Sioux Falls, S.D. – The Sioux Falls Stampede bounced back with a dominant 10-2 victory over the Madison Capitols. Featuring two power-play goals and two shorthanded goals, the Stampede saw contributions from eight different goal scorers.
Aiden Wright secured his sixth win in seven consecutive starts with a 23-save performance, while
Jack Solomon made his first appearance in net and delivered an impressive debut.
After a slow start the previous night, the Stampede opened with a hot streak, scoring four goals in the first period. The first goal came at 6:11 when forward
Noah Urness wrapped the puck around and slid it into an open net, assisted by defenseman
Matthew Grimes. At 9:48, the Stampede went on their first power play after Ronan Buckberger was called for holding. The Herd capitalized just eight seconds later when
Ben Wilmott tipped a mid-air shot from
Javon Moore to score. Soon after, the Stampede faced their first penalty kill of the night when
Reid Varkonyi was called for interference. The penalty-kill unit succeeded, and shortly afterward, points leader
Ethan Wyttenbach tallied his 12th goal of the season, beating goaltender
Caleb Heil stick-side. At 15:45, the Herd earned their second power play of the night, and newcomer
Logan Renkowski scored his second goal of the weekend—a wrist shot from the point—securing a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission, despite being outshot 12-11.
The Stampede carried their momentum into the second period. After killing off the remainder of a
Bryce Ingles penalty, they netted their fifth goal just 35 seconds into the period.
Ethan Wyttenbach scored his second of the night, tapping in a cross-crease pass from Varkonyi. Madison responded at 6:02 with a power-play goal after
Javon Moore was called for boarding.
At 12:20, defenseman
Matthew Grimes was sent to the box for hooking, but the Stampede still managed to find the back of the net. Forward
Sam Spehar scored on a shorthanded breakaway after an up-ice pass from
John McNelis, marking Spehar's 12th goal of the season. With one minute remaining in the period, the Stampede went on their third power play but were unable to convert before the period ended.
The third period opened with the expiration of the power play, but just 15 seconds later,
Noah Urness netted his second goal of the night. At 2:44, following a failed coach's challenge, the Stampede went on their sixth penalty kill of the evening. The Capitols capitalized, scoring their second goal. However, the Stampede responded with three more goals to cap off their dominant performance.
The first of the three came from forward Aydn Merrick, who beat Madison goaltender Ajay White glove-side. Following this goal,
Aiden Wright was pulled from the net for rest. The Stampede's ninth goal was another shorthanded effort by
Aiden Welch, who intercepted the puck in the neutral zone and went tic-tac-toe with
Jake Merens before scoring. The final goal of the night came from
Austin Baker, who buried the puck for the Stampede's 10th tally.
The win propels the Stampede three points ahead of the second-place Lincoln Stars in the Western Conference standings.
Goaltender
Aiden Wright made his seventh straight start and recorded 23 saves before being substituted. He now boasts a 14-4-1-0 record with a .908 save percentage.
Jack Solomon, making his first appearance in net, added five saves.
The Herd will now embark on a road trip for the next two weekends. They face the USA NTDP U17s on Saturday at 6:00 PM in Plymouth, Michigan, followed by a matchup against the USA NTDP U18s on Sunday at 1:00 PM. Afterward, the Stampede will travel to face the Dubuque Fighting Saints and Cedar Rapids Roughriders before returning home to the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on January 30th to play the Waterloo Blackhawks. Tickets for all Stampede home games are available by calling the office at 605.275.4625.
