Faceoff

ICE HAWKS: That didn't take long

PHERSY: I received a call from coach this morning to let me know that newly acquired defenseman Ryan Weston has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

So, that didn't take long.

Not much else to say about the situation ... other than that it wasn't that Weston was in legal trouble or anything, he just wasn't willing to do some of the things required of him here in Rochester.

It sounds like Weston may never suit up for the Ice Hawks, and he most definitely won't be playing this weekend. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything further about the situation. Weston likely will be sent back to North Iowa, and Korby Anderson could return to the Ice Hawks soon ... which is a good thing for us Hawks fans who love seeing Korby out there!

Don't forget ... Ice Hawks New Year's Eve game tonight. Puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Gorillas after the game!

Go Hawks!

ICE HAWKS: The boys are back in town!

PHERSY: After a nice holiday break, the Rochester Ice Hawks return to action Thursday night, New Year's Eve, at home against the Wisconsin Mustangs.

Time to re-fire that Mustangs rivalry!

The Ice Hawks are red hot, having won nine consecutive games. The Mustangs are playing well, too. They recently knocked off the Lumberjacks and are currently 18-7-0-4 in the MnJHL. The Ice Hawks are 22-5-0-1 and have moved to third place in the MnJHL, with games in hand on the teams sitting above them in the standings. Not a bad place to be heading into the new year!

So there is some player news. The Ice Hawks say goodbye to one player and welcome one new player.

Second-year forward Korby Anderson has been loaned to the North Iowa Outlaws of the NAHL. The 
 Outlaws watched Anderson at the MnJHL showcase, and they liked what they saw. The Outlaws also have experienced some injuries at forward, so Anderson is hoping to get a chance while the injured guys are out. It's likely he will return to Rochester at some point this season.

In that player swap, the Ice Hawks have acquired defenseman Ryan Weston of Roseau. Weston broke his foot back in October, so he missed a good chunk of time. The Outlaws wanted Weston to get back up to speed and keep developing here in Rochester.

"We're been watching Ryan for a few years now, and we've always liked what he's offered," Ice Hawks coach Nick Fatis said. "I think he's going to be a very good player for us. He's a solid 
 defensive player, he moves the puck well and he's very coachable. He'll give us some much-needed help on the blue line."

Weston arrived in Rochester on Monday and has been practicing with the team all week. He'll be in the lineup Thursday night against the Mustangs.

Fatis said he plans to leave Cory Volk and Ryan Hurd back at defense. And he has moved Dan McCamey up to forward. With Anderson leaving, it opened a spot for McCamey to try out offense, and Fatis said he's looked great in that role thus far.

That leaves the Ice Hawks with eight defensemen, meaning two guys will sit out each game. It's a solid number, if you ask me. Any more, and guys would be upset with playing time. Any less, and you're worried about injuries.

Speaking of injuries, there is some news on that front ...

First the bad news: It sounds like forward Myles Flott has had a setback in his recovery from groin injury. 
 He's much further away from playing than was first thought. It's a situation Fatis will have to evaluate in the near future as he sets his lineup for the rest of the season. "Things have stalled a bit and maybe even regressed with Myles' recovery," Fatis said. "I see him being a ways off from playing. But it's something we'll definitely have to sit down and assess here soon. I just need to make sure Myles is at full strength and he can give us what we need for him to be successful."

Now the good news: Andrew Fairbanks has been cleared to play. He can play on the knee injury, but it's only going to make it worse. So it could be a short return. Fairbanks' parents are in town this weekend, so he really wanted to get at least play one more game in front of them. And Fairbanks is looking to help the team any way he can. 

Other than that, the Ice Hawks are looking good as far as injuries. Go figure, Phelps had surgery again over the break. Fatis said it was something minor, and Phelps won't miss any time because of the surgery. "It was a small tear. That's what three surgeries for him now this season," Fatis said. "He's ready to go, and I know he's excited about this weekend."

The Ice Hawks returned to practice Monday morning, and coach said he gave them a bit of a wake-up call with an extended skate. 

"We shook them up a bit; we got the Christmas cookies out of their system, literally," Fatis said. "They looked OK; it was about what you'd expect after a break like that. But we've gotten better each day, and I thought we looked real good this morning."

So, the Mustangs ... they're really good, when they're on top of their game. They've been inconsistent, but when they play well, they can beat anyone. That means the Ice Hawks have to come out firing, Fatis said.

"The Mustangs are a fantastic team," he said. "They're fast, they're big, talented. They're right there with the best teams in the league. When they play well, they've been able to destroy the top teams in the league."

Game time on New Year's Eve is 7:05 p.m. Be there! Should be a rocking Rec Center!

