There are a number of former USHLers that are competing in the Olympics in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Check out this article in the Argus Leader out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota on the five players currently competing for the United States in the Olympics here.
Former Fargo Force player Mike Lee and coach Dean Blais will be competing in the IIHF World Junior Championship Gold Medal game on Tuesday, January 5. What a tournament for two people from our organization to be a part of as they will be competing for the Gold medal on Tuesday. Team USA has not won this tournament since 2004. 2004 was also the last time that Canada has not won the Gold medal so there is another streak that can be snapped with a United States victory.
Mike Lee is 4-0 at the IIHF World Junior Championships and is likely to start against Canada in the Gold medal game after a solid performance against the heavily favored Swedes. Lee has put up some outstanding numbers to go along side the four wins. He currently has a 92.86% save percentage and 2.00 goals against average.
Former Fargo Force goaltender Mike Lee has made the preliminary USA roster for the 2010 IIHF U-20 World Junior Championships.
GOALTENDERS (2)
Jack Campbell, Port Huron, Mich. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Mike Lee Roseau, Minn. St. Cloud State University (WCHA)
DEFENSEMEN (11)
John Carlson, Colonia, N.J. Hershey Bears (AHL)
Matt Donovan, Edmond, Okla. University of Denver (WCHA)
Justin Faulk, South St. Paul, Minn. U.S. National Under-18 Team
Cam Fowler, Farmington Hills, Mich. Windsor Spitfires (OHL)
Jake Gardiner, Minnetonka, Minn. Univ of Wisconsin (WCHA)
Brian Lashoff, Albany, N.Y. Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
Jon Merrill, Brighton, Mich. U.S. National Under-18 Team
John Moore, Winnetka, Ill. Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Max Nicastro, Thousand Oaks, Calif. Boston University (HEA)
John Ramage, St. Louis, Mo. University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
David Warsofsky, Marshfield, Mass. Boston University (HEA)
FORWARDS (16)
Ryan Bourque Boxford, Mass. Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
Chris Brown, Houston, Texas University of Michigan (CCHA)
Jerry D’Amigo, Binghamton, N.Y. RPI ECACH)
A.J. Jenks, Wolverine Lake, Mich. Plymouth Whalers (OHL)
Tyler Johnson, Spokane, Wash. Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
Chris Kreider, BoxfordMass. Boston College (HEA)
Danny Kristo, Eden Prairie, Minn. UND (WCHA)
Philip McRae, Chesterfield, Mo. London Knights (OHL)
Jeremy Morin, Auburn, N.Y. Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
Kyle Palmieri, Montvale, N.J. University of Notre Dame (CCHA)
Vinny Saponari, Powder Springs, Ga. Boston University (HEA)
Jordan Schroeder, Prior Lake, Minn. Univer of Minnesota (WCHA)
Derek Stepan, Hastings, Minn. University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
Luke Walker, Portland, Ore. Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
David Wohlberg, South Lyon, Mich. University of Michigan (CCHA)
Jason Zucker, Las Vegas, Nev. U.S. National Under-18 Team (USNTDP)
The Fargo Force swept Team USA over the weekend in a pair of 6-3 wins in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
On Saturday, the Force were led by Garrett Allen, who netted his first USHL hat trick, Matt Leitner, 1 goal, 2 assists and Nate Schmidt, 1 goal, 2 assists. Cole Gunner also scored for the Force. Nate Condon, Chad Demers, Grant Scott and Chase Grant eached picked up an assist.
On Sunday, Nate Condon, Johnnie Searfoss and Alex Lippincott each scored a goal and picked up an assist. Gavin Hartzog picked up two assists. Colten St. Clair, Oleg Yevenko and Joe Rehkamp each netted goals for Fargo. Others picking up assists included: Corey Leivermann, Cole Gunner, Grant Scott and Blake Doerring.
Ryan Holfeld picked up two wins in the sweep over Team USA, stopping 47 of 53 shots in the two games.
Force are back in action this weekend, Friday and Saturday, against the Tri-City Storm. Enjoy some hockey games the day after Thanksgiving and then Saturday night is the 2nd annual Teddy Bear Toss night.
Fargo Force's Matt Leitner, Colten St. Clair and Eamonn McDermott each assisted in the 3-1 win over Sweden today.
From USA Hockey:
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Shane Berschbach (Clawson, Mich./Indiana Ice) tallied his tournament-leading fourth goal and Eric Mihalik (Avon Lake, Ohio/Des Moines Buccaneers) turned aside 34 shots as the U.S. Junior Select Team downed Sweden, 3-1, here today in the quarterfinal round of the World Junior A Challenge at Credit Union Place. With the win, Team USA advances to the semifinals against Russia Friday (Nov. 6) at 1 p.m. EST.
"We've been improving all aspects of our game and it showed here today," said Mark Carlson, head coach of the 2009 U.S. Junior Select Team. "We're getting better each time on the ice and it's an exciting time for our team right now as we head toward the semifinals."
