KEARNEY, Neb. – The Waterloo Black Hawks registered six unanswered goals to overcome a 3-0 deficit and beat the Tri-City Storm 6-3 on Friday night at Viaero Center. 

Waterloo (4-8-1, 9 pts) improves to 3-2-0 on the road this season. Tri-City (7-8-2, 16 pts) has dropped three consecutive games for the first time in 2025-2026. 

The Storm came out of the gate with a bang and led 3-0 at the first intermission. 

Carson Pilgrim began the scoring 3:26 into the opening frame. The North Dakota commit gathered the puck at the left wing faceoff dot and ripped a shot past Waterloo netminder Phileas Lachat for his team-leading sixth goal of the year. 

Later on, Maddox Malmquist put up his fourth marker of the year on a top shelf shot past Lachat from the right wing circle. As Waterloo looked to break out of its zone, an errant pass deflected to an open Malmquist, who quickly fired the puck home. 

Luca Jarvis joined the fun at the 18:05 mark of the frame. Pilgrim threw a beautiful pass from the right circle to the backdoor of Waterloo's net, where Jarvis cleanly redirected the puck from the blue paint. It was the Minnesota commit's second tally of the year. 

But the Black Hawks roared back, starting their string of six unanswered tallies late in the second. Rio Treharne set up Owen DeGraff with a centering pass from behind the Storm net. DeGraff collected the puck near the rim of the right circle and sent a shot past Tri-City netminder Michal Pradel for his first career USHL goal. 

The Black Hawks struck again 2:35 into the third. Drew Waterfield, positioned next to Pradel, awkwardly deflected an Owen DeGraff shot from the right wing circle into the Storm cage to put his team within one. 

Waterloo tied the game in the midst of a formative offensive zone possession. Avery Laliberte one-timed a Whiterabbit feed past Pradel from the right wing circle exactly 6:00 into the frame. It was the Northern Michigan commit's second goal of the year. 

The eventual game-winner came 14:48 into the third. Former Storm forward Dylan Nolan, traded from Tri-City to Waterloo in July, rifled a shot from an open high slot that bounced off a Storm stick and beyond Pradel's left leg to put Waterloo up 4-3. 

Down a goal with just over a minute left in regulation, the Storm pulled Pradel for an empty net. Waterloo twice took advantage of the vacant cage. Waterfield struck after chasing a loose puck in the Tri-City zone with 1:08 to go. Nolan rifled a shot down the rink in front of the Black Hawk net to make it 6-3 with 34 seconds left. 

Lachat stopped 23 of 26 Storm shots en route to his third win of the season. Pradel halted 19 of 24 Waterloo attempts on the night. 

Pilgrim (1-1-2) was the only Tri-City player to finish with multiple points. The Warroad, Minnesota native has put up multiple points in five of his past seven games.

Nolan (2-0-2), Waterfield (2-0-2), DeGraff (1-1-2), and Whiterabbit (0-2-2) each logged multi-point nights for the Black Hawks. 

Up next: Tri-City ends its two-game series with Waterloo on Saturday. Puckdrop at Viaero Center is set for 6:05 pm. To purchase tickets, visit stormhockey.com, call the Storm at 308-338-8144, or stop by the Viaero Center box office in-person. The game will also be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.