The Ice Hawks come right back for a 7:05 p.m. game Friday against the Wildcats. Watch for Fairbanks that night! They get Saturday off before heading to Bloomington on Sunday to play the second-place Twin Cities Northern Lights.

Before I sign off, here's a story on Jason Feldman's favorite player, Justin Phelps, from the MnJHL Web site. The new league media guy, Nick Clark, is doing a great job, and the story on Phelps is another good example of his work. And I'm sure it will make Feldy cry a little.

That's all for now. See you all tomorrow!

Tournament time: It's Lourdes' World this week ... and a big congrats to JM

FELDY: It's a good week to be a fan of Rochester Lourdes sports. In a span of three hours tonight, three Eagles teams will play for holiday tournament championships in Rochester. I bumped into Lourdes A.D. Marv Peters after the boys hockey team knocked off International Falls in a Class A semifinal game of the Kiwanis Festival last night and he was all smiles. Then again, when isn't he? Lourdes boys and girls basketball teams will play for titles at the U.S. Bank/Rotary tournaments today, too.

The boys hockey team meets Mason City (Iowa) at 5:30 p.m. at Graham IV, the girls basketball team tips off against a powerful Lakeville North team at 6:30 p.m. at Mayo Civic Auditorium and the Eagles boys hoops team gets going at 8:15 p.m. at UCR Regional Sports Center against Stillwater.

ROCKETS IN KIWANIS FINAL

The big congratulations today, though, go out to coach Scott Lecy and the John Marshall boys hockey team, who have earned a spot in the Class AA Kiwanis Festival boys hockey title game against Brainerd. They'll face off at 6:30 p.m. at Graham Arena I. Zach Johnson -- the Rockets' hero in Monday's OT victory against New Richmond -- struck again last night. He scored the Rockets' first two goals and assisted on the tying goal in a 3-1 semifinal win against Eastview.

Lecy didn't think Johnson or the Rockets as a whole played a great game on Monday, but it was a 180-degree flip on Tuesday in the semifinals. "This was the team we thought we'd have at the beginning of the year," Lecy said.

Hopefully this can be a big turning point for the Rockets. They were a young, young team last year -- relying on nearly a dozen sophomores -- and they took a lot of lumps. The good news for JM now, though, is that all of those sophomores are just juniors. They have a season-and-a-half left of varsity hockey and they've all already played a season-and-a-half of varsity hockey.

I'm not trying to put the cart before the horse here (did I just use that phrase? Sheesh, who has a cart and a horse anymore? ... no offense to the Amish, but I bet they're not reading), and I'm not predicting that JM will go out and beat Brainerd (who, by the way, deserves some serious consideration for a top-15 or top-20 vote in the Class AA state rankings).

All I'm saying is that it's a huge step for JM just to have qualified for a tournament title game. Lecy sees it the same way. To go through the grind of three games in three days and have some good success, that will really help the Rockets in the second half of the season.

The talent has been there for this team. The players just needed to find some confidence. Win or lose tonight, they've found it.

MORE ABOUT BRAINERD

Rochester hockey fans, if you haven't been out to the Kiwanis this week, I'm telling you to come tonight to watch this Brainerd team play against JM at 6:30 in the Class AA final.

The Warriors send 20 lumberjacks onto the ice for each game. Trying to score on these guys is like trying to shoot a puck through a dense forest without hitting a tree. On top of that, they're physical and smart (they take some penalties, but I haven't seen them take a bad one in two games). They've also shut out the past two Festival champions (Fargo South and Century, both by 2-0 scores) to earn their spot in tonight's final.

Oh yeah, their two losses this season are to ranked teams (Moorhead and Alexandria). If they can find a way to create some scoring consistently, they could be a state tournament team. Only problem for the Warriors: They have the unfortunate draw of being in Section 8, which also includes Roseau and Moorhead.

Still, it's hard not to like this team after watching them play. They do everything right. Rarely out of position, which I think has been the biggest key to their success this week.

One thing that didn't make it in today's story was the respect the Brainerd coaches and players gave to Century after Tuesday's game. Brainerd first-line forward Matt Pohlkamp said Century was every bit as tought as the best teams they've faced this season. Coaches Jim Archibald and Toby Kvalevog were equally complimentary. Of course, Century was bummed about the loss, but it's intriguing to think of just how good the Panthers could be in two months if they work hard to improve.

All right, I'm out. Need to get to the rink! See you there!

It's tournament time!

FELDY: Anybody in Faceoff land care to keep me updated on Vikes-Bears tonight? This is one of the very few times I won't all that much mind not being able to watch the Vikes game live. Why, you say? It's tournament time in Rochester. My cot and sleeping bag are rolled out at the Graham Arena complex for the Kiwanis boys hockey festival. Pat Ruff and Donny Henn will be at the Rotary/U.S. Bank basketball tourneys and we might even get Phersy out to the Sertoma Shootout girls hockey tournament at Kasson and the Rochester Rec Center.

