ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Tri-City Storm begin the USHL American Cup powered by Wegmans on Thursday night against the Youngstown Phantoms. Puckdrop at the Tim Hortons IcePlex is slated for 6:00 pm CT. 

Fans can watch the contest on FloHockey and listen on Storm Radio. 

Tri-City (8-13-4, 20 pts, 5th place Western Conf.) 

Previously:

• Dropped 2-1 matchup Saturday and 2-1 game (OT) Friday at Youngstown

• Saturday: Mason Jenson tallied lone Tri-City goal in third period

• Saturday: Goaltender Michal Pradel stopped 30 of 32 Phantom shots 

Team Notes:

• Tonight: fourth game in string of six consecutive matchups away from Viaero Center, the longest such stretch of the year

• Netminders Owen Nelson and Michal Pradel combined for another solid weekend at Youngstown; Nelson stopped 30 of 32 shots Friday, Pradel halted 30 of 32 attempts Saturday; the combined 60 saves on 64 shots marked a save percentage of .938

• Over the past four games, Storm goaltending has stopped 117 of 127 opponent shots, a save percentage of .921

• Winless in four straight, ten of past eleven games

• Penalty kill (85.3%) ranks second in USHL behind Waterloo (85.7%)

• Averaging 10.36 penalty minutes per game, second-least among USHL teams (Fargo)

• Have not produced power play goal in previous 25 attempts; went 0-for-6 on man advantage across two-game set at Youngstown

• Last power play goal: November 7 vs. Waterloo

• Have not scored more than three goals in one game since Friday, October 31 vs. Omaha (4-1 win)

• Played 25 games this year, tied for most among all USHL teams (Omaha)

Player Notes: 

• Carson Pilgrim and Bode Laylin: will miss next several Storm games representing Team USA at 2025 World Junior A Challenge; tournament takes place December 7-13 in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec; Team USA is made of players who play in junior hockey leagues across the U.S.

• Michal Pradel: leads all USHL goaltenders in saves (481) and minutes (1058)

• Owen Nelson: places eighth among USHL goaltenders in save percentage (.915), ninth in goals against average (2.69)

• Bode Laylin: three goals tie for third among USHL defenseman, 14 points tie for eighth among defenseman; three power play goals tie for second among defenseman, 51 shots rank third among defenseman

• Luca Jarvis: ten points (2-8-10) tie for ninth among USHL rookies

• Maddox Malmquist: ties for second among USHL rookies in game-winning goals (2)

• Cooper Ernewein: first among USHL rookies in shooting percentage (three goals on 12 shots, 25%)

• Carson Pilgrim (7-8-15) leads team in scoring followed by Bode Laylin (3-11-14)

Youngstown (15-6-2, 32 pts, 2nd place Eastern Conf.) 

• Won seven of past nine games

• Unbeaten in five straight games

• Saturday: Cooper Simpson, Ryan Rucinski tallied goals (both on power play)

• Saturday: Goaltender Owen Lepak halted 12 of 13 Storm shots

• Ryan Rucinski (15-16-31) leads team and ties for first among all USHL skaters in points, former Tri-City forward Cooper Simpson (11-19-30) follows, placing third in the league in points

Season series: Tonight is the fourth of five regular season meetings between Tri-City and Youngstown. The Phantoms have taken each of the previous three matchups.