WATERLOO - Lee Moffie's blast from the left circle with 2 minutes, 3 seconds left in overtime lifted the Waterloo Black Hawks to a 2-1 victory over the Indiana Ice Friday at Young Arena.

In a game dominated by the Black Hawks, Ice goalie Brett Bennett kept Indiana in it with numerous big saves.

But Waterloo never lifted its foot off the pedal, throwing shot after shot on net as the win pushed Waterloo within a point of Indiana and Green Bay atop the United States Hockey League's East Division.

"Honestly, we played well from start to finish, and the only thing standing in the way of goals was Bennett," Black Hawks head coach P.K. O'Handley said.

Bennett gave up six goals in the first two periods before being lifted in a 10-3 loss during Indiana's last visit to Young Arena on Dec. 20.

The way the Black Hawks peppered Bennett from the start Friday, it looked like Waterloo was shooting to chase Bennett again, but it wasn't in the cards.

Waterloo outshot Indiana, 16-7, in the first period and 40-22 for the game.

"I thought so," O'Handley said when asked if his team dominated play. "But the ultimate equalizer is a good goalie. Bennett took away good chances at key times."

Despite being outshot by nine shots in the first, the Ice led as Max Cook scored on an odd-man rush with one second left in the opening 20 minutes.

The Black Hawks tied it in the second on a great individual effort by Nick Larson, who took a pass from Derek Arnold in the neutral zone, split a pair of Ice defenders and moved in on Bennett. He deked left before drawing the puck to his backhand and depositing it top shelf with 7:07 left in the period.

"I credit our guys for maintaining their composure and staying on the gas pedal," O'Handley said."Momentum is hard to come by when you are getting stopped, but it was a good effort. We kept at it."

The final period couldn't determine a winner, despite both teams having great opportunities.

Overtime was starting to look the same when Keegan Meuer fed Patrick Wey from behind the net at the point. Wey directed the puck diagonally to Moffie, who buried it by a diving Bennett with a one-time lazor.

"It's kind of like a challenge … keep chipping away, keep throwing pucks on net and keep going at him harder," Moffie said of attacking a hot goaltender. "We were dominating the pace in their zone.

"Patrick did a great job of moving the puck quickly in overtime from the point. He froze his guy and the goalie, and slid it over to me. It was just good puck movement."

Joe Howe turned away 21 shots for his 13th victory and dropped his goals against average to 2.93.

The victory improved Waterloo to 19-8-1 overall as the division continues to shape up into what will be a tremendous race in the second half.

The league will hit the halfway point of the season next weekend. The difference between first and fourth place is three points. Fifth-place Chicago is just seven points back of the leaders.

"It is ridiculous how tight this division is," Moffie said. "We just have to keep on battling shift by shift, period by period and game by game and hopefully at the end we will be on top."

The Black Hawks travel to Cedar Rapids for a 7:05 p.m. tilt today.

Contact Jim Nelson at (319) 291-1521 or jim.nelson@wcfcourier.com

Indiana 1 0 0 0 - 1

Waterloo 0 1 0 1 - 2

FIRST PERIOD - 1. Indiana, Max Cook (Shane Berschbach, Mikael Owilli), 19:59. Penalties - Owilli, Ind (hooking), 9:44; Cook, Ind (tripping), 14:56; Joe Hartman, Ind (tripping), 18:15; Lee Moffie, Wat (slashing), 19:08.

SECOND PERIOD - 2. Waterloo, Nick Larson (Derek Arnold, Ryan Hill), 12:53. Penalties - Keegan Meuer, Wat (holding), 10:14; Ben Miller, Wat (delay of game), 19:06; Torey Krug, Ind (delay of game), 19:06; Hartman, Ind (holding), 19:42.

THIRD PERIOD - No scoring. Penalties - Arnold, Wat (hooking), 3:06; Patrick Wey, Wat (tripping), 5:01; Bench, Wat (too many men), 16:03.

OVERTIME - 3. Waterloo, Moffie (Wey, Meuer), 2:57. Penalties - None.

SHOTS ON GOAL

Indiana 7 7 7 1 - 22

Waterloo 16 7 15 2 - 40

Goalies - Indiana, Brett Bennett (38 saves). Waterloo, Joe Howe (21 saves). Referee - Tim Mayer. Linesmen - Jesse Pletsch, Jon Shaw. Att. - 2,591.