USNTDP at Fargo - 6:05pm

Former Stampede product enjoying success in NHL

I came across a nice little story on a kid from Minnesota that played for Sioux Falls in the USHL.

From NHL Prospect Examiner:  Dan Sexton: Anaheim Ducks prospect, small body, big talent

At 22 years of age, undrafted Dan Sexton of the Anaheim Ducks has continued to impress doubters at every level. His goal against the Minnesota Wild tonight is only further proof.

The native of Apple Valley, Minnesota is of a small frame (5'10'', 170 pounds), but his heart is bigger than you would imagine.  Despite not being drafted, Sexton put together a modest season with the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL, and broke out with Bowling Green University in following two seasons.

In April 2009, the big boys took notice and the Ducks signed him in the middle of college.  It did not take him long to open some eyes, as he posted 7 points in his first 6 games, not to mention 2 goals in only the third game of his career.

Not many people expected the emergence from Dan Sexton (6 goals, 3 assists for 9 points in 12 games), but that should not let you think that he is some flash-in-pan.  This little guy has dogged tenacity, a outer-strength to stay on his skates and an inner-strength to believe in himself.

Across the hockey world, fellow smaller-sized prospects should begin looking up to his example.

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Forecast is frightful for Winter Classic

The weather outside may be looking frightful for the 3rd Winter Classic to be played at Fenway Park between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Boston Bruins.  After looking at the forecast the last couple days for Boston, MA, it is looking like it might be the worst kind of weather for an outdoor hockey game.  As of right now there is a good chance of it raining on January 1 at Fenway Park in Boston.

Raining in January?  That is unheard of coming from the North Dakota/Minnesota area, that's for sure, but it is something that is an obstacle for the upcoming NHL Winter Classic.  All we can do right now is pray that the rain stays away at least until later in the evening or the wind pushes the storm clouds away and we are able to enjoy another 'Classic'.

An excerpt from the Boston Baked Blog on NHL.com:

Not surprisingly, today's afternoon media briefing with Don Renzulli and Dan Craig was focused on analyzing weather forecasts and preparing for contingency plans should New Years Day be a washout.

While weather is always a concern, Renzulli went about easing the tension.

"Now we are looking at light drizzle, temperature dropping (for New Years Day)," Renzulli said. "It's kind of too early right now to decide what we are going to do. We have got to finish out our build-out phase and we will continue to monitor the weather. And we are prepared for a number of different issues, and when we get to Thursday, we'll make a call based on the current weather forecast. But right now looks like we'll be good to go and play the game."

Renzulli said if a decision is going to be made to postpone the game until Saturday, in a perfect world it will be made before the stadium fills up with fans.

"Once the Commissioner gets here, we will meet with him and Dan (Craig) and Colin Campbell and evaluate what we think the weather is going to be; and if we think there is a good chance we can get this game in, we'll do everything in our power to do that," Renzulli said. "If they are calling for a foot and a half of snow, it’s a little bit different. Three days out, I think it's kind of hard to make that decision.

"It's not like baseball where you can get in, you know, five and a half innings and it's a full game. We want to play three full periods, and we are going to make the decision based on that."

-- Dan Rosen

That's what the NHL is dealing with heading into the Winter Classic.

USA improves to 2-0 at IIHF WJC

From USHL.com:

The U.S. National Junior Team won their second straight game at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship after defeating Switzerland 3-0 on Sunday.  Team USA opened the tournament with a 7-3 win over Slovakia on Saturday.

USHL players with Team USA:

Jack Campbell earned the shutout stopping all 22 shots.  The goaltender has appeared in four USHL games this season posting a 2-1-1 record, 1.96 GAA, and one shutout.

Defenseman Matt Donovan scored his second goal of the tournament on Sunday after netting the game-winner in Saturday's 7-3 win vs. Slovakia.  He is currently a freshman at the University of Denver after spending the previous two seasons with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.  Donovan was selected All-USHL First Team during the 2008-09 season.

Mike Lee made 17 saves in Saturday's 7-3 victory.  He was the 2008-09 USHL Goaltender of the Year while playing for the Fargo Force and is currently in his freshman season at St. Cloud State University.

John Carlson scored two points (1g, 1a) in Saturday's win.  He was All-USHL Second Team during the 2007-08 season while playing for the Indiana Ice.  Carlson was then selected by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.  He made his debut with the Capitals in November.

Danny Kristo also scored two points (1g, 1a) on Saturday.  He spent the 2008-09 season with the Omaha Lancers and is playing in the IIHF World Junior Championship for the second straight year.  Kristo is in his freshman season at the University of North Dakota.

Team USA is being coached by Dean Blais who was the 2008-09 USHL Coach of the Year while leading the Fargo Force to the Clark Cup Finals.  He is in his first season as the head coach at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Other USHL players at the WJC:

Radoslav Illo tallied two assists for Slovakia in Saturday's loss to Team USA.  He has posted 20 points (13g, 7a) in 19 games for the Tri-City Storm this season.  The second-year USHL forward has a goal in each of his last four games for the Storm.