After a scoreless first period where Mihalik and Sweden's Jonas Gunnarsson stopped six and 17 shots, respectively, Nick Jensen (Rogers, Minn./Green Bay Gamblers) gave Team USA a 1-0 lead at 4:06 of the middle frame. Colten St. Clair's (Gilbert, Ariz./Fargo Force) faceoff win to the right of Gunnarsson found Mac Bennett (Warrick, R.I./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) at the blue line, who slid a pass to Jensen. The defenseman skated in from the point and fired a shot that beat Gunnarsson low to the far side.
The U.S. scored two more goals in the middle frame, with David Gerths (Ankeny, Iowa/Lincoln Stars) giving the U.S. a 2-0 advantage at 8:20. After Berschbach took the puck away from a Swedish defenseman in the corner, he sent a pass to Kevin Gravel (Kingsford, Mich./Sioux City Musketeers) at the right point, who found his defensive partner Kevin Albers (Lake Orion, Mich./Green Bay Gamblers). Albers fired a shot that was directed by Gerths into the back of the net.
While on the power play, Eamonn McDermott (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Fargo Force) sent a pass along the boards to a waiting Matt Leitner (Los Alamitos, Calif./Fargo Force) at the hash marks, who sent a pass to Berschbach near the goal line. Berschbach made a fake that froze Gunnarsson before banking the puck off his arm to extend the U.S. lead to 3-0 at 15:35.
Sweden ended Team USA's shutout bid with a goal from Adam Almquist at 4:29 of the third period to account for the U.S. 3-1 final.
Fargo Force players Matt Leitner, Eamonn McDermott and Colten St. Clair tallied a total of five points for Team USA in a 6-1 win over Belarus. Leitner tallied three assists, Eamonn McDermott posted his first point with an assist and Colten St. Clair added a late goal for Team USA in the win.
From USA Hockey:
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. - Led by Shane Berschbach's (Clawson, Mich./Indiana Ice) two goals and one assist, the U.S. Junior Select Team rolled past Belarus, 6-1, here tonight in its final preliminary-round game of the World Junior A Challenge at Credit Union Place in Summerside, P.E.I. With the victory, Team USA (1-0-1-0) secured second place in its group and will face Sweden Thursday (Nov. 5) in the quarterfinal round at 1 p.m. EST.
"I thought we played well tonight and had a lot of improvements in our game," said Mark Carlson, head coach of the 2009 U.S. Junior Select Team. "Even though the team hasn't been together for very long, everyone followed the plan and our power play and penalty kill worked well for us."
The U.S. garnered four power-play markers in the game, including two from Berschbach in the opening frame. While on a 5-on-3 advantage, Matt Leitner (Los Alamitos, Calif./Fargo Force), who was positioned in the high slot, sent a David Gerths' (Ankeny, Iowa/Lincoln Stars) pass to the left side of the net, where Berschbach fired the puck past Belarussian goaltender Stanislau Artynski to give Team USA a 1-0 lead at 14:42. Berschbach would net his second tally of the game 2:10 later when he directed another Leitner pass behind Artynski. Eamonn McDermott (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Fargo Force) collected his first assist of the tournament on the power-play goal.
In the second period, Team USA capitalized on another power play, with Berschbach and Leitner setting up Gerths at 7:27. Gerths took a Berschbach pass at the high slot and fired a onetimer over the netminder's blocker to give the U.S. a 3-0 lead. Derek DeBlois (East Greenwich, R.I./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) extended Team USA's lead to 4-0 after Kevin Albers (Lake Orion, Mich./Green Bay Gamblers) sent a pass to Nic Dowd (Huntsville, Ala./Indiana Ice), who passed to DeBlois at the bottom of the left circle, where he buried the puck past the goaltender.
After holding Belarus scoreless for almost two periods, Kiryl Brykun made it a 4-1 game with :32 remaining in the middle frame.
The U.S. regained its four-goal lead with a marker from Beau Bennett (Gardena, Calif.) at 6:03 of the final stanza. Nick Mattson's (Chanhassen, Minn./Indiana Ice) shot from the blue line was tipped by Mike Parks (O'Fallon, Mo./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) and knocked out of the air by Bennett past Artynski. Colten St. Clair (Gilbert, Ariz./Fargo Force) closed out the scoring with :23 remaining in the game when his shot off the rush from the right wing found the back of the net. Chris Crane (West Chester, Ohio/Green Bay Gamblers) collected an assist on the power-play tally.
U.S. netminder Eric Mihalik (Avon Lake, Ohio/Des Moines Buccaneers) turned aside 25 shots in the victory.
Team USA had everything going for them in their opening game of the Junior A Select Challenge tournament in Summerside, P.E.I. They were leading 4-1 going into the final stanza, outshooting Canada East 27-8. Canada East scored three goals in the third period, and forced the game into overtime. The overtime solved nothing and the game went into a shootout. Canada East's Andrew Calof, Jacob Laliberte and Brock Higgs all scored on Will Yanakeff. Shane Berschbach and Beau Bennett scored goals in response for Team USA and it came down to Fargo's Matt Leitner to score the goal to push the shootout back another round, but he was unable to score and the game ended with Canada East pulling off the comeback victory.
Fargo Force's Colten St. Clair assisted in the loss for Team USA, who will play Team Belarus, Tuesday, November 3.
Check back on the blog to get more updates on Team USA, and the Fargo Force players playing on the team do in the rest of the tournament.
