Tri-City surprises Stars
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By Brent C. Wagner / Lincoln Journal Star
The movie player was getting a workout during Tri-City’s bus trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, early this morning.
It seems the team is only allowed to watch movies following a victory.
Well, Alex Hudson might pop in Will Smith’s flick “I Am Legend” after Tri-City shocked the Lincoln Stars with a 4-3 overtime victory on Friday before 4,400 fans at the Ice Box.
Hudson scored the game-winning goal, slinging one past Lincoln backup goaltender Kevin Murdock in front of the crease two minutes into overtime to complete Tri-City’s comeback from two goals down.
The goal came only 14 seconds into a 4-on-3 advantage, after the Stars’ Jake Newton was called for hooking.
Tri-City scored three unanswered goals to win the game — each of them power-play goals by Hudson. Tri-City was 3-for-12 on the power play, while Lincoln was 1-for-9 with a one-man advantage.
Lincoln’s penalties are what allowed Tri-City to get back in the game, and Stars coach Jimmy McGroarty says his players had nobody to blame but themselves.
“The game is never over until the final buzzer,” McGroarty said, “and they found a way to tie it up and win it in overtime. Hats off to them — great win.”
A great win and a great story. Few would have given the Storm a chance to win the game, with Lincoln leading the season series 5-1.
You name some adversity, and Tri-City faced it. It had lost its past three games by a combined score of 11-4, and has already been eliminated from the playoffs.
What’s more, injuries have depleted the Tri-City lineup to the point were it is playing with nine forwards instead of the usual 12.
“We didn’t want to give up,” Hudson said. “This season Lincoln has got the most of us, and we wanted to show we could fight through a little adversity for ourselves.
“It means a lot for us to win this game, even though in the big picture it’s not doing too much.”
In the big picture, Lincoln earning one point when it appeared easily headed to earning two points could cost the Stars amid a three-team fight for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.
All this after Lincoln led 3-1 early in the second period, thanks to two goals from Jared Festler and a power-play score from Ryan Kretzer.
“I thought some guys played really good tonight, and other guys were passengers,” McGroarty said. “Some of those guys are top players, and if we have passengers in the playoffs, it’s going to be short.”
The big game of the weekend for Lincoln was supposed to be tonight against Sioux Falls, and now it means even more. Sioux Falls is in second place in the West Division, with Lincoln four points back with only six games remaining in the regular season.
A win against Sioux Falls won’t be anywhere near as easy as it was supposed to be to beat Tri-City, though. Sioux Falls has won its past six games, with three of those coming against division leaders Omaha and Indiana.
As of late, Sioux Falls has gotten the best of Lincoln. The Stampede has won the past three meetings with the Stars, including handing Lincoln its most lopsided defeat of the season (five goals).
Reach Brent C. Wagner at 473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com.
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