Madison 5, Chicago 4 (OT)
The Chicago Steel looked to bounce back after their 1–0 loss to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders on Friday, but fell to the Madison Capitols in overtime 5–4. Four different Steel players found the back of the net, but could not beat Madison goaltender Garrett MacKay in overtime.
Less than a minute into the contest, forward Robert Mastrosimone beat MacKay to put the Steel on the board. The goal, assisted by defensemen John Spetz and Owen Power, gave the Boston University commit his 29th goal this season.
Madison beat Chicago goaltender Reilly Herbst twice before the midway point of the first period, giving the Capitols a 2–1 lead, when forwards Skylar Guitierrez and Kristoof Papp scored.
Forward Nick Abruzzese answered right back for the Steel with a power play goal, his 26th goal of the season. The Harvard University commit fired a wrist shot past MacKay, with the help of a great screen in front by Blackhawks’ prospect forward Josiah Slavin.
With the score tied at 2–2 after the first intermission, the Capitols took the lead back at the 7:15 mark of the second period after defenseman Christian Berger scored his sixth goal of the season. The power play goal put the Capitols back on top, only to see the Steel fire back with two straight goals.
Forwards Sam Colangelo and Neil Shea put the Steel back in front 4–3 with just under 11 minutes to play in the game, but the Capitols would answer back only 27 seconds after the Shea goal, which was his 14th of the season, when forward Alex Mella scored his 10th goal of the season.
In overtime, Madison forward Lucas Hermann found a loose puck and skated down the ice and fired a shot past Herbst’s glove side.
Waterloo 7, Chicago 5
Chicago looked to bounce back from the overtime loss with a victory against the Waterloo Black Hawks, but would fall short 7–5 in a wild affair. Four different players had multi-point games as Abruzzese, Gunnarwolffe Fontaine, Mastrosimone and Matteo Pietroniro led the way.
Waterloo struck first as forward Vladislav Firstov scored on an uneven rush, beating Chicago goaltender Justin Robbins.
Less than a minute later, Pietroniro tied the game, 1–1, when he beat Black Hawks goaltender Evan Fear for his 18th goal of the season.
Waterloo would score four unanswered goals to extend their lead to 5–1 with just over 13 minutes to play in the second period. With that being said, Chicago showed their resiliency and character, bouncing back with three straight goals of their own.
Abruzzese, Mathieu De St. Phalle and Mastrosimone all answered to cut the Waterloo lead to 5–4. De St. Phalle and Mastrosimone’s goals were on the power play, two of six power play goals total throughout the game.
Before the end of the second period, the Black Hawks answered back to take a 6–4 lead into the second intermission.
Fontaine scored his 19th goal of the season for the Steel when he fired a shot past Fear. The goal, assisted by Adam Robbins, would be the last time the Steel would solve the Black Hawks goaltender.
Waterloo finished off the scoring with less than five minutes to play, giving them the 7–5 victory.
Chicago travels to Waterloo for a rematch with the Black Hawks on Friday for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop. On Saturday, the Steel travel to Dubuque for another 7:05 p.m. contest. The Steel need to be at their best, as they hold the second spot in the Eastern Division standings by one point over the Youngstown Phantoms and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.
