Green Bay Gamblers Take Game One

Press Release

Goaltender Ryan McKay stopped all 23 shots he faced for his first USHL career playoff shutout to lead the Green Bay Gamblers to a victory in Game One and strike first in the USHL Clark Cup Final.

The pace was quick off the opening draw, but with playoffs top two goalies on each end of the ice, there would be no scoring through the first 20 minutes. Green Bay had a 12-10 shot advantage heading into the first intermission.

The Gamblers would get on the board early in the second period when Jean-Paul LaFontaine slipped the puck past Dubuque netminder Matt Morris to give Green Bay a 1-0 lead. William Kessel and Austin Czarnik collected assists on the play. The remainder of the period was scoreless as McKay stopped 18 shots through 40 minutes of action.

Dubuque had an opportunity early in the third period when they went on the game’s only power play, but Green Bay owns the top penalty killing in the playoffs heading into the contest (93.3%) and successfully killed off the Dubuque man-advantage. The Saints appeared to be gaining some momentum late in the third period, but Robert Francis stopped that trend when he netted his second goal of the postseason 15:08 into the period. Just 52 seconds later, Alex Broadhurst put the Gamblers up 3-0 to put the game away.

The two clubs will be on the ice in less than 24 hours for Game Two of the series.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)