Friday's box score
KEARNEY, Neb. – Brendan McMorrow's first career hat trick and goaltender Kam Hendrickson's solid performance in net powered the Waterloo Black Hawks to a 5-1 win over the Tri-City Storm on Friday night at Viaero Center.
Waterloo (25-14-9, 59 pts) has won nine straight matchups against Western Conference opponents. Tri-City (24-23-3, 51 pts) snapped its season-high four-game winning streak.
The Black Hawks were first to strike. Grady Deering collected his tenth goal of the season at the 9:09 mark of the opening period after chipping a quick one-timer over the glove of Tri-City goaltender Michal Pradel from the front edge of the Storm crease. Deering received the puck from Hunter Ramos, who slid a quick feed from below Tri-City's goal line.
The Storm knotted the contest 25 seconds into the middle period. A loose puck came to Tri-City's Cole Ward at the right point of the Waterloo zone. The Rochester Hills, Michigan native immediately fired a shot that redirected in front of the Waterloo cage off the legs of Black Hawk defenseman Teddy Mallgrave and past Hendrickson. It was Ward's second tally of the season.
Waterloo produced the next two goals on the power play, however, and four total unanswered.
The Black Hawks jumped back ahead on a McMorrow tally 5:20 into the middle frame. Pradel stopped a Ramos shot from the slot, but Tri-City's netminder allowed a small rebound off his chest. The loose puck was quickly scooped by McMorrow, who shoveled it into the net. The goal came during a Black Hawk 5-on-3 advantage as Tri-City's Charlie Pardue and Attila Lippai served minor penalties.
Waterloo extended its advantage with 32 seconds remaining in the second when McMorrow grabbed his second goal of the frame. The Denver commit initially ripped a shot from the bottom of the right wing circle in the Black Hawks' offensive zone and collected a hard rebound off Pradel's chest. McMorrow then took the puck behind the Storm net, where he snuck a backhand wrap-around shot just inside the left post of the Tri-City cage.
The Black Hawks advantage grew to three in the middle part of the third. Waterloo's Bradley Walker possessed the puck in the right circle of Tri-City's zone and drove 1-on-1 to the Storm net against Tri-City defenseman Noah Ziskie. Both players, who were tied up with one another, arrived at the Storm crease with the puck. After Pradel initially kicked the puck with his right pad, Walker scooped it with his stick and quickly muscled a shot to the back of the net for his fifth tally of the year.
The Storm pulled Pradel with four minutes remaining in the third, but failed to strike with the extra attacker.
McMorrow found the empty net with just over two minutes left in regulation, completing his three-goal night. The Lakeville, Minnesota native used his shin guards to block a Shaun McEwen shot from the left point of the Waterloo zone. The puck took the proper direction off McMorrow's legs and had just enough power to softly slide the length of the ice into Tri-City's vacant cage.
McMorrow was the second Black Hawk to record a hat trick this season. Reid Morich collected Waterloo's first three-goal game of the year on Sunday, October 13, also in Kearney. The Black Hawks took that contest by a 6-2 margin.
Hendrickson, who played the entire game Friday, stopped 26 of 27 Storm shots in the win. It was the UConn commit's eighth victory in ten games since joining the Black Hawks via trade from Omaha on December 30.
Pradel suffered his first loss with the Storm on Friday in what was his seventh career Tri-City and USHL appearance. The Slovakia native halted 38 of the 42 Waterloo shots he faced.
Up next: Tri-City closes its weekend tomorrow at Omaha. Puckdrop inside Liberty First Credit Union Arena is scheduled for 6:05 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
