Fargo Force Week Thirteen Recap

The Fargo Force continued playing away from the friendly confines of Scheels Arena as winter weather prevented the Force’s return to the metro area.  The Force were able to brave the elements and make the trip to Sioux Falls to take on the Stampede at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center on December 17th. Saturday’s matchup with the Stampede was the fifth meeting between the two teams.

The Force would strike first as Camden Shasby got his first goal of the season at 15:38 in the opening period. Fargo would extend the lead to 2-0 on a power play goal by Ty Henricks, his third goal of the season at 14:08 of the second period.  The Stampede would answer that goal approximately two and a half minutes later on a goal by Nick Ring. However, just 31 seconds later the lead would return to two as Kyle Smolen scored his seventh goal of the year. The Stampede were able to hold the Force scoreless in the third period to give themselves a chance to get closer. At 9:17 of the third period Nick Ring got his second goal of the season to cut the lead in half. Then at 11:45 Clint Levens scored to tie the game and force the overtime period. Neither team had many opportunities in overtime as the Force only managed one shot on goal. The quality goaltending continued into the shootout as both goalies stopped the three shooters from each team, meaning the first team to get a score and a subsequent stop would earn the extra point in the standings. The 4th shooters were each denied, which set up the fifth round of shooters, Kyle Smolen who had already scored for the Force, and Chris Pelosi for the Stampede. Smolen strode to the goal and got one past the Stampede goalie giving the Force the lea., Force goalie Anton Castro who faced almost half as many shots as the Stampede goalie, denied Pelosi’s shot, and gave the Force the win! 

The Force only played one of two scheduled games but remain ahead of Lincoln by four points and remain the top team in the Western Conference.  The Force are now 16-5-0-3 (35 points) which is good for the best record in the Western Conference and second best in the USHL. The Force return to the ice on December 29th with a three-game home series versus the Des Moines Buccaneers (11-9-3-2 27 points), hosting additional games on December 30th and 31st.