USHL finals underway

Green Bay Press-Gazette photo

The Clark Cup finals — the United States Hockey League's championship series — got underway this weekend, and the Green Bay Gamblers and the Dubuque Fighting Saints split their first two games in Green Bay, Wis.

Green Bay has two Minnesota State connections, with forward Jean-Paul LaFontaine and defenseman Brett Stern. LaFontaine (pictured) scored the opening goal in Friday's series opener. LaFontaine has two goals and two assists in nine playoff games. Stern has not played in the playoffs.

The series is a best-of-five series, with Games 3 and 4 scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Dubuque, Iowa. If necessary, Game 5 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 24, in Green Bay.

By the way, here's a list of all of the college commits in this series:

Green Bay's college list: Alex Broadhurst (Nebraska-Omaha), Austin Czarnick (Miami), Robert Francis (Western Michigan), Aaron Harstad (Colorado College), Max Hartner (Air Force), Sam Herr (Notre Dame), Ludwig Karlsson (Northeastern), William Kessel (Western Michigan), Jean-Paul LaFontaine (Minnesota State), Nolan LaPorte (Western Michigan), Markus Lauridsen (St. Cloud State), Travis Lynch (Michigan), Ryan McKay (Miami), Brian O'Rourke (Nebraska-Omaha), Brett Stern (Minnesota State), Matt Stewart (Western Michigan), Andy Welinski (Minnesota-Duluth), Adam Wilcox (Minnesota).


Dubuque's college list: Luke Curadi (Rensselaer), Jordan DiGiando (Colorado College), Derek Docken (Alaska-Anchorage), John Gaudreau (Northeastern), Zemgus Girgensons (Vermont), Eric Johnson (Notre Dame), Tony Larson (Alaska-Anchorage), Nick Luukko (Vermont), Matt Morris (Maine), Joakim Ryan (Cornell), Vinny Saponari (Northeastern), T.J. Schlueter (Ferris State), Shane Walsh (UMass), Scott Wamsganz (Colorado College).