Five other MN Pulse playes make USHL All-Star Team

• Nick Mattson is in his first season with Indiana after playing for Team USA's development program during his high school years. Mattson did play for Chaska his freshman season before leaving for Ann Arbor. He is a 6'1, 190 pound defenseman who has four goals and four assists. Mattson is going to play for the University of North Dakota.
  
• Nick Jensen is another talented MN defenseman making the USHL All-Star Team. Jensen plays for Green Bay and was already drafted by Detroit. Jensen played his sophomore season for Rogers before going to Green Bay where he has now played in 80 games the past two seasons. Jensen has yet to score this year but does have 12 assists and a very high plus/minus at +16.
  
• Anders Lee went down in state history as one of the better athletes in the last decade. The 6'2", 216 pound forward from Edina has 18 goals and 18 assists in 34 games this year for the Gamblers. Lee is going to play college hockey at Notre Dame.
  
• Ryan Furne plays with Lee and Jensen in Green Bay, but Furne has to be one of just a few guys to play in the USHL All-Star game and not have a college commitment. Furne has 13 goals and 14 assists. The former Tartan and Hill-Murray star has proven himself to be a scorer wherever he plays.
  
• Tyler Barnes is in his second full season in the USHL and has put together a good one scoring 19 goals and 22 assists in 33 games. The former Burnsville star is taking his speed and play-making abilities to Wisconsin next year.
  

4 Future Gophers make USHL All-Star Game

The Gophers are going to be well represented in the USHL All-Star game with four future Gophers participating.

• Ryan Walters, a 18 year old from Rosemount who once won a state championship with St. Thomas Academy, was chosen to play for Team East. he has 12 goals and 27 assists this season for Demoines.
  
• Nate Schmidt is a talented defenseman from St. Cloud Cathederal. Schmidt has nine goals and 18 assists in his first season in junior hockey while playing for Fargo.
  
• New Prague's Seth Ambroz is a big physical forward at 6'3, 205 pounds. The 16-year old is in his second season with Omaha and has been chosen to play for Team West based on his 13 goals and 12 assists this season. Of his 13 goals, nine are on the power play.
  
• Nate Condon is the lone player from outside the state on this particular list. The 19-year old from Wasau, Wisconsin plays with Schmidt for Fargo. He has 16 goals and 12 assists this year. He has three short-handed goals and three game-winning goals.
  

MN natives squared off

Farmington native Brent Johnson got the call to play in nets for Pittsburgh Tuesday night and despite giving up four even strength goals made enough saves to help the Penguins secure a victory.

It was the 13th game Johnson has played in nets this year and he has a 6-4 record.

Minneapolis native and former Gopher Kyle Okposo had to be the most frustrated on the saves Johnson made as Okposo had seven shots and not one point to show for the effort.

From the Observer-Recorder....

The Penguins started Brent Johnson in goal, perhaps rushing him back into action from an undisclosed lower body injury.

But they apparently felt Johnson was a better option than rookie John Curry, who struggled terribly in his start at Vancouver on Saturday.

Johnson wound up in a three-round battle against Kyle Okposo in the second period, and came away a winner each time.

He stopped Okposo on two breakaways, then also thwarted Okposo on a penalty shot that was awarded on the second breakaway.

"He's a nifty forward," Johnson said. "He can stickhandle in a phone booth. He's pretty good. It was just one of those things."

Watch Johnson's first big save on an Okposo breakaway shot HERE
Watch Johnson's second save on Okposo here HERE
Watch Johnson's save on penalty shot HERE

Cloquet's Tyler Johnson having good junior season with CC

Tyler Johnson, a 5'9", 168 pound forward from Cloquet is having his best season for Colorado College. Johnson scored five goals as a freshman, six as a sophomore and has seven this year. Johnson has plenty of time to beat last year's total by more than one goal and is getting the quality minutes because of his solid all-around play. This weekend the Tigers travel to Anchorage. A possible sweep could put them in a tie for first place if Denver doesn't take more than two points from Wisconsin in Madison.



UMD, Johnson's home town team and a team that recruited him, is in first place right now with four more points than CC, but has a non-conference series with Bemidji State this weekend. Johnson's hometown TV station ran a recent feature on Johnson. Watch that Vidoe HERE

Matt McNeely of Team USA committs to UMD

FROM USHL.COM...

Team USA goaltender Matt McNeely. (USHL Images)

McNeely Commits to Minnesota Duluth

Goaltender Matt McNeely of Team USA has committed to play collegiate hockey at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The 16-year-old has been between the pipes in 14 USHL games for Team USA's Under-17 squad. He picked up his first USHL victory stopping 31 shots in the 4-3 victory vs. Youngstown on December 12^th. The Burnsville, Minnesota native made a season high 50 saves in the loss to Green Bay on October 10^th.

