KEARNEY, Neb. –  Aleksandr Sokolov recorded a hat trick and Sammy Courtemanche tallied the first two goals of his USHL career as the Tri-City Storm cruised to a 5-2 win over the Sioux Falls Stampede on Friday night at Viaero Center. 

Tri-City (2-1-0, 4 pts) has won two straight games to climb above .500. Sioux Falls (2-1-0, 4 pts) suffered its first loss of the campaign. 

Sokolov's hat trick, completed on an empty net goal late in the third period, was the 46th in Storm franchise history and first since Ashton Dahms recorded three goals in one game on December 13, 2025. 

Courtemanche ended the game with a career-high three points to lead all skaters in the contest. 

The Storm collected a pair of first period goals and took a 2-0 lead to the locker room after the first intermission. 

Courtemanche put the Storm on the board just past the halfway mark of the first period. After intercepting an errant feed on the left wing of Tri-City's offensive zone, Courtemanche quickly flipped a shot past the blocker side on Stampede netminder Ryan Cameron for his first career USHL goal. 

Tri-City doubled its lead with just over a minute left in the opening period. Trevor Hill collected a goal line rebound on the left wing of the Sioux Falls zone. After shuffling the puck toward the crease and behind Cameron, Sokolov dashed in to finish the play for his third goal of the year. 

Courtemanche collected his second marker of the night on a breakaway in the middle portion of the second frame. After an Erik Kald feed from near the Tri-City blue line, Courtemanche collected the puck and quickly strode toward Cameron. As he approached the Sioux Falls net, the St. Bruno, Quebec native tucked a quick, low shot past Cameron's blocker side to make it 3-0.

Tri-City jumped ahead 4-0 in the middle part of the third. Off a feed from Courtemanche, Sokolov possessed the puck behind Sioux Falls defenders in the Stampede zone. As he approached Cameron, the Russia native ripped a shot top shelf beyond Cameron for his second goal of the night. 

Sioux Falls tallied the next two goals to climb back in the contest and close Tri-City's lead to 4-2. 

Just 14 seconds after Sokolov's goal, Joey Macrina found a pinballed puck in the left circle of the Tri-City zone and blasted the puck beyond Storm netminder Quinn Beumer for his first marker of the season. 

Fifty-five seconds later, Cooper Soller blasted home a Ryland Rooney feed from the right side of the Storm crease. Rooney tracked down a rebound on the left side of the Storm net before setting up the play. 

Down two goals in the later moments of regulation, Sioux Falls pulled Cameron for an extra attacker. The Storm found the vacant cage when Sokolov handled a loose puck near the Tri-City blue line, then skated to the red line at center ice and fired a shot home to end the scoring. 

Beumer was strong in the Tri-City cage, halting 34 of 36 Sioux Falls shots in his first win of the season. Sioux Falls' Cameron halted 18 of 22 Storm attempts. 

Aside from Sokolov and Courtemanche's efforts, Tri-City's Kald also concluded the night with multiple points (0-2-2). Sioux Falls' Rooney (0-2-2) additionally found the scoresheet multiple times.

Up next: Tri-City closes its two-game series with Sioux Falls tomorrow night at Viaero Center. Puckdrop is set for 6:05 pm CT. Fans can purchase tickets at stormhockey.com.