Dubuque, IA – The Dubuque Fighting Saints (38-17-4-0, 80 pts) opened the final week of the regular season with a 5-1 win over the Waterloo Black Hawks (16-40-2-2, 36 pts) on Wednesday night.
Fighting Saints Captain Teddy Merrill scored twice in the first 5:03 of the third period to extend a 2-1 Saints lead to 4-1 and reach the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career. Merrill's pair of goals came after he assisted on two goals in 27 seconds in the opening period to open a 2-0 lead in the first. Merrill logged four points on Wednesday for the first time in his USHL career.
Merrill's first assist came on Gavin Lock's first goal since Feb. 28 as Lock scored his 20th goal of the season at 9:05 of the first. Dante Josefsson-Westling logged an assist on the goal as well to open the scoring. Just 27 seconds later, Merrill and Ludvig Lafton set up Melvin Ekman's 21st goal of the season.
The only goal in the second period came from Hayden Russell for Waterloo at 5:50 of the second and Dubuque took a 2-1 lead into the third.
Merrill's first goal of the third came at 1:35, a power-play goal assisted by Michael Barron and Teo Besnier. Barron's assist was the 144th point of his USHL career, tying him for second all-time in Saints history with Shane Sooth.
Luke Brierley and Ekman set up Merrill's second tally at 5:03 of the third, opening up a three-goal lead for Dubuque early in the third. Over the third period, the Fighting Saints launched a game-high 17 shots in the frame.
Masun Fleece finished the scoring with 6:14 to play, assisted by Brierley and Kris Richards. Fleece extended a career-high point streak to 12 and scored in his return after missing eight games.
Michael Chambre stopped 15 of 16 shots in the game, his third win in five starts for the Fighting Saints.
Dubuque enters the final weekend of the regular season with a one-point lead over Cedar Rapids for the final bye in the Eastern Conference. The Saints host fifth-place Muskegon for a weekend series to end the regular season on Friday and Saturday.
