The Waterloo Black Hawks jumped to an early lead on the Sioux City Musketeers on Saturday (Mar. 11, 2017) and cruised to a 6-1 win. Waterloo closed in on the United States Hockey League lead in the Western Conference and the Anderson Cup title.

Waterloo (33-14-2-2, 71 points) now sits just two points back of Sioux City (33-10-5-2, 73 points) for the USHL Western Conference lead and the best record in the league.

The Black Hawks rolled up a 3-0 lead in the first period, starting with a power play goal at 3:56. Emil Ohrvall was the beneficiary of a deflected pass and put a low shot into the net from the right circle. Next, Alex Limoges capitalized at 7:18; Shane Bowers’ strong move to the net forced a Matiss Kivlenieks save, but the puck was kept alive by Limoges and knocked past the Sioux City netminder by one of his own defensemen attempting to clear it away from the crease.

Waterloo killed off a five-on-three Musketeer power play, then added to the lead at 15:01. Ben Copeland split a pair of defenders in the right circle, finding Ethan Johnson in the slot. With time and room, Johnson fired in a shot low to the stick side.

All of the scoring in the second period came in a one minute span. A long sequence of end-to-end hockey was capped when Yuki Miura scored to put the Hawks up 4-0 at 12:26. Sam Craggs had sped into the offensive zone for an initial chance which led to Miura’s goal from the left circle. However, Sioux City got the goal back at 13:05, thanks to a low J.C. MacLean try from the right circle.

In the third, Jake Ryczek extended the Waterloo lead to four again at 6:27, driving a puck into the net from the right point. Limoges added a final goal from the left hashmark at 10:31 during a power play as the first of two concurrent Sioux City penalties was coming to an end.

Next weekend, the Hawks go back on the road Friday for a game against the Madison Capitols. They then return to Waterloo Saturday to host the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Steel. Tickets for all remaining regular season home games are available online at waterlooblackhawks.com or by calling the Domino’s Black Hawks Box Office at (319) 291-7680.

Game recap written by Tim Harwood (Waterloo Black Hawks)

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