The Waterloo Black Hawks scored two power play goals to help defeat the Lincoln Stars at Young Arena on Friday, December 29, 2017.

Solag Bakich broke a 2-2 tie, knocking in a close range opportunity, low to the stick side of goalie Tomas Vomacka at 8:12. Back to the power play again during a subsequent shift, Jack Drury came out of the right corner to redirect a Hank Sorensen blast at 9:16.

The two-goal margin stood until Dominick Mersch flipped in his own rebound with 2:57 to play. Less than a minute later, the Stars thought they had tied the score, but a review confirmed the call on the ice that the puck had been batted into the Waterloo net by a Star players’ glove.

In the first period, both teams had recorded a goal in the opening five minutes of action. Ethan Johnson struck at 3:20, capitalizing on a close-range transition opportunity created by Ian Malcolmson and Evan Dougherty. Lincoln answered just 1:37 later when an errant shot caromed to Wyatt Aamodt; the defenseman was in a shooting position and found the net from below the dot in the right circle.

The teams exchanged goals again in the second period. Waterloo retook the lead at 12:03 when Bakich found the disc behind the Lincoln net and centered for Ben Copeland, who scored into an open side. That lead lasted a little more than three minutes until 15:07 when Devlin McCabe retied the matchup during a power play. McCabe’s goal from a sharp angle at the bottom of the left circle resulted from Lincoln puck movement around the perimeter.

Waterloo concludes the calendar year Sunday versus the Des Moines Buccaneers for a 6:05 p.m. New Year’s Eve home game. For tickets, call the Black Hawks Box Office or visit waterlooblackhawks.com.

Contributed By: Tim Harwood (Waterloo Black Hawks Media Relations)

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