Green Bay, WI — For the first time since the 2019 postseason, the Fighting Saints are moving on in the Clark Cup Playoffs after defeating Green Bay on Wednesday night 3-2 and taking the series two games to one.

The Saints will now travel to Geneva for a best-of-three series against the Chicago Steel beginning this weekend. The series will begin on Saturday with game on set for 7:05 p.m. CT. Game two will be played on Sunday with a 5:05 p.m. CT start time and game three if necessary will be on Monday at 7:05 p.m. CT. All three games will be played in Chicago.

In the regular season, Dubuque won the season series against the Steel four games to two. Chicago will be without star forward Macklin Celebrini for at least the opening two games of the series.

Game One

The Fighting Saints struck first in game one of the series early in the second period on an Owen Michaels power play goal. Dubuque dominated the period, but failed to add to their lead and carried a 1-0 advantage into the third period. Green Bay shut down the Saints in the final period and were opportunistic themselves scoring four goals, two of which were empty-netters, en route to a 4-1 game one victory.

Game Two

In game two, it was do or die for Dubuque and they got to Green Bay goaltender Kristoffer Eberly early. Eberly, who stopped 28 of 29 shots in game one, was beat three times by the Saints in the first period on goals from Max Montes, Brayden Morrison, and Jay Reeder.

The Gamblers cut it down to a one-goal game with two quick goals in the middle period by Ray Vitolins. With the pressure rising, Shawn O'Donnell, who did not play in game one, created a turnover and then followed up on his own rebound to give Dubuque a multi-goal lead again at 4-2. Montes, who's first period goal came on the powerplay, scored on the man advantage again for the final goal of the night as the Saints cruised to a 5-2 victory and evening the series at 1-1.

Game Three

With both teams on the brink of seeing their seasons end, Green Bay dominated the opening 10-minutes of game three, outshooting Dubuque 10-1 and grabbing an early lead on a goal from rookie Aidan Park. The Fighting Saints however would settle down the game with an equalizing goal from Ryan St. Louis, again coming on the powerplay to tie the game at 1-1 going into the intermission.

In the second period, the Saints began to find their game and grabbed their first lead of the series deciding game. Caelum Dick unleashed a slap shot from the blue line that was deflected past Eberly off a defenders stick in front of the net to make it 2-1. Then, less than three minutes later, Owen Michaels intercepted a cross ice pass and scored off the rush to double the Dubuque lead.

In the third, Green Bay brought their best effort with their season on the line. Bodie Nobes scored a highlight reel short handed goal to make it a 3-2 game. Tremendous stops from Marcus Brännman the rest of the way, coupled with key defensive clears, propelled the Saints to a 3-2 win and a date with Chicago in round two.