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).

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.