Men's Ice Hockey 10/31/2026 9:09:00 PM Calvin Bush

Penalties Doom Chicago in 4-1 Loss to Tri-City

Bumgarner scores lone Steel goal

KEARNEY, NE — Despite scoring first and holding a lead after one period, the Steel were penalized six times in the final two periods and allowed four unanswered goals as the Tri-City Storm (10-3-0-0, 20 pts.) downed Chicago (5-4-1-1, 12 pts.) 4-1 Saturday night at Vee Center.

Cole Bumgarner scored his fifth goal on the power play for Chicago's only tally of the night. Chase Pastor made his first USHL start in net and stopped 18 shots.

The Steel have now dropped all four of their road games this season and have allowed at least four goals while failing to score more than two goals in each. They went shorthanded nine times in this weekend's pair of games.

Chicago went to the game's first power play just before the halfway point of the first period. For just the third time in 11 games this season, the Steel scored the game's first goal when Bumgarner fired over the left shoulder of Storm goaltender Ryan Denes with a wicked snipe as the penalty expired to put Chicago ahead 1-0.

Camillo Milani nearly gave the Steel a two-goal lead when he ripped a shot off the crossbar with 2:30 left in the first period.

The Steel took the 1-0 lead and a 13-5 shots advantage into the second period.

The second period was mostly quiet, with the Steel controlling the tempo for most of the first half including a chance near the crease for Easton Pace on an errant Storm pass that was broken up.

Chicago was penalized twice in 28 seconds just after the halfway point to give the Storm a 5-on-3 power play.

The Steel were four seconds away from killing the first part of Tri-City's advantage but a snapshot from just outside the circles by Aleksandr Sokolov beat Pastor five-hole and tied the game at 1-1.

Shots still favored the Steel 18-12 after two periods.

For the second time in the game, Chicago took consecutive penalties to give the Storm an abbreviated 5-on-3 advantage early in the third period, but the Steel turned it around on this kill and kept the game tied.

Tri-City took its first lead of the night at 7:22 when a wild puck in the slot bounced off Dylan Krayer and in to make it 2-1.

The penalties continued for Chicago as they went to the kill for the sixth time of the night at 13:42. Joseph Hyten deflected a Krayer point shot for a goal one minute into the power play that gave the Storm a 3-1 lead.

A Storm penalty at 16:13 gave the Steel one final chance to get back in the game. Chicago brought on an extra attacker for the power play, but Nathan Garski scored on the empty net to put the game on ice.

The Steel will return to USG Arena on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7 for a two-game series against the Des Moines Buccaneers. Saturday's matchup will feature the 7^th Annual Turtle Races courtesy of Big Joe's 2 & 6 Pub.

Single-game, group, and premium seating tickets for the 2026-2027 season are on sale now. Season tickets plans are also available starting at just 5 games.

For more information, call 855-51-STEEL or visit ChicagoSteelHockeyTeam.com.

Chicago Steel Upcoming Schedule:
Friday, November 6 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers (7:00 pm CT) | Friday Faceoff
Saturday, November 7 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers (6:00 pm CT) 7^th Annual Turtle Races Courtesy of Big Joe's 2 & 6 Pub
Wednesday, November 11 at Green Bay Gamblers (7:05 pm CT)

###

Print Friendly Version