KEARNEY, NE – Despite Paul Bloomer and Carmelo Crandell goals in the final two minutes of regulation, the Tri-City Storm fell to the Dubuque Fighting Saints 4-3 on Saturday night inside Viaero Center.
Dubuque (11-3-0, 22 pts) grew its winning streak to six. Tri-City (4-6-2, 8 pts) is now winless in four straight at home.
With Saturday's victory, the Fighting Saints swept all three games in the season series with Tri-City. The teams are not scheduled to meet for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
Tri-City found the scoreboard early in the first period. Nolan Roed grabbed the puck at neutral ice and skated it down the left wing into the offensive zone. The St. Cloud State commit rocketed a shot top right corner into the Dubuque net from the left wing faceoff circle. It was Roed's fifth goal of the season, which ties for the team lead.
The Fighting Saints battled back, however, to jump ahead at the first intermission. Dubuque got on the board at the 13:23 mark of the opening frame. Colin Frank handled the puck in the near corner of the Fighting Saints' offensive zone and slipped a cross-ice pass to Kristian Kostadinski at the top of the left wing faceoff circle. Kostadinski then fired a shot past Storm goaltender Erick Roest into the back of the Tri-City net. It was the Sweden native's first career USHL goal.
Dubuque took the lead for the remainder of the night with less than a minute to go in the opening frame. Gavin Cornforth grabbed a turned-over puck at the Storm blue line and marched it down the right wing of the ice. The Boston College commit then released a snapshot over the blocker side of Roest to hand Dubuque a 2-1 advantage.
No team found the back of the net during the game's second period. The Fighting Saints did have a potential tally called off in the later part of the frame. At the 17:33 mark, Charlie Arend received a pass in the left wing circle and ripped a shot past Roest. The referees then reviewed video of the play, determining that Dubuque's Torkel Jennersjo committed a major penalty with head contact on Tri-City's Shaun McEwen moments before the goal. McEwen was down for several seconds and laying on the ice when the puck crossed into the Storm net.
Jennersjo was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for head contact. Tri-City did not score during its elongated power play.
Dubuque kicked off an eventful third period of scoring 10:11 into the final frame. On a Fighting Saints rush, Lucas Van Vliet skated the puck to the bottom of the right wing circle inside the Tri-City zone. The Vegas Golden Knights draft pick had enough time and space to slip a snapshot past the blocker side of Roest to make it 3-1.
With a little over three minutes left in regulation, Tri-City pulled Roest for an extra attacker. Dubuque's Josh Giuliani generated a turnover at the Dubuque blue line. The St. Thomas commit stayed with the puck as it slowly moved into the Storm zone. Giuliani eventually regained possession and sent a shot into the vacant cage to hand Dubuque a 4-1 advantage. The empty netter turned out to be Saturday's game winner.
Tri-City made the game somewhat interesting in the final minutes of regulation. The Storm's Paul Bloomer scored his second goal of the season with just under two minutes left in regulation. Colton Whitfield blasted a shot from the left point that deflected off Dubuque goaltender Liam Beerman. During a netfront scramble, Bloomer slid near the right post of the Fighting Saints net to stuff the puck home, making it a 4-2 contest.
At the 18:55 mark of the third, Dubuque's Teddy Merrill was assessed a slashing minor after contact on Tri-City's Crandell. The Storm again pulled Roest at the beginning of the power play, creating a 6-on-4 advantage. With two seconds left in the game, Carson Pilgrim, positioned in the right wing circle, fed a pass cross-ice to Crandell. The Arizona State commit rocketed a one-timer from the bottom of the left wing circle past Beerman to cut the Dubuque lead to one. Crandell's tally closed out the game's scoring.
Tri-City finished the night with 34 shots on goal. Dubuque produced 27.
Up next: Tri-City ends the weekend with a road matchup at Omaha Sunday afternoon. Puckdrop at Liberty First Credit Union Arena is scheduled for 4:05 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
Saturday's box score
