SIOUX CITY, IOWA— The Sioux Falls Stampede trampled over the Sioux City Musketeers during a Friday evening road trip to Sioux City. The Herd came away with the 6-3 win over the Musketeers with goals from Chris Pelosi, Tyler Borgula, John McNelis and JJ Wiebusch. The now 14-12-1-1 Herd was backstopped by goaltender Michael Chambre during the win.
The Stampede proved that the holiday break was just what the team needed when they came out of the locker room with steam in the first period. Just 48 seconds into the period, Chris Pelosi put the Herd on the board with his 12th goal of the season. The team had been missing two thirds of its top line in Pelosi and left winger Beckett Hendrickson, along with defenseman, and Captain, Jack Phelan and goaltender Caleb Heil, for the past few weeks as they competed in the World Jr. A Challenge in Nova Scotia. Getting these key players back put a spark into the team as John McNelis would go on to increase the Herd's lead to two mid-way through the period.
Not letting up one bit, Tyler Borgula found his first goal of the evening just over five minutes into the second period. Though this goal would be answered by Sioux City's Colby Saganiuk less than 30 seconds later, the Herd kept its two-goal lead for the remainder of the second. The second period was also the only period to see any penalties called throughout the game. After a tripping call on Beckett Hendrickson was paired with an unsportsmanlike conduct call on Jack Phelan, a call that had even the hockey rule book questioning the event, the Herd was forced to kill off two minutes of three-on-five hockey.
The third period saw five more goals added to the scoreboard before the final buzzer went off. Sioux City started the scoring, but Tyler Borgula tallied his second of the night, ultimately the game-winning goal, 24 seconds later to regain the two-goal lead. The Musketeers went on to score their final goal five minutes in, but would add no more to their side of the board. Chris Pelosi, with help from Egor Barabanov, scored his second goal of the evening with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Finally, the Musketeers made the decision to pull goaltender Dylan Silverstein from the net, which allowed JJ Wiebusch to launch the puck into the net from the outside of the opposing face-off circle.
Securing his ninth win of the season, now with a record of 9-5-1-1, was goaltender Michael Chambre. He tallied 19 saves off of 22 shots on his net for a save percentage of .864. Chambre's goals against average of 3.00 this game moved his overall GAA to 3.07 and his overall save percentage to .885.
The Herd now comes home to close out 2023 at the PREMIER Center. Saturday evening, the Herd hosts the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders for the final time this regular season. The game is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. puck drop with the theme of the night being Superhero Night. The fun continues into Sunday evening for the Stampede's New Year's Eve Bash against the Des Moines Buccaneers. Another 6:05 p.m. puck drop, the Herd will also host a skating party following the game for fans in attendance. More information for both games 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.
