Waterloo, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (6-6-1-0, 13 pts) forced overtime with a late goal on Saturday, but fell 3-2 to the Waterloo Black Hawks (9-1-2-0, 20 pts) on the road on Saturday afternoon.

With 32 saves in his USHL debut, Josh Banini kept the Saints in a game in which they were outshot 35-20. With a 2-1 deficit in the third, the Saints earned their first power play of the game with under two minutes to play. It came in the late stages of a five-minute penalty kill that Dubuque managed without allowing a goal.

On the power-play, the Saints pulled Banini for a 6-on-4 advantage and converted with Olle Därth's team-leading seventh goal of the season to tie the game with 30 seconds to play. Luke Brierley and Max Lind set up Därth's one-time blast to level the game and force overtime. Därth's tally came on the team's only power play of the game.

Just 26 seconds into overtime, however, Caleb Deanovich capitalized for Waterloo on a net drive from Cody Sokol to give the Hawks the win.

Throughout regulation, the teams traded goals with the first coming late in the opening period. Hayden Russell scored his sixth of the year, and third against the Saints, with a power-play goal in the final minutes of the opening frame. 

In the second, Joseph Covelluzzi scored his fifth on a rebound from a Melvin Ekman attempt that caromed off the post. Cruz Martin logged an assist with Ekman to tie the game for the Saints and record a second point in as many games with Dubuque. Through 40 minutes, the Saints managed just 15 shots on goal and the game entered the third tied at one.

Early in the third, Dylan Nolan's ninth of the season put Waterloo back ahead with a lead the Hawks held until Därth's game-tying goal in the final minute. The Saints killed four of five penalties against the league's best power play, including a major penalty against Covelluzzi for kneeing in the third.

The teams meet again on Sunday evening in Dubuque to finish up the weekend home-and-home series at ImOn Arena.