USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints

Saints to Take on Cedar Rapids Tonight

Published on January 29, 2011 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Dubuque Fighting Saints News Release


After stumbling to a 1-4-3 record to start the post-Christmas portion of the schedule, the Fighting Saints righted the ship last weekend, defeating the Des Moines Buccaneers on Friday night by a score of 5-2, and coming back from a 3-0 deficit against Lincoln on Saturday to win 4-3 in a shootout. The Saints hold the lead in the Western Conference, though four other teams sit within seven points of Dubuque in the standings.

The RoughRiders and Saints will face off against each other a total of seven times this season, though midway through the year only two of those matchups have taken place. The RoughRiders dominated the Fighting Saints at the Stable on October 29th , winning 7-4 in a game that wasn't as close as the scoreboard indicated

The following night, the Fighting Saints forced the game into overtime against the RoughRiders in Dubuque, though they lost in the extra frame by a score of 3-2.

The RoughRiders sit three points behind first place Green Bay in the USHL's Eastern Conference, though they have a game in hand over the Gamblers. The RoughRiders are 3-3-3 over their last nine games, and are winless over their last three. Jayson Megna leads the scoring charge for Cedar Rapids, having tallied 41 points on 22 goals and 19 assists this season.

The Coaches

Jim Montgomery was named the Dubuque Fighting Saints Head Coach and General Manager on April 12, 2010. The 40-year-old Montreal native spent the last four years as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Montgomery began his college coaching career as a volunteer assistant under Jeff Jackson at the University of Notre Dame.

Montgomery played college hockey at the University of Maine, and is the NC's 4th all-time leading point scorer. Prior to becoming a coach, Montgomery played professional hockey from 1993-2005, spending parts of six seasons in the National Hockey League. Montgomery resides in Dubuque with his wife Emily and son James Peter. Montgomery is assisted by Joe Coombs and Bobby Kinsella.

Mark Carlson has been at the helm of the Cedar Rapids Roughriders since the team's inception in 1999. Carlson has steered the Roughriders to ten consecutive winning seasons and playoff appearances, and appears to be well on his way to do the same during the 2010-11 campaign. Prior to his time at Cedar Rapids, Carlson coached at UMass-Lowell and Northeastern University.

Quick Hits

- Vinny Saponari is tied for third in the USHL scoring race, having tallied 41 points on the season on eleven goals and thirty assists. Saponari led the USHL in points scored for much of the season, but had dipped with the Saints' recent scoring struggles and the meteoric rise of Indiana's Blake Coleman

- Head Coach Jim Montgomery's old college coach Grant Standbrook worked with the team last week. Standbrook joins the Fighting Saints as a part time goaltending consultant, but lends his expertise to all skaters as well. Standbrook has more national championships as an assistant coach than any other coach in history, having coached at Dartmouth, Wisconsin, and Maine.

- Matt Morris leads the USHL in goals against average with an average of 1.88. His save percentage of .931 is also tops in the league. Morris has shut out opponents three times this year, a feat matched or exceeded by only four other netminders, and two of those games were decided by a score of 1-0. Jackson Teichroeb has earned one shutout for the Saints this year.

- The Fighting Saints averaged 4.21 goals per game prior to November 20th . From November 20th and beyond, headed into this weekend, the Saints have averaged just 2.42 goals per game. In the earlier span, the team compiled a record of 9-3-2, and since they are 9-6-3. Overall on the season, the Saints average 3.15 goals per game, good for seventh in the league.

- Three Fighting Saints were named to NHL Central Scouting's midseason watch list for the NHL Draft. Jackson Teichroeb was ranked 22nd among goaltending prospects, Joakim Ryan and John Gaudreau were ranked 128th and 209th among skaters, respectively.

- The Fighting Saints are 5th in powerplay goals with 31, and 6th in the league in powerplay percentage, scoring on 16.9% of their opportunities. However, the Saints have two players in the top four in the league in powerplay goal scoring, with John Gaudreau and Zemgus Girgensons with seven goals on the man advantage, just one off the league pace of eight.

- Joakim Ryan is the Fighting Saints' defensive scoring leader, having tallied twenty-one points on two goals and nineteen assists so far this season. Ryan ranks fourth in the league in scoring among defensemen, and is tied for fourth among all players in assists on the powerplay with twelve - the league lead is thirteen. Ryan is committed to attend Cornell University.

- The Fighting Saints' record in one goal games is 8-2-5, improved from a 0-1-2 start in this category. Conversely the Saints are just 2-3-0 in games decided by a two goal margin. The Saints have won only one game in overtime so far this season, and their shootout win against Lincoln last Saturday was their first.

Check out the Dubuque Fighting Saints Statistics

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United States Hockey League Stories from January 29, 2011


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