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The Indiana Ice came to Fargo for the first time since hoisting the Clark Cup in last season’s championship matchup with the Force. This time around, the two teams split a two-game series and the games were wildly opposite of one another. On Saturday night, Indiana chased Fargo starting goalie Ryan Massa en route to a 7-4 win. Fargo bounced back with a big offensive effort of their own on Sunday to win 6-2.
Indiana started the weekend with a three goal first period to put the Force in a big hole right off the bat. After two periods, Indiana had extended their lead to 5-0, leaving Fargo with little hope in the third period.
Fargo showed no signs of giving up. A pair of Nate’s, Condon and Schmidt brought the Force back into the game. Nate Condon scored unassisted on the power play early in the third period and Nate Schmidt followed up with an unassisted goal to make it a 5-2 game. Condon scored his second goal of the game with an assist to Chase Grant. Then, Johnnie Searfoss cut the Indiana lead to 5-4 when Matt Leitner set him up for the goal. Indiana’s Antti Roppo put the game on ice with a late power play goal and then an unassisted, empty net goal that came shorthanded to make the final score 7-4.
On Sunday, Fargo used three goals in the first period and three goals in the second period to earn the split with Indiana. Grant scored shorthanded and Corey Leivermann and Schmidt scored on the power play in the first period to give Fargo the 3-0 edge after one period.
Leivermann, Garrett Allen, and Alex Lippincott scored three goals in the first 5:35 of the second period to put the Force in command, 6-0. Nic Dowd, son of former Minnesota Wild star Jim Dowd, scored for the Ice with five minutes remaining in the second period to make it 6-1 Fargo after two.
Indiana scored early in the third period to make it 6-2, but that is how the game ended. Dayn Belfour made 18 stops as the Force outshot the Ice 39-20 in the game.
Next up, Fargo will take to the road next weekend. On Friday night, they play at Waterloo, and on Saturday they play at Cedar Rapids. The Force are now 30-12-3 on the season and four points behind Omaha in the West Division standings.
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