The Stampede won the USHL playoffs last season after finishing fourth in regular season.  But the Clark Cup winners, like the Minnesota Wild, will find it hard to repeat last year’s successful season.  Sioux Falls lost their top five scorers from last season’s championship team; #1 scorer Kieffer Bellows/Edina (52 points/33 goals in 58 games), #2 scorer Cooper Marody (49 points/20 goals in 38 games) to Michigan, #3 scorer Dakota Joshua (44 points/20 goals in 52 games to Ohio State, their #4 scorer, two year veteran, Logan O’Connor (36 points/16 goals in 58 games) to the University of Denver and their #5 scorer Troy Loggins (35 points/14 goals in 57 games) to Northern Michigan.

At defense, both Stampede goalies (Stefanos Lekkas to Vermont and Arthur Brey to St. Lawerence University) are gone.  No Stampede goaltenders will return.  The Stampede’s defense corps was also decimated.  Sioux Falls loses their top six defensive scorers, Dillon Eicshstadt/Bemidji MN (26 points/7 goals in 54 games) to Bemidji State, Lukas Buchta to University of Nebraska Omaha, Chris Pohlkamp/Brainerd MN to Bowling Green, Clint Lewis/Burnsville MN to Minnesota State, Matt Nuttle/East Aurora NY to Cornell, and Joey Raats/Las Vegas NV to Arizonia State University.

The Stampede will likely remain #1 in our consolidated poll this summer, but will likely fall “from grace” come September.          

Where did the Stampede go?

Forwards:  Kieffer Bellows/Edina and the Stampede’s second leading scorer last season joins USA’s U18 team as part of USA’s National Team Development Program for the 2015-2016 season.  Bellows will play for Ohio State the following season and will likely be a first round draft in the 2016 NHL Draft.  Their #2 scorer Cooper Marody was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round (#158 overall) in the 2015 NHL draft.  Marody split last season between the Stampede and Muskegon posting 58 points/22 goals in 52 games combined.  Dakota Joshua, the #3 Stampede scorer played two seasons for Sioux Falls and was drafted in the fifth round by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2014 NHL draft.  Wes Michaud/Cloquet will play for Colorado College this fall. 

Defense: Dillon Eichstadt played for Bemidji High School, played two years in the NAHL before joining the Stampede last season.  Lucas Buchta/Zlin CZE played on all four Czech Republic teams (U17, U18, U19, and U20) before joining the Stampeded last season.  Tyler Nanne/Edina was traded to the Madison Capitals and will play hockey this fall at Ohio State.  Nanne was drafted #142 in the 2014 NHL draft by the New York Rangers.

Minnesota Wilderness

Last season’s Robertson Cup champs will have a hard time defending the cup this coming season.  The Wilderness will have only seven players potentially returning to skate at the Northwoods Arena in Cloquet next fall.  Still they had a truly remarkable season behind the coaching of Corey Millen.  Millen will have to be a wizard to pull a championship team “out of the hat” this season, but it is something he is capable of doing.  

In Andover two weeks ago, the MN Wilderness held their main camp, one step among many as they prepare for the opening of the NAHL season, September 26-29 at the Super Rink in Blaine.  On the ice, six teams, totaling 102 players skated three games consisting of two 25 minute running time halves with a three minute break between halves.  In an area roped off, Wilderness coach Corey Millen and his staff scrutinized the action on the ice as they evaluated the players.

Earlier Coach Millen took some time out to discuss hockey with YHH.  It was good, fun, conversation with one thing emerging-Millen knows hockey and knows what kind of players he wants on the Wilderness team.  When asked about last season’s championship run, he started to talk about how proud he was about the team’s performance especially in the playoffs.  He noted that to go in the “Big Dipper” and beat Fairbanks on their home ice 6-3 in a “loser go home” game, his team had to play a great game.  All three stars for that game were Wilderness players.  That is a tough thing to do at the Big Dipper.  Fairbanks had not lost a season ending game on home ice in more than a dozen years.

Millen team went on to win Tier 2’s championship at Austin last season.  The opening game started Friday evening and ended after midnight with the Wilderness getting the winning score in the fourth 20 minute overtime period.  On the bench, in the fourth overtime, Millen felt his players were answering the call, still skating hard shifts, and took pride in his team’s play under tough circumstances in the warm, packed, Austin arena.  They won on a fourth overtime period goal and went on to win Saturday to claim the Robertson Cup.

