Calvin Vachon repeatedly delivered big saves on Friday, starring during the Waterloo Black Hawks' 3-1 road win against the Des Moines Buccaneers at Buccaneer Arena.
Vachon made at least one highlight-quality save in each period. In the first, he pushed aside Jack Kernan's partial breakaway. A turnover in the second gave Ben Kevan a chance from the edge of the crease, but Vachon soaked up the attempt. Early in the third, the Bucs tried to stretch the ice and sprang Ilya Protas from the Hawks blue line; Vachon stopped him with a left pad save. During the late minutes, Vachon made another marvelous save on Kevan, sliding from left to right to stop Des Moines' leading scorer after a setup out of the corner.
The first-year netminder finished the night with 32 saves. He is now 14-5-0 this season.
Two goals in the first period were separated by 13 seconds. Des Moines scored the opener at 4:56, narrowly avoiding an offside call at the blue line before the puck found its way to the slot for a power play tally by Braedon Ford.
On the next shift, Gavin Lindberg accelerated up right wing and leaned into a wrister which went in over Ethan Dahlmeir's left shoulder. Tyler Miller put another puck into the net during a power play, but it crossed the goal line less than a second after the buzzer had sounded to end the opening period.
Griffin Erdman put the Hawks ahead with the only goal of the second. Teddy Townsend swooped behind the Des Moines net and dropped a pass back to Carson Reed at the line. Erdman tipped Reed's shot at 7:46.
The score held until 48 seconds remained in regulation. Reed cleared the puck and Grady Deering chased it down in the Buccaneer zone, pushing the disc into the empty net.
Waterloo's road weekend continues Saturday in Cedar Rapids with a 7:05 p.m. game against the RoughRiders. The Hawks' next home game is Friday, January 26th versus the Fargo Force.
Waterloo 1 1 1 - 3
Des Moines 1 0 0 - 1
1st Period-1, Des Moines, Ford 9 (Watkins, Protas), 4:56 (PP). 2, Waterloo, Lindberg 11 (Phelan), 5:09. Penalties-Zlnka Wat (slashing), 3:09; Ford Dm (kneeing), 19:29.
2nd Period-3, Waterloo, Erdman 10 (Reed, Townsend), 7:46. Penalties-Townsend Wat (tripping), 10:53; West Dm (hooking), 16:10.
3rd Period-4, Waterloo, Deering 9 (Reed), 19:12 (EN). Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Waterloo 12-11-7-30. Des Moines 9-15-9-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Waterloo 0 / 2; Des Moines 1 / 2.
Goalies-Waterloo, Vachon 14-5-0-0 (33 shots-32 saves). Des Moines, Dahlmeir 10-12-0-0 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-1,758
