KEARNEY, NEBRASKA (KCAU) – It was win-or-go-home night for the Sioux City Musketeers after falling to Tri-City 6-1 in Game 1 Monday night, but the Muskies’ season and Clark Cup defense came to an end Tuesday night falling to the Storm 5-4 in the USHL Playoff opening round.

The Storm threw the first punch in the first period off a turnover, resulting in an Alex Bump goal for a 1-0 lead. Muskies would respond on the power play, forcing a big scrum in front of the net which slid out to Kaden Shahan who had the equalizer score, followed by a Ben Poitras goal two minutes later for a 2-1 lead.

A pair of Sioux City skaters headed to the penalty box later in the period, Storm capitalized on the advantage. Evan Werner struck gold on a short side goal to knot it at 2-2 after one period.

Following goals from Trevor Connelly and Dane Dowiak in the first 10 minutes of the second period, Sioux City pulled goalie Croix Kochendorfer from the net subbing in Axel Mangbo.

But all wasn’t lost for the Muskies yet. Ben Doran buried a goal with a minute remaining in the period to make it a one-score game, while captain Grant Slukynsky notched the game-tying score with 12 minutes left in the third period.

Storm would get the last laugh with under five minutes to play. Keiran Cebrian won a draw that’d get him in position to tip home the slap shot from the point, giving Tri-City the 5-4 lead and the eventual game-winning goal thus eliminating the Muskies’ hopes of back-to-back Clark Cup titles.

A valiant comeback til the very end. Sioux City ends the 2022-23 season at 29-30-5.