Andrej Sustr was added to the roster for the Czech Republic and played in Sunday's 4-3 loss to Finland.  He has collected 13 points (13a) in 23 games for the Youngstown Phantoms this season.

Pond Hockey Festival

I have gotten a few comments regarding the pond hockey festival that is going on at the outdoor ponds outside of the Urban Plains Center.  I would like to direct everyone to the Fargo Force website link that provides everyone with information regarding the tournament.

Information is available here.
Registration is available here.

Thanks for your interest!  Hopefully it turns out to be a great event!

2010 ISS Top 30 - December

From Hockey's Future:

International Scouting Service - Top 30 2010 Prospects - December

1  Hall, Taylor   LW  14-Nov-91 L *6.00.75 186  Windsor  
2  Seguin, Tyler   C  31-Jan-92  R  *6.00.75  180  Plymouth  
3  Fowler, Cam   D  5-Dec-91  L  *6.02  195  Windsor  
4  Kabanov, Kirill   LW  16-Jul-92 R *6.01.75 176  Moncton  
5  Gormley, Brandon   D  18-Feb-92  L  *6.02  187  Moncton  
6  Tarasenko, Vladimir   RW  13-Dec-91  L  5.11  202  Novosibirsk  
7  Connolly, Brett   LW  2-May-92  R  6.02  181  Prince George  
8  Granlund, Mikael  C  26-Feb-92  L  5.10  180  HIFK Helsinki  
9  Gudbranson, Erik   D  7-Jan-92 R *6.03.75 195  Kingston  
10  Burmistrov, Alexander   C  21-Oct-91  L  *5.11.5  162  Barrie  
11  Pysyk, Mark   D  11-Jan-92  R  *6.01  179  Edmonton  
12  McFarland, John   C  2-Apr-92  R  *6.00  200  Sudbury  
13  Forbort, Derek   D  4-Mar-92  L  *6.04.5  198  Under 18  USHL
14  Petrovic, Alexander   D  3-Mar-92  R  *6.03.5  192  Red Deer  
15  Bjugstad, Nick   C  17-Jul-92  R  *6.03.75  188  Blaine  
16  Sheahan, Riley  C  7-Dec-91 L 6.01.5  202  Notre Dame  
17  Watson, Austin   RW  13-Jan-92  R  *6.03  180  Windsor  
18  Hishon, Joey   C  20-Oct-91  L  *5.09.25  172  Owen Sound  
19  Skinner, Jeffrey   C  16-May-92  L  *5.10  197  Kitchener  
20  Kitsyn, Maxim   LW  24-Dec-91  L  6.02  194  Novokuznetsk  
21  Niederreiter, Nino   LW  8-Sep-92  L  *6.01  205  Portland  
22  Johansen, Ryan   C  31-Jul-92  R  *6.02.25  194  Portland  
23  Tinordi, Jarred   D  20-Feb-92  L  *6.05.5  205  Under 18 USHL 
24  Howden, Quinton   LW  12-Jan-92 L *6.00.75 183  Moose Jaw  
25  Schwartz, Jaden   C  25-Jun-92  L  *5.10  180  Tri-City  USHL
26  Kuznetsov, Evgeny   C  19-May-92  L  6.00  174  Chelyabinsk  KHL 
27  Faulk, Justin   D  20-Mar-92  R  *5.11.75  196  Under 18  USHL
28  Nelson, Brock  C  15-Oct-91  L  *6.02.5  205  Warroad  MN-H
29  Merrill, Jonathan  D  3-Feb-92 L *6.03.25 198  Under 18  USHL
30  Pulkkinen, Teemu   RW  2-Jan-92  R  5.11  183  Jokerit  FinE 

RISING USHLers

Yasin Cisse – RW - Des Moines Buccaneers
Big winger from Quebec and a Boston University recruit, he was playing lights out and on the rise, with 8 points in his last four games. He reportedly suffered a tear in the tendon on his right ankle and will likely miss the rest of the season, so scouts may not get another chance to see him play before the NHL Draft.

T.J. Tynan – C – Des Moines Buccaneers
Small center who is right near the top of USHL scoring race, is committed to Notre Dame, and having a great start to his junior career. Displays wonderful on-ice vision and playmaking skills, along with a solid wrist shot makes up for lack of size with a ton of skill.

Andrei Kuchin – C – Chicago Steel
Passed over at last year’s NHL Draft, Kuchin arrived in North America to play for Chicago in the USHL and is starting to turn heads. Near the top of the USHL scoring race, has pro experience playing four games last season in the KHL with Chekhov. Kuchin displays high-end skills and might not only be picked in the NHL Draft next June, will also likely be selected in the CHL Import Draft as well.

Fargo Force: Oliver adjusts to first full season

Check out Kerry Collins' article in the Fargo Forum about former Roseau Ram and current Fargo Force forward, Nick Oliver.  Oliver was chosen in the 2009 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round.  Check out the article in the link below.