First off, here's a link to the Kiwanis Festival web site, which has brackets, past champs, etc.

Since I'll be eating and breathing Kiwanis Festival for the next three days, that's about the only tourney I can offer some commentary on. Some good teams have left the Festival in recent years (no more Totino-Grace, no more Apple Valley, etc.), but the tournament organizers have brought in a mix of teams that should make for a competitive field, and some unknown teams that could throw a wrench into predictions. 

For example, defending Kiwanis Class AA champ Fargo (N.D.) South is 3-0-2, but they've faced just one the better North Dakota teams this season. They play Brainerd in today's first game, at 12:30 p.m., and Brainerd could be a team to watch in that half of the bracket. Also in AA, New Richmond (Wis.) is 4-4, but John Marshall, N.R.'s first round opponent, is playing better. Mayo would seem a good bet to win its opener, too, against 1-6 Eastview, but Eastview plays a tremendously tough schedule, so the Lightning might be better than their record appears.

In Class A, Duluth Central enters at 5-1, but, again, their schedule hasn't been the strongest. Goalie Bret Gitar has put up some tremendous numbers thus far, so it will be interesting to see him compete against some of the teams in the Class A bracket. Central's first opponent is a big unknown, Mason City (Iowa). The Mohawks are 10-5-1 in their league, which includes about a half-dozen teams from Iowa, some from Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas City. What that competition is like, who knows? But the Mohawks certainly have some guys who can put the puck in the net. I'm curious to watch them play; if you want to check them out, they face Central at 2:30 p.m. in Graham IV.

All right, so, last year's picks were awful, why not try again?

CLASS A
• Quarterfinals: Richfield over La Crescent; Duluth Central over Mason City; International Falls over Albert Lea; Lourdes over Dodge County.
• Consolation semifinals: Mason City over La Crescent; Albert Lea over Dodge County.
• Semifinals: Richfield over Duluth Central; Falls over Lourdes.
• Trophy round: Dodge County over La Crescent; Albert Lea over Mason City; Lourdes over Duluth Central; Falls over Richfield.

CLASS AA
• Quarterfinals: Fargo South over Brainerd; Century over Princeton; Mayo over Eastview; JM over New Richmond.
• Consolation semifinals: Brainerd over Princeton; New Richmond over Eastview.
• Semifinals: Century over South; Mayo over JM.
• Trophy round: Eastview over Princeton; Brainerd over New Richmond; South over JM; Century over Mayo.

Merry Christmas and some updated hockey stats

FELDY: First off, the spreadsheet of former area hockey players in the pros, colleges and juniors has been updated. Here's a link to that.

Now, the important stuff: Merry Christmas to everyone in Faceoff land. Phersy is on a little vaca right now, in a place where he absolutely belongs. If we're lucky, he'll come back. If we're even luckier, he won't. ... Kidding!

Mrs. Feldy and I were out of town most of last week; took Toddler Feldy to the grandparents' place in North Dakota, where Santa was, um, kind enough to bring her a keyboard with a microphone and several other toys that I believe are made simply to annoy the bejeebers out of parents! Since Phersy's gone, I decided to come back and do some work, so I'll be updating Faceoff a little over the next two days, for any of you who also have to work on the holidays.

Anyhow, while in Grand Forks, I had the chane to watch some of a high school hockey tourney being played there. Apple Valley won the title, beating East Grand Forks, then the best two teams in North Dakota. It's really too bad that Valley isn't returning to the Kiwanis Festival this year. They're so much fun to watch. They have a big, strong freshman playing on the top line. Hudson Fasching has to be about 6-1 or 6-2 and I'd bet 180 or 190. He's the total package and will be a guy to keep an eye on.

Speaking of the Kiwanis, I'll post more later today or tomorrow, give you my picks (so those teams I pick can know in advance that they won't win) and some more info on the 16 teams coming to Graham Arena next week.

Again, wishing you all a very merry Christmas, and we hope Santa is good to all of you!

Big Pat ... you're killing me!

PHERSY: OK Feldy, I'm out covering wrestling all weekend, but I had to get something on the blog about this, because it's eating away at me.

So, according to a recent Strib story, Big Pat Williams, who is by far my favorite Viking (and if you didn't know that, you don't know Phersy!) has said that he will retire if the Vikings win the Super Bowl this season.

So Feldy, now what am I supposed to do? If I cheer for the Vikings to win the Super Bowl, that means I'm cheering for Big Pat to retire. I've already had to wrestle with my inner-Phersy regarding the whole Brett Favre situation, and now this.

I don't want Big Pat to retire ... ever. Of course, I want the Vikings to win the Super Bowl. Every year. So I'm in a pickle.

