Green Bay Gamblers

Green Bay Gamblers
City	Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin
League	USHL
Conference	Eastern
Founded	1994
Home arena	Resch Center
Colors	Black, yellow, white
Owner(s)	PMI Entertainment Group
General manager	Pat Mikesch (2014–19)
Head coach	Pat Mikesch (2014–19)
Franchise history
1994–present	Green Bay Gamblers
Championships
Regular season titles	5 Anderson Cups (1995–96, 1996–97, 2008–09, 2009–10, and 2011–12)
Playoff championships	4 Clark Cups (1996, 2000, 2010, and 2012)

The Green Bay Gamblers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). They play in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, at the Resch Center.

History[]

Professional hockey in Green Bay[]

The first professional hockey team to be based in Green Bay was the Green Bay Bobcats who started playing in 1958 when the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena was built. There is some confusion over what league the team played in during its early years or if the team played in multiple leagues. Some sources cite that the Bobcats played in the U.S. Central Hockey League, a predecessor to the current United States Hockey League (USHL). Other sources claim that the Bobcats did not start playing in the USCHL until 1961. The Green Bay Bobcats franchise folded after the 1980-1981 season and 23 years of play. However, since the 2008-2009 season the Green Bay Gamblers have used a yellow bobcat prominently in the team's logo as well as having a bobcat by the name of "Ace" as the teams mascot.

Green Bay Gamblers[]

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Since their inception into the United States Hockey League in 1994 the Green Bay Gamblers have been one of the premiere junior "A" hockey franchises in all of North America. To their credit the Gamblers have won two Junior A, Tier 2 National Championships (Gold Cups in 1996 and 1997), five Anderson Cups (1996, 1997, 2009, 2010, and 2012), four Clark Cups (1996, 2000, 2010, and 2012), four USHL Eastern Division titles, and one USHL Northern Division title. Since the USHL became Tier 1 in 2002, the Clark Cup also represents that level's national championship.

Home rinks[]

From when the Gamblers entered the league at the start of the 1994-1995 season through the 2001-2002 season, the team's primary venue was at the Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. For the start of the 2002-2003 season, the Gamblers moved into the Resch Center, an 8,800 seat arena which was built on the opposite side of Shopko Hall. The team played at the Memorial Arena a few times each season due to scheduling conflicts with the Resch Center until the arena was scheduled for demolition in 2019.

During the years at the Arena, other venues were sometimes used due to scheduling conflicts. These include the De Pere Ice & Recreation Center, the Brown County Youth Hockey Arena, the Cornerstone Community Center, Fond du Lac's Blue Line Ice Center, Beaver Dam Ice Arena, Greenheck Ice Center in Schofield.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1994 the average attendance of a Gamblers Game is 3,353 people,^[1] which is among the top in the USHL. In 2010, the Green Bay Gamblers set a USHL record for the highest attended playoff game when 8,487 fans showed up to see game five of the USHL Playoff championship, a game the Gamblers won resulting in franchise's third Clark Cup. The record has since been broken multiple times.^[2]

Season-by-season record[]

Reference^[3]

