WATERLOO - On paper, it looked as if the Waterloo Black Hawks should breeze through the Tri-City Storm on Friday night.

The Black Hawks held a statistical advantage in every category.

On the ice, the Black Hawks did just that, disposing the Storm, 8-3, at Young Arena.

Waterloo (18-7-1) is in second place in the Eastern Conference, while Tri-City (6-22-0) is in last place.

With their 37 points, the Black Hawks trail the league leading Indiana Ice by two points after the Ice fell to the Omaha Lancers Friday, 5-3.

"We are playing good hockey right now, and we are getting scoring from our forwards in the five-on-five game," assistant coach Shane Fukushima said. "We have great depth on all our lines. By that, I mean we have our third and fourth line doing the checking responsibilities and they are scoring at the same time. So, yeah, I am very impressed with those guys.

"Now, we just need to get it going on the power play, as well."

Waterloo was just one for six in that phase of the game.

The Black Hawks, who have 25 goals in the last three games, lead the United States Hockey League in scoring with 116 points.

Forward Jordan Samuels-Thomas melted the ice early Friday night.

He powered in the first two scores, then later he added his 13th goal of the season for his first hat trick with the Hawks.

"I have just been blessed by God to be put in the right places at the right time," Samuels-Thomas said. "I just kind of swiped at that third goal, and whacked it in and when I saw all the hats on the ice, it gave me a great feeling.

"We are playing really well right now, and it makes it easier when we can jump out to a good start like we did tonight. I just hope this all carries over into (tonight's game) against Green Bay."

Samuels-Thomas scored the first two goals of the night, 10 minutes apart, and seem to be in control.

The Storm, however, snuck in a goal by Black Hawk goalie Parker Milner's stick, making the Young Arena fans nervous.

Forward Keegan Meuer settled things down with a break-away goal and beat Storm net minder TJ Massie to the glove side, putting the Hawks up 3-1.

Brock Montpetit added some insurance for the home team, intercepting an errant pass from two Storm attackers and blasted a short-hand score to the top shelf for a 5-2 advantage.

Samuels-Thomas completed his hat trick in the third period, swatting a back hand opportunity into an unattended net.

"Jordan is a raw talent and continuously gets better with each game," Fukushima said. "He is strong and has not even tapped his full abilities yet. That is why he has these NHL guys watching him."

Waterloo had a minor let down in the second period, allowing the Storm to hang in the game at 3-2.

"We can't be playing scoreboard watching in this league and have these little hiccups," added Fukushima. "The Eastern Conference is very deep with some dynamic teams in there. We need to stay focus for the whole game.

"I think our guys did a very good job of that tonight."

The Black Hawks play host to the Green Bay Gamblers tonight at Young Arena. The Gamblers handed the Hawks (12-1-0) their only home loss this year.

Contact Rod Payne at sportsdoor@wcfcourier.com

Tri-City 1 1 1 ? 3

Waterloo 3 2 3 ? 8

FIRST PERIOD ? 1. Waterloo, Jordan Samuels-Thomas (Brock Montpetit, Craig Smith), 3:27; 2. Waterloo, Samuels-Thomas (Ben Miller, Smith), 13:30; 3. Tri-City, Jeff Smith (Kevin Nugent, Tanner Slarks), 15:07; 4. Waterloo, Keegan Meuer (Dan Sova), 17:03. Penalties ? Samuels-Thomas-W (slashing) 1:17; Matt Zarbo-TC (hooking) 8:47.

SECOND PERIOD ? 5. Tri-City, Joe Zarbo (Mike Cichy, M. Zarbo), 3:47; 6. Waterloo, Eddie Olczyk (Scott Pavelski), 4:24; 7. Waterloo, Montpetit (Sova), 5:23 (short-handed). Penalties ? Bo Dolan-TC (hooking), :29; George Hughes-W (hooking), 4:46; Nick Larson-W (roughing) 7:38; Dolan-TC (roughing) 7:38; Charlie Carkin-TC (hooking) 8:01; Sova-W (roughing) 13:29; C. Smith-W (cross checking) 16:51; Eriah Hayes-W (roughing) 19:35; Dolan-TC (hooking, roughing) 19:35.

THIRD PERIOD ? 8. Tri-City, Mike Cichy (Josh Berge, Joe Zarbo), 2:21 (powerplay); 9. Waterloo, Samuels-Thomas (C. Smith, Hughes), 4:31; 10. Waterloo, C. Smith (Larson), 12:54 (powerplay); 11. Waterloo, Montpetit (unassisted), 18:46. Penalties ? C. Smith-W (hooking) 1:55; Hayes-W (delay) 4:56; Slarks-TC (delay) 4:56; Matt Johnson-W (slashing) 6:45; Patrick Wey-W (kneeing) 10:44; Torin Snydeman-TC (tripping) 11:20; J. Zarbo-TC (tripping) 12:54; Montpetit-W (tripping) 16:21.

SHOTS ON GOAL

Tri-City 7 6 8 ? 21

Waterloo 11 17 11 ? 39

Goalies ? Tri-City, TJ Massie, 31 saves; Waterloo, Parker Milner, 18 saves.

Officials ? Matt Miller, referee; John Grandt and Dana Penkivech, linesmen. Att. ? 2,485