Dubuque, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (9-7-1-0, 19 pts) host the Des Moines Buccaneers (9-7-0-1, 19 pts) to complete a home-and-home Cowbell Cup series on Saturday night.
Here are five things to know ahead of the matchup:
1. Crease Clinic
In Friday's win over the Buccaneers, goaltender Luke Carrithers made 24 saves on 25 shots to help the Saints to the 3-1 victory. Carrithers made all 12 saves in the third period, including holding the Bucs off the board on a major power play.
Carrithers has won five-straight starts for the Fighting Saints dating back to Oct. 18 against the Under-17s.
2. Big Blocks
On the major penalty kill late in Friday's game, multiple players blocked shots for the Fighting Saints. Hudson Lohse and Sullivan Martin stood in the way of a few Des Moines shots, including a Martin block in front of a nearly empty net.
Kris Richards helped the Dubuque penalty kill finish the night, stopping both of Des Moines' chances on the power play.
3. Dabrowski Delivers
Caden Dabrowski opened the scoring in Friday's game with his eighth goal of the season, putting the Saints ahead 1-0 late in the first period. Dabrowski's goal was just the sixth time this season the Saints opened the scoring in a game.
Dubuque has won four of the six games when scoring first this season and hadn't scored first since Dabrowski scored 14 seconds into the game against Sioux City on Oct. 24.
4. First Find
Joey Kotzian scored his first USHL goal in Friday's win over the Bucs, tallying a wrist shot with 1:05 left in the second period to put the Saints ahead 2-1.
The goal held up as the game-winner as the Saints held Des Moines scoreless the rest of the way after. David Thomasson added an empty-netter late to give the Saints the 3-1 advantage.
5. Pirate Picks
Riley Zupfer and Joey Argentina entered the weekend as the Bucs' top-two scorers, but were held off the board in Friday's game. Zupfer's 22 points and Argentina's 18 points account for 31% of the total points on the Bucs' roster.
Goaltender Jon Kavcic continued a strong start to his rookie season on Friday, making 24 saves on 26 Dubuque shots. Kavcic enters Saturday with a .921 save percentage.
Saturday's game begins at 7:05 p.m. at ImOn Arena and tickets can be found here. The game can be found on Eagle 102.3 and FloHockey.