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	SOL	PTS	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
1994–95	48	9	34	1	4	0	23	147	264	—	11th of 11	Did not qualify
1995–96	46	32	11	3	0	0	67	219	737	—	1st of 11	Won Clark Cup
1996–97	54	41	11	0	2	0	84	260	187	1882	1st of 6, North	Won Quarterfinals, 4–2 vs. Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks Won Semifinals, 4–3 vs. North Iowa Huskies Lost Championship, 4–0 vs. Lincoln Stars
1997–98	56	31	20	0	0	5	51	157	183	1576	3rd of 6, North	Lost Quarterfinals, 4–0 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers
1998–99	56	41	11	0	4	0	86	213	143	1568	1st of 4, East	Won Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Thunder Bay Flyers Lost Semifinals, 3–0 vs. Omaha Lancers
1999–00	58	35	18	0	0	5	75	232	174	1318	2nd of 7, East	Won Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Waterloo Black Hawks Won Semifinals, 3–2 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers Won Championship, 4–1 vs. Twin City Vulcans
2000–01	56	32	13	0	11	0	75	177	153	994	1st of 6, East	Lost Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Tri-City Storm
2001–02	61	35	20	0	6	0	76	184	179	1257	1st of 6, East	Won Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers Lost Semifinals, 3–1 vs. Sioux City Musketeers
2002–03	60	16	36	—	3	5	40	139	215	1341	5th of 5, East	Did not qualify
2003–04	60	27	28	—	4	1	59	171	176	1144	5th of 6, East	Did not qualify
2004–05	60	21	37	—	2	0	44	141	220	971	5th of 6, East	Did not qualify
2005–06	60	30	26	—	1	3	64	182	183	1127	3rd of 6, East	Lost Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Des Moines Buccaneers
2006–07	60	24	30	—	1	5	54	176	198	1317	4th of 6, East	Lost First Round, 4–0 vs. Indiana Ice
2007–08	60	13	41	—	2	4	32	130	224	1346	6th of 6, East	Did not qualify
2008–09	60	39	17	—	0	4	82	237	165	1363	1st of 6, East	Won Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Waterloo Black Hawks Lost Semifinals, 3–1 vs. Indiana Ice
2009–10	60	45	10	—	2	3	95	212	140	1394	1st of 8, East	Won Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Waterloo Black Hawks Won Semifinals, 3–1 vs. Indiana Ice Won Championship, 3–2 vs. Fargo Force
2010–11	60	41	15	—	2	2	86	189	131	790	2nd of 8, Eastern	Won Quarterfinals, 3–0 vs. Indiana Ice Won Semifinals, 3–1 vs. Cedar Rapids RoughRiders Lost Championship, 3–1 vs. Dubuque Fighting Saints
2011–12	60	47	9	—	2	2	98	250	138	882	1st of 8, Eastern	Won Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Youngstown Phantoms Won Semifinals, 3–0 vs. Indiana Ice Won Championship, 3–2 vs. Waterloo Black Hawks
2012–13	64	37	23	—	3	1	78	234	207	1069	2nd of 8, Eastern	Lost Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Youngstown Phantoms
2013–14	60	30	24	—	3	3	66	183	176	887	4th of 8, Eastern	Lost Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Indiana Ice
2014–15	60	18	34	—	3	5	44	156	213	1010	9th of 9, Eastern	Did not qualify
2015–16	60	37	16	—	4	3	81	191	135	881	2nd of 9, Eastern	Lost Quarterfinals, 3–1 vs. Dubuque Fighting Saints
2016–17	60	34	22	—	2	2	72	173	145	—	5th of 9, Eastern	Did not qualify
2017–18	60	30	24	—	4	2	66	172	170	—	3rd of 9, Eastern	Lost Quarterfinals, 2–0 vs. Dubuque Fighting Saints
2018–19	62	19	34	—	6	3	47	173	250	967	8th of 9, Eastern	Did not qualify
2019–20	48	24	19	—	2	3	53	168	147	840	3rd of 8, Eastern	Season cancelled
2020–21	51	30	17	—	2	2	64	190	182	821	3rd of 6, Eastern	Lost Conf. Semifinals, 0–2 vs. Muskegon Lumberjacks

Players[]

Current roster[]

