Phoenix native and Tri-City Storm forward Matthew Knies has been named the USHL Forward of the Week for the week ending Dec. 29, 2019.

Knies had a huge weekend for the Storm, picking up a pair of three-point games as the Storm got the best of both sides of a home-and-home with the Sioux City Musketeers.

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On Friday night, Knies scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season in a wild seven-goal first period. Knies later assisted on a third period goal, which gave his team insurance in a 7-4 win.

The next night, Knies opened the scoring in the first period, picked up a power-play assist to open the second period and added another assist later in the middle frame to help propel his team to a thrilling 6-5 shootout win.

“Last weekend’s games were an easy transition for us coming out of the break,” Knies said. “We all got to relax a bit during the break, and everyone was motivated to get out there and play again. We played as a team and had lots of energy. We want to shoot the puck as much as possible, but right now both individually and as a team, the focus is getting better defensively.”

This season, the University of Minnesota commit has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 24 games for the Storm. His 14 assists leads the team while his 21 points is tied for second on the Storm.

Friday night’s three-point performance set a new USHL career-high for points in a game (he had two points in five games this season), which was tied the following evening. His two-goal Friday night was the second time the Jr. Coyotes graduate has registered multiple goals in a game this season.

Knies was named to the U.S. Junior Select Team for the World Junior A Challenge earlier this season and came home with the bronze.

(Dec. 31, 2019)