For the second time in as many weekends, the Waterloo Black Hawks stacked up seven goals, powering past the Tri-City Storm 7-2 Sunday at Viaero Center.
The Hawks also had seven against the Youngstown Phantoms on New Year's Eve. Waterloo has now reached that scoring total three times this season. The initial instance was against Tri-City back on November 11th at Young Arena.
Waterloo had an ideal start, taking a 1-0 lead just 1:21 into the game. Tri-City dislodged Waterloo from the offensive zone, but Patrick Geary recovered the puck and skated back in, swooping behind the Storm goal. Geary centered for Myles Hilman waiting between the circles, and Hilman planted his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Then at 11:56, Waterloo built on the lead. Ben Robertson gained the line in transition, then found Gavin O'Connell trailing the play. O'Connell made it to the edge of the crease, flipping a shot over Niklas Erickson's left shoulder.
In the second, the Hawks killed off an extended Storm power play, then struck for a goal seconds later. Garrett Schifsky pulled the puck out of the right corner and fed if back the Gennadi Chaly near the top of the left circle. The young defenseman blasted in a score at 8:03.
Another blue-liner made it 4-0 in the final minute before intermission. Gavin Lindberg was trying to connect with Schifsky near the top of the crease but found Jaedon Kerr at the right faceoff dot instead. Kerr's shot was partially stopped but trickled across the line before the Storm could sweep it away.
Aaron Pionk became the third Hawks defenseman to score in the game at 1:33 of the third. Just after a power play had ended, Pionk sizzled a low shot up the slot and into the net through traffic.
The Storm got one back just past the three-minute mark when Ryan Smith pounced on a loose puck in the slot and zipped his chance just inside the post.
However, Waterloo scored twice in 59 seconds, beginning with David Klee's rebound goal at 5:01. Then Chaly buried his second at the six-minute mark, in a performance where all seven Hawks defensemen recorded at least one point.
Daimon Gardner scored the final goal of the day with 9:28 remaining, converting a chance created from a failed clear.
The Hawks killed two late Tri-City power plays to finish the afternoon five-for-five on the penalty kill.
The Hawks play their third consecutive road game next Friday in Des Moines at Buccaneer Arena before returning home to host the Bucs on Saturday, January 14th at 6:05 p.m.
Waterloo 2 2 3 - 7
Tri-City 0 0 2 - 2
1st Period-1, Waterloo, Hilman 12 (Geary), 1:21. 2, Waterloo, O'Connell 7 (Robertson), 11:56. Penalties-Lindberg Wat (tripping), 14:23; Klee Wat (hooking), 17:07; Cebrian Tc (interference), 19:00.
2nd Period-3, Waterloo, Chaly 4 (Rinzel, Lindberg), 8:03. 4, Waterloo, Kerr 1 (Lindberg), 19:08. Penalties-Geary Wat (major-head contact, game misconduct), 2:39; Roukounakis Tc (roughing), 2:39; Constance Tc (tripping), 10:21; Blais-Savoie Tc (hooking), 14:02; Roukounakis Tc (tripping), 19:25.
3rd Period-5, Waterloo, Pionk 7 (Robertson), 1:33. 6, Tri-City, Smith 5 (James), 3:01. 7, Waterloo, Klee 3 (Broberg), 5:01. 8, Waterloo, Chaly 5 (Robertson, Brown), 6:00. 9, Tri-City, Gardner 4 (Ashcroft), 10:32. Penalties-Klee Wat (hooking), 10:51; Schifsky Wat (kneeing), 15:41.
Shots on Goal-Waterloo 7-13-11-31. Tri-City 10-7-10-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Waterloo 0 / 4; Tri-City 0 / 5.
Goalies-Waterloo, Spicer 12-4-0-0 (27 shots-25 saves). Tri-City, Erickson 3-5-0-2 (31 shots-24 saves).
A-1,993
