2026 Clark Cup Playoffs
Western Conference First Round
Best-of-Three (Sioux City leads 1-0)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The No. 6 Tri-City Storm must win to keep their season alive in game two of a USHL Western Conference First Round series against the No. 3 Sioux City Musketeers on Saturday night at IBP Ice Center. Puckdrop is set for 6:05 pm CT.

Game one (box score): Sioux City's Ashton Schultz scored just over three minutes into overtime, handing the Musketeers a 4-3 win. Tri-City erased a two-goal deficit thanks in-part to a Brecken Smith marker early in the third period, knotting the contest at 3-3. Friday was Tri-City's first overtime playoff game since April 16, 2024 (3-2 victory versus Sioux Falls). 

Cam Springer and Bode Laylin also scored for the Storm. 

Michal Pradel started the game in net for Tri-City, stopping 10 of 13 shots in 26:03 of action. Owen Nelson entered the game in relief, halting 21 of 22 Sioux City attempts. Jack Fichthorn shut down 29 of 32 Storm shots in goal for Sioux City. 

A complete series schedule is below. All games will be broadcast on FloHockey and Storm Radio. 

• Game One: Friday, April 10 at Sioux City (Sioux City 4, Tri-City 3 - OT)

• Game Two: Saturday, April 11 at Sioux City (6:05 pm CT)

• Game Three (if necessary): Sunday, April 12 at Sioux City (5:05 pm CT)

The winning team advances to play No. 1 Sioux Falls in a best-of-five USHL Western Conference Semifinal series beginning Friday, April 17 at Denny Sanford Premier Center. 

Home playoff tickets: Tickets for potential second round Tri-City home playoff games will be announced at a later date.

A description of the 2026 USHL Clark Cup playoff format can be accessed HERE. 

Tri-City (26-29-7, 59 pts, 6th place Western Conf.) 

Team Notes:

• Making eighth consecutive postseason appearance and 18th in team's 26 years of operation

• Finished regular season below .500 mark for first time since 2016-2017

• Ended regular season dropping 12 of past 13 games

• Compiled the fifth-longest point streak by a USHL team this year (nine games between January 3-31) and tied for the second-longest losing streak (ten games between February 27-March 28) 

• 11-3-7 in one-goal games during regular season, 6-9-0 in two-goal games

• Averaged 11.29 penalty minutes per game during regular season, the second-least among USHL teams

• Penalty kill (82.8%) ended regular season ranking third in USHL

• Eight shorthanded goals during regular season placed third among USHL teams

• 169 power play attempts this year were third-least among USHL clubs

Player Notes: 

• Bode Laylin: 38 points during regular season were seventh among USHL defenseman…11 goals were third among USHL blue liners…six power play goals tied for first among league defenseman

• Michal Pradel: four shutouts tied for first among USHL goaltenders….911 save percentage ranked fourth…2.75 goals against average tied for eighth

• Owen Nelson: logged .933 save percentage over his last eight starts of the regular season (348 saves on 373 shots)

• Quinn Beumer: made 87 saves on 93 shots across the first three starts of his USHL career, a .935 save percentage

• Carson Pilgrim (18-23-41) finished regular season as team leader in scoring…Bode Laylin (11-27-38) followed

Sioux City (30-27-5, 65 pts, 3rd place Western Conf.)

• Making sixth consecutive postseason appearance

• Finished regular season with 30 or more wins for third straight year

• Dropped five of last eight regular season games

• Last weekend: finished regular season with 4-3 road win at Omaha Friday, 6-2 road loss at Des Moines Saturday

• Luke Garry (21-40-61) led Musketeers in scoring during regular season…William Tomko (24-36-60) followed

Season series: Tri-City went 4-1-1 against Sioux City across six regular season meetings. The Storm went 2-1-0 against the Musketeers at Tyson Events Center in Sioux City. 

• Saturday, September 27 (Viaero Center, Kearney) Tri-City 4, Sioux City 3 (OT)

• Saturday, October 18 (Tyson Events Center, Sioux City) Tri-City 4, Sioux City 1

• Friday, November 21 (Viaero Center, Kearney) Tri-City 3, Sioux City 2

• Wednesday, December 31 (Tyson Events Center, Sioux City) Sioux City 5, Tri-City 1

• Friday, January 30 (Viaero Center, Kearney) Tri-City 6, Sioux City 5 (OT)

• Sunday, March 29 (Tyson Events Center, Sioux City) Tri-City 4, Sioux City 2

The clubs' last postseason clash was a first round Western Conference series during the 2023 Clark Cup Playoffs. Tri-City swept the best-of-three in two games at Viaero Center. The Storm went on to drop a best-of-three Western Conference Semifinal series at Fargo in two games.