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Eric Freschi got the first period off to a quick start as he glided in front of Cedar Rapids goaltender Jake Hildebrand, and scored to give the Fighting Saints the early 1-0 lead. While there were plenty of other chances throughout the first frame for the offense, the Dubuque defense stole the spotlight. The Fighting Saints didn't allow Cedar Rapids to get a shot on goal for the first 16 minutes of the game, keeping the heat off of Matt Morris.

The second period saw the Saints and Riders exchange chances, but it was the Fighting Saints who padded their lead. Milos Bubela created a turnover in the offensive zone, executed a give-and-go with TJ Moor, and sent a shot to the top shelf right past Hildebrand, allowing the Saints to take the 2-0 lead into the third period.

The Saints had no problem coasting to the win, and even added another tally for good measure. Shane Sooth, skating in the right corner, saw Mike Downing come driving through the slot. Sooth sent the puck to Downing, who used the momentum of his skating to put the puck past Hildebrand.

Matt Morris stopped 21 shots for a shutout in front of the enthusiastic crowd on Jimmy Buffett night in Dubuque. Hildebrand stopped 37 of the 40 shots that he faced.

The Fighting Saints will host the Muskegon Lumberjacks next Friday night. The team will then travel to Waterloo on Saturday to play the Black Hawks.

Waterloo grabbed the game's first goal and the only goal of the opening period when A.J. Michaelson broke in on the left wing before snapping home his fifth goal of the season. Mike Huntebrinker earned the only assist on the even strength marker notched 4:04 into the first period.

The Black Hawks doubled their lead less than two minutes into the second period when Mattias Cleland launched a left point shot through traffic and past Lancers goaltender Alex Lyon for his first career USHL goal. Taylor Cammarata and Ryan Papa assisted on the even strength goal scored 1:51 into the middle stanza. Omaha sliced the lead in half less than three minutes later when Nolan Zajac lifted a centering pass from behind the net into the slot where Tanner Lane punched in his sixth goal of the season. Anthony Hamburg earned the secondary assist on the five-on-five goal netted 4:46 into period two. Waterloo reestablished its two-goal lead a little over five minutes later when, while on the power play, Scott MacDonald set up Papa for his 11th goal of the year. Mitch Witek garnered the secondary assist on Waterloo's 24th man-advantage marker this season and second in the season series with the Lancers.

Waterloo earned its largest lead of the night 4:05 into the third period when Aaron Pearce pounced on a rebound atop the Lancers goal crease before sending in his ninth goal of the season. MacDonald and Tony Cameranesi assisted on the final dent to the score sheet by the Black Hawks. The Lancers found the scoreboard again 17:10 into the final period of regulation when Casey Bailey poured in his team-leading 19th goal of the season but it was too little too late for Omaha. Jimmy Murray and Greg Gozzo assisted on the man-advantage marker by Bailey, which extended both Murray and Gozzo's point streaks to seven consecutive games.

Williams, who was acquired in a trade with the Sioux Falls Stampede on February 2, earned his first victory since joining the Black Hawks after 34 saves on 36 shots. Williams is now 1-1-1 with Waterloo and 7-10-3 overall this season. Meanwhile, Lyon suffered the loss for the Lancers after 26 saves on 30 Waterloo shots. The loss was Lyon's first in regulation over his last nine decisions and moved the netminder's overall mark on the year to 18-9-3.

The Rangers were quick out of the gate with a goal in the opening minute of the contest. Michael Catenacci stripped Colin MacDonald of the puck and fired a shot past Matt Mahalak. The captain's 21st of the season was unassisted and extends his point scoring streak to 11 games.

Fellow overager Cody Sol extended Kitchener's lead to two, jumping on a short-handed rush, taking a pass from Tobias Rieder and snapping the puck through the legs of Mahalak. The goal was the veteran blueliner's nineteenth of the season and the Rangers' 16th short-handed goal of the year.

The Rangers added a third goal with just 62 seconds left in the frame. Catenacci set things up with a backhand pass that ended on the stick of Ben Thomson, who slid it past Mahalak for his second in as many games. The third-year power forward has nine goals this season. Rieder picked up his second point of the evening on the play, stretching his recent point streak to 12 consecutive games.

Rangers netminder Jack Moylan made his first career start Saturday and stopped all eight shots he faced in the opening period. Plymouth made a goaltending change in the intermission, sending Scott Wedgewood out to start the second after Mahalak allowed three goals on eight shots.

The Whalers took charge in the middle frame. Alex Aleardi got his team on the board, taking advantage of an open shooting lane and firing high blocker-side over the shoulder of Moylan. The former Ranger leads Plymouth with 28 goals this season. Assisting on the play were J.T Miller and Beau Schmitz.

Six minutes later, rookie Danny Vanderwiel cut the Rangers' lead to one with his third goal in two games. Michael Whaley and Jamie Devane picked up the assists on the freshman's fourth of the year.

