Waterloo Overcomes Sellout Crowd To Down Herd

SIOUX FALLS, SD -- A rough second period featuring three straight goals enabled the Waterloo Black Hawks to control the Sioux Falls Stampede as they won 6-2 at the Arena Friday night despite a sellout crowd of  4,772 fans. The loss spoiled Pink in the Rink Night for Herd fans, whose team is still looking for its first victory at home through two games.

“We didn’t play with any intelligence the entire night,” said head coach Cary Eades.

Dennis Kravchenko and Tony Calderone had the scores for Sioux Falls, while netminder David Jacobson stopped 47 of 53 Waterloo shots. The power play contributed a huge part to the Black Hawk victory, as Waterloo was successful on 4 of 9 tries on the night with the Herd going 2 for 8.

It was penalties a plenty in a sloppy first period that saw no scoring but multiple men in the box.  Waterloo opened the first period with a barrage of shots on Jacobson, keeping the puck on the Herd’s end for the most of the first 10 minutes. Three early penalties on the Herd didn’t too much to help the cause as well, with the Black Hawks getting a huge 5 on 3 chance at the 9:40 mark.

However, Sioux Falls’ defense would not break and killed off the power play opportunity with little trouble. Neither team touched the twine in the period, though the Herd entered the locker room with some momentum thanks to a Waterloo penalty call with 40 seconds left.

Sioux Falls snapped the scoreless tie thanks to a deflected puck off a Kravchenko shot 2:22 into the second, providing the Herd their first lead and their first home goal of the season.  The lead wasn’t safe from another 5-on-3 chance culminating from a huge scuffle starting at 5:59 of the period, as Waterloo would punch in two goals from both penalties, seizing both a 2-1 advantage over the Herd and the contest’s momentum.

“How many penalties after the whistle did we take after the whistle?” said Eades. “That’s not Stampede hockey.”

Black Hawks winger Liam Pecararo chipped in another goal with 5:39 left before intermission, giving Waterloo a comfy 3-1 cushion heading into the final twenty minutes.

The Herd clawed back within 3-2 courtesy of a Calderone punch-in only 44 seconds after the teams hit the ice for the third period, but the Black Hawk offense would be too much to handle, responding with two straight goals. Waterloo wingers Patrick Russell and Blake Winiecki made it 5-2 for the Black Hawks, starting with Russell’s score at 3:55. Winiecki’s second goal of the night almost three minutes later all but sealed the deal for the team from Iowa, with another goal at 5:33 putting the icing on the cake for a 6-2 victory.

Sioux Falls will return to the Arena Saturday night to face the Fargo Force at 7:05 pm.

Courtesy:  Sioux Falls Stampede