Fargo Force routed by Roughriders

The Fargo Force started their 3-game road trip off on the wrong foot as they lost to the Cedar Rapids Roughriders 5-0.  The Force were outshot 30-11 in the game and didn't put more than 5 shots on goal in a period.  The Force were led by Colten St. Clair and Matt Leitner with three shots each.  Ryan Massa stopped 25 of the Roughriders' 30 shots.  The Riders were led by David Boehm with a goal and an assist.  Troy Grosenick stopped all 11 Fargo shots.

With the loss, the Force will play Sioux Falls in the first round of the USHL playoffs.  Fargo needs to pick up one point to clinch home ice advantage for the first round.  The Force are back in action on Friday night for a game against the Chicago Steel and Saturday night against the Green Bay Gamblers.

Force get one more chance at Roughriders

The Fargo Force take on the Cedar Rapids Roughriders in the final tilt between the two teams tomorrow.  Cedar Rapids has won every meeting so far (3/3).  The Force still have a shot at first place in the USHL's West Division and will look to make a run going into the playoffs.  Cedar Rapids is led by Zach Lehrke and Jeff Costello on offense and Bryce Aneloski on defense.

The Force have played some crazy games with Cedar Rapids in their three meetings to date and have given up way too many goals to beat them (18 goals against in three games).  Ryan Massa seems to be back at his best with a couple of very solid games against Green Bay and a nice performance in Tri-City.  Fargo will need to do a better job limiting their opponents' shots to beat the Riders on Wednesday, Chicago on Friday and Green Bay again on Saturday.  Massa has seen 193 shots in his last five games and more than 40 shots in two of his last three games.

Over the weekend, Fargo got another 50-point player as Chase Grant added an assist to bring his totals to 50.  Matt Leitner, Corey Leivermann, Nate Condon and Chase Grant all have 50+ points for the Force.  In 2008-09 the Force only had two 50+ point scorers in Andy Taranto and Matt Leitner.

If you want free tickets to the playoff games, you are going to want to sign up for 2010-11 season tickets TODAY.  Another advantage of getting your season tickets now is that the price will go up after May 1.

Force lose 5th in six games

The Fargo Force took their fifth loss in six games as they lost to the Cedar Rapids Roughriders 3-2 in a shootout.  The Force were able to score in the last minute on a goal from Chase Grant, who had two in the game, with the goalie pulled.  Dayn Belfour was stellar between the pipes stopping 46/48 on the night.

The Force gave up a total of 97 shots on the weekend in the two games and Belfour saw 92 of them.  Belfour stopped a lot of rubber on the weekend saving 82.  The Force were lucky Belfour played so well because this game could have been a lot worse if it wasn't for him.  They were able to pick up one point in the USHL standings by sending the game to overtime.

Fargo takes on the Waterloo Black Hawks on March 5-6 at the Urban Plains Center and then take off to Sioux City, Iowa to play the Musketeers on Sunday, March 7th.

Here is the last of the shootout from Cedar Rapids.

Force drop another one

The Fargo Force were unable to use the momentum they built from their win over the Indiana Ice on Sunday into tonight's game as the Force lost to Waterloo tonight 8-2.  Waterloo outshot the Force 49-28 on rout to the big victory.  The Force have now dropped four of their last five games and will take on the Cedar Rapids Roughriders in a rematch from the series not so long ago.  The Force will need to be better than they were in that series and certainly better than they were tonight to beat the Roughriders.

Scoring for the Force in tonight's game was Marek Hrbas (assisted by Nate Condon) and Johnnie Searfoss (assisted by Nate Schmidt and Garrett Allen).  Both Force goals were scored on the power play, the only bright spot in the game for the Force (2/6 on the PP).  Dayn Belfour stopped 36/44 shots in the game in relief of Ryan Massa who was injured about five minutes into the game.  Belfour played a lot better than the score indicated as the Force didn't help Belfour much defensively.  We are going to need a lot stronger effort to get a win on the road at the Stable.

Go Force!

EDIT:  Ryan Massa Update - He was cut on the calf of his leg and got 8 stitches.  He will be out at least two weeks.

Weekend Preview - Waterloo, Cedar Rapids

The Fargo Force will be taking on the Waterloo Blackhawks on Friday and the Cedar Rapids Roughriders on Saturday this weekend.  The Force are coming off a win over Indiana after a 3-game losing streak in which they gave up 22 goals in possibly their worst three games of the year so far.  Even through the defensive struggles, Nick Romanick has been a +4 in the last five games (including a +1 in a 9 goals against game), the rest of the defensive unit will need to be equally as good if they want to win this weekend.  The Force will look to jump on Force captain Chase Grant's back as the veteran forward has put up points in nine straight games.  He has 8 goals and 6 assists in those 9 games and leads the team with a total of 23 goals this season.

