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Sioux City Knocks off Sioux Falls 4-1 Wednesday Night

By Tony Scott, 10/16/14, 7:00AM CDT

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Edina's Kieffer Bellows scores for Sioux Falls


Kieffer Bellows knocks in the lone Sioux Falls goal Wednesday Night

Twelve Minnesota Kids at the Next Level hit the Ice in South Dakota

YHH took in it's first USHL game and likely not it's last. We traveled to Sioux Falls to watch the Stampede take on the Sioux City Musketeers at the brand new Denny Sanford Premier Center. The facility is a state of the art arena that has nearly 11,000 seats for its fans. Besides a fantastic venue, the talent pool of big, strong and fast players was second to none. Combined there were 12 players rostered on these two teams from Minnesota (8 Sioux Falls and 4 Sioux City). Prominent names included three Edina players who won a state championship last Winter for the Hornets, Kieffer Bellows (Sioux Falls), Tyler Nanne (Sioux Falls) and Ryan Zuhlsdorf. All three are committed to high end Division I schools - Zuhlsdorf/Minnesota, Nanne/Ohio State, and Bellows/Boston University. Others that stood out from the Land of 10,000 Great Hockey Players were UMD recruits Adam Johnson (Hibbing) and Neal Pionk (Hermantown), plus Goalie Collin Olson (Apple Valley, Carolina Draft Pick).

Game Recap

Wednesday's game was a tight checking affair with only two goals scored in the first two periods. First, Sioux City's Sam Kurker converted on a rebound of a Jake Durflinger breakaway attempt at 5:47 into the first period. Olson made some big saves for the Musketeers who lead 1-0 after 1.

In the second period, teams traded eight penalties and zero power play goals. Halfway through the period, Alex Rodriguez threaded the needle top shelf past Stefanos Lekkas to give the Musketeers a 2-0 lead after two. Olson, who left Ohio State last season for more playing time in the USHL was the story turning away 32 of 32 shots in the first two periods.

In the third period, Sioux Falls kept the pressure on Sioux City but could not solve Olson until Will Graber found Kieffer Bellows wide open in front of the net and he buried it to cut the lead to 2-1. The Stampede would put on a major charge after the goal, including a few great power play chances. Olson stood tall and kept the score 2-1. Late in the game, Hibbing' s Adam Johnson got loose and beat Lekkas to ice the game. A few minutes later, Robert Carpenter added an Empty Net Goal to win the game for Sioux City 4-1.

Should I Stay or Should I go?

During our preparation for the game, we found that our readers wanted to know what the status of Edina's Kieffer Bellows and Ryan Zuhlsdorf will be this season for the Hornets.  Will they stay in the USHL or will they go back to high school to help the Green and White to a third straight state championship.

We caught up to the coaches of both teams to see if they had a feeling if these two top kids will be playing Before/After (play in the USHL in the Fall and Spring as High School Juniors and compete for Edina in the Winter. 

Sioux City coaches said they loved Zuhlsdorf. They feel say the future Gopher is one of their top Defensmen and is getting better every week for the Musketeers. The Sioux Falls staff loves Kieffer's game. They say he has all of the physical tools to have a great season this year for the Stampede. After six games he has two goals, including one Wednesday night. 

The Call: YHH would guess Zuhlsdorf will return to Edina this Winter and Bellows will stay in Sioux Falls for the full season.


Hibbing's Adam Johnson scores to ice the game for Sioux City

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