Fargo Force: Oliver adjusts to first full season | INFORUM | Fargo, ND

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Media

If anyone out there has any pictures or videos from the Fargo Force games, I would love to take it and post highlights after games with a recap.  If you do, please e-mail me at corey.grothman@yahoo.com.  More media = more interest.  More interest = more fans!

Thanks!

Chase Grant named Offensive Player of the Week

Fargo Force captain Chase Grant has been named the Reebok Offensive Player of the week.  Grant scored five goals and registered a plus-three rating in helping the Force earn five of a possible six points in the standings during the week.  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma native netted two goals and fired a game high seven shots in the 5-4 shootout loss to Des Moines on Wednesday.  He scored the winning goal in Friday's 3-2 overtime win over Sioux Falls.  The 20-year-old then tallied two more goals in the 4-1 win against Sioux City on Saturday.  He is currently riding a four-game point streak (5g, 2a) and has scored 18 points (11g, 7a) in 25 games this season.  It is his second USHL campaign after collecting 28 points (10g, 18a) in 57 games for the Force last season (USHL.com).  Grant is committed to play for the Minnesota State University-Mankato Mavericks next season.

CHRISTMAS BREAKdown

Christmas break has begun across the USHL and games won't start up until December 29 and your Fargo Force won't play until December 31.  It's time to reflect on what has happened in the first half of the season...

Force fans expected a lot going into the year returning fourteen players that led them to the Clark Cup Finals in the inaugural 2008-09 season.  The preseason roster had 16 players committed to Division 1 programs and it was looking as if the Fargo Force would be headed to the Clark Cup Finals once again.  We had two solid goaltenders locked up (we thought) in Cody Campbell and Zane Gothberg before the season started.  Gothberg decided to stick around his high school team for one more year in TRF and the search for a solid backup had begun.

The month of October was terrible for Fargo and Force fans that had set expectations high going into the year.  They finished the month of October with a 5-6 record and a big question mark in between the pipes.  Cody Campbell struggled and the backup goaltending was questionable which forced the coaching staff to look that much harder for any form of solid goaltending.  From preseason to present, we have seen Martin Janzons, Keegan Asmundson, Ryan Holfeld, Cody Campbell, Dayn Belfour and Ryan Massa in between the pipes in a Fargo Force uniform.

From November until now, the Force have been one of the best teams in the league and the team that everyone had thought they should be going into the season.  Fargo is 11-3-1 since November 1.  They have seemed to found their niche in net with Ryan Massa putting up solid numbers in 9 games played with the Force.  Massa is 6-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .913 SV%.

Fargo has the fourth best power play and third best penalty kill in the USHL.  They have scored the third most goals in the league and if Massa is able to keep it up, the Force may see themselves among the league leaders in goals against by the end of the year.

There are a lot of good signs going into the 2nd half of the year.  We have seen many players like Nate Condon, Nate Schmidt, Corey Leivermann and Johnnie Searfoss step up their game.  Matt Leitner and Eamonn McDermott have done what we expected them to do all along.  Leitner is the team leader with 25 points and McDermott has been solid all year on the blue line.

The young guns like Brian Cooper, Garrett Allen, Alex Lippincott, and the new addition in Marek Hrbas have been all you can ask for in young USHL players.  Allen is among the team leaders in scoring.  Hrbas and Lippincott are plus players and Brian Cooper has played well as the youngest player on the Fargo Force roster.

There are many improvements that can be made going into 2010, but there are a lot of things to be happy about if you are a Fargo Force fan...

Celebration of Hockey

Scheels, the Urban Plains Center and the Fargo Force have announced the First Annual Pond Hockey Festival to be held on the pond directly to the east of the ice arena this coming New Year's Eve. The pond hockey festival is a celebration of the great game of hockey and allows for hockey fans of both genders and all ages to interact and mingle the way the game originated, on the pond.


The Pond Hockey Festival will cost $100 for each team which will include playing in the tournament and 6 Fargo Force tickets to the game later that night.  Registration is available here.

New Year's Day, January 1, 2010 will be the 3rd NHL Winter Classic.  Hopefully everyone will be able to watch the game between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park in Boston, MA.

Fargo Force can move into tie for 2nd tonight

The Fargo Force will head to Sioux City today after defeating Sioux Falls in a come from behind overtime win over the 2nd place team in the West Division.  The Force are now only two points out of 2nd in the West Division with last night's win.  Sioux Falls picked up a point last night with the overtime loss.  Fargo can move into a 2nd place tie with the herd with a Sioux Falls regulation loss and a Fargo Force win.

In the last three games, Fargo has been led by captain Chase Grant.  The Force captain has 5 points in 3 games including the game winning goal in last night's game.  He has 3 goals and 2 assists in the three game hot streak.

Johnnie Searfoss did last night what he has been doing all year long.  The Colleyville, TX native has not disappointed Force fans when he has needed to come through in the clutch this year.  Searfoss scored the goal that tied the game with 7:44 remaining against the herd last night.  "Mr. Clutch" has 5 game winning goals this year in 15 Force wins.