The shots kept coming from the Muskegon Lumberjacks Friday night as they peppered Mikhail Berdin with 60-shots. However, the Sioux Falls Stampede goalie stood tall, stopping all but one of those shots to lead the Stampede to the 2-1 victory. The 59-saves set a franchise record and moved the goalie to 4-5-1 on the season.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks took control of the first period, peppering Berdin with 21-shots, but it would be the Stampede that would leave the frame with the 1-0 lead despite being outshot by 12. Lean Bergman gained control of the puck and passed to Will Garin who was in the slot. He made a nice move before firing a shot that went over the shoulder of Keith Petruzzelli and into the net to make it 1-0 at 5:42 of the period.

That awoke the Lumberjacks, who took control of the game. They had several great scoring opportunities, but Berdin made save after save.

Into the second period Muskegon continued to take control of the game. They would outshoot the Stampede 19-5 in the frame as Berdin, once again, had to make one brilliant save after another. The biggest of these came about halfway through the period when the Lumberjacks had a 3-on-0 break but the Sioux Falls goalie made an absolutely incredible pad save to deny Muskegon and keep his team on top by a goal.

Early in the third period, the constant pressure would finally pay off. At the 2:25 mark, Logan Drevitch carried the puck into the Sioux Falls end and fired a wrist shot that Berdin could not get his glove on. The shot went into the net to tie the score at one.

The game would stay tied for the next 11 minutes. Muskegon continued to put the pressure on, taking what seemed like shot after shot, but the Stampede goalie was not going to allow another one to get by him. At the 13:31 mark, Sioux Falls retook the lead. Garin carried the puck into the Lumberjacks end with Jack St. Ivany and Bergman following on the play. He passed to St. Ivany, who fired on Pertuzzelli. The Muskegon goalie made the save but the rebound rolled right to Bergmann who fired a quick wrist shot for his second goal of the season.

Trailing 2-1, the Lumberjacks pulled their goalie with a little over a minute left, but they were not going to get the equalizer against Berdin. His 59-saves broke the record of 57 first set by Zach Sikich during the 1999-00 season and tied by Craig Vardy in 2003-04.

Bergmann finished with a goal and an assist for the Sioux Falls Stampede (4-5-0-1). Garin also had a goal and an assist.

The Sioux Falls Stampede will take on the Muskegon Lumberjacks again Saturday night. The opening puck will drop at 6:15.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier