West Des Moines, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (8-7-1-0, 17 pts) visit the Des Moines Buccaneers (9-6-0-1, 19 pts) to open a home-and-home Cowbell Cup series on Friday night.
Here are five things to know ahead of the matchup:
1. Rapid Reset
The Fighting Saints scored six-straight goals in Saturday's win over Muskegon, starting with Olle Därth's goal in the final seconds of the first period.
After Därth's goal tied the game at two, the Saints scored all four goals in the second period to open up a 6-2 lead after 40 minutes against the Lumberjacks. Luke Brierley started the scoring in the period before David Thomasson, Caden Dabrowski and Joe Wahlund added to the lead.
2. Saints Setup
Four players recorded multiple assists in Saturday's win over Muskegon, including Lincoln Krizizke who has six assists in his last three games. Trevor Theuer, Dabrowski and Joseph Covelluzzi added multiple assists in the win.
Krizizke has two multi-assist games in his last three, while Theuer tied a career-high with his two assists. Covelluzzi recorded the first multi-point game of his career with his two assists.
3. Second Servings
In their last three games, the Saints have outscored their opponents 7-1 and outshot them 38-23 in the second period. Overall, Dubuque has outscored opponents by nine goals in the middle frame.
Over the final 40 minutes in each of the last three games, the Fighting Saints have outscored opponents 13-3 and have outshot the opposition 68-41.
4. Defense Delivers
Krizizke's fellow blue liners Brierley and Wahlund each scored in Saturday's win, including Brierley's game-winner in the second.
Brierley kicked off a four-goal second period with a goal just past the two-minute mark of the frame. Then, Wahlund finished the onslaught with his first-career USHL goal late in the period.
5. Bucs Bits
Jon Kavcic's .920 save percentage has helped the Bucs to a top-three defense in the USHL, allowing just 2.8 goals against per game. Kavcic has the third-highest save percentage in the USHL.
Riley Zupfer is second in the USHL with 22 points and Joey Argentina has 18 points, but just two other Buccaneers have recorded double digits in points. Argentina has helped the Bucs to the third-best penalty kill in the league at 85.9% with a league-leading four shorthanded goals.
Friday's game begins at 7:05 p.m. at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. The game can be found on Eagle 102.3 and FloHockey.