The Blackhawks and the Force have played one game this year in Waterloo early in the season and lost that game 7-3.  The Blackhawks were led by J.T. Brown (2g, 3a), Tyler Barnes (1g, 2a), Brock Montpetit (1g, 1a), Derek Arnold (2a) and Patrick Divjak with 2 goals including the eventual game-winner.  Derek Arnold has scored 11 goals over his current nine-game point streak and 14 goals in his last 16 games.  The Blackhawks are currently on a 5-game winning streak so the Force will need a strong effort to get the win.  C.J. Motte has been in goal for all five of those wins and has posted a 1.78 GAA in those games.  Motte was also strong when they faced Fargo earlier in the season as he stopped 39/42 Force shots.

After the battle in Waterloo Friday night, the Force will head down the road to take on the Cedar Rapids Roughriders at the Stable.  The Force were recently swept by them in Fargo on 2/12-2/13.  The Force were terrible in both games despite scoring 9 goals.  Fargo will look to redeem themselves defensively against a team that was able to put 15 goals by them on their home ice.

I wonder who Coach Johnson will go with in net this weekend.  Personally, I hope he puts Massa back in net.  Belfour did a great job against Indiana snapping the 3-game losing streak, but I would love to see Massa regain his confidence on Friday night in Waterloo and redeem himself against the Roughriders (on Saturday) after giving up 9 goals in four periods of play against them.  Defensively, the Force will need to shut down Jeff Costello (3g, 3a in two games vs. Fargo) and Zach Lehrke (3g, 1a in two games vs. Fargo) as they dominated the Force in Fargo.

What do you think Force fans?  Who does Coach Johnson go with this weekend in net, Massa or Belfour?  Do you think that the Force will have a little fire in their belly after struggling against Cedar Rapids just a few weekends ago?  Despite the recent struggles, the Force have been able to score goals with 19 over the four games.  Does that continue?  Who steps up their game defensively?

Cedar Rapids at Fargo - Live Blog 7:05pm

Kerry Collins from the Fargo Forum will be providing you with the live blog tonight.

Cedar Rapids at Fargo - Live Blog 7:35pm

Join me live from the Urban Plains Center for tonight's Fargo Force action against the Roughriders from Cedar Rapids.  Game starts at 7:35pm.  Blog will go live between 6:45-7:00pm.

Force win, grab 1st place

The Fargo Force finally took over first place in the West Division of the USHL.  Check out the article in the Fargo Forum from Forum reporter Kerry Collins.  This has been a great run for the Force, hopefully they are able to keep it up and are not peaking too early!  Cody Campbell and the Cedar Rapids Roughriders come to the Urban Plains Center this coming weekend February 12-13.

USHL: Force win, grab 1st place | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

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Resurgence of Cody Campbell

Former Fargo Force goaltender Cody Campbell has been a breath of fresh air for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders.  The trade between the Fargo Force and the Cedar Rapids Roughriders sent what was supposed to be the starting goaltender for the Force for the year to Cedar Rapids in exchange for a conditional draft pick.

Campbell struggled in Fargo early in the season and requested a trade for a fresh start to better his USHL career and it has been paying dividends for the Roughriders and Campbell.  Campbell has posted a 2-1-1 record, a .941 save percentage and a 1.76 GAA for the Riders.

It's nice to see a good kid doing so well in a new environment.  It's also good for the Fargo Force that he is doing so well right now because the conditions of the trade was that if Campbell had good numbers for save percentage with the Roughriders, the Force would get a 2nd round pick next year.  If Campbell struggled in Cedar Rapids, the Force would get a 3rd rounder.  With a shutout in his last game against one of the top offensive teams in Omaha and two goals against in his last three starts, it looks like Cody will be just fine in Cedar Rapids.

Cody Campbell traded to Cedar Rapids

According to the Pointstreak USHL transactions, Fargo Force goaltender Cody Campbell has been traded to Cedar Rapids.  Kerry Collins is stating on his blog that the Force are getting either a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for next year out of the deal, depending on Campbell's save percentage.  If Campbell plays the following season with Cedar Rapids, the Force will get another 2nd or 3rd round draft pick for the following season.  Ryan Massa and Dayn Belfour will be the Fargo Force goaltenders as of right now. 

Cody Campbell is a great goalie and a great person.  Hopefully the change of scenery will benefit him and his hockey career.