It might make all the difference at the end of the season, but the one point the Waterloo Black Hawks earned at Young Arena Saturday wasn't what the home team expected in the late minutes against the league-leading Fargo Force.
The visitors scored a game-tying goal under desperate circumstances, then won a four-round shootout for an official final of 3-2.
The Force went shorthanded with under two minutes to play, but pulled goalie Anton Castro to make it a five-on-five situation. With just over 20 seconds to go, Fargo controlled a faceoff in the Waterloo zone back to Michael Quinn at the left point. His low shot into traffic was tipped by Gavin Morrissey and found its way inside the post at Jack Spicer's left, forcing overtime.
Mac Swanson scored on Fargo's second shootout try. Will Felicio answered for the home side in the third round, but Castro stopped Waterloo's other attempts, and Morrissey eventually nudged the Force to the win.
The Hawks had led for most of the night, going ahead 4:18 into the game. Gavin Lindberg and Griffin Erdman combined to seize control of the puck behind the Force net and set up Myles Hilman at the top of the crease. Waterloo's captain banged in his chance from close range.
The 1-0 lead held until 3:28 of the third when Iiro Hakkarainen squeezed a shot from the left circle inside the post for an equalizer.
Waterloo was back in front less than two minutes later on Hilman's second goal of the night. Jakub Altrichter swooped into the offensive zone and behind the Force net. He dropped a feed to Hilman, who scored from nearly the same spot where he had been standing for the first goal of the night.
Saturday's shootout loss marked the first time the Hawks have finished on the downside in overtime since February 17th of last year. In between, Waterloo had prevailed in 11 overtime or shootout decisions.
The Black Hawks' weekend continues on Sunday. Waterloo goes on the road to visit the Omaha Lancers for a 4:05 p.m. matchup.
Fargo 0 0 2 0 - 3
Waterloo 1 0 1 0 - 2
1st Period-1, Waterloo, Hilman 11 (Erdman, Lindberg), 4:18. Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-La Starza Fgo (cross checking), 17:28.
3rd Period-2, Fargo, Hakkarainen 10 (Leppa, Boser), 3:28. 3, Waterloo, Hilman 12 (Altrichter, Fascia), 5:09. 4, Fargo, Morrissey 5 (Quinn), 19:43. Penalties-Altrichter Wat (10-minute misconduct), 16:18; Parks Fgo (bench minor-too many men), 18:05.
1st OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Fargo 2 (Plante NG, Swanson G, Fisher NG, Morrissey G), Waterloo 1 (Thoreson NG, Mustard NG, Felicio G, Townsend NG).
Shots on Goal-Fargo 10-3-12-3-1-29. Waterloo 6-6-5-3-0-20.
Power Play Opportunities-Fargo 0 / 0; Waterloo 0 / 2.
Goalies-Fargo, Castro 15-4-2-0 (20 shots-18 saves). Waterloo, Spicer 6-6-0-1 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-3,045
