Black Hawks Drop Pre-Season Game to Madison

Waterloo lost a high-scoring affair Sunday afternoon as the Madison Capitals capitalized on the home team's mistakes and out-scored the Black Hawks 7-5. The loss follows a 6-2 defeat to Omaha on Friday, where Waterloo gave up four un-answered third-period goals.

Trailing by a goal and with an extra attacker on the ice, Ondrej Psenicka came off the bench, on a change following an extended sequence in the Capitols’ zone six-on-five. Psenicka took a hand-off from Aaron Bohlinger and cut through the left circle, lifting his shot to the top corner at 18:58. However, William Margel notched his second of the game to win it for Madison with 18.8 seconds remaining. A pass from beside the net slipped past several sticks to the top of the crease where Margel was waiting to flip it between the pipes. Ricky Lyle added an empty-net goal from center ice to set the final at 19:55.

Cole Kodsi opened the scoring for the Capitols at 13:54 of the first, and Madison had an opportunity to build on the lead with a power play beginning just seconds after play restarted. However, the Black Hawks capitalized on a shorthanded two-on-one rush to tie it instead. Wyatt Schingoethe’s pass across the slot connected with Keighan Gerrie, who banked his shot into the net off the leg of goalie Simon Latockzy at 15:29.

Waterloo continued to produce on special teams early in the second period. Six seconds into a power play, Griffin Ness brought the puck out of the left corner, slipping a pass across the top of the crease for Xander Lamppa to push in at 3:06.

Kodsi’s second of the game came during a power play for Madison and tipped the score back even. Positioned right of the net, a pass from Skylar Guttierez found Kodsi to tie the score at 12:53. Verners Egle added an immediate go-ahead tally, snapping in a shot from the right circle just 25 seconds later. The Capitols continued to generate high-quality chances and build the lead at 13:59 when Margel went to the net to score in transition.

The high-flying period continued to produce goals at 14:25. That’s when Ness feathered a pass to Ryder Rolston, who dodged a couple of defenders to rifle in a Black Hawks goal from inside the right faceoff dot. That pushed the score to 4-3 in Madison’s favor as the game went to intermission.

The Caps re-established a two-goal lead at 3:21 of the third. A slow-developing play at the blue line allowed defenseman Branden Suter to join the rush and lift in a shot from the right hashmark. Latockzy stopped Ness from pointblank range to keep Madison ahead by two just seconds later.

By 7:36, the Black Hawks were back within one again. Connor Caponi’s wraparound try was denied, but Ryan Drkulec stuffed in his chance at the opposite post.

The Black Hawks and Capitols meet again for another exhibition game on Tuesday in Madison. The team returns to Young Arena this Friday night, September 20th for a pre-season match-up with Cedar Rapids (early game time of 6:05pm!) and then finish the exhibition season at Cedar Rapids on Saturday, September 21st.

For more information and to purchase tickets call the box office at 319-232-3444 or go to: waterlooblackhawks.com/tickets