Both Chicago and Sioux City are both teams fighting for playoff spots and are both in 5th place in their respective divisions. The Musketeers are currently one point out of fourth place which would get them into the playoffs. The Steel are 6 points out of fourth and still have a very small chance of making the playoffs.
Sioux City is led on offense by the dynamic first line of Stephan Vigier, Adam Schmidt, and Alex Krushelnyski who have 42, 33, and 8 points respectively (Krishelnyski has only played 17 games for SC since being traded from the Steel). Defensively, Sioux City's last line of defense is led by NHL prospect Kevin Gravel. Also on the Musketeers, Dan Ford leads the defensemen in points, with 18, 10 of them coming on the powerplay. The Sioux City goaltender Matt Skoff has a 2.64 GAA and .902 SV% in 46 appearances this year.
Chicago is led on offense by Russian forward Andrei Kuchin (52 pts.), Jake Chelios (34 pts.), who is the son of the oldest man on skates, and Alex Carpenter (20 pts.). Defensively, Kevin Lind who I wrote about before, is a great defensive prospect. Lind is also leading Chicago defensemen with 15 points and a +3 +/- rating. Chicago goaltending is also very solid, with Connor Wilson, who I also wrote about earlier. Wilson has a 2.94 GAA and a .902 SV% in 27 games this year.
Saturday March 27th- Green Bay v. Fargo
Unlike the game above, these two teams already have their playoff spots secured. Green Bay (42-9-5), is trying to wrap up the Anderson Cup. You very well could be watching the USHL Clark Cup Championship game here.
Green Bay is led offensively by Anders Lee (64 pts.), Reed Seckel (55 pts.), and Ryan Furne (42 pts.). Defensively, David Makowski is a great offensive talent with 40 points this year. Nick Jensen also has 25 points this year which is second behind Makowski. Steve Summerhays, the outstanding goaltender is suspended for this fight against Chicago's Nick Pisellini. So that leaves backup Ryan McKay to start on Saturday. McKay has a 2.23 GAA and a .908 SV% this year.
Fargo's offensive production comes mainly from Matt Leitner, Corey Leivermann, Nate Condon, and Chase Grant with 59, 55, 51, and 49 points respectively. Here's an article about the last three written by Force Blogger over at the Fargo Force Blog. Defensively, Fargo is led by NHL prospect Eamonn McDermott. Also, defenseman Nate Schmidt has 35 points, which leads Force defensemen. Ryan Massa is back in goal for the Force and has a 3.09 GAA and .899 SV% in 28 games this year.
Please leave comments, I would love to hear them!
Sounds like a good weekend in the USHL (thanks for the link, btw!)
ReplyDeleteNo problem. We bloggers need to stick together :)
ReplyDeleteChicago is out
ReplyDeleteYes, they are out now after their loss to Sioux City and Waterloo's 4-0 win over Des Moines last night.
ReplyDeleteFargo has wrapped up at least second place in the west and Green Bay has the Andy. Big end to the season for the west as nothing is set in stone yet.The East is set and should make for a very entertaining playoffs
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, I can't wait to see who comes out on top of the league. Should be very exciting all the way through.
ReplyDeletewow what a war last night between fargo/gr bay ... truly the warriors come alive with seckel,GB/grant,FF can't wait for the puck to drop tonight...ok boys let's see who wants it.
ReplyDelete