A look at several standout performers in another busy night in the USHL.
Friday offered plenty of standouts to choose from in the USHL. Here are three.
Jack Galanek: Muskegon Lumberjacks
Galanek tallied two goals and an assist to power the Jacks to a 5-3 home victory over the Tri-City Storm.
The first period was scoreless, but Tri-City took a 2-0 lead in the middle frame. Galanek’s first point came after getting the puck to the top of the blue line for Danny Klaers, who had his shot deflected by a Storm defender that bounced off the pad of the goalie. Teddy Spitznagel tapped it in from the top of the crease to bring the Lumberjacks to within a goal. Galanek was credited with an assist.
Galanek’s first goal of the night came on a power-play chance 43 seconds into the third period. Klaers fired a shot toward the net, but Galanek got a stick on it, redirecting it into the cage to tie the game 2-2.
The second goal from Galanek came on an empty-netter from his own zone at the 17:41 mark to nail down the 5-2 win for the Jacks.
Aiden Janz: Lincoln Stars
The Lincoln Stars remained perfect in four games against the Omaha Lancers this season with an easy 6-1 home win Friday.
A sellout crowd of 4,245 at the Ice Box watched as Janz picked up a goal and two assists for a +2 rating. He was part of the Stars’ fourth line that saw his other two linemates, Kade Kohanski and Lefty Markonidis, also score. All three had one goal and two assists on the night.
After Bruno Idzan put the Stars ahead 1-0 in the first period, Janz fired a one-timer from the high slot that was stopped by Lancers goaltender Daniel Moor. However, the puck ended up trickling behind him, where Markonidis was waiting to poke it in at the 12:05 mark.
Janz picked up his second primary helper after setting up Kohanski cross-ice from the blue line. Kohanski’s one-timer put Lincoln ahead 3-0 at 18:15 of the first.
Janz’s goal came at 16:58 of the middle frame on a wrister that hit off an Omaha defender to make the score 5-0.
Janz has now scored five of his six goals in the new year over his last 11 games.
Ashton Schultz: Chicago Steel
Schultz was the hero on Friday for the Steel, scoring the game-winner in overtime for a 4-3 win over the Madison Capitols.
The victory extended Chicago’s road win streak to three and its point streak to four games. It was the Steel’s first win against Madison on the road this season.
Chicago scored three goals in the first period, their second-highest output in a single frame this season. It was only the fifth time in 18 games the Capitols had lost at home.