Chicago 7, Madison 1
The Chicago Steel dominated all facets of the game on Friday, at home, against the Madison Capitols resulting in a 7–1 victory. Chicago (17–11–1–0) extended their winning streak at home to six games.
At the 6:05 mark of the first period, forward Nick Abruzzese scored his ninth goal of the season. The power play goal, assisted by defenseman Owen Powers and forward Robert Mastrosimone, got the Steel off and running, even if the goal was the only tally of the period.
Chicago outshot Madison 15–2 in the period, showing the domination that the scoreboard had yet to show.
Mastrosimone made the game 2–0 only eight seconds into the second period. The Boston University commit fired a shot past the glove of Capitols’ goaltender Jospeh Lamoreaux. The goal, assisted by Neil Shea, gave Mastrosimone his twelfth of the year.
Less than six minutes later, Chicago extended their lead to 3–0 when Travis Treloar scored his ninth of the season. The Western Michigan commit took a pass from defenseman Casey Staum and buried a shot. Forward Christian Sarlo would also assist on the goal.
The Steel took a 4–0 lead into the intermission after forward Matthew Sutton scored his first career USHL goal. Sutton, playing in his fifth game of the season, tipped a shot from forward Josh Groll and beat Lamoreaux five-hole.
Chicago extended their lead to 5–0 when Christian Sarlo scored the Steel’s second power play goal of the game. Sarlo chipped in a rebound after a goalmouth scramble in front. Mastrosimone and defenseman Matteo Pietroniro assisted on the play.
The Capitols finally dented the scoresheet halfway through the third period. Forward Reid Pabich scored his first goal of the season, beating Steel goaltender Reilly Herbst over his left shoulder. The goal shortened the Steel lead to 5–1.
Groll would strike right back for the Steel with his fourth goal of the season. The goal, assisted by forward Ryan Doolin and defenseman John Spetz, extended the Steel lead back to five at 6–1.
The final score of the game would come less than two minutes later when Abruzesse scored his second of the game. Neal Shea also registered his second assist of the game on the play. The goal would finish off the scoring 7–1.
Chicago outshot the Capitols 39–23 for the game. Herbst, who played well all night, ended with 22 saves for the Steel.
Central Illinois 6, Chicago 4
The Steel (17–12–1–0) followed up their dominant performance with a tough loss on the road, in Bloomington, against the Central Illinois Flying Aces 6–4. The tightly fought contest saw a few lead changes through two periods until the Flying Aces would pull away in the third period.
Central Illinois took the lead at the 7:18 mark in the first period. Forward Trevor Janicke finished off a nice passing play from forwards Cal Kiefiuk and Philippe LaPointe.
Chicago would tie the game with 3.7 seconds left in the first period when forward Nick Abruzzesse finished off a two-on-one with forward Neil Shea. Abruzzesse’s goal was his eleventh of the season, giving him 37 points on the year, second in the USHL.
The Flying Aces took back the lead just over three minutes into the second period. Kiefuiuk found himself flying into the offensive zone and fired a laser past Chicago goaltender Reilly Herbst, giving the home team the lead back at 2–1.
The Steel would tie the game when Christian Sarlo jammed home his own rebound, beating Central Illinois’ goaltender Mitchell Gibson. The goal gave Sarlo his ninth on the season.
The game did not see many shots in the first period as Central Illinois outshot the Steel 6–5.
Midway through the second period, Chicago took the lead after defenseman John Spetz tipped home a rebound from a shot from forward Josh Groll. The goal is Spetz’s fifth of the season.
The game would be tied right before the end of the period when forward Tate Singleton stole a pass and beat Herbst from a tough angle. The goal gave Singleton eleven goals on the season before scoring his twelfth only a few minutes into the third period.
That goal would be the game-winning score for the Flying Aces after it was deflected off of a Steel defenseman and into the back of the net, surprising Chicago goaltender Reilly Herbst.
Less than two minutes later, the Flying Aces scored on the power play, extending the lead to 5–3. The tally gave Lapointe his sixth goal of the season.
Neil Shea scored his ninth goal of the season, assisted by Abruzesse and Matteo Pietroniro, tipping a shot past Gibson to cut the Flying Aces lead to 5 – 3.
Central Illinois would add an empty net goal when Kiefiuk giving the Flying Aces the 6 – 3 victory.