Three road games in three days translates into one tough weekend for the Omaha
Lancers.
Omaha (11-5-3) plays at Tri-City tonight, at Sioux Falls on Saturday night and at Des Moines
on Sunday night. The Lancers will return to Omaha after each game in an attempt to get some quality sleep in their
own beds.
"This is one of the most difficult road weekends I can remember," Omaha Coach Mike Hastings said. "I'm guessing
this is one of the toughest weekends for any league team this season."
Few would disagree with Hastings. Playing three on the road in three days is tough enough, but the quality of
competition also adds to the degree of difficulty.
Tri-City (Kearney, Hastings, Grand Island) is 1-1 against the Lancers this season. The Storm defeated Omaha 4-3
on Nov. 12 but will be seeking to avenge a 7-2 home loss suffered against the Lancers nine days ago.
Sioux Falls has the best record in the 12-team United States Hockey League at 17-2-1. The Stampede is especially
tough at home, where the team has won a league-record 22 straight.
Des Moines, which enters this weekend one point ahead of the fourth-place Lancers, is still smarting from a 10-2
drubbing in Omaha last Saturday night. It was the worst loss of the season for the Buccaneers, traditionally one of
the toughest teams in the league.
Hastings said the Lancers will try to employ the same strategy they used while winning three games last week.
This week's schedule begins with tonight's 7:05 game in Kearney against the Storm.
"Not to sound cliche, but we really played them one at a time last week," he said. "We need to zero in on the first
period against Tri-City and go on from there."
Omaha began its three-game win streak with a dominating performance against the Storm. The Lancers, who are
11-0-1 in games in which they scored first, raced to a three-goal lead against Tri-City and never looked back.
Omaha's top scorers are forwards Riley Riddell and Dan Welch, who are tied for sixth in the USHL in scoring with
24 points apiece. Riddell has 14 goals and 10 assists and Welch has 13 goals and 11 assists.
"We've had a really good week of practice," Hastings said. "We'll see what that means this weekend."
