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Tuesday saw some teams pack up and head home for the off-season, while others lived to see another day.
Here’s a look at the second night of action in the Eastern and Western Conference first-round series.
Waterloo Moves On
The Waterloo Black Hawks’ offense was clicking on all cylinders Tuesday in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Tri-City Storm. It propelled the Hawks to a 7-3 win to sweep the best-of-three.
Waterloo scored multiple goals in each period to pull away and move to the Western Division semifinals, where they will face the Sioux Falls Stampede beginning this weekend on the road in a best-of-five.
It was a back-and-forth first period with the score deadlocked at 2-2 at the end of 20 minutes. The Hawks scored first, only to see the Storm answer right back.
Waterloo finally went ahead to stay at the 4:18 mark of the middle frame. Easton Hewson scored on a power play off a feed from behind the Tri-City net.
The Storm had two power-play chances of their own in the period but couldn’t capitalize. The Hawks scored just seconds before another power-play opportunity ended, and the Storm answered just before the second intermission.
They wouldn’t get any closer, as the Hawks pulled away in the third to claim the series. They outshot the Storm 40-23, and Carter Casey earned his second win in as many nights.
The seven goals by the Hawks are the most for the club in the post-season since a 7-4 victory on May 7, 2016 against, ironically, the Storm.
Capitols Eliminate Gamblers
The Green Bay Gamblers ran out of aces Tuesday, falling 5-3 to the Madison Capitols and getting swept in their best-of-three first-round Eastern Conference series.
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Madison scored a pair of goals within a minute of each other for a 2-0 lead in the first period. Ryker Lee got the scoring started, followed by Mason Moe, who scored two goals in Game 1.
The Caps doubled that lead midway through the middle frame before Green Bay closed the gap with three of their own.
However, Gavin Uhlenkamp wouldn’t allow the Capitols’ lead to vanish, putting in an empty-netter to seal the Gamblers’ fate and send his club to the second round to face the No. 2-seed Dubuque Fighting Saints.
RoughRiders Stay Alive
The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders kept their post-season hopes alive with a 4-3 victory in Muskegon over the Lumberjacks to knot up their best-of-three Eastern Conference series at a game apiece.
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Cedar Rapids grabbed the momentum early with a power-play goal at 7:31 of the first period. The Lumberjacks came back with two of their own less than a minute apart in the second period to take the lead. They added another tally a minute into the third for a 3-1 advantage.
They couldn’t sustain the lead, however. The Riders roared back with three unanswered goals, the final one coming in the closing minute of regulation when Heath Nelson fired one in five-hole from the middle of the slot.
The series finale takes place Wednesday night in Muskegon, with the chance to move on to the second round at stake.
Musketeers Make A Statement
After falling to the Fargo Force in the 2023-24 Western Conference Finals, the Sioux City Musketeers have been motivated to reverse that trend all season. They went 7-0-1 in their regular-season series, then jumped out to a 1-0 lead Tuesday in their best-of-three first-round playoff matchup with a convincing 7-0 rout.
The defending Clark Cup Champions now find their backs against the wall and face elimination, with Game 2 Wednesday in Sioux City.
The Musketeers exploded with four goals in the first period and never looked back. Drake Murray scored two of them, while Liam Hupka added one in the first period and another in the third.
Fargo only managed 14 shots on net for the game, and Samuel Urban stopped all of them to earn the shutout.
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