Clark Cup Champions

For the first time in the series, the home team won a game as the Green Bay Gamblers earned victory in the fifth and deciding game in the USHL Clark Cup Finals.  The Gamblers who once trailed in the series 2-0, won three straight over the Fargo Force to claim the third Clark Cup title in team history.

The Force started the scoring when Garrett Allen fired a shot from a tough angle over the shoulder of Gamblers goaltender Steve Summerhays.  It was the fourth goal of the series for Allen and the fourth time this series that Fargo had scored the first goal of the game.

The Gamblers came alive in the second putting a barrage of shots on Force goaltender Ryan Massa.  Robert Francis scored for the second straight game to pull the score even at 1-1 just 37 seconds into the second stanza.  Less than two minutes later, Ryan Furne put the Gamblers ahead when he found a loose puck in the Fargo crease and put home his seventh goal of the postseason.  Despite being outshot 15-6 in the period, the Force battled back as Joe Rehkamp scored his second goal in as many games to tie the game at two goals apiece.

It was only fitting that the back-and-forth series would come down to the final period of the final game.  Matt Leitner gave the Force the lead when scored his 10th goal of the playoffs on the power play just under five minutes into the final period.  It also meant that Leitner recorded a point in all 12 postseason games that he played.  A few minutes later, the Gamblers took advantage of a power play as Anders Lee was credited with his 10thgoal of the playoffs after redirecting a point shot by defenseman Nick Jensen and once again the score was tied.  Four minutes later, Gamblers forward Sean Little picked the right time to score his first goal of the playoffs as his blast snuck by Force goaltender Ryan Massa and put the Gamblers on top 4-3.  The Force pulled the goaltender in favor of the extra attacker in the final moments, but Robert Francis sealed the victory for Green Bay when he buried an empty net goal with just 12 seconds to play.

A huge celebration began at the final buzzer as a record crowd of 8,487 witnessed Game Five at the Resch Center.  It was the largest crowd in the history of the Gamblers organization and also the largest crowd to ever see a USHL playoff game.

Gamblers forward Anders Lee was named the USHL Clark Cup Playoff MVP.  He led the League in playoff scoring with 22 points (10g, 12a) including three points (1g, 2a) in Game Five of the series.  USHL Commissioner Skip Prince then presented the Clark Cup to Gamblers captain Patrick McCadden and the team circled the ice to salute the sold out crowd.

Notes…The last time the Gamblers won the Clark Cup was ten years ago during the 1999-2000 season….The Gamblers captured both the Anderson Cup as regular season champions and the Clark Cup as playoff champions.  The last USHL team to accomplish that feat was the Omaha Lancers during the 2007-08 season…USHL referees Boone Bruggman and Curtis Marouelli along with linesman Judson Ritter and Brian Oliver worked the historic Game Five.

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