KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm open a two-game home series with the Green Bay Gamblers on Friday night at Viaero Center. Puckdrop is scheduled for 7:05 pm CT.
Tonight is Pucks n' Paws Night sponsored by Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers. Fans are free to bring their dogs to the game.
Kids tickets are also $5.00 on Friday with the purchase of an adult ticket courtesy of the FunZone Arcade inside of Pizza Ranch Kearney.
Fans can purchase tickets at stormhockey.com.
The contest will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio.
Tri-City (25-26-6, 56 pts, 5th place Western Conf.)
Clark Cup Playoffs: The Storm clinched their eighth straight berth to the Clark Cup Playoffs on Friday, March 6. With five games to play in the regular season, Tri-City is poised to finish as either the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth seed in the Western Conference. The Storm will compete in a best-of-three Western Conference first round series the weekend of April 10-12. Tri-City would host all games in this series should they finish as the third or fourth seed. The Storm would travel should they finish at fifth or sixth place in the standings.
Previously:
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Swept by Cedar Rapids in two-game home series last weekend…dropped 3-1 game Friday, 3-2 game Saturday
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Saturday: Brecken Smith (PP), Evan Sofikitis scored Tri-City goals
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Saturday: goaltender Michal Pradel stopped 31 of 34 Cedar Rapids shots
Team Notes:
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Lost season-high eight straight games
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Have not lost eight consecutive games since dropping nine in a row between March 24-April 15, 2018
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Starting last of six three-in-three's of season tonight (host Green Bay tomorrow, visit Sioux City on Sunday)
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First time below .500 mark since Saturday, January 17
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Last time scoring four or more goals in one game: Saturday, February 21 vs. NTDP (6-0 win)
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Tonight's matchup is the seventh of eight consecutive home games, the longest such stretch of the year…next road game is Sunday at Sioux City
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Eight shorthanded goals this season are third among USHL teams
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Penalty kill (85.1%) ranks first in USHL
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Power play is three-for-ten (30.0%) over the past four games
Player Notes:
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Bode Laylin: 35 points this season tie for eighth among USHL defenseman…ten goals tie for third among USHL blue liners…five power play goals tie for third among league defenseman
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Michal Pradel: four shutouts tie for first among USHL goaltenders….916 save percentage ties for third…961 saves place fifth…2.58 goals against average ranks eighth
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Owen Nelson: logged .931 save percentage over his last eight starts (257 saves on 276 shots)
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Cam Springer: five shorthanded points this season place second among USHL players
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Oliver Ozogany: 95 shots this season rank fifth among USHL rookies
Green Bay (34-18-6, 74 pts, 4th place Eastern Conf.)
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Clinched berth to Clark Cup Playoffs
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Lost six of past seven games
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Played three-in-three last weekend…dropped 4-3 game Friday at Dubuque, lost 4-2 game Saturday at Dubuque, beat Chicago 8-5 Sunday on road
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Sunday: Gavin Katz (3), Zach Wooten (2), Elliot Gulley, Cruz Martin, David Rozsival scored goals
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Sunday: Netminder Joey Slavick stopped 27 of 32 Steel shots
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Zach Wooten (34-24-58) leads team in scoring…Gavin Katz (28-25-53) follows
Season series: This weekend's pair of matchups are the only scheduled regular season meetings between Tri-City and Green Bay during 2025-2026.
The teams last met on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30, 2024 in Green Bay. Tri-City swept the two-game set, winning Friday by a 6-4 margin and Saturday by a score of 5-2.