McNeely will be joined at Minnesota Duluth by current Team USA teammate Justin Faulk. In addition, four other players will attend the school following their USHL careers; J.T. Brown (Waterloo Black Hawks), Luke McManus (Tri-City Storm), Maxwell Tardy (Tri-City Storm), and Chris Stafne (Des Moines Buccaneers).

The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs are members of the WCHA and have 13 former USHL players on the roster for the 2009-10 season; Chase Ryan (Des Moines Buccaneers), Scott Kishel (Sioux Falls Stampede), Drew Akins (Sioux Falls Stampede), Drew Olson (Omaha Lancers), Jack Connolly (Sioux Falls Stampede), Keegan Flaherty (Fargo Force), Jake Hendrickson (Sioux City Musketeers), Mike Seidel (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders), Rob Bordson (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders), Travis Oleksuk (Sioux City Musketeers), David Grun (Sioux Falls Stampede), Brady Hjelle (Cedar Rapids RoughRiders), and Aaron Crandall (Des Moines Buccaneers).

Gophers' Hoefell out with "Mono"

From the Star Tribune....

Mike Hoeffel, the leading goal-scorer on the Gophers' hockey team, was diagnosed with mononucleosis on Monday. The junior left winger is expected to be out at least two to three weeks.

Hoeffel scored his 11th goal of the season on Saturday in Minnesota's 5-1 victory over North Dakota. He is also tied for the team lead in points with 18.

"He was having some mild symptoms last week," said Cathy Hoeffel, his mother, "but he thought they would go away, that he could push through this."

Read Full Article HERE

Hoeffel has been the best Gopher forward for most of the season and is playing closer to his potential. It's a tough time for the Gophers to lose him as they were just starting to play better hockey.

Eden Prairie native commits to Badgers

A nice article is posted on Star Tribune's prep site gamefacemn.com about Shattuck St. Mary's forward Jason Clark, a former Eden Prairie Eagle, who recently chose to play for the University of Wisconsin despite his strong sentiments as a Gophers fan.

From the article posted HERE

Clark, a 6-1, 180-pound forward, was ranked No. 73 among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings. He played for Eden Prairie's varsity as a sophomore two seasons ago, then transferred to Shattuck-St. Mary's.

He chose the Badgers over Harvard, Minnesota Duluth and North Dakota, citing a chance to play right away for a team that will graduate seven forwards.

"I never really kept in touch with the Gophers," he said. "They never really recruited me that much. And they had a lot of guys my age coming in, and I figured there wasn't going to be a lot of room.

"My bedroom at home is actually decorated in Gophers stuff. I'll have to switch that out."

Hendricks caps off good week for Blaine grads

Former Blaine Bengal Matt Hendricks continues to play well in Colorado which is making a surprising bid as a playoff contender and Division champ. His former teammate Brandon Bochenski was named to the AHL All Star game, but can't participate because of his recent call up to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Bochenski has scored 16 goals and 16 assists in 35 games for Northfolk this season. In eight games with Tampa Bay he has one goal and four assists. Bochenski was selected in the seventh round by Ottawa in 2001 and after a great career at North Dakota has spent most of his professional career in the AHL with frequent call ups the NHL. His best NHL season came in 2006-2007 with Boston where he played 31 games and finished with 11 goals and 11 assists.

Bochensk and Hendricks have both struggled at playing an entire season with the NHL club, but Hendricks looks like he might stick this season with Colorado. He recently scored a big shootout goal for the Avs and it was selected as Colorado's play of the week.

See Article and Goal HERE

Mark Cullen represents MN in AHL All Star Classic

Mark Cullen, the younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes center Matt Cullen, is the lone Minnesotan playing in the AHL All-Star Classic. Cullen has 15 goals and 25 assists on the season in 47 games played. He is already one point ahead of last season when he scored 14 goals and had 25 assists.

He is playing this year for the Rockford IceHogs and has played for a different AHL team the past five seasons.

The Cullen's were born in Virginia but played in high school in Moorhead where their dad was considered one of the great hockey teachers in the state. Mark played at Colorado College while brother Matt starred at St. Cloud State.

Mark was signed to a one-year contract with Chicago this past summer but has yet to get called up. He last appeared in a NHL game in 2006-2007 for Philadelphia.

Dan Sexton is indeed a top rookie

Dan Sexton didn't start his season in the NHL but all indications are that he could be a valuable piece to a Ducks playoff run.

Sexton was back at it last night as he was the first Duck to get on the board tying the Flames at 1-1 in the first period. It was his eighth goal of the season and second in the last three games. He added his eighth assist of the season on Bobby Ryan's game-winning goal with 6:17 left in the third period.

Watch Sexton's Goal HERE

Watch Sexton Assist HERE