Story by Tri-City Storm Communications
The Tri-City Storm defeated the Sioux City Musketeers by a final score of 6-1 Monday night at the Viaero Center to take a 1-0 series lead in the Best-Of-Three 1st Round of the Clark Cup Playoffs. Graham Gamache netted a hat trick for Tri-City in the victory. Kieran Cebrian, Alex Bump, and Trevor Connelly also scored goals for the Storm in the win. Cameron Korpi backstopped the team to a win with a 13-save-on-14-shot performance. The Storm will host the Musketeers for Game #2 Tuesday night at the Viaero Center. Puck drop is set for 7:05pm CT.
Graham Gamache scored the Storm’s opening goal of the postseason at 6:14 of Monday’s 1st period. Tanner Adams recorded an assist on the scoring play. The goal was the lone scoring play of the opening period. Tri-City outshot Sioux City 12-6 during the 1st period, and the team carried a one-goal lead into the middle period.
The only goal of Monday’s 2nd period was scored with less than eight minutes to play by Kieran Cebrian. Cebrian’s goal was assisted by Jake Richard, and Seth Constance. The Storm outshot the Musketeers 9-2 during the 2nd period, and the 3rd period began with Tri-City leading by two goals.
Monday’s final period included five combined goals between the Western Conference foes. Ryan Conmy scored Sioux City’s opening goal of the postseason less than three minutes into the period to cut the Storm’s lead in half. The goal was assisted by Grant Slukynsky, and Tyler Hotson. Alex Bump netted his first goal of the playoffs less than a minute later to give the Storm another two-goal advantage in the matchup. Bump’s goal was netted at 3:15 of the 3rd period, and was assisted by Graham Gamache, and Philippe Blais-Savoie. Trevor Connelly scored an even-strength goal at 6:23 of the period to give the Storm a 4-1 lead in the battle. Connelly’s goal was assisted by Cale Ashcroft. Graham Gamache netted a powerplay goal for Tri-City at 8:50 of the 3rd period to give the Storm a four-goal advantage in the matchup. The goal was Gamache’s second of the game, and was assisted by Alex Bump, and Trevor Connelly. The final goal of Monday’s opening-round playoff matchup between the Storm and Musketeers was scored shorthanded by Graham Gamache. The scoring play was his second of the period, and third of the game. The playoff game hat trick by Gamache was the first postseason single-game three-goal performance by a Storm player since Brendan Furry scored a hat trick on April 19th, 2019, in Tri-City’s 8-3 home win over the Des Moines Buccaneers. Each team recorded six shots on net during Monday’s final period, and the Storm outshot the Musketeers by an overall margin of 27-14 in the game.
Cameron Korpi recorded the first postseason win of his USHL career in goal for the Storm after denying 13 of Sioux City’s 14 shots on goal. Croix Kochendorfer dropped the game in goal for Sioux City after making 20 saves on 26 shots. Axel Mangbo played the final 8:27 of the game in relief for Kochendorfer. Mangbo made 1 save on 1 shot faced in net. Graham Gamache was named the game’s 1st Star, with teammates Trevor Connelly and Alex Bump collecting 2nd and 3rd Star honors, respectively. A back-to-back win over the Musketeers in tomorrow’s home game in Kearney would send the Storm to the Western Conference Semifinal round of the postseason for a road matchup against the Anderson Cup Champion Fargo Force. A bounce-back win from Sioux City in tomorrow’s showdown would force a decisive Game #3 between the two teams at the Viaero Center on Wednesday.
Tri-City hits the ice again on Tuesday, April 25th, in a home game against the Sioux City Musketeers in the opening round of the Clark Cup Playoffs. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05pm CT.