Fighting Saints Steamroll Capitols in Home Opener
November 5, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Dubuque Fighting Saints News Release
Dubuque, IA – If you were getting tired of waiting for the Dubuque Fighting Saints, well, it was probably worth the wait. In their home opener on Friday night in the newly renamed Dubuque Ice Arena, the Fighting Saints throttled the Madison Capitols in a record setting 10-2 victory.
With energy high in the building, the Saints and Capitols played a back and forth first period, but naturally in their home opener the Saints got on the board first. Mikey Burchill threw a puck down behind the net of Madison’s starting goalie, Mason Kucenski, and then floated into a soft spot of the Capitols defensive zone coverage. Ryan St. Louis scooped the puck of the boards and found Burchill in front of the goal for the first on many Fighting Saints goals on opening night.
However the lead didn’t last long. Two quick strikes from Jack Musa and Quinn Finley just 1:09 apart gave Madison a 2-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes.
“We kind of, like their first goal wasn’t great, we turned a puck over and were a little casual and gave them a freebie,” said Saints head coach Kirk MacDonald. “Then something we talked about where [Quinn] Finley is flying down the weekside. But that was something that was preventable.”
The turnaround for the Fighting Saints was nothing short of impressive. Madison was marginally the better team in the first period, but the Saints took over the game at the start of the second period with three goals in the span of a minute and eight seconds. Burchill tied the game with his second of the night 3:59 into the period, Owen Michaels gave the Saints the lead 15 seconds later, then Oliver Moberg pushed the lead to 4-2 with his second of the season.
The good times kept on rolling as the game went along. Jacob Jeannette set up Reeder mid way through the second period, then Theo Wallberg scored his first USHL goal on an absolute rocket of a wrist shot from a tight angle for a 6-2 lead.
“I got a pass from Jeannette, saw that the goalie was cheating a lot at the top,” Wallberg said regarding his first goal. “Had a great lane, big traffic in front of the net, so I ripped one and it went in. Happy to see it.”
It would have been fair to expect the Fighting Saints to put it into cruise control in the third period, but they did no such thing. Goals from Jeannette, Nils Juntorp, Wallberg’s second of the night, and a short handed goal from Max Montes tied a franchise best offensive night for Dubuque with 10 goals.
Paxton Geisel finished the night with 24 saves on 26 Madison shots. Kucenski didn’t make it out of the second period for the Capitols after allowing five goals on 18 shots. Eino Rissanen replaced him and allowed five goals on 15 shots.
“Honestly the game could have been completely different after the first period if it wasn’t for Paxton [Geisel]. He made some huge saves,” MacDondald said. “People look at the scoreboard and think it was a cake walk. We were down 2-1 and gave up 13 shots, and I’d argue they had eight or nine grade ‘A’ chances in the first period.”
“He bailed us out on a few chances. If he doesn’t make those saves early, we probably aren’t in the situation we are now. We’re probably in a pretty bad mood.”
The Fighting Saints went four-for-four on the penalty kill and never had a power play opportunity on Friday night. Nine of their 10 goals came at 5-on-5.
Up Next
The Saints hit the road once again as they head to Youngstown for a pair of games with the Phantoms. Youngstown currently sits in last place in the USHL.
“We’ll get after it Monday, that’s for sure,” said MacDonald. “We’ll get back to work and continue to preach the things that we do well and want to be about. One game doesn’t make a season.”
Dubuque returns home November 18 and 19 vs. the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Tickets can be purchased online.
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