Black Hawks Beat Stars, 4-1 – Petersen Scores 40th Win

Cal Petersen claimed the 40th regular season win of his USHL career on Tuesday during a 4-1 New Year’s Eve victory against the Lincoln Stars at Young Arena.

The Waterloo native made 32 saves during the contest, helping the Hawks maintain the lead for all but the first minute of regulation.  Petersen is one of only two Black Hawks goaltenders to win 40 regular season games, joining Matt DiGirolamo.

The visitors had a tough start but didn’t go away in the first period.  Waterloo scored just 62 seconds after the opening faceoff, when Tim Lappin fished a puck off the end wall and scored from a sharp angle.  Then the Hawks converted a power play at 4:01 when Hayden Shaw’s point shot flew through traffic and into the goal.  The Stars lifted starting goaltender Michael Bitzer and rallied with a strong effort in the remainder of the frame, forcing Petersen to make an especially memorable save on Biagio Lerario’s redirection at 16:29.  Less than two minutes later, Lincoln converted another good chance, with Jonathan Desbiens capping an odd-man rush up ice at 18:14.

Patrick Russell scored the only goal of the second on an unlikely opportunity.  Standing in the right wing corner, he fed the puck to the top of the crease looking for a tip, but no Hawks were in the neighborhood.  Instead, the disk deflected off of defenseman Connor Frantti and past an unsuspecting Jacob Nehama.  Petersen delivered another impressive save with four minutes remaining before intermission, turning away David Parrottino’s shorthanded breakaway.

Ninety seconds into the third period, Drew Melanson added another insurance goal.  Alec McCrea bounced a puck from the blue line to the net, which Melanson tipped as he cut across the goalmouth.  The Hawks protected the lead through 14 Lincoln shots on goal during the final frame, including a two-minute six-on-four stretch during a late Stars power play.

The first game on the 2014 portion of the Hawks’ schedule will be Friday against the Fargo Force.  The rematch of the 2013 first round Clark Cup playoff series will begin at 7:05 p.m.  Tickets are on sale from waterlooblackhawks.com or by calling the Domino’s Black Hawks Box Office at (319) 291-7680.

For Tuesday's box score, please click on the link below:
http://ushl2011.stats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=2234489