As of November 20, 2020^[4]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	College commitment
4		Jarod Crespo	D	6' 0"	209 lb	2002-04-30	Eastampton Township, New Jersey	Salisbury (USHS-Prep)	Penn State
5		Greg Spitznagel	F	6' 2"	201 lb	2003-03-10	Summit, New Jersey	New Jersey Rockets 16U (Midget AAA)	None
7		Michael Ferrandino	D	5' 10"	170 lb	2000-03-17	Lisle, Illinois	Tri-City (USHL)	None
8		Jake Schmaltz (A)	F	6' 1"	168 lb	2001-04-24	McFarland, Wisconsin	Chicago (USHL)	North Dakota
9		Kyler Grundy	F	6' 1"	190 lb	2000-04-19	Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin	Minnesota (NAHL)	None
10		Alex Nordstrom	F	5' 11"	165 lb	2000-11-25	Hancock, Michigan	Fargo (USHL)	Michigan Tech
11		Xan Gurney	D	6' 3"	198 lb	2000-05-28	Grosse Ile, Michigan	Fargo (USHL)	Western Michigan
12		Tyler DesRochers	D	6' 0"	170 lb	2003-04-02	Howell, New Jersey	Mount St. Charles Academy (Midget AAA)	Providence
14		Cade Penney	D	6' 0"	165 lb	2001-03-23	White Rock, British Columbia	New Jersey (NAHL)	New Hampshire
16		Camden Thiesing	F	5' 11"	161 lb	2001-03-26	Franklin, Tennessee	Chippewa (NAHL)	Ohio State
17		Matt DeBoer	F	6' 0"	174 lb	2002-09-02	Madison, New Jersey	Salisbury School (USHS-Prep)	Holy Cross
18		Sawyer Scholl	F	6' 2"	181 lb	2002-02-14	Green Bay, Wisconsin	Notre Dame Academy (USHS–WI)	Wisconsin
19		Jesse Tucker (C)	F	5' 11"	174 lb	2000-03-01	Thunder Bay, Ontario	North York (OJHL)	Lake Superior State
20		Mason Lohrei (A)	D	6' 4"	201 lb	2001-01-17	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Culver Military Academy (USHS-Prep)	Ohio State
22		John Mittelstadt	F	5' 8"	154 lb	2001-10-01	Eden Prairie, Minnesota	Eden Prairie HS (USHS–MN)	Minnesota
24		Brayden Stannard	F	6' 3"	185 lb	2002-11-25	Bark River, Michigan	Maryland (NAHL)	Omaha
25		Jackson Hallum	F	6' 0"	170 lb	2002-09-08	Eagan, Minnesota	St. Thomas Academy (USHS–MN)	Michigan
26		Ryan Kirwan	F	6' 2"	194 lb	2002-02-27	DeWitt, New York	Madison (USHL)	Penn State
27		Ryan Greene	F	6' 1"	174 lb	2003-10-21	Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador	Selects Academy 16U (Midget AAA)	Boston University
28		Braiden Simmons-Fischer	F	6' 6"	223 lb	2002-01-26	Detroit, Michigan	Compuware 16U (Midget AAA)	Western Michigan
29		Jackson Kunz	W	6' 3"	209 lb	2002-08-13	Grand Forks, North Dakota	Shattuck St. Mary's 18U (USHS-Prep)	North Dakota
30		Aaron Randazo	G	6' 0"	174 lb	2001-05-31	Annapolis, Maryland	Maryland (NAHL)	St. Cloud State
33		Jed Baliotti	G	6' 3"	185 lb	2002-02-07	New Canaan, Connecticut	Berkshire School (USHS-Prep)	New Hampshire
35		Matt Davis	G	6' 0"	172 lb	2001-06-21	Calgary, Alberta	Spruce Grove (AJHL)	Denver
43		Cam VanSickle	F	6' 1"	185 lb	2004-02-24	Fairbanks, Alaska	Honeybakes 15U (Midget AAA)	Denver
55		Jake Ratzlaff	D	6' 3"	185 lb	2002-06-23	Rosemount, Minnesota	Rosemont HS (USHS–MN)	Minnesota
61		Alexander Servagno	F	5' 9"	172 lb	2002-06-16	Gibsonia, Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh Penguins Elite 16U (Midget AAA)	Ohio State
74		Dylan Abbott	D	6' 0"	181 lb	2001-11-26	Wasilla, Alaska	Fairbanks (NAHL)	Minnesota State
93		Damien Carfagna	D	5' 10"	161 lb	2002-12-12	Wood Ridge, New Jersey	Lawrence (USHS-Prep)	New Hampshire

Team captains[]

• Ryan Petersen (2004–05)
• Ryan Little (2007–08)
• Max Hartner (2011–12)
• Grant Arnold (2011–12)
• Ryan Lough (2013–14)
• Sam Saliba (2015–16)
• Jared Spooner (2016–17)
• Jackson Charlesworth (2017–18)
• Nick Leitner (2018–19)
• McKade Webster (2019–20)

Notable alumni[]

NHL[]

On March 25, 2013, former Gamblers head coach Jon Cooper was named the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.^[5] He is the first USHL coaching alumnus to lead an NHL team. Former Gamblers head coach Derek Lalonde was hired by the Lightning as an assistant coach on July 12, 2018, joining Cooper's staff.^[6]

NHL draft picks[]

Green Bay Gamblers have had the following players selected in the NHL draft.

