March 10, 2010
Sioux City Musketeers forward Richard Zehnal scored two goals during the week and goaltender Dayn Belfour helped the Fargo Force earned a playoff berth. (USHL Images)
Around the League
Force Are Playoff Bound…The Fargo Force won three games in three nights on their way to clinching a playoff berth for the second straight season. Fargo now has 33 wins on the season, surpassing their total of 32 during their inaugural season of 2008-09. The team scored 15 goals - 11 different skaters netted a goal - during the weekend and now have 200 for the season, which is the second most in the USHL (Omaha, 204). Garrett Allen tallied in overtime in Sunday's 5-4 win vs. Sioux City. Two of his last three goals have been the game-winner. A shorthanded goal by Nate Condon on Sunday extended his point streak to nine games. Chase Grant also scored shorthanded and has four goals over his last four games to give him a team-leading 27 goals this season. Corey Leivermann recorded four points (2g, 2a) over the three victories and leads the team with 52 points (18g, 34a). Goaltender Dayn Belfour was in net for all three victories, including two against his former team, Waterloo, on Friday and Saturday.
Division Leader Duel…The Green Bay Gamblers and Omaha Lancers, who are the current front-runners for the regular season Anderson Cup title, met in a two-game weekend set in Green Bay. Both games took more than 60 minutes to decide with each club claiming a shootout victory, marking the third time in three meetings that the game was decided by one goal. Seth Ambroz scored his 20th goal of the season and converted in the shootout to lead Omaha to a 3-2 victory on Friday. Goaltender Jeff Teglia made 34 saves and stopped three of four shootout attempts by Green Bay to earn the win. On Saturday, Troy Power scored two goals for the Lancers, but Robert Francis scored in regulation and converted the deciding shootout goal to give Green Bay the win. Goaltender Steve Summerhays stopped four of five Omaha shooters to claim the victory and remains undefeated in regulation on home ice during his USHL career (24-0-4). William Kessel scored during regulation in both games for Green Bay. Omaha has played three straight games that have been decided by the shootout while Green Bay has been in shootout contests in three of the last four games.
Stampeding to Postseason…The Sioux Falls Stampede earned five of a possible six points during the week and are now just two points away from clinching a spot in the USHL postseason. Goaltender Clay Witt stopped all 23 shots he faced in Thursday's 2-0 win vs. Chicago to post his League best sixth shutout of the season. He has allowed just one goal over his last three starts vs. Chicago. Mark Anthoine tallied his first goal with the Stampede on Thursday since being acquired in a trade from Chicago. Matt Bailey netted two goals in the 7-2 win vs. Team USA on Saturday while Michael Voran added his team best 20th goal of the season. Brent Darnell dished out two assists and registered a game high plus-five in the victory. Matt Lindblad scored with 18 seconds remaining in the third period on Sunday to send the game to overtime before the club lost in the shootout to Team USA. Josh Holmstrom has netted three goals over his past four games and Ryan Misiak tallied a goal on both Saturday and Sunday.
Two for Tri-City…The Tri-City Storm wrapped up their four-game homestand with a pair of victories over Youngstown. Goaltender Carsen Chubak made 25 saves in the 2-0 win on Friday to record his second shutout of the season while Mario Puskarich scored the game-winning goal in his debut with the Storm. For his second game with the team, he dished out an assist and converted in the shootout of Saturday's 5-4 win. Jaden Schwartz registered his first USHL hat trick which included two shorthanded goals on Saturday. He also converted the game-deciding shootout goal. The three-goal game made Schwartz the second USHL player this season to reach the 30-goal mark (Anders Lee, Green Bay).
Musketeers Earn Five…The Sioux City Musketeers earned five of a possible six points while playing three games in three nights over the weekend. The team scored four goals in the third period of Friday's 5-2 victory against Des Moines to snap a nine-game winless skid (0-6-3). Richard Zehnal, the youngest player in the USHL, tallied the game-winning goal. The 15-year-old also netted his fifth goal of the season in Sunday's shootout loss. Ryan Carpenter scored the game-winning goal in Saturday's 2-1 victory over Lincoln after netting a shorthanded goal the previous night. Defenseman Danny Wurden dished out three assists during the weekend while team leading scorer Stephan Vigier tallied two goals.
Notes…The Indiana Ice defeated Cedar Rapids 2-1 on Saturday. It was the first regulation loss for the RoughRiders since January 15th after posting a 14-0-1 record in 15 games during that stretch…Jeff Costello has scored four goals over last four games for the RoughRiders while David Boehm has four goals over his last five contests…Youngstown Phantoms defenseman Andrej Sustr netted his first goal of the season on Saturday while teammate Brett Gensler scored with just nine seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime. It was his 15th goal of the year...Indiana Ice forward David Johnstone has scored nine points (4g, 5a) during his six-game point streak…Des Moines Buccaneers forward Ryan Walters collected two points (1g, 1a) on Friday pushing him over the 50-point mark. Along with team leading scorer T.J. Tynan (17g, 49a), it is the first time the Bucs have had two 50-point scorers in the same season since 2006-07…Waterloo Black Hawks forward Derek Arnold is riding a 15-game point streak while teammate Brock Montpetit has scored 15 points (5g, 10a) during his current eight-game streak…Team USA forward Tyler Biggs has scored a goal in each of his last three games while Matthew Nieto has eight points (4g, 4a) over his last four USHL games for Team USA.
Alumni News…Five of the six players named this week to the CCHA All-Rookie Team are USHL alumni; Andy Taranto (Fargo Force) – University of Alaska Fairbanks, Terry Broadhurst (Sioux Falls Stampede) – University of Nebraska Omaha, Torey Krug (Indiana Ice) – Michigan State University, Joe Hartman (Indiana Ice) – Miami University, and Mike Johnson (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) – University of Notre Dame
The Week Ahead
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the USHL celebrates its eighth season as the nation's only Tier 1 junior hockey league in 2009-10. With over 210 players already committed to NCAA Division I schools and 13 NHL Entry Draft picks currently on League rosters, the USHL is the nation's foremost producer of junior hockey talent. For more information, visit us on the web at www.USHL.com.
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