U.S. eliminated, Canada moves on

Drew Stafford helped rally the Americans with a late shorthanded goal to tie the game, but Finland scored in overtime to knock out the U.S. at the World Championships. The Finns beat the U.S. 3-2.

In the other semifinal, Jonathan Toews scored once and set up two in leading Canada to an 8-2 win over Finland.

Toews is going for yet another international gold. He's three-for-three in IIHF tournaments so far, winning two gold medals on the World Junior team and one in the World Championships.

Friday's semifinal matchups:

Russia vs. Finland, noon
Canada vs. Sweden, 4 p.m.

Wednesday's quarterfinals

FIN 3, USA 2, OT
First period -- 1. FIN, Ruutu (Jokinen) 10:14
Second period -- 2. FIN, Niskala (Jokinen, Selanne) 5:45 (pp)
Third period -- 3. USA, Kessel (Gleason) 15:44; 4. USA, Stafford (Burish) 16:21 (sh)
Overtime -- 5. FIN, Lepisto (S. Koivu, Selanne) 3:59
Saves -- USA: Esche 30; FIN: Backstrom 22

CAN 8, NOR 2
First period -- 1. CAN, Heatley :37; 2. NOR, Ask (Trygg, Bastiansen) 7:51 (pp); 3. CAN, Getzlaf (St. Louis, Heatley) 11:02 (pp)
Second period -- 4. NOR, Olimb (Spets, Bastiansen) 5:32; 5. CAN, Toews (Keith, Roy) 9:57 (pp); 6. CAN, Roy (Toews, Green) 14:08 (pp); 7. CAN, Roy (Toews, Doan) 16:50
Third period -- 8. CAN, Nash (Green, Heatley) 4:10; 9. CAN, Nash (Getzlaf) 10:44; 10. CAN, Roy 11:40
Saves -- CAN: Ward 22; NOR: Grotnes 31

SWE 3, CZE 2, OT
First period -- No scoring.
Second period -- 1. SWE, Hornqvist (Stralman, Backstrom) 7:43 (pp); 2. CZE, Rolinek (Kotalik, Plekanec) 10:28
Third period -- 3. CZE, Vrbata 12:19 (ps); 4. SWE, Nilson (Johansson, Wallin) 16:22
Overtime -- 5. SWE, Weinhandl (Stralman, Nilson) 3:15
Saves -- SWE: Hundqvist 29; CZE: Hnilicka 28

RUS 6, SUI 0
First period -- 1. RUS, Semin (Grebeshkov, Fedorov) 1:14; 2. RUS, Afinogenov (Zaripov, Tereshchenko) 2:18; 3. RUS, Zaripov 6:23 (pp)
Second period -- 4. RUS, Fedorov (Grebeshkov, Korneyev) 1:22; 5. RUS, Afinogenov (Zaripov, Tereshchenko) 6:37; 6. RUS, Ovechkin (Korneyev, Nabokov) 18:07
Saves -- RUS: Nabokov 22; SUI: Gerber 9, Hiller 15

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, May 14 at 9:41 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Familiar names show up in draft

It didn't take long for today's USHL draft to raise some eyebrows for people in these parts.

It started with Green Bay taking Sioux sophomore Michael Forney with the No. 1 overall pick. What does this mean for Forney? He's going to the USHL with his future destination unknown. Read the story here.

Then, Green Bay traded away three future WCHA players to get the No. 2 overall pick and a third-round pick. One of those players the Gamblers traded away is Sioux defenseman recruit Joe Gleason, who is now property of Des Moines.

The Fargo Force rounded out their team with some area players of note: Grand Forks Red River's Nick Schaefer and Jarrett Galbreath and Grafton's Chad Demers, the MVP of the state tournament.

To view the whole draft, go here.

Here are some notables:

1. Green Bay -- Michael Forney, UND
10. Indiana -- Brett Bennett, BU
11. Omaha -- C.J. Ludwig, Dallas AAA (son of Craig Ludwig)
57. Fargo -- Chad Demers, Grafton-Park River
70. Fargo -- Cory Leiverman, MSU-Mankato recruit
98. Fargo -- Colton St. Clair, Colorado College recruit
103. Sioux Falls -- Ben Nelson, Roseau
113. Chicago -- Tyler Landman, Roseau
122. Fargo -- Nick Schaefer, Red River
145. Tri-City -- Jason Fabian, Roseau
146. Fargo -- Jarrett Galbreath, Red River

As far as the high school players go, Nelson, Schaefer, Fabian and Galbreath all were seniors. No word yet on whether Demers and Landman will give up prep hockey to play in the USHL.

