WATERLOO - As competitors, the Waterloo Black Hawks want to be a difficult opponent every time they take the ice. That hasn't always been the case thus far this United States Hockey League season.

Midway through the USHL grind, the Black Hawks stand in third place behind the Indiana Ice and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the East Division. Waterloo is just 10 points behind the Ice and six in back of the RoughRiders. So, with 30 games left, the Black Hawks' goals of repeating as division and Anderson Cup champions aren't far-fetched.

"In this second half, we have to play harder with more body and move our feet faster," said leading-scorer Blake Kessel. "Sometimes we've gotten away from that, which makes us easy to play against. Nobody wants to be easy to play against, and we definitely don't like it."

Consistency has been a word Black Hawks' head coach P.K. O'Handley has been tossing around like a salad.

O'Handley has watched his team defeat East Division-leading Indiana three times on the road, but has also seen his team lose twice (once in a shootout) to the last-place Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets.

"Obviously, we would like to be a little higher in the standings right now," said O'Handley. "But considering the youth of our team and some inconsistent play, I think you can consider the first half a positive."

O'Handley said nothing has changed as far as what his team needs to do to get better.

"We need to find consistent goal-scoring, need to attack the net with a more consistent effort," he said. "I think our forechecking and physical play has to improve. Defensively, we've been pretty good, but that has to be maintained.

"And, I think the biggest thing is finding consistency in goal. Both goalies have played well, I want to emphasize that. They have won games for us that we shouldn't have won. I would just like to see, and I think they would agree, they could play better."

Reigning first team all-USHL goalie Matt DiGirolamo ranks seventh in the USHL in goals-against average (2.72), while rookie Joe Howe ranks fourth (2.25).

What has perplexed O'Handley more is his team's inability to score. Waterloo has scored just 82 goals, which ranks fourth-to-last in the 12-team league. Kessel's 11 goals and 28 points are tops on the team, but he is a defenseman.

Veterans Billy Maday and Brett Olson have been solid with 26 and 23 points, respectively, but more scorers are needed.

"It has to come up, no question," said O'Handley. "We're working on it every single day."

Kessel said it seems like the team does a good job of possessing the puck and cycling it around the net, but too often fails to capitalize.

"We definitely have to get to the net more," said Kessel. "We control the puck in the offensive zone, cycle it well, but a lot of the time we turn it over before we get a good scoring chance."

Some of the scoring onus falls on veterans who haven't gotten it going yet, while with 30 games now under their belts, O'Handley said it's also time for some rookies to start chipping in.

"We've started to see signs of our team really being able to make a jump, but in order to make the jump guys really have to elevate their game and overachieve," said O'Handley. "That includes the guys that are playing well, but it also includes the young guys … They need to start to overachieve and not play a secondary role."

The Black Hawks hope some of their scoring problems will be solved by the return of Finnish forwards Jan-Mikael Juutilainen and Siim Liivik from the World Junior Championships and the addition of forward Eddie Olczyk.

Juutilainen, who had nine goals and 19 points in 46 games last year, has just three points in 16 games. But he had a stellar WJC for Team Finland, registering two goals and four assists in six games.

"You could tell in yesterday's practice (Tuesday), the tempo was up with the addition of Eddie and the two Finns," said O'Handley. "I think there are some guys who are realizing there are going to be some healthy scratches and (they'd) better get it going."

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

GAME TRACKER

Sioux Falls, Sioux City at Waterloo

When: Friday (Sioux Falls), 7:05 p.m.; Saturday (Sioux City), 7:05 p.m.

Where: Young Arena

Radio: KCNZ (1650 FM)

Records: Waterloo (16-9-5, 37 points, 3rd USHL East). Sioux Falls (14-12-5, 33 points, 4th USHL West). Sioux City (22-7-1, 45 points, 2nd USHL West).

Game notes: Sioux Falls is the only USHL opponent Waterloo has to yet to play this season. The last time the two teams meet was in the Clark Cup championship game last year, a 3-0 Stampede victory. … This will also be the first meeting for current Black Hawks forward Tom Healy against his former team. The Stampede released Healy 11 games into this season. … Last Saturday's victory in Indianapolis marked the halfway point of the USHL season for the Black Hawks. A year ago, Waterloo stood at 20-7-3 after 30 games and six points ahead of their current total. … Finnish forwards Jan-Mikael Juutilainen and Siim Liivik will return to the lineup after missing the last month of the season to play for Team Finland at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic. … The NHL's Central Scouting Service mid-term rankings were released recently and among 2008 draft-eligible players, Waterloo rookie Nick Larson has been ranked as the 53rd-best skater in North America. Larson is the second-highest ranked USHL player behind Indiana's John Carlson. (19th). … Other Black Hawks ranked were: Jordan Samuels-Thomas (120th), Michael Fink (130th) and Brock Montpetit (154th). Goalie Joe Howe was ranked 26th among all goaltenders.