Black Hawks Sink Buccaneers – 3-1

The Waterloo Black Hawks opened the second half of their United States Hockey League schedule on Saturday with a 3-1 win at Young Arena against the visiting Des Moines Buccaneers.

Waterloo’s first 30 games included a junior era franchise-best 24 victories.  Saturday’s decision extends the Hawks’ winning streak to nine consecutive games, equaling the Sioux City Musketeers for the longest roll in the USHL this season.

The home side took the lead nearly seven minutes into the game, thanks to an alert play at center ice by Brandon Montour.  His take-away sprang Peter Krieger behind the Des Moines defense, and the Hawks’ leading scorer snapped a wrist shot past Billy Christopoulos.

Jake Horton built the lead at 14:21 of the second.  The Bucs attempted the clear the goalmouth after Christopoulos turned away a Mark Friedman shot, but the puck went right to Horton’s stick near the right faceoff dot, and he fired it into the net.

During the final period, Liam Pecararo stretched the differential to its widest distance at 7:08, tipping a Friedman blast from the right point.  Sixty seconds later, Buccaneer defenseman Corey Schueneman’s chance from above the right circle caromed into the Waterloo goal off of a defender.
However, Cal Petersen slammed the door on Des Moines’ other opportunities, fending off a Danny Elser blast at 11:30, then stopping quality power play chances from Garret Cockrill and Ryan Galt in the minutes that followed.

Petersen made 20 saves for the win, while Christopoulos – facing a barrage all night as Waterloo amassed a 52-21 edge in chances – suffered the loss despite 49 saves.

The game was played in front of the largest home crowd of the season, 3,272.

The Hawks are away from home for their next four games.  The road trip begins in Youngstown with a matchup against the Phantoms on Friday.

For Saturday's box score, please click on the link below:
http://ushl2011.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=2234612