Year drafted	Player	Drafted team	Pick
1997	Aaron Miskovich	Colorado Avalanche	5th round
	Heath Gordon	Chicago Blackhawks	6th round
1999	Ed Hill	Nashville Predators	2nd round
	Stephan Baby	Atlanta Thrashers	7th round
	Jeff Finger	Colorado Avalanche	8th round
2000	John Eichelberger	Philadelphia Flyers	7th round
	Jure Penko	Nashville Predators	7th round
2002	Matt Greene	Edmonton Oilers	2nd round
	Matt Jones	Phoenix Coyotes	3rd round
	Nate Guenin	New York Rangers	4th round
	Jake Taylor	New York Rangers	6th round
	Joey Crabb	New York Rangers	7th round
	Adam Burish	Chicago Blackhawks	9th round
2004	Blake Wheeler	Phoenix Coyotes	1st round
	Victor Oreskovich	Colorado Avalanche	2nd round
	Kyle Klubertanz	Anaheim Ducks	3rd round
	Wes O'Neill	New York Islanders	4th round
	Spencer Dillon	Florida Panthers	9th round
	Luke Beaverson	Florida Panthers	9th round
2005	Greg Beller	New York Rangers	6th round
2006	Michael Forney	Atlanta Thrashers	3rd round
	Eric Gryba	Ottawa Senators	3rd round
	Derrick LaPoint	Florida Panthers	4th round
2007	Justin Braun	San Jose Sharks	7th round
2009	Nick Jensen	Detroit Red Wings	6th round
	Anders Lee	New York Islanders	7th round
2010	Ben Gallacher	Florida Panthers	4th round
	Christopher Crane	San Jose Sharks	7th round
2011	Andy Welinski	Anaheim Ducks	3rd round
	Adam Wilcox	Tampa Bay Lightning	6th round
	Colin Sullivan	Montreal Canadiens	7th round
	Alex Broadhurst	Chicago Blackhawks	7th round
	Aaron Harstad	Winnipeg Jets	7th round
2012	Jordan Schmaltz	St. Louis Blues	1st round
2013	Connor Hurley	Buffalo Sabres	2nd round
	Gustav Olofsson	Minnesota Wild	2nd round
2014	Nick Schmaltz	Chicago Blackhawks	1st round
	Brendan Lemieux	Buffalo Sabres	2nd round
	Joe Wegwerth	Florida Panthers	4th round
	Matt Berkovitz	Anaheim Ducks	5th round
	Christopher Brown	Buffalo Sabres	6th round
2015	Vili Saarijarvi	Detroit Red Wings	3rd round
	Brent Gates Jr.	Anaheim Ducks	3rd round
	Christian Wolanin	Ottawa Senators	4th round
	Karch Bachman	Florida Panthers	5th round
	Adam Parsells	San Jose Sharks	6th round
	Adam Huska	New York Rangers	7th round
2016	Andrew Peeke	Columbus Blue Jackets	2nd round
	Rhett Gardner	Dallas Stars	4th round
2017	Casey Mittelstadt	Buffalo Sabres	1st round
	Maksim Zhukov	Vegas Golden Knights	4th round
2018	Ryan O'Reilly	Detroit Red Wings	4th round
	Demetrios Koumontzis	Calgary Flames	4th round
	Jackson Perbix	Anaheim Ducks	4th round
	David Hrenak	Los Angeles Kings	5th round
	John Leonard	San Jose Sharks	6th round
2019	Michael Vukojevic	New Jersey Devils	3rd round
	McKade Webster	Tampa Bay Lightning	7th round
2020	Mason Lohrei	Boston Bruins	2nd round

Olympics[]

Maris Ziedens appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics for his native Latvia. Latvia finished 12th.

Blake Wheeler was selected to the United States national team for the 2014 Winter Olympics.^[7] They finished 4th.

NCAA champions[]

Gamblers alumni have played on multiple NCAA men's hockey national champions teams:

Year	Player	School	Division
2000	Jason Notermann	North Dakota	Division I
2002	Judd Stevens	Minnesota	Division I
2003	Judd Stevens	Minnesota	Division I
2006	Adam Burish	Wisconsin	Division I
	A.J. Degenhardt
	Josh Engel
	Kyle Klubertanz
2008	Brandon Longley	St. Norbert	Division III
	Ryan Petersen
	Nick Tabisz
2009	Eric Gryba	Boston	Division I
2011	Brandon Longley	St. Norbert	Division III
	Nick Tabisz
	Aaron Crandall	Minnesota–Duluth	Division I
	Keegan Flaherty
2013	Mitch Witek	Yale	Division I
2014	Patrick McCadden	St. Norbert	Division III
	Tony Kujava
	Ryan Peterson[a]
2016	Christian Wolanin	North Dakota	Division I
	Nick Schmaltz
2018	Matt Anderson	Minnesota–Duluth	Division I
2019	Jesse Jacques	Minnesota–Duluth	Division I
	Matt Anderson

Statistical leaders[]

Head coaches[]

• Don Granato (1994–97)
• Mark Osiecki (1997–2004)
• Mark Mazzoleni (2004-2008)
• Dave Insalaco (2008) (interim)
• Jon Cooper (2008–2010)
• Eric Rud (2010–11)
• Derek Lalonde (2011–2014)
• Pat Mikesch (2014–present)

References[]

External links[]

• Green Bay Gamblers Official Website