KEARNEY – The Tri-City Storm is set to host the Sioux City Musketeers for a Best-Of-Three series at the Viaero Center in the 1st Round of the 2023 Clark Cup Playoffs. Game #1 is set for tonight, Game #2 will be played tomorrow night, and Game #3, if necessary, will be played on Wednesday night. All opening-round games will be played in Kearney at the Viaero Center, and puck drop for each battle is scheduled for 7:05pm CT. Tickets for tonight’s opening game of the postseason can be purchased online at www.StormHockey.com, or by calling the Viaero Center Box Office at 308-338-8144.
Tri-City (0-0, 4th Seed) finished the regular season with back-to-back wins over the Lincoln Stars in a two-game weekend sweep. The Storm posted a 6-3 road victory over the Stars at the Ice Box on Friday. Graham Gamache, Daimon Gardner, Alex Bump, Cale Ashcroft, Trevor Connelly, and Cameron Briere all netted goals for the Storm in the victory. Tri-City closed out regular season play with a 5-3 win over Lincoln at the Viaero Center on Saturday in front of 2,931 fans in the organization’s annual Fan Appreciation Night & Boy Scout Night game. Alex Bales, Brock James, Tanner Adams, Evan Werner, and August Falloon scored goals in the Storm’s win. Each Tri-City goaltender picked up a win in net during the final weekend of the regular season. Cameron Korpi backstopped the team to victory with a 35-save-on-38-shot performance in Friday’s road win. Patriks Bērziņš made 30 saves on 33 shots in Saturday’s season finale. Tri-City completed the 2022-2023 regular season with a final record of 34-20-4-4. The Storm amassed 76 points, and finished 4th in the USHL’s Western Conference standings. Tri-City’s powerplay finished the regular season with 57 goals scored, the most of any team in the Western Conference this season. The Storm’s powerplay ranked 8th in the USHL with a conversion rate of 20.9%. Tri-City’s penalty kill finished the year 9th in the league with a success rate of 78.4%. Scoring leaders for the Storm during the 2022-2023 regular season were Jake Richard (31), Trevor Connelly (24), Graham Gamache (20), Evan Werner (19), Kieran Cebrian (16), Alex Bump (14), Dane Dowiak (14), and August Falloon (14). The Storm’s final record at the Viaero Center was 18-6-3-2. Tri-City completed the regular season with a record of 14-13-0-2 in road games, and 2-1-1-0 in neutral site games.
Sioux City (0-0, 5th Seed) finished the regular season by splitting a two-game home-and-home series with the Omaha Lancers. The Musketeers posted a 5-3 home win over the Lancers on Friday at the Tyson Events Center, but dropped the regular season finale the next night by a final score of 5-3 at Liberty First Credit Union Arena. Kaden Shahan (3), and Grant Slukynsky (2) scored Sioux City’s goals in Friday’s night home win. Max Strand, Grant Slukynsky, and Kyle Rohrer netted goals for the Musketeers in Saturday’s season finale. Sioux City finished the 2022-2023 regular season with a final record of 29-28-2-3. The Musketeers finished 13 points behind the Storm in 5th place in the Western Conference standings. Sioux City was 16-12-1-2 in home games this year, and the team completed the season with a 13-16-1-1 record in road games. The Musketeers’ powerplay finished 3rd in the league this season with a conversion rate of 25.1%. Sioux City’s penalty kill completed play this year with a success rate of 81.5%, fourth-best in the USHL. Ryan Conmy finished the 2022-2023 regular season as Sioux City’s scoring leader. He netted a conference-best 33 goals during the regular season. Scoring leaders for the Musketeers during the sixty-two game regular season included Ryan Conmy (33), Grant Slukynsky (21), Kaden Shahan (20), Tyler Hotson (17), Dylan Godbout (14), and Ben Poitras (14). Axel Mangbo appeared in thirty-six games this season in goal for Sioux City, and posted a record of 15-16-1-0. Croix Kochendorfer made thirty appearances in net this year for the Musketeers, and finished the season at 12-12-1-3.
This year’s eight-game season series between the Storm and the Musketeers finished in a draw, with each team collecting nine points. Tri-City’s final record in head-to-head matchups against Sioux City this season was 4-3-1-0. The Musketeers’ record against the Storm was 4-3-0-1. Each team collected two wins in the four games played in the season series at the Viaero Center this season. The Storm posted home wins over the Musketeers on February 24th (4-3), and February 25th (4-2). The Musketeers’ victories at the Viaero Center this year were recorded on March 17th (6-2), and March 18th (4-3 OT). The Storm is 11-4-1-1 in head-to-head matchups against the Musketeers at the Viaero Center over the past five years. Tri-City’s powerplay scored four times on thirty opportunities in this year’s regular season series against Sioux City. The Storm’s penalty kill successfully killed twenty of the Musketeers’ twenty-seven powerplay chances. The Musketeers scored seven goals on the powerplay in twenty-seven attempts against the Storm this season. Sioux City killed twenty-six of Tri-City’s thirty powerplay opportunities. Ryan Conmy scored seven goals against the Storm in this year’s season series, the most of any player. Trevor Connelly netted six goals against the Musketeers for the Storm this season.
Tri-City finished the regular season with a record of 21-2-1-2 when leading after the 1st period. The Storm was 7-2-1-0 when tied after the opening period, and 6-16-2-2 when trailing after the 1st period. Tri-City was 29-0-1-0 when leading after the 2nd period, and 3-20-2-2 when trailing after the 2nd period. The Storm finished the regular season 2-0-1-1 when tied after the middle period. Tri-City was 21-9-3-3 when outshooting its opponents, and 13-9-1-1 when being outshot. The Storm was outscored 64-61 during the 1st period this season, but outscored its opponents 71-61 in the 2nd period, and 77-71 in the 3rd period. Tri-City was 11-2-4-4 in one-goal games during the 2022-2023 regular season.
Sioux City finished the regular season with a record of 18-5-1-2 when leading after the 1st period. The Musketeers were 9-10-1-1 when tied after the opening period, and 2-13-0-0 when trailing after the 1st period. Sioux City was 21-1-0-2 when leading after the 2nd period, and 2-21-0-1 when trailing after the 2nd period. The Musketeers finished the regular season 6-6-2-0 when tied after the middle period. Sioux City was 15-9-2-1 when outshooting its opponents, and 10-18-0-2 when being outshot. The Musketeers outscored their opponents 72-50 during the 1st period, but were outscored 69-61 in the 2nd period, and 76-60 in the 3rd period this season. Sioux City finished the year 12-6-2-3 in one-goal games.
Tonight’s game is set to begin at 7:05pm CT and will be streamed on FloHockey, and Storm Radio. Tickets to playoff games at the Viaero Center may be purchased online by skating to www.StormHockey.com, or by calling the Viaero Center Box Office during Box Office hours at 308-338-8144.
