KEARNEY, NEB.— The Sioux Falls Stampede bounced back from a 5-2 deficit after the second period to take down the Tri-City Storm in a shootout Friday night. The Herd was led by Chris Pelosi and JJ Wiebusch with Christian Manz proving to be a force between the pipes for the Stampede.

The first period was all Tri-City with the Storm marking back-to-back goals just 31 seconds apart in the final minutes of the frame. The Storm's Trevor Connelly showed exactly why he is in the top five for points scored in the USHL when he got the Storm on the board 13:30 into the period. Vsevolod Logvin added to the Storm's lead 31 seconds later to make it 2-0 in favor of Tri-City.

In the second frame, things started looking bleak for the Herd when the Storm tallied its third goal of the night just 39 seconds in. The Stampede's leading scorer, JJ Wiebusch, would not let this stand as he got the Herd on the board a quarter of the way through the frame, assisted by John McNelis. Chris Pelosi pulled the Herd within one around four minutes later, helper from Kaz Sobieski. Unfortunately for the Stampede, Tri-City went on to add two more to its side of the board, closing the period with a three-goal deficit for the Stampede.

Things started looking up for the Stampede in the third period when Kaz Sobieski found his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Tyler Borgula. One minute later, Chase LaPinta (SF) and Ryan Smith (TC) were sent to their respective penalty boxes for slashing, opening up the ice with four-on-four hockey. This gave the Herd a spark and allowed JJ Wiebusch to find the back of goaltender Cameron Korpi's net, making it 5-4 with the Herd down by one. John McNelis earned the game-tying goal when he broke away from the pack and sniped a goal with 11:11 to go in regulation.

With no changes on the scoreboard during the overtime period, outside of a penalty on the Herd's JJ Wiebusch, the game was sent into a shootout. The Herd started out with sending Tyler Borgula whose shot was stopped by Korpi. Christian Manz then made a spectacular glove save off a sot from Vsevolod Logvin to keep it even. Up next for the Herd, Chris Pelosi tucked the puck into the top right corner to give the Stampede the 1-0 advantage with three shooters remaining. Another save from Christian Manz, up against Cameron Briere, kept the Herd's lead and brought it down to the last two shooters, Tyler Borgula for the Herd and Trevor Connelly for the Storm. Tyler Borgula wasn't able to give the Herd an extra cushion, but Manz once again stopped the puck from entering his net.

Christian Manz earned his 13^th win this season, now sitting at 13-12-1-1. The third-year veteran who joined the herd at the start of March marked 30 saves on 35 shots on net, plus three saves in the shootout for the win. This was Manz's second game in a row stopping 30 shots with his third-straight game of seeing 35 shots.

The Herd earned the shootout win and now moves to 27-25-5-1 this season, holding 60 points in USHL Western Conference. With the regular season winding down, the Herd needs just two points to punch its ticket to the USHL Clark Cup Playoffs. Followed closely by the Lincoln Stars, the Herd will be working for every point this weekend as they are set to play Tri-City again Saturday evening and the Sioux City Musketeers on Sunday afternoon.

After this weekend, the Herd will play a home-and-home series against the Fargo Force to close the regular season. April 13^th is Kid's Night at the Denny Sanford PREMIER. More information on the night is available on the Stampede website. Tickets for the Herd's final regular-season game are available at the Stampede office, KELOLAND box office and Ticketmaster.