Birkholz, Lee both go in 3rd round

Former Fargo Force players Josh Birkholz and Mike Lee both were selected in the third round of the NHL draft on Saturday.

Birkholz, a forward, was taken by the Florida Panthers with the 67th overall pick. Lee, a goaltender, was taken by the Phoenix Coyotes with the 91st overall pick.

Nick Oliver, another Roseau player who will likely play with the Force this season, was selected by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round with the 110th overall pick.

Posted by: Collins on 6/27/2009 at 11:13 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Omaha's LeBlanc goes in first round

Omaha Lancers star Louis LeBlanc was the first USHL player selected in this year's NHL draft.

The forward went 18th overall to the Montreal Canadiens. He's committed to play in college at Harvard.

Chicago Steel defenseman John Moore was the next USHL player taken, going three picks later to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In my humble opinion, Moore was one of the top two or three players I saw in the USHL this season. He was great.

They were the only USHLers taken in Friday's first round. The second round of the seven-round draft starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday. You can watch it on the NHL Network, or on NHL.com.

Posted by: Collins on 6/26/2009 at 8:37 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Blais gets ex-Gopher assistant

Mike Hastings has left the University of Minnesota to be one of Dean Blais' assistants at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Here's a link to a story on twincities.com.

Another interesting tidbit from this story was that Grant Potulny was named interim assistant coach with the Gophers under Don Lucia.

Posted by: Collins on 6/24/2009 at 2:18 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Des Moines looking for coach

It looks like J.P. Parise has decided to leave the Des Moines bench but will still be around as the team's general manager.

Here's a link to a story on the Des Moines Register's web site.

Des Moines was atrocious last year, winning just 12 games -- one more than league punching bag Tri-City.

Posted by: Collins on 6/23/2009 at 2:15 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Lee among invites to USA camp

Seven USHL players were invited to try out for Dean Blais' U.S. Junior National team for the 2010 tournament in Canada.

Among them was former Force goaltender Mike Lee, who was the league's goaltender of the year last season.

Also invited were Chicago defensemen John Moore and Phillip Samuelsson, Waterloo defenseman Patrick Wey, Cedar Rapids defenseman Matt Donovan, and future University of North Dakota forwards Danny Kristo (Omaha) and Mike Cichy (Indiana).

Here's a link to the story on the USHL site.

Posted by: Collins on 6/20/2009 at 11:06 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink