By Kolbe Nelson

Terry Broadhurst and the Sioux Falls Stampede found a way to come back from a two-goal deficit and force overtime, but they just couldn’t finish the job. The Herd dropped Game Three of the opening round of the Clark Cup Playoffs to the Lincoln Stars on Tuesday night, four to three. The loss makes Game Four on Friday a must-win for Sioux Falls as they trail two games to one in the best of five series.

“Overall there was some pretty good hockey,” Stampede head coach Kevin Hartzell said. “I’m proud of how we played. I think it was a very good hockey game, they just scored one more than we did.”

Down two to nothing entering the third period the Stampede went to work early to even the score. Three minutes into the period Max Grover scored to cut the lead to one, but the glory would be short-lived for the Herd. Ryan Kretzer would score only a minute later to give Lincoln back the goal they lost.

Sioux Falls would not go quietly though and Broadhurst would make sure of that. The UNO bound forward scored a powerplay goal on the Stars, the number one penalty killing team in the USHL all season long, with three minutes left.

Broadhurst’s heroics didn’t end there. After Sioux Falls pulled goaltender Clay Witt from between the pipes, Broadhurst fired in a rebound to tie the game up and force overtime with just over twenty seconds remaining in regulation as the Arena was swept into pure euphoria.

“We had a lot of energy there,” Broadhurst said. “We worked hard and that kind of play is what its gonna take to get us back into this series. There wasn’t a guy on the bench that gave up, everyone kept working hard.”

The overtime period saw both teams skating with strong intensity, but it would be Lincoln coming out on top with Eric Alexander scoring the winning goal for the Stars.

“I went to go for a wraparound,” Alexander said. “Then I ended up seeing top shelf and I just went nuts, it was crazy.”

“Ninety percent of the goals scored in overtime wind up going in like that one did,” Broadhurst said. “We’re just gonna go back to work, come hungry, and try to win the game on Friday.”

Through the opening period the game had nearly no sense of rhythm with numerous stoppages of play and a delay to repair a broken glass panel. Lincoln found a way to make their offense work despite the sluggish flow of play with Ross Henry scoring the first goal of the game six minutes into the first.

“It’s pretty hard to get out of a hole like that,” Broadhurst said. “We did get out of it, but its important to get that early lead and take the wind out of their sails.

The second and third saw fewer faceoffs, but the game was still a marathon especially with the extra period, clocking in at over three hours.

Lincoln outshot the Stampede 38 to 30 with Anthony Borelli making 27 saves and Witt stopping 34 shots. Witt was key for the Stampede, withstanding a first period in which he saw his team outshot 14 to six.

“He played fine, I’m happy for Clay,” Hartzell said. “He got a win for us [Saturday] and that’s great. I’m really proud of Clay. He played well. I’m sure we’ll turn it back to Eric [Hartzell] in the next one.”

Sioux Falls was one for five on the man advantage while the Stars went scoreless on two powerplay chances.

The Stampede will play on Friday night in the Arena looking to stave off elimination and even the series at two games apiece.

“[The Stampede] are a good team and they’re gonna come out hard,” Alexander said. “We’re not gonna be relaxed and they obviously won’t be either.”