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, May 14 at 2:01 PM | Comments (8) | Permalink

USHL news

The USHL entry draft begins at 9 a.m. today. Follow the draft at this site. It updates automatically.

The league announced this week that Ohio is folding and that its returning players will be transferred to Fargo. Because of that, Tuesday's expansion draft was cancelled and the Force won't have picks in the first three rounds of today's entry draft.

It's too bad for coach Dean Blais, who spent much of the winter scouting players for these two drafts. But he will get some good players with the transfer. Notables include defenseman Greg Pateryn (Michigan recruit), defenseman Steve Spinell (Miami recruit), forward Dan Durham (Air Force recruit), defenseman Luke Witkowski (Western Michigan recruit) and Matt Leitner (uncommitted).

*****

USHL teams released their protected lists this week and Fargo protected the above-mentioned players along with Sioux recruit Garrett Clarke, Minnesota recruit Nate Condon and St. Cloud State recruits Mike Lee (Roseau) and Bryce Ravndalen (Warroad).

Other notable players appeared on protected lists, too:

Alex Simonson, Grand Forks Red River, Chicago
Zach Lehrke, Park Rapids HS and MSU-Mankato recruit, Cedar Rapids
Brett Bruneteau, Sioux recruit, Des Moines
Joe Gleason, Sioux recruit, Green Bay
Corey Fienhage, Sioux recruit, Indiana
Eric Meland, Grand Forks Red River, Lincoln
Ryan LaDouceur, Grand Forks Red River, Lincoln
David Toews, Sioux recruit, Lincoln
Danny Kristo, Sioux recruit, Omaha
Danny Mattson, Sioux recruit, Omaha
Danny Wurden, Fargo South, Sioux City
Mike Cichy, Sioux recruit, Tri-City
Mike Fink, Sioux recruit, Waterloo

The ones on the list that I would be the most skeptical of (for this season) are Toews and Mattson. Toews is likely to be at UND in the fall and Mattson very well could play his senior season with Holy Angels.

*****

Another interesting happening in the USHL: Tri-City announced it was changing its name to the Nebraska Storm and changing its colors. Ten days later, however, the organization decided to keep the current name and colors because of backlash by fans.

*****

The coaching carosel continues in the USHL.

Today Tri-City coach Bliss Littler resigned after five years with the Storm and Indiana coach Charlie Skjodt resigned to become President of Hockey Operations.

This offseason in the league has seen:

Green Bay: Mark Mazzoleni out, Jon Cooper in.
Des Moines: Regg Simon out, J.P. Parise in.
Sioux City: Dave Siciliano out, Todd Knott in.
Tri-City: Bliss Littler out.
Indiana: Charlie Skjodt out.

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, May 14 at 3:26 AM | Comments (4) | Permalink

Oshie press conference set for 10:30

T.J. Oshie will be introduced to the St. Louis media at 10:30 a.m. with a press conference.

Here's the Herald story about Oshie signing.

Here's the St. Louis Post-Dispatch version.

If you want to follow further coverage, check out the Post-Dispatch hockey page here. They usually have frequent updates from beat writer Jeremy Rutherford. The Blues' site also had updates on Tuesday and I'm sure it will have more today. See that here.

With Oshie's signing, the list of early departures in the WCHA hits nine. The only teams that haven't had anyone sign are the first-place and last-place teams -- Colorado College and Alaska-Anchorage.

Early departures in the WCHA

Minnesota (2)
G Jeff Frazee, junior
F Blake Wheeler, junior

North Dakota (1)
F T.J. Oshie, junior

Wisconsin (1)
F Kyle Turris, freshman

MSU-Mankato (1)
F Jon Kalinski, junior

Michigan Tech (1)
G Michael-Lee Teslak, junior

Minnesota-Duluth (1)
D Jason Garrison, junior

St. Cloud State (1)
F Andreas Nodl, sophomore

Denver (1)
D Chris Butler, junior

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, May 14 at 3:14 AM | Comments (3) | Permalink

U.S. gets another shot at Finland

The quarterfinals begin today at the World Championships and the Americans will get another shot at Finland.

