KEARNEY, NE. – The Lancers headed west to the Viaero Center to take on the Tri-City Storm for their fifth and final preseason matchup looking into the 2023-24 season. Omaha headed into this game with their sights on picking up a preseason victory to fuel some momentum heading into the regular season.
 
As the first period kicked off, both offenses came out of the gate slow, with just one shot on goal recorded in the opening four minutes of the game. But following a hooking call to Ryder Nienhuis, the Lancers' penalty kill got things going.
 
At the 4:12 mark of the period, a bouncing puck was kicked to open ice in the Omaha zone. Deputy turned on the jets and went top shelf on Tri-City netminder, Daniel Hèroux. Handing Deputy a shorthanded breakaway goal. Notching his first point of the preseason.
 
The Lancers held that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, as goaltender Croix Kochendorfer shut the door on ten opening period shots.
 
The Lancers improved on all fronts in the second period of play, outshooting the Storm 12-7, bringing the game total to 19-17 in favor of Omaha through 40 minutes.
 
Although the Lancers were in control, the Storm took advantage of a loose puck in the offensive zone as Dallas Vieau cranked a slap shot off the far-side post to lock the game up at one goal apiece.
 
The tie game only lasted two minutes as the Lancers found themselves on a three-on-one odd man rush in the middle of a line change. Tic-tac-toe passing between Will Elger, Gabe Kenne and Jamison Sluys led to Sluys hammering in the go-ahead goal. Tallying his third goal, and fifth point of the preseason. Sending Omaha into the second break with a 2-1 lead.
 
As the game moved into the final period of play, the offense slowed down drastically for both teams as the Lancers led in third period shots, 6-3. Both goaltenders stood tall in the final frame as the Lancers managed to run out the clock and take the 2-1 victory to close out the preseason stretch.
 
Both goalies were solid as Croix Kochendorfer stopped 19 of 20 shots faced for Omaha, giving him a 0.950 save percentage as Daniel Hèroux turned aside 23 of 25, good for a 0.920 save percentage on the night for Tri-City.
 
The Lancers will begin their regular season at the 2023 Fall Classic on Saturday, September 23rd for an 11:30am CST. puck drop with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. That game can be caught on Mixlr and FloSports.