USHL Round One

Phil DeSimone worked valiantly in the first round of the Clark Cup Playoffs but could not carry his Sioux City Musketeers to the series victory.

Having scored 6 goals and 6 assists in 7 games, Phil led the league in first round scoring but his Musketeers fell by a goal, 3-2, with Phil scoring the first goal of the game and assisting on the last goal of the game.

I want to congratulate Phil on an excellent season and postulate that the results of this series would surely have been different if his fellow Musketeer and Future 'Cat, Mike Beck (knee), had been healthy.

Look forward to seeing both of you in the fall!

As you may recall, Will O'Neill and the Omaha Lancers were eliminated as well after facing a tough Des Moines Buccaneers. Better luck next year although it's tough to imagine a better regular season than the Lancers had this year as they were just edged by the Waterloo Blackhawks for the regular season league title by the margin of one point - a tie as opposed to a win was the deciding factor.

Moving On:

Blake Kessel and Matt DiGirolamo with the Waterloo Blackhawks are moving on to Round Two where they will face the Indiana Ice, who eliminated Mike and Mike (Sislo and Borisenok) and their Green Bay Gamblers (look forward to seeing both of you in the fall!), in their first game of a new Round-Robin Second Round format.

Dan Dries with his Cedar Rapids Rough Riders will also pick up against the Ice after their long break from sweeping the Ohio Jr. Bluejackets.

Then Waterloo will square-off against Cedar Rapids.

Good Luck!

Go 'Cats!