The U.S. lost a controversial game to the Finns a couple of days ago. Up 2-0, the Americans allowed three goals in the third period and lost 3-2. One of them, however, went through the side of the net. The referees reviewed the play, but upheld the call.

American coach John Tortorella (Tampa Bay Lightning) said: "I've heard about these horror shows as far as international refereeing. I've finally lived through one."

The video goal judge was dismissed from the tournament after the game, which pleased Tortorella.

Regarding that, he said: "Did they sack him? They should. I don't know how they handled it, but as far as dismissing him, yes, I support it. That mistake can't happen. I care about the players on all teams. They are competing as hard as they can in this tournament and something like that should not have happened. The person that's responsible should be axed."

Video of the incident:

Here are your quarterfinal matchups today:

Czech Republic (3-2) vs. Sweden (3-2), Noon
Norway (1-4) vs. Canada (5-0-0), 3:30 p.m.
Russia (5-0) vs. Switzerland (3-2), 6:15 p.m.
United States (3-2 vs. Finland (4-1), 7:15 p.m.

Goal leaders in the tournament

9 -- Dany Heatley, CAN
6 -- Patrick Elias, CZE
5 -- Zach Parise, USA
5 -- Alexander Ovechkin, RUS
5 -- Phil Kessel, USA
5 -- Dustin Brown, USA
5 -- Ales Kotalik, CZE
5 -- Patric Hornqvist, SWE

Face-off leaders in the tournament

71.4% -- Olivier Coqueux, FRA
69.2% -- Esa Pirnes, FIN
67.7% -- Patrick Sharp, CAN
67.6% -- Jonathan Toews, CAN
66.6% -- Vaclav Skuhravy, CZE
66.1% -- Nicklas Backstrom, SWE
65.0% -- Saku Koivu, FIN

Most penalized players in the tournament

36 PIM -- Matt Greene, USA
31 PIM -- Niclas Wallin, SWE
31 PIM -- Raitis Ivanans, LAT
29 PIM -- Hannes Hyvonen, FIN
28 PIM -- Antti Niemi, FIN

Posted by: Schlossman on Wednesday, May 14 at 2:44 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

It's official

T.J. Oshie made it official this afternoon, inking with the St. Louis Blues.

No doubt, Oshie was one of the most exciting players to suit up at UND. Here are some YouTube clips that highlight Oshie's career (thanks to RedFrogND).

The big hits:

The highlight-reel goals:

The passing:

And the moves:

Let's see a list of your top five all-time most exciting Sioux players to watch. Where does Oshie rank?

Posted by: Schlossman on Tuesday, May 13 at 1:14 PM | Comments (23) | Permalink

Oshie deal coming soon

Nothing has been done yet, but it appears that things are getting close for T.J. Oshie.

This development has been anticipated by everyone for some time now. We'll likely get official word tomorrow or Wednesday.

The question all of us in the press box wondered all season long: If T.J. Oshie's name appears as a candidate for player of the game next season, will he still win the vote even though he is 1,000 miles away?

Posted by: Schlossman on Monday, May 12 at 10:42 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Humboldt wins RBC Cup

It's officially the offseason for UND recruits.

The Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League won the RBC Cup today by defeating Andrew MacWilliam and the Camrose Kodiaks, the Alberta champions 1-0.

The lone goal was an unassisted power-play goal late in the first period.

MacWilliam was the last Sioux recruit in action.

There are only four former Sioux players left in action (two of them as coaches), if my count is right.

Karl Goehring and the Syracuse Crunch will play a Game 7 against the Toronto Marlies on Monday night in the AHL quarterfinals.

Andy Schneider and the Portland Pirates have advanced to the AHL semifinals, where they will start a series against Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Wednesday.

And coaches Dave Tippett and Rick Wilson of the Dallas Stars have fallen behind the dominating Detroit Red Wings 2-0 in the Western Conference finals.

Posted by: Schlossman on Sunday, May 11 at 2:55 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink