The Waterloo Black Hawks put down the Tri-City Storm Saturday night, and Waterloo moved into a tied for first place in the USHL Western Conference.

A 5-1 Waterloo Black Hawks win at Young Arena Saturday against the Tri-City Storm moved the home team into a tie for first place in the United States Hockey League Western Conference.

The Black Hawks are now even with the Sioux City Musketeers, who were idle on Saturday. Both teams have 53 standing points. With the win, Waterloo currently holds a 25-12-1-2 record (40 games). The Sioux City Musketeers have are 23-8-5-2 with 38 games played.

Kevin Charyszyn tallied the only goal of the first period at 6:01. Near the netmouth, the veteran forward was able to deflect Grant Gabriele’s shot out of midair and past Eric Dop.

Jackson Cates later scored his fifth goal in as many games, building the lead at 12:48 of the second. Picking up a rebound just outside the crease, he dashed around the goal counterclockwise to score on a wraparound.

The Storm set up their first goal of the night from behind the Waterloo cage before the period ended. Alex Limoges dished a pass to Linus Weissbach, who snapped the puck into the net from close range at 15:02. Less than two minutes later, the Hawks went back ahead by two. Bailey Conger stepped into a shot from the left circle to capitalize on a chance created by Garrett Wait.

Waterloo added two more in the third, each shortly after power plays ended. At 1:40, Charyszyn scored a baseball-style goal, batting a waist-high puck into the net from the top of the crease. The tally temporarily made him the Hawks’ goal leader, but Nick Swaney climbed back into a tie for that honor at 14:38. Shane Bowers’ pass across the top of the crease left Swaney with an open side, and the veteran recorded his 100th regular season USHL point with the conversion.

Swaney and Charyszyn now each have 16 goals this season.

Robbie Beydoun needed just four third period saves to record his 20th win of the season. He completed the game with 21 total stops.

The Hawks see another Western Conference opponent on Friday, visiting the Lincoln Stars in Nebraska. Waterloo returns home to host the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders next Saturday.

Contributed By: Tim Harwood (Waterloo Black Hawks Media Relations)

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