Team scoring leader Stefan Noesen completed the comeback with five minutes remaining in the period. Aleardi carried the puck into the Rangers' zone with speed and connected with the third-year winger, who fired his 23rd of the season past Moylan. Rickard Rakell was also credited with a helper on the play.

Plymouth added one more before the end of the frame. MacDonald launched a long shot that was redirected in the slot by J.T Miller. The first-year centre's 21st of the year came with just 48 seconds remaining in the period. Dario Trutmann also assisted on the play.

The Whalers out-shot the Rangers 16-15 in the second.

Blueliner Ryan Murphy evened the score at 4-all with an unassisted effort at the eight minute mark of the final period. The veteran Ranger carried the puck end-to-end and potted his ninth of the year and fourth point in three games. Murphy has points in 11 of the club's last 12 games and was recognized this week as the OHL's top defenseman for the month of January.

Back-to-back goals from Andrew Crescenzi put the Rangers ahead by two. First the third year centre picked up the puck in the corner, drove towards the net and beat Wedgewood for his 16th of the season. Eric Ming picked up his second point of the weekend with an assist on the play.

Then less than one minute later, with the Rangers on the power play, Crescenzi struck again. The play began with Murphy holding the puck in at the blueline and quickly moving it ahead to Rieder. The German winger forwarded it to Catenacci, who found Crescenzi alone at the open side of the net. Catenacci has recorded 10 points in his last three outings and set a new personal best with 53 this season.

The Whalers cut the lead to one with seven minutes to play. Moylan made the save on Garrett Meurs, but Noesen tracked down the puck and tapped it in for his second of the night.

The Rangers led shots-on-goal 21-14 in the final period of play, finishing with a 44-38 overall advantage. Moylan made 33 saves in his first career win.

The victory was Kitchener's first of the season over the Whalers. Plymouth leads the season series 2-1.

With their third straight win, the Rangers improve their record to 36-15-1-0 and pull even with Plymouth for second place in the Western Conference. The Whalers fall to 35-15-2-1.

The Dogs defeated the Prince Edward Island Rocket 5-0 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Saturday, with two players establishing new career marks. Mathieu Corbeil made 22 saves to set a new team record with his 43rd career win, surpassing Robert Mayer. Corbeil also extended his shutout total to six, another franchise best. Meanwhile, Nathan Beaulieu became the all-time leading scorer among Sea Dogs defencemen with two assists, giving him 136 career points.

Jonathan Huberdeau had a hat-trick and added an assist, with Charlie Coyle and Danick Gauthier chipping in singles for the Sea Dogs. Tomas Jurco racked up four assists as Saint John improved to 38-13-0-2. The Sea Dogs also welcomed Stanislav Galiev back to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 1, 2011. The Russian registered two shots and three hits in his return from wrist surgery.

The Rocket fell to 17-33-2-2 with Maxime Legace making 25 saves in the loss.

Click HERE to view a complete scoresheet from Saturday's game. For interviews and highlights, visit Sea Dogs TV, the team's official YouTube channel .

Huberdeau wasted little time opening the scoring, poking the puck across the line from Lagace's left at 4:12 of the first. Jurco, who started the play with a dump-in, and Kevin Gagne notched the assists.

Coyle made it 2-0 with his first QMJHL shorthanded goal on a beautiful feed from Jurco at 14:32. Jurco took a pass out of the zone from Beaulieu, broke in 2-on-1 with Coyle and held just long enough to open the net for the big American forward, who converted from the right wing for his seventh goal. Beaulieu's helper was the 135th point of his career, one more than Simon Despres.

Grant West and Alex Gallant dropped the gloves in a spirited fight, with the edge going West's way at 15:36. The Sea Dogs outshot the Rocket 16-5 in the first.

Huberdeau notched his second goal of the game at 12:14 of the middle frame on a quick pass from Zack Phillips with the two-man advantage to make it 3-0 Sea Dogs. Beaulieu poked the puck away from a defender, and Phillips sent it across to Huberdeau, who was waiting with an open cage at the right-wing faceoff circle.

Maxime Villemaire, the newest Sea Dog, dropped the gloves with Olivier Croteau for the second bout of the night and his first as a Dog at 13:56. The Dogs continued to pound Lagace with shots during during the frame, holding a 25-9 edge at the end of the second.

Huberdeau added an insurance marker, his 16th goal of the season, at 1:42 of the final frame. Jurco set up the hat-trick with his third assist of the game. The offensive onslaught continued despite PEI's 13-7 edge in shots in the period. With the Huberdeau-Jurco-Gauthier connection working beautifully, Jurco made a play at the blueline to keep the puck in play and fed Huberdeau the puck. A beautiful spin pass set up Gauthier for his first at 17:38 of the third. Jurco's assist on the play made it four on the night, and Huberdeau notched his fourth point of the game.