Story by Tri-City Storm
The Tri-City Storm completed a three-game weekend sweep over the Fargo Force Sunday evening at the Viaero Center in a 3-2 victory. Dane Dowiak netted the game-tying goal, and the game-winning goal in the matchup. Shaun McEwen also scored in the win for Tri-City. Patriks Bērziņš backstopped the Storm to victory by making 24 saves in the game. The Storm won this year’s season series against the Force with a final head-to-head record of 4-3-1-0. Tri-City improved to 29-17-3-3 overall with the victory.
Shaun McEwen netted his second goal of the season at 14:39 of Sunday’s opening period to give the Storm a 1-0 lead in the battle. Daimon Gardner and Trevor Connelly each recorded an assist on the scoring play. Tri-City carried a one-goal lead into Sunday’s 2nd period, despite being outshot 11-6 in the 1st period.
Zam Plante scored his eleventh goal of the year at 4:20 of the 2nd period to bring the game to a 1-1 tie. Plante’s goal for the Force netted on the powerplay, and was assisted by Mac Swanson, and Owen Mehlenbacher. Kevin Scott gave Fargo a one-goal lead in the matchup minutes later with his fourth scoring play of the season. The goal was netted at 10:05 of the middle period, and was assisted by Anthony Menghini. Dane Dowiak tied the game for Tri-City at 16:55 of the 2nd period with his thirteenth scoring play of the season. The goal was assisted by Cam O’Neill, and Shaun McEwen. Fargo outshot Tri-City 10-5 in the 2nd period, and the final period began with the two teams tied 2-2.
The only goal of Sunday’s 3rd period was scored with less than five minutes to play by Dane Dowiak. The scoring play was his second of the game, and fourteenth of the season. Evan Werner and Daimon Gardner each recorded an assist on the game-winning goal. The scoring play was the final of Sunday’s game, and the Storm skated away with a 3-2 victory, and a three-game weekend sweep over the league-leading Force. Tri-City outshot Fargo 12-5 in the 3rd period, but was outshot by an overall margin of 26-23 for the game.
Patriks Bērziņš turned away 24 of Fargo’s 26 shots on goal to record the win, and improve to 9-2-1-0 on the season in goal for Tri-City. The Force’s Anton Castro recorded the loss after making 20 saves on 23 shots.
Tri-City hits the ice again on Wednesday, March 29th, in a road game against the Lincoln Stars. Puck drop is scheduled for 11:00am CT. Skate to www.StormHockey.com for individual game tickets and more information regarding the Tri-City Storm organization. #StormAhead