Minella off to solid start in USHL season

Former Hornet Christiaan Minella has 2 goals and 1 assist through 3 games for the Sioux City of the USHL. Minella will be playing at Notre Dame next season, joining another former Hornet Christian Hanson. Minella, the Team Captian, had a solid season in 2004-2005 posting 7 goals and 15 assists in 58 games for the Musketeers.

Musketeers aim to move past pair of OT losses
Three games on Sioux City's weekend slate
By Steven Allspach - Sioux City Journal sports writer
Posted from 10/07/05:

After two stomach-churning losses, it was only natural for indigestion to upset Sioux City team captain Christiaan Minella and his short-handed gang of veterans.The agitated stomachs were caused by heart-breaking 5-4 overtime losses last weekend to Lincoln and Tri-City. Lincoln prevailed in its opening game at home Friday before a crowd of 4,610, getting a tying goal with just 8/10ths of second left in regulation, then winning 18 seconds into overtime.The following night in Sioux City, Tri-City put in the winning goal with only 5.7 seconds remaining in the extra session.

"The older guys took those losses harder than our new players," said Minella, a third-year Musketeer who will play collegiately at Notre Dame next season. "We've been around the longest and we take the responsibility for those games. In those situations it is on our shoulders.""It took a couple days for the disappointment to wear off, but we're eager to get back at it."It's going to a long weekend, but I think we're the best conditioned team in the league and fatigue shouldn't be a factor. We've got to play physical and keep a good mental frame of mind."We've left those games behind and we're moving on."Minella has two goals and an assist in the three games.

With the Musketeers' 5-3 opening win over Omaha at the Tyson Events Center, the Musketeers begin the weekend with four points in the West Division.Coach Dave Siciliano's skaters take on Omaha tonight in Council Bluffs, then host Sioux Falls Saturday and Cedar Rapids Sunday afternoon (4 o'clock faceoff).Sioux City's team, the youngest in the USHL, includes 14 players still in high school.

"This a critical weekend for us, but we can't think too far ahead," said Siciliano. "We've got to stay in the present as much as we can."The Sioux City coach, who guided the Musketeers to the USHL's Clark Cup finals last year with Cedar Rapids winning the fifth and deciding game, agrees with Minella."Our veterans took those overtime losses pretty hard," said Siciliano, "but our younger kids took it more in stride. They're full of energy and maybe the traditions of the league didn't bother them as much."The key thing this weekend will be for us to show the mental toughness to maintain focus in each game. The young kids are accustomed to three-game weekends in bantams and midgets. That's how they grew up playing hockey."Our effort has been there in three games, including the two overtime losses, and we got a point in each of those losses, but I emphasized we haven't gotten a 'W' for two games and that's not good," the Sioux City coach said.

Sunday, the Musketeers will face one of the USHL's premier goaltenders in Alex Stalock, who will play collegiately at Minnesota-Duluth. San Jose's fourth-round selection (112th pick) in the 2005 National Hockey League draft was named the outstanding player in the Clark Cup finals last year.He made 24 saves in the deciding game with the Musketeers.The main Cedar Rapids offensive threat is Maine recruit Ted Purcell."The Cedar Rapids game will have a lot of emotion because of last year, but we've got to take care of other business first," said Siciliano. "I think Ted Purcell, though, has the potential to lead the league in scoring."Musketeer assistant captains Phil DeSimone and Ryan Hohl, two of the few veterans on the club, each have two goals and two assists.Billy Blase will start in goal tonight against Omaha, but Siciliano said the team's other first-year goalie, former Hornet Phil Tetzlaff, will start either Saturday or Sunday.