Fargo fall to Gamblers in USHL finals

The Fargo Force had a third-period lead but couldn't hold on in the decisive Game 5 of the USHL Clark Cup finals on Wednesday night. The Green Bay Gamblers clinched the championship with a 5-3 victory, and the Force were the runners-up for the second year in a row.

Minnesota State recruit Matt Leitner gave Fargo a 3-2 lead at 4:42 of the third period (it was his 10th goal of the playoffs), but Green Bay scored three unanswered goals, including an empty-netter, over the final 10 1/2 minutes in front of a sellout crowd of nearly 8,500 people. The Force were playing without two of their top players, MSU recruits Corey Leivermann and Chase Grant. Another future Maverick, J.P. Burkemper had an assist and was +2 in the game.

Fargo won the first two games of the series in Green Bay and was 49 seconds away from winning Game 3 and the title on Friday in Fargo before the Gamblers tied the game and eventually won in triple-overtime. Green Bay then won the next night in Fargo, which forced Wednesday's game.

St. Louis is done; one more game for Fargo

Tyler Bruggeman's St. Louis Bandits didn't make it to the finals of the Robertson Cup championship over the weekend in Wenatchee, Wash. The Bandits lost on Saturday to Wenatchee, however, Bruggeman did not play in (and did not appear to dress for) that game after starting St. Louis' first three games in the tournament. The North Mankato resident and West graduate went 1-2 in those games, allowing 10 goals (including four power-play goals) and stopping 86.8 percent of the shots he faced.

Meanwhile, in  Fargo on Saturday, the Green Bay knotted the Clark Cup championship series with the Fargo Force (or as one blogger called them, the MSU-Mankato JV) to force a decisive Game 5 on Wednesday night in Green Bay. Not only does it appear that Mankato's Corey Leivermann will miss the game but so will another MSU recruit and Force captain Chase Grant, who suffered a knee injury early in Game 4.