SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — It was a special teams feast between the Sioux Falls Stampede and Fargo Force on Saturday night at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, with four of the game's six goals coming on the man advantage, as the Herd fell, 5-1.
The first period saw no scoring, despite Fargo taking 16 shots, thanks to a strong opening 20 minutes from Stampede netminder
Ryan Cameron.
Melker Sigurd opened the scoring, getting the Force on the board with a power-play goal 4:52 into the second. For the Herd,
Pavel Martinu responded with a PPG of his own, with a play behind the net from
Matthew Portz to even the score with 4:40 left in period two. The second period featured a whopping 91 penalty minutes between the two teams, headlined by a four-man scrum between Fargo's Oskar Drabczynski and Fredrik Tunge Lunde and Sioux Falls forwards
Cruz Waltze and
Gavin Clark, who each recieved five-minute major penalties for fighting along with 10-minute game misconducts. Waltze also received an extra two minutes for instigating. At the same time, Wyatt Herres was called for a reviewed elbowing major, resulting in a five-minute major and a game misconduct for him as well.
The Force began the third period still on the power-play, and Lauri Kouhia continued his hot streak, delivering the eventual game-winning goal 25 seconds into the third period. Zac Zimmerman would pick up another man-advantage goal for Fargo 1:57 later, and the Stampede would struggle to find their pace again. AJ Garcia would net the first even-strength goal of the game with 6:31 remaining, with the final blow coming from Bryce Mattern, scoring on a breakaway with 4:03 to go in regulation.
Fargo netminder Tomass Rutulis stopped 23-of-24 Sioux Falls shots for his second win of the season, while in the Sioux Falls net, Edmonton Oilers prospect
Ryan Cameron made 36 saves on 41 shots in the loss.
These two teams go head-to-head once again on November 10, for the next installation of the I-29 Rivalry, presented by Harvard Integrations.
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.
