Emmett Croteau earned his 30th United States Hockey League regular season victory with 25 saves Friday; the Waterloo Black Hawks needed all of them in a 2-1 road result at Viaero Center against the Tri-City Storm.

Croteau is just the 10th junior era Black Hawks netminder with 30 regular season wins.  

Friday was also the first time Waterloo has won a game while scoring fewer than three goals since November 19th in a contest that also finished 2-1.  Croteau was in the crease on that occasion too, against the Lincoln Stars.
 
On Friday, the Hawks were outshot 26-21.  They were under duress in their defensive zone late in the first period just moments before taking the lead.  Croteau made a strong save on Graham Gamache, then Waterloo broke the pressure when Gavin O'Connell batted a cross-ice pass out of midair.  O'Connell directed the puck to Miko Matikka in the neutral zone, where the big forward was behind the Tri-City defense, and he accelerated in on a breakaway.  Matikka pulled the trigger from just above the right circle hashmark, beating Cameron Korpi with the low chance at 17:08.

The 1-0 score held through all of the second and more than eight minutes of the third.  Again, the Hawks sprang a deft scorer behind the Tri-City defense, starting with O'Connell's feed to Jaedon Kerr across the width of the ice.  Kerr was waiting at the Storm blue line and hooked a pass into the offensive zone for Garrett Schifsky.  Striding to the net, Schifsky beat Korpi to the glove side.

Neither team scored during late power play opportunities, but the Storm finally had their breakthrough skating six-on-five with 15 seconds left to play.  Alex Bump made it up right wing and attempted a circle-to-circle pass.  It was knocked down by the Hawks but lay in the slot where Trevor Connelly pounced.  

Neither team would manage another shot on goal in the time which remained.

The Hawks and Storm meet for the sixth and final time this season on Saturday night during a 7:05 p.m. rematch in Kearney.

Waterloo 1 0 1 - 2
Tri-City 0 0 1 - 1

1st Period-1, Waterloo, Matikka 20 (O'Connell), 17:08. Penalties-Cebrian Tc (high sticking), 8:29.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Werner Tc (tripping), 0:32; O'Connell Wat (tripping), 10:12.

3rd Period-2, Waterloo, Schifsky 15 (Kerr, O'Connell), 8:18. 3, Tri-City, Connelly 7   19:45 (EN). Penalties-Richard Tc (hooking), 12:30; Bade Wat (interference), 16:20.

Shots on Goal-Waterloo 9-5-7-21. Tri-City 11-10-5-26.
Power Play Opportunities-Waterloo 0 / 3; Tri-City 0 / 2.
Goalies-Waterloo, Croteau 7-7-0-0 (25 shots-25 saves). Tri-City, Korpi 6-2-1-0 (21 shots-19 saves).
A-2,178
Referees-Jared Cummins.
Linesmen-Zach Carson, Tyler Willie.