair of powerplay scoring opportunities as a penalty on Cedar Rapids at 12:40 led to the five-on-four advantage, which was followed by another RoughRider heading to the box and giving the Stampede a 10 second five-on-three opportunity. The Herd was unable to create a larger gap on the scoreboard during these advantages, but prevented the RoughRiders from making any additions to their side.
Earning the sweep this weekend,
Michael Chambre found his seventh win of the season and is now 7-2-2. Over this weekend, he has improved his overall save percentage to .897, boasting a .947 save percentage against the RoughRiders. Stopping 18-of-19 shots on his net, he marked a 1.00 goals-against average and has an overall GAA of 2.68 with a weekend GAA of 1.50 per game.
The Herd will be back at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on Dec. 5 to host the Sioux City Musketeers for a Tuesday evening game. Next weekend will be Teddy Bear Toss Night and Star Wars Night, both against Muskegon, on Dec. 8 and 9. More info on December's promotional nights is available on the Stampede website. Tickets for all Stampede home games are available now through the KELOLAND box office, Stampede office, or any Ticketmaster outlets.
