West Des Moines, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (23-9-2-0, 48 pts) visit the Des Moines Buccaneers (11-16-3-4, 29 pts) on Saturday to begin a road weekend.
Here are five things to know ahead of the matchup:
1. Offensive Onslaught
The Fighting Saints scored 18 goals in a home sweep over the U17s last week, extending a winning streak to five entering this weekend.
On Friday, Colin Frank led the way to an 8-1 win with the first hat trick in his USHL career. In Saturday's 10-6 win, Lincoln Krizizke scored two of three goals in a 22-second span on his way to USHL Defenseman of the Week honors.
2. Saints Strike
Dubuque scored first in both games against the U17s and the Saints have scored the first goal in 11-straight games. The Saints are 8-2-1-0 over those 11 games and Dubuque has an 18-5-1-0 record overall when scoring first.
The opening frame has been friendly to Dubuque this season, leading after the first period in 20 of 33 games. The Saints scored five goals in the first period of an 8-4 win over Des Moines at home on Nov. 26.
3. Saints Special
The Fighting Saints scored a power-play goal in both games, extending a scoring streak to 10 games on the power play and Dante Josefsson-Westling scored two shorthanded goals.
Dubuque's six shorthanded goals are second in the USHL, trailing only Green Bay (7). The Saints' power play is operating at 30.8% this season, the best in the USHL.
4. Road Rundown
Dubuque hits the road this weekend, where Dubuque has a four-game point streak and three wins over those four games.
In their last four road matchups, Dubuque swept the Lincoln Stars on Dec. 12-13, before an overtime loss in Green Bay on Dec. 29 and a win at Chicago on Jan. 3.
5. Pirate Pieces
The Bucs dropped three-straight games entering the weekend before an overtime win in Omaha on Friday, and have made some new acquisitions in recent weeks.
Des Moines acquired goaltenders Alan Lendak (FGO) and Andrei Nikolaev (NJT - NAHL) in trades as well as Barrett Dexheimer (MUS), Nick Koering (MUS) and Charlie Major (CHI).
Saturday's matchup begins at 6:05 p.m. CST at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. The game can be found on Eagle 102.3 and FloHockey.