The great thing about Big Pat is that he said if the Vikes do win the Super Bowl, he's going out in style. He's stripping down to his tights and socks and handing out all of his equipment to the fans. So I guess that means I have to buy great seats to the Super Bowl so I can get a piece of Big Pat's last game!

Anyway, what do I do Feldy? Big Pat's killing me!

MnJHL Showcase: Ice Hawks vs. Lumberjacks

PHERSY: I'm in the building here at the National Sports Center in Blaine, and the Ice Hawks are about 30 minutes from hitting the ice for warm-ups. Everybody seems really loose and ready to go.

Here is your starting lineup for the Hawks.

FORWARD LINES

Korby Anderson-Alex Campbell-Tyler Groth

George Jackson-Shaun Walters-Zack King

Matt Rucinski-Joe Velasquez-Justin Phelps

Morgan Sanchez-Trevor Lloyd-Alex Whitney

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS

Mike Lezotte-Tyler Roberg

Ryan Hurd-Rick Weber

Cory Volk-Erik Ordahl

GOALIES

Simon Eriksson - starter

Sammy Hingtgen - backup

Healthy scratches, that I can think of, include Jorday Yaggy, Sam Benson, Dan McCamey, Nik Tamanko, Chad Mundy and Trevor Wight.

Don't forget the live blog. You can access through www.postbulletin.com or the actual link is here.

If you're looking for something to read, here is the game story from yesterday's win over the Northern Lights.

Ice Hawks: One more game, one more live blog

PHERSY: OK folks, one live blog down, one to go! I thought the Ice Hawks looked great today, especially for the first 10 minutes. It definitely wasn't the 60-minute effort Fatis is looking for, but I was encouraged by the way they jumped on the Lights. Still, I would have liked to see them put that game away. They had the Lights back on their heals, and they got two quick goals. Two more would have been nice in that first period!

A couple other thoughts ... I love Hurd back on D. And Volk is nice back there, too. My hunch, though, is that Volk will move back up front soon, and that Hurd will stay in the back. I'm sure a few of those non-dressed d-men are motivated after watching their teammates skate today, and I'd like to see them back out there. Good outlet passes, hustle, d-zone positioning, blocking shots ... that's what makes coach happy with his d-men. It was definitely much better today, and hopefully it continues to improve.

There's not much more I can say about Sammy Hingtgen. He was lights-out today. I'm guessing even though he was awesome today, Fatis will put Simon Eriksson in goal Thursday against the Lumberjacks.

OK, my fingers are starting to bleed with all of this writing today. I need to rest up for tomorrow. Another HUGE day. Beating the Lumberjacks on the big stage in front of everyone up in Blaine would be a nice feather in the cap. Also, it would mean the Lumberjacks are on a three-game losing streak. That sounds nice, doesn't it?! Now the Hawks just have to go out and make it happen.

Don't forget, live blog again tomorrow. Tell your friends! We didn't even hit 100 readers today, but let's get it tomorrow.

Live blog link can be found at www.postbulletin.com or here's the direct link. Also, if you missed today's live blog, you can go back and read it at the same link. Just click on the Northern Lights game and read away ...

Go Hawks!

Ice Hawks: Almost game time

PHERSY: I'm already in Blaine, ready for the Ice Hawks game! Don't forget today's live blog ... you can all the Ice Hawks action via www.postbulletin.com. Here is the direct link, which will go live about 15 minutes before game time.

I'll post this info when the blog goes live, too, but here are today's lines and d-pairings.

Lines

Anderson-Campbell-Groth

Jackson-Walters-King

Rucinski-Velasquez-Phelps

Sanchez-Lloyd-Wight

D-pairs

Lezotte-Roberg

Hurd-Mundy

Volk-Ordahl

Goalie

Hingtgen will start and Eriksson will back up.

So that's it for now ... we'll see everyone on the live blog at 12:15!

Pro Hockey: Mike Stuart looking to go back overseas

FELDY: Rochester native Mike Stuart was having a very good season for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL, up until last week, when he apparently decided he'd like to go back overseas. Stuart, a defenseman, played in Austria the past two seasons, where he totalled 12 goals and 23 assists for Graz EC. A press release on the Steelheads Web site indicates Stuart is pursuing opportunities to play in Norway.

The 29-year-old had put together an 11-point season (3-8--11) through 21 games for Idaho, becoming their top blue-liner and a team alternate captain.

Stuart was placed on team suspension last week by the Steelheads. That sounds worse than the reality -- he was placed on the suspension list only because the Steelheads wanted to retain his rights, should he decide to return to the ECHL.

Stuart was a 5th-round draft pick of the NHL's Nashville Predators in 2000. He has appeared in three NHL games in his career, all for St. Louis (two in 2003-04, one in 2005-06).