Holmes Stands Tall In First USHL Game
Story By: Steve Jankowski
Bensenville (December 21, 2008) -- Nick Holmes stepped between the pipes for the first time for the Chicago Steel, and helped the Steel to a 3-1 win Saturday night at the Edge Ice Arena.  Holmes stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced. 

"He was awesome tonight," said Steel forward Brett Beebe.

Sioux Falls controlled the play early in the first, but Holmes made several key saves, and helped kill off two early power plays.  It was during the second of those two Stampede power plays that the Steel opened the scoring.

Max Nicastro (Boston University, Detroit Red Wings) left a drop pass for Andrew Miller (Yale University), and he beat Stampede Goaltender Eric Hartzell between the pads 7:31 into the first period. 

After the goal, Chicago controlled the play through the rest of the first and most of the second period, but were only ahead by a single goal heading into the third period. 

But early in the third, the Steel extended their lead on Ryan Schnell's fourth goal of the year.

Holmes continued to hold Sioux Falls at bay, stopping a breakaway seven minutes into the third, and made another great pad save a minute later while the Steel were shorthanded to keep the Steel up two.

But shortly after that stop, the Stampede finally solved Holmes, as Terry Broadhurst redirected a Luke Greiner pass past Holmes to cut Chicago's lead to one.

Holmes and the defense would hold off Sioux Falls the rest of the way, and Andrew Miller would add an empty net goal to finish the scoring, for his second of the night, and 15th of the season.  The two goals also give him a league-best 41 points this season.

The Steel head into the Christmas break on a two-game winning streak, and will return to action on New Years' Eve in Waterloo.  They return home for back-to-back games against the Fargo Force on January 2nd and 3rd.  Both games are at 7:30 p.m., and tickets can be ordered by calling the Steel box office at 630.594.1165.