This year, the Wilderness have lost a number of their top players to college hockey, something that brings a smile to Millen.  Millen has the tough job of putting another 23 player team together.  When asked what he looks for, he is very straight forward, players with hockey I/Q and character.  He wants players who understand how to play the game and will be committed for the coming season to the team.  He does not overthink the evaluation process.  Players on his teams have to know what he wants them to do on the ice in different situations and execute.  It always interesting to see his team play in late September and then again in March.  One thing for certain, games that Millen coached teams play are fun to write about as the coach he differing game strategies from the bench and gets execution from the players on ice. 

Millen has set a goal to coach college hockey and as he tells his players, he is working towards that goal.  The former NHLer and Gopher, Millen is a strong believer that junior age hockey players should set their sights on college hockey and let pro hockey happen.  With a dozen players leaving last season’s Wilderness team to play college hockey, he can claim success. 

Where Did the Wilderness Players Go?

D1 commitments: Ivan Chukarov/University of Massachusetts, Tyler Cline/University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Billy Exell/University of Minnesota-Duluth, Brett Heikkila/Northern Michigan University, Bradley Johnson/Ohio State University, Brock Kautz/University of Minnesota, Ian Mansfield/Army, Aaron Miller/Bemidji State University, and Darian Romanko/University of Minnesota.

Aaron Miller will likely play the 2015-2016 season for the USHL Sioux Falls Stampede.

D3 commitments: Michael Covach/Plymouth State, Tyler Hart/University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Dan Litchke/University of Wisconsin-Superior, and Robb Stautz/St. John's University

Minnesota Owls

Reggie Dunlop spent most of a movie trying to find the owner of the Charlestown Chiefs.  When he does, it turns out to be a wealthy woman who essentially thanks him for making the Chiefs a successful team.  But she will fold the team and take the tax write-off rather than sell it for profit.  Anita McCambridge was the Chief’s owner in the movie “Slap Shot”.  The movie may have been fiction, but it was one of a few sports teams known to be owned by a woman.  Another is the Minnesota Owls.  Cindy Kuznia is not only the Owl’s owner and she also is the team’s manager (McCambridge had Joe McGrath played by Strother Martin as a manager).  She has been handling both roles for the past twenty years and recently took the time to talk about the Owls, their new league-the USPHL, and the coming season.  But unlike McCambridge’s afternoon meeting with Dunlop, the meeting had to be in the evening.  Cindy runs a day care.  And she enjoys hockey.

Kusnia recently attended a USPHL meeting of over a 120 team owners and managers.  She was the only woman there.  Mild and attentive in our discussion, one had a feeling she made her voice known among the 120 team owners and managers at the meeting.  She was in the middle of doing her manager's job (figuring out team travel for the new season).  This season’s the Owls move from the MNJHL (now defunct) to the USPHL.  The move looks like a good one.  The USPHL is better organized and the Owls will not be restricted from recruiting high school players.  The USPHL is not under contract with Minnesota Hockey that imposed such restrictions last season on the MNJHL teams.

The Owls draw players from the northeast Twin City suburbs and from East Central Minnesota and sometimes from rivals.  St. Francis and Cambridge/Isanti had a number of players last season’s team.  Two of the new Owl players in the coming season were the top two scorers for the Forest Lake Lakers, an Owl arch rival last season  in the MNJHL.  The Lakers are in the new league also and remain just 10 miles from home ice.  The Owls managed to sign the two Laker players at the end of last season.

She joked about the “theft”.  Under USPHL rules, players can move once the season is over on their own.  They are not bound to last season’s team and the Laker team was told they were leaving.  With the two Forest Lake Lakers leading scorers joining the returning Owl’s top scorers from last season, this year's team should have offensive depth.  Cindy's concern was her defensive.  She felt they had some good defenders returning, but was uncertain until she could see them in pre-season action.  Overall, Kusnia knows the team will improve this year, but Cindy wants a winning team.

The Minnesota Owls will be holding their main camp August 14-16 at the Isanti Ice Arena.  A summary of where the team is at is included below.  The main camp will be still holding tryouts for those players interested.

