USHL Weekly
Published on March 24, 2008 under United States Hockey League (USHL) News Release
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Simon Olsson
Chicago
Olsson put up nine points in three games as Chicago got closer to the playoffs. He had 2 goals and 2 assists in a 4-1 win over Ohio on Wednesday, 2 goals in a 4-3 win over Waterloo on Friday and had three assists in a 5-3 win over Indiana Saturday.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tim Buttery
Chicago
Buttery helped Chicago go 3-1 last week. He had an assist in a 4-1 win over Ohio Wednesday, a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over Waterloo Friday, a goal in a 5-3 win over Indiana on Saturday and a goal and an assist in a 6-3 loss to Ohio Sunday.
Stauber's Goalcrease GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
Josh Robinson
Sioux City
Robinson had a pair of wins and helped the Musketeers jump into third place in the West Division. He made 30 saves in a 3-1 win Friday vs. Des Moines. The next night he made 25 saves in a 4-1 win at Des Moines. His GAA was 1.00 and his SV% was .965.
USHL I NSI DER
Round One Rivalr ies: If the 2008 Clark Cup Playoffs began today, some of the best rivalries in the league would be on display as Omaha vs. Lincoln, Sioux Falls vs. Sioux City and Waterloo vs. Cedar Rapids are all currently on tap to meet in round one. The playoffs begin the week of April 7.
Green Bay Goose Egg: The Gamblers picked up their second shutout of the season, blanking Omaha 4-0 at home on Saturday. The win snapped a 12-game winless streak. The win was also the first for interim head coach Dave Insalaco.
Crazy 8 : A 4-2 win over Indiana on Friday gave Cedar Rapids a berth in the 2008 post-season. It s the eighth straight season in the playoffs for the RoughRiders, who only missed the playoffs in their first season after moving from Mason City.
St ill I n The Race: Justin Cseter scored a goal (the game-winner) and assisted on two more as Ohio defeated Chicago 6-3 on Sunday, and staved off elimination from the USHL playoff race.
Back-To-Back: The Musketeers took a pair of games from Des Moines on the weekend, winning back-to-back games for the first time since January 26 and February 1.
Hats Off To Huddy: Alex Hudson completed his hat trick by scoring the game-winning goal in overtime as the Storm defeated Lincoln 4-3 on Friday.
Hudson leads the Storm with 23 goals on the year and reached the 40-point mark for the second straight season.
One To Go: The Steel need one point, either by a win or a loss by Ohio, to clinch the final berth in the 2008 USHL playoffs. They had the chance to do it by beating the team that was chasing them, but fell to Ohio 6-3 on Sunday.
O-maha: Saturday s loss to Green Bay was the first time the Lancers have been shut out this season. It s the first time they ve been shut out since October 21, 2006, a span of 109 games.
PRO ALUMNI NEWS
Joe Jensen (Sioux Falls) scored his first NHL goal on March 19 as Carolina beat Atlanta 5-3. The goal was the game-winning goal.
Kyle Okposo (Des Moines) made his NHL debut on March 18 when the New York Islanders played Toronto, playing 14:45 in the game. He scored his first NHL goal and had an assist in his second game, a 3-1 Islanders win over New Jersey on Friday.
Alex Foster (Danville) made his NHL debut on March 18 as Toronto played the New York Islanders, playing 3:45 in the game.
Thomas Vanek (Sioux Falls) has surpassed the 30-goal barrier for the second straight season and has scored at least 25 goals in all three of his years in the NHL.
David Meckler (Waterloo) had two goals and an assist to go along with 11 shots on goal as Manchester beat Springfiled 4-2 on Sunday. The win moved Manchester into playoff position, although they have yet to clinch a post-season berth.
John Zeiler (Sioux City) has been recalled by the Los Angeles Kings. Billy Bagron (Chicago), fresh off a four-year career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has signed with the Texas Wildcatters. Texas is the ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild.
Ryan Johnson (Thunder Bay) has reached the 100-point mark for his career.
Johnson began his NHL career with Florida in 1997-98 and has also had stints with Tampa Bay and St. Louis, playing 540 games to date.
COLLEGE ALUMNI NEWS
Alex Kangas (Indiana) was named the Most Valuable Player at the WCHA Final Five over the weekend, backstopping Minnesota to a second place finish and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Kangas stopped 94 of 99 shots in three games. Thus far in the playoffs, Kangas is 4-2 with a 1.23 goals against average and a .959 save percentage.
Alec Mar t inez (Cedar Rapids) scored the game-winning goal in overtime as Miami defeated Notre Dame 2-1 in the CCHA semifinals on Friday.
Zane Kalemba (Green Bay) made 27 saves as Princeton shut out Colgate 3-0 in the ECAC semifinals on Friday. The next night he made 35 saves as the Tigers beat Harvard 4-1 to earn ECAC title. Kalemba was named the tournament s Most Outstanding Player. Kevin Lohry (Sioux City) had two goals in the game against Colgate, and along with Kalemba made the ECAC All-Tournament team.
Peter Lenes (Sioux City), Colin Vock (Des Moines) and Corey Car lson (Omaha) each scored a goal and Joe Fallon (Cedar Rapids) made 25 saves as Vermont beat Boston University 3-1 in the Hockey East semifinals.
Tim Miller (Omaha) had two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist in Michigan s 6-4 win over Northern Michigan in the CCHA semifinals.
Kevin Regan (Waterloo) made 62 saves, but it wasn t enough as Boston College beat New Hampshire 5-4 in triple overtime in the Hockey East semifinals. It marked a new career high for saves in a game for Regan (bettering his old mark of 52 saves) and was the third highest save total in the history of the Hockey East tournament.
Mike How e (Omaha) scored the game-winning goal with 12.6 seconds to play in the third period as Minnesota defeated St. Cloud 3-2 in the WCHA Final Five quarterfinals.
United States Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2008
- USHL Weekly - USHL
- 24 Former Stampede Players to Participate in NCAA Tournament - Sioux Falls Stampede
- RoughRiders Weekly - Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
- Ice Weekly - Indiana Ice
- Former Lancers Among Hobey Baker Finalists - Omaha Lancers
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