Black Hawks Beat Team USA, Coach Pk O’Handley Broke Record

The newest Waterloo Black Hawk helped make P.K. O’Handley the most successful head coach in United States Hockey League history Saturday, back-stopping a 2-1 road decision against the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18’s at the Ice Cube in Ann Arbor.

Cameron Johnson made 46 saves, every one of them vital, as the Hawks earned their 11th one-goal win of the season. The performance included 20 third period saves to thwart a comeback effort by Team USA.

With the decision, O’Handley surpasses Mike Hastings – formerly of the Omaha Lancers – for the most regular season coaching victories in league history. The 12th-year Waterloo head coach now has 530 wins, including 140 from seven seasons with the North Iowa Huskies. O’Handley had tied Hastings Friday during the Hawks’ 4-3 victory against the Youngstown Phantoms.

Saturday’s contest went nearly 40 minutes with Johnson and counterpart Blake Weyrick stopping everything that came their way. Then with 7.8 seconds remaining before the second intermission and Waterloo on a power play, Blake Winiecki fed a pass from behind the net to Peter Krieger, who snapped a low shot from the right faceoff dot past Weyrick.

The Hawks converted another power play chance at 10:08 of the third. After a faceoff tie-up, the puck landed on Tyler Sheehy’s stick, and he fired a shot into the net from the outer edge of the left wing circle. Just less than two minutes later, Dylan Larkin recorded the only home goal, batting a rebound past Johnson’s left skate while falling to the ice.

The Hawks have now won 11 consecutive games, one shy of the franchise’s regular season record. After traveling east for two games during the weekend, the Black Hawks will next be headed the opposite direction, visiting North Dakota for games against the Fargo Force next Friday and Saturday.

For Saturday's box score, please click on the link below:
http://ushl2011.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=2234946