Minnesota Owls Offense

The Owls top two scorers (Vladimir Marchenko and Troy Jones 21 points/10 goals) are gone, but the Owls pick up the Forest Lake Lakers #1 and #3 scorers Josh Fischer (49 points.24 goals in 44 games) and Brandon Gillespie (35 points/19 goals in 45 games).  With the Owls’ #3 and likely to return (T.J. Wallskog 21 points/8 goals and ) and with signing Devon Heywood (34 points/11 goals), Ben Mabry, and Trace Pederson from the Denver Jr. Pioneers the Owls have potential.  Add to that mix possible returnees Jacob Broman/St. Francis MN, Mitch Bentfield/Spring Lake Park, and Jeff Jacobson/Park Rapids and the Owls offense should develop depth over the season.

Minnesota Owls Defense

While the offense looks promising, the defense needs work.  The Owls had goaltending by committee last season with the duties getting spread among a half dozen players over the season.  Goaltender Triston Jensen/White Lake, MI will be playing for Toledo this season, but goalies Zach Streff and Roni Sener could return to join Hunter Marsh.  Marsh split last season playing for Forest Lake and the Colorado Evolution. 

The Owls just signed Dillon Lindholm, a 6’3” defenseman out of Denver Colorado as they build a new defense corps.  Last year’s team lacked fore checking by the offense and an inability to contain their opponent’s offensive rush.  That led to too many shots on the net.  New Owl’s head coach, Andy Tufo, was the defensive coach last season with the Forest Lake Lakers.  Strengthening the Owl defense this season will be a priority.  Defensemen Jordan Adler/St. Francis MN, Justin Kneiszler/Mora MN, and Austin Sutherland/Wadena MN are likely to return for their first full year in Junior A.

Overall, things are looking up for the Owls in the coming season playing in a new league and having an improving offense.  With their season opener just six weeks away, the upcoming main camp will be the first good look at the potential team.  

North Iowa Bulls Todd Sanden's coaching philosophy balances playing time and player development with a winning approach to the game.  In his fifth year coaching the North Iowa Bulls out of Mason City Iowa, Coach Sanden has delivered three straight NA3HL divisional titles and three national titles.  He has done it the hardway starting each season with a minimum number of returning players (usually one or two players at goaltending, defense, and offense); cobbling together an initial group of players, driving to Albert Lea to hold practices until ice is in their Mason City home arena; and refining his teams play over the season.  Coach Sanden focuses on developing a strong defense that combines with an aggressive fast set of forwards to just score and win.  It works.  Coach Sanden’s teams have posted an average 41-3-1 record in the past three seasons.  Last season, Sanden’s Bulls won the NA3HL scoring title and had the most valuable defenseman in the league (Joe Kleven/Prior Lake MN).

Sanden and the North Iowa Bulls also have been part of a NAHL approach to junior hockey that links vertically NA3HL and NAHL teams.  That was started three years ago.  The vertical links are aimed at giving players maximum exposure by having events that congregate teams and players to scouting while minimizing associated expenses for all.  It has led to the NA3HL teams measuring success by the number of players tendered by Tier 2 (NAHL) or Tier 1 (USHL) teams.   Coach Sanden is proud to point out that four of last season’s Bulls players (including last season’s #1 and #2 scorers Johnny Panvica/Bloomington Jefferson and Brett Gravelle/Forest Lake MN) were at the Magicians main camp two weeks ago.   The NAHL approach will likely be expanded on at the Tier 3 level in the Minnesota regionally this year with the introduction of the USPHL league.  The vertical organization of teams focused on player development and movement still have some hurdles to face.  But Tier 3 teams in this area are likely to become more and more launching pads for hockey players transitioning from Minnesota high schools.  Sanden is equally proud to point out the transitioning of players to college.  Three of last season's championship team will be playing for Stout (Wisconsin) this fall.  

Coach Sanden spent time talking hockey with YHH this past week.  On the ice at Andover for the Bull’s main camp, he was all business, focused on getting his message to the 38 players before their last scrimmage and the camp breaking.  Later, more relaxed, he talked about his coaching experience at North Iowa.  Listening one could understand that it was not so much a job, but something he just wanted to do.  He was all about problem solving by not making problems hard.  He quickly pointed out that he viewed his job to help players develop.  Sanden believes that as part of player development, all Bulls players need to see the ice in game conditions.  That is hard to and to have a team that consistently wins.  Often, for the season, three goalies are needed on the roster.  That means splitting time while winning.  A good recruiter, Sanden welcomes the challenges.  Losing most of last year’s team, the challenge will be there this year to maintain those winning percentages.  But as the coach pointed out, it is no different from the last three seasons.