Second-year forward Mac Swanson’s goal in overtime lifted the host Force to a 5-4 victory Saturday. 
Fargo, which remains undefeated for 2023-24 with the win and now has a 4-0-0-0 mark, held 2-1 and 4-2 leads in the game, but the Musketeers would not go away. Jake Fisher and Iiro Hakkarainen scored first-period goals for the Force to offset a game-opening goal from Sioux City forward Colby Saganiuk.
The two teams traded second-period tallies with Sioux City’s Kaden Shahan and Fargo’s Lee Parks finding the back of the net and when Leo Gruba scored an unassisted goal at 5:08 of the third, Fargo held a 4-2 advantage. Ren Morque brought the Musketeers within one at 15:15 and Saganiuk’s second goal of the game at the 18-minute mark sent the game into overtime.
Swanson, a member of the 2022-23 USHL All-Rookie Team, ended the game at 3:01 of overtime, firing the puck past Sam Urban after taking a pass from Brasen Boser. Urban had 27 saves in the contest and Fargo’s Hunter Slukynsky topped 16 shots to get the decision.
Dubuque 4, Green Bay 3
Box Score
Gavin Cornforth tallied the game-winning goal and added an assist for a two-point game in helping lift Dubuque to a 4-3 in over Green Bay Saturday night.
A goal at the 14:17 mark of the first by Juraj Pekarcik and another by Michael Barron at 4:13 of the second gave the Fighting Saints a 2-0 lead. The Gamblers got their first of the game at 8:14 of the third when Ben Poitras scored his second goal of the season. Dubuque forward Erik Pahlsson’s fifth goal of the year made it a two-goal lead once again, but Luke Baker responded just over a minute later to bring Green Bay within one. Cornforth got his fifth goal of the year at 12:26 in making it 4-2 and James Duerr responded at 14:46 for Green Bay for the final goal of the game.
Kevin Reidler stopped 31 of 34 shots in upping his record to 3-0-1-1 for the season. While Adam Gajan was credited with 27 saves for the Gamblers.
Madison 6, Lincoln 1
Box Score
Lincoln scored first, but Madison got the next six goals as the Capitols remained unbeaten for the 2023-24 campaign.
Jack Pechar’s power play marker at 15:20 of the opening period gave the Stars a 1-0 lead and when Max Nagel tallied at 18:33, the score stood 1-1 at the end of one.
The Capitols got an early second-period goal from Finn Brink while on the power play to go ahead 2-1 and after William Felicio and Brendan Lamb also found the back of the net, Madison held a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Felicio and Nagel both got their second goals of the game in the third period as Madison closed out the 6-1 win.
Patrick Berzins stymied the Caps by making 45 saves in the contest, while Lucas Massie finished with 26 stops for the Stars.
Cedar Rapids 5, Omaha 1
Box Score
The visiting RoughRiders jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and got goals from five different players in cruising to a 5-1 win at Omaha.
Cade Littler, Landan Resendes, Niko Tournas, Caleb Mahar and Riley Bassen gave Cedar Rapids a 5-0 lead after the first two periods. David Deputy spoiled Rudy Guimond’s shut-out bid when he scored Omaha’s lone goal at 14:23 of the third.
Guimond finished with 19 saves and Eric Olsson stopped 30 shots for Omaha.
Sioux Falls 7, Waterloo 4
Box Score
Tyler Borgula scored twice and added an assist in helping lead Sioux Falls to a 7-4 home victory over Waterloo.
The Stampede and the Black Hawks took turns scoring in the opening period and after the first 20 minutes, Sioux Falls held a 3-2 lead. Borgula had two of the goals for Sioux Falls and Matthew Grimes had the other. Gavin Lindberg and John Mustard scored for Waterloo.
Chris Pelosi and John McNelis scored within the first three and half minutes of the second period as the Stampede built a 5-2 advantage. Waterloo continued to battle with Mustard and Carson Reed scoring before the end of the period in cutting the deficit to one.
J.J. Wiebusch and Alexander Rybakov scored at 10:51 and 19:03 as Sioux Falls pulled away in the third period.
Stampede netminder Caleb Heil turned aside 27 shots to get the win, while Niko Goich and Calvin Vachon combined for 27 saves for the Black Hawks.
Youngstown 4, Des Moines 1
Box Score
Andrew Strathman, Michael Burchill and Ryan Botterill all had a goal and an assist and Charlie Cerrato chipped in with two helpers as Youngstown picked up a 4-1 home win over Des Moines.
Botterill opened the scoring at 12:58 of the first period, but when Braden Rourke scored for Des Moines at 18:20, the score stood 1-1 at the end of one.
Strathman got his second goal of the season at 4:12 of the second and third period goals from Burchill and Adam Pietila sealed the victory for the defending Clark Cup champions.
Owen Bartoszkiewicz stopped 25 of 26 shots in getting the win for the Phantoms. Jonathan Reinholdt had 15 saves for the visiting Buccaneers.
Muskegon 8, Chicago 2
Box Score
Muskegon now stands 4-1-0-0 on the season after downing Chicago 8-2 Saturday.
The visiting Steel trailed by a goal after 40 minutes of action, but were unable to match the five straight goals scored by the Lumberjacks in the third period.
Sacha Boisvert, the reigning USHL Forward of the Week, opened the scoring in the game when he scored at the 45-second mark of the opening period and when David Klee scored at 11:06, Muskegon held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Chicago’s offense responded with a pair of goals in the second period when Mick Thompson and Price Grimes scored, but Jack Galanek’s shorthanded marker at 8:55 gave the Lumberjacks a one-goal lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Justin Solovey scored twice in the third for Muskegon and was joined on the scoresheet by Matvei Gridin, Joe Connor and Hunter Anderson.
Louka Cloutier had 40 saves for the Steel, while Lukas Swedin finished with 23 saves on 25 shots for Lumberjacks.
The USHL closes out the week with a pair of games Sunday with Tri-City playing at Sioux Falls and Madison visiting Lincoln
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