Saturday's box score
KEARNEY, Neb. – Layne Loomer's first career hat trick guided the Lincoln Stars to a 4-1 win over the Tri-City Storm on Saturday night at Viaero Center.
Lincoln (11-9-0, 22 pts) has won seven of its past nine games. Tri-City (8-11-3, 19 pts) is winless in seven of its past eight contests.
The game's first goal was not scored until late in the second period. In the midst of a four-on-four situation, Loomer gathered the puck after a board battle behind Tri-City's net. The right-shot player skated in front of the cage, then suddenly tucked a backhand shot over the glove of Storm netminder Owen Nelson.
Lincoln doubled its lead in the middle part of the third. On a power play, Jackson Rudh stickhandled the puck in the left circle of the Storm zone, then walked in to fire a snapshot beyond Nelson's blocker side for his fourth marker of the campaign.
The Stars' Nate Pederson was assessed a tripping minor with just over four minutes left in regulation. Tri-City pulled Nelson for a six-on-four advantage. Not long after, Loomer found the empty net on a shot from the Lincoln blue line to make it 3-0.
Tri-City answered less than a minute later. In the midst of a Storm offensive zone possession, Luka Rohloff blasted a slapshot from near the right point past Lincoln netminder Charles Menard for his first career USHL goal.
Lincoln had the final say, however. Loomer completed his hat trick with another empty net tally at the 19:52 mark of the third. The Lethbridge, Alberta native moved the puck down the right wing of Tri-City's zone, finding the vacant cage from the halfwall for his seventh tally of the year.
Menard halted 29 of 30 Storm shots, improving his record to 3-1-0. Nelson stopped 24 of 26 Lincoln attempts in his seventh appearance of the year.
Beyond Loomer, Lincoln's Nik Young (0-2-2) also finished the night with multiple points.
Up next: Tri-City begins a five-game road trip with a visit to Lincoln on Wednesday night. Puckdrop is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
