Green Bay, WI (Stampede) – The Sioux Falls Stampede bounced back in dominant fashion with a 9-2 win over the Green Bay Gamblers. Reid Varkonyi led the way with his first career USHL hat trick, while Ethan Wyttenbach returned to the scoresheet for the first time since coming back from injury. Goaltender Waylon Esche made another stellar start between the pipes, making 26 saves and stopping a penalty shot.
The Stampede came out flying in the first period. Green Bay struck first with a fluky goal that bounced off the end boards, deflecting off Esche’s skate and into the net. Just two minutes later, Sioux Falls went on their first penalty kill after Matthew Grimes was called for tripping. The Herd not only killed off the penalty but capitalized moments later. Defenseman Alex Rybakov banked a pass off the boards that Ethan Wyttenbach picked up before feeding Reid Varkonyi, who ripped it top shelf to tie the game. Less than two minutes later, Ben Wilmott buried a rebound from a Brent Solomon shot to give the Stampede their first lead of the night.
Roughly 40 seconds later, Sioux Falls drew their first power play of the night when David Green was called for high sticking, but they came up empty. Another Green Bay penalty at 14:01 gave the Herd another opportunity. Although they couldn’t score on the power play, Gennadi Chaly fired a shot from the right point just as the penalty expired to make it 3-1. Ritter Coombs picked up the assist. The Stampede earned one more power play late in the period after Egor Shilov was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the 42 seconds of man advantage expired without another goal. Sioux Falls ended the period up 3-1 and outshot Green Bay 20-4…