OMAHA (4-14-0-1, 9 PTS) @ LINCOLN (8-8-0-0, 16 PTS) Friday, Nov. 14 7:05 P.M. CST
vs. SIOUX CITY (6-10-1-0, 13 PTS) Saturday, Nov. 15 6:05 P.M. CST
Lancers Seek To Knock The Shine Out Of The Stars: The Lincoln Stars enter Friday night's matchup with 17 first-period goals, good for fourth-most in the USHL… The Lancers are 56-46-7-3 all-time at the Ice Box in regular-season play… The Lancers and the Stars have gone to overtime 38 times in the regular season with 23 of those occuring at the Ice Box… The I-80 Rivals' only other matchup this season was a 2-1 Lincoln overtime victory Nov. 1 at Liberty First Credit Union Arena... In addition to their first-period firepower, the Stars have also done an excellent job preventing goals in the final 20 minutes... Lincoln has only given up 13 goals in third-period action, a figure that is tied for second best in the USHL… The Stars are coming off a wild third-period comeback last Saturday when they entered the third period trailing Fargo, 3-1, before rallying to outscore the Force, 6-1, in the final 20 minutes to cap off a weekend sweep... Lincoln enters the weekend tied for fourth place in the Western Conference...
Musketeers Come To Town For Military Appreciation Night: The Lancers and Musketeers will meet for the 252nd time in the regular season dating back to 1986 (the Lancers' inaugural year)… The Lancers have an all-time regular-season record of 134-90-20-7 against the Musketeers… Omaha will hope to defeat Sioux City on home ice for the first time since December 16, 2022… Last season the Musketeers swept the season series against the Lancers, marking the first time since the 1987-88 campaign, the Lancers second season in the USHL… No team in the USHL has gone to overtime more in regular-season play against the Lancers than the Musketeers with 50 matchups requiring extra-time… Sioux City is coming off a pair of defeats last weekend, falling to Dubuque by a combined score of 13-7 to stretch its losing skid to three games... The Musketeers enter this weekend sixth in the Western Conference and host Sioux Falls Friday night before coming to Omaha Saturday...
Pucks On Net: The Lancers recorded a season-high 38 shots on goal in last Saturday's 3-0 loss to the Chicago Steel... Omaha was shut out for the first time this season despite the season-high total... Lefty Markonidis (6), Branko Vukas (5) and Cam Caron (5) led all players in shots... Last Saturday snapped a stretch of four straight games in which the Lancers were outshot by their opponent... It was also their third time recording 30-or-more shots and their third time outshooting an opponent... Omaha enters this weekend second-to-last in the USHL in shots for per game (23.95) and last in the USHL in shots against per game (31.95)...
Penalty Kill Improvements: The Lancers have not allowed a power-play goal over their last three games after surrendering at least one in eight of the last nine games... Omaha went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill in both games last weekend and has killed of each of its last eight shorthanded situations... The Lancers' penalty kill is 14th in the USHL at 72.2-percent...
Lancers To Watch: Forward Lefty Markonidis will be back in familiar territory Friday night at the Ice Box when he faces off against his former team for the second time this season… Markonidis was held scoreless in the first meeting with Lincoln but the Union College commit has since registered a goal and an assist on top of racking up 11 shots on goal over the past three games… George Lovell will also be facing off against his former club on Saturday night… Lovell skated in just five games for the Musketeers before being traded to the Lancers Oct. 22…
Stars To Watch: Josh Polak has found his groove in Lincoln over the last few weeks… After being held scoreless in his first eight games, the future UMD Bulldog has recorded at least one point in five-of-his-last-six games… One of those points came on a primary helper on Lincoln's first tally against Omaha Nov. 1… Alex Pelletier has remained red-hot this season as he has only been held without a point in two of his 16 games played… The Granby, Conn. native had a stellar weekend against the Fargo Force with 7 points (3+4) last week… Pelletier leads the USHL with 25 points and 16 goals... The last time that a Star led the USHL in points and goals occurred in the same season when Kevin Roy scored 54 goals and recorded 104 points in the 2011-12 campaign...
Musketeers To Watch: Defenseman Shayne Gould has scored 5-of-9 goals by Sioux City defensemen… Forward Trey Jefferis has netted 5 goals in his career against Omaha… The Northeastern commit is currently third on his team in scoring with 14 points (9+5) through 15 games played…
Arena Facts: Ice Box: Location: Lincoln, Nebraska. Year Opened: 1951 (Renovated in 1996). Capacity: 4,212.
