GREEN BAY, W.I. — It was a much-needed weekend sweep for the Sioux Falls Stampede on the road against the Green Bay Gamblers, and the second game of the weekend got off to a heated start.
33 seconds after puck drop, Wade Weil dropped the gloves with Green Bay's Cale Quamme, in response to Gunner Conboy's hit on Anthony Bongo in Friday night's game, which left Bongo injured and Conboy with a three-game suspension. Wisconsin-native Max Davis opened the scoring 11:12 into the game, with a one-timer from the face off dot, off of a feed from Michael Bonkov, marking Bonkov's first point in the USHL. The Herd would finish the first period on a four-minute power play, but the Gamblers were the ones to find the back of the net, with Nick Knutson picking up a short-handed goal with 1:07 to go in the period.
Opening the second period still on the power play, Ethan Sung (2027) picked up his second goal in as many games, with a tic-tac-toe play from Ryland Rooney (2027) to Davis and finally to Sung. With 17 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Davis would win a face off back to Joey Macrina, who made a pass to Noah Mannausau, who then found Sung, who took the shot that Davis redirected for the goal.
3:46 into the third, newly acquired Green Bay forward Gavin Clark would give his new team some life, scoring with a sharp-angle shot to make it a 3-2 game. At the 8:20 mark, Henry Major would pick up his second goal of the season off of a Pavel Martinu rebound to restore the two-goal Herd lead. Major's goal would stand as the game-winner after Holden Pajor added a third for the home team with 2:52 to go in regulation.
Michael Bonkov picked up his first USHL point with an assist on Davis' first goal. Green Bay netminder Adam Novotny would stop 37-of-41 shots in the loss, while for Sioux Falls, Ilya Nikitins (2027) would pick up his fourth win of the season with 32 saves on 35 Gamblers shots. Nikitins improves to 4-2-0-0 on the season with a 2.85 GAA and a .902 SV%.
Next up for the Sioux Falls Stampede is a third game against the Sioux City Musketeers this season, with a 7:05 PM CT puck drop at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, IA, on Friday, November 6. The Herd return home for a pair of home games against the Fargo Force on November 7 for Military Appreciation Night, presented by Royal River Casino, and November 10.
About The Sioux Falls Stampede
Established in 1999, the Sioux Falls Stampede is a proud member of the United States Hockey League (USHL), the nation's only Tier I junior hockey league and leading producer of both NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States. The organization has set out to achieve excellence in on- and off-ice performance since its inception. The Sioux Falls Stampede plays home games out of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, providing players with a taste of high-stakes, high-adrenaline hockey in front of sold-out crowds of over 11,000 fans.
