The United States Hockey League Clark Cup Playoffs opened up Monday night at the Resch Center with the third seeded Green Bay Gamblers beating the sixth seeded Chicago Steel 6-5 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference best of three first round series. It was an entertaining affair that saw the Gamblers play from the front all night. After tallying four minutes in, Green Bay gave up a breakaway goal and the opening period ended with a 1-1 tie. Green Bay led 3-2 after two when things really heated up. Both teams combined for six goals in the final 20 minutes. Green Bay needed just 15 seconds to score on the power play and at the 1:22 mark, Lukas Peterson buried his second goal of the night to increase the Gambler lead to 5-2. Chicago mounted a rally getting with 5-4 but just 8 seconds after the Steel got within one, Ryan Humphrey tallied for Green Bay. The Steel had one last charge scoring with 10:49 to play but the Gamblers defense held strong to the finish to capture the series opener. Things got testy in the final five seconds when a Chicago player was given a game misconduct penalty for drilling a Gambler player to the ice after a whistle. Green Bay was the only higher seed to win on their home ice as Madison buried Youngstown in Ohio 7-4 and in the Western Conference openers, Lincoln defeated Waterloo 1-0 on the road and Sioux Falls won at Tri-City 6-5 in overtime. The Gamblers will look to seep out the Steel in Game two Tuesday night with a 7:05 PM faceoff. If Chicago prevails, the decisive third game will be played Wednesday night at the Resch.
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