Observations from another exciting Friday night in the USHL. One team roared to victory with a double hat trick, while another had its chance to clinch a playoff spot delayed another day. Here are some observations from Friday night’s action in the USHL. A Double Hatty Difference The Lincoln Stars [https://lincolnstars.com/]clinched a spot in the Clark Cup Playoffs a week ago, but they aren’t resting on their laurels or coasting into the post-season. On Friday, the Stars thoroughly dominated the Fargo Force [https://fargoforce.com/]with a 7-2 victory, thanks to double hat tricks by Jack Pechar and Bruno Idzan. Lincoln (35-12-1-0) has now won four straight and 16 of its last 17 games. They continue to post the best record in the USHL and have scored at least seven goals in 11 games this season. Pechar has seven goals over his last four games following Friday night’s hat trick. He leads the club with 24 goals and his 44 career tallies are the 13th-most in franchise history. The hatty was his third of the season and fourth multi-goal performance. If Pechar registers another hat trick this season, he would tie Brandon Bochenski (2000-01) for the Stars’ single-season record. He’s the first Stars skater to get three hat tricks in a season since Kevin Roy accomplished the feat in 2011-12. Idzan became the 66th Stars player to record a hat trick. He has now collected points in 16 of his first 22 games with Lincoln and has 12 multi-point games. Idzan also added an assist on Pechar’s first goal to give him a four-point evening for a season-high performance. Saints Spoil Teddy Bear Toss The Chicago Steel [https://chicagosteelhockeyteam.com/index.aspx]held their annual Teddy Bear Toss Friday night in Geneva, but it was the Dubuque Fighting Saints [https://dubuquefightingsaints.com/]who collected all the glory with a convincing 8-3 win. Dubuque scored eight goals for the first time this season. Jonathan Morello led the way with a goal and three assists for four points, marking a career high. The Saints opened the scoring for the sixth straight game with Gavin Cornforth’s first of two first-period tallies 6:26 into the contest. He added his team-leading 19th goal with just under five minutes left in the frame with Matthew Desiderio earning his first of two assists and Morello’s first on the night. Morello, Cornforth and linemate Colin Frank combined for eight points in the victory. For Frank, it was his 100th USHL game. It took until the third period before teddy bears could be tossed onto the ice at Fox Valley Ice Arena. Dubuque had built up a 6-0 lead before Cam Briere finally put Chicago on the board. It was the Nebraska-Omaha commit’s eighth goal of the season, and he added another later in the frame to record his second multi-point game. The biggest positive was that 324 stuffed animals will be donated to local charities. The Herd has To Wait Sioux Falls [https://sfstampede.com/]was hoping to punch their ticket to the post-season Friday with a win over the Des Moines Buccaneers [https://bucshockey.com/], but that will have to wait at least another night. The Bucs came away with a 4-3 victory, as 2025 NHL prospect Ben Kevan recorded three assists, while Jack Kernan tallied a goal and two assists. Kernan’s goal was the game-winner and came on a power play in the third period. Des Moines goaltender Max Weilandt made 29 saves on 32 shots to pick up his 12th win of the season. The Stampede jumped ahead 2-0 before Des Moines fought back to tie the game. After Bucs rookie forward Blake Zielinski put his club ahead 3-2 for the only tally of the middle frame, Reid Varkonyi knotted the score for the Herd 3-3 in the third on a shot from the bottom of the left-wing circle at 4:35. Kernan put the game away with his power-play goal at 6:53 to clinch the 4-3 victory for Des Moines.
