Well, the USHL season comes down to one game. That game is Saturday night in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Barry Almeida scored two goals to lead Omaha to a 2-0 victory against Waterloo in Game 4 of the Clark Cup finals Friday in Waterloo, Iowa.

Drew Palmisano got yet another shutout to save his team from elimination.

The fifth and deciding game is Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

OK, sorry for the delay (28 soccer games in six days), but I’ve got a list of who may, or may not be back next season.

Keep in mind, 1,248 things can change between now and September when players report. Also, some schools will have spots open later this summer, and may make an offer somebody can’t turn down (the goal is college scholarships, after all).

But, we all love lists:

Expected to tryout in June, should/might return:
Forwards
Chris Forfar
Travis Erstad – Committed to Wisconsin for 2009.
Eric Meland
Josh Myers
Tyler Brickler
Defense
Jake Newton
Ross Henry – Has some college options right now, but may also return.
Michael Sdao – Committed to Princeton for 2009.
Mike Dalhuisen
Taylor Kuypers
Goaltender
Kevin Murdock – Committed to Minnesota-Mankato for 2009.

Expected to play college hockey next season:
Forwards
Jason Gregoire – North Dakota
Ryan Kretzer – Nebraska-Omaha
Jimmy Hayes – Boston College
Brandon Bollig – Weighing several schools offers. Regardless, he’s too old to return to Lincoln.
Jared Festler – St. Cloud State
Rick Carden – St. Lawrence
J.J. Crew – Western Michigan
Danny Baco – Niagra.
Defense
Matt Bartkowski – Ohio State

Overage to return:
Goaltender
David Reekie – Lost NCAA eligibility. If the perfect pro deal comes along he’ll try that. If not, Reekie is expected to play college hockey in Canada.
Defense
Lyon Messier – Lost NCAA eligibility; expected to play in a lower pro hockey league next season.
Forward
Kyle Follmer – No longer has college offer to Northern Michigan.

Waterloo rallied with three third period goals to beat Omaha 3-1 in Game 3 of the Clark Cup finals on Wednesday in Waterloo, Iowa.

Waterloo leads the best-of-five series 2-1. Game 4 is Friday in Waterloo.

The Blackhawks scored three straight goals in the final 15 minutes of the third period to win.

Eddie Olczyk, Nick Larson and Brett Olson scored for Waterloo.

Andrew Conboy has been eating his Wheaties, and scored another goal for the Lancers.

Omaha was 1-for-7, and Waterloo 1-for-5 on the power play. A crowd of 3,111 watched the deal.

Anybody watch? How's the Olczyk kid look? Did Conboy score on another shot that came off the boards? He killed Lincoln with those in that series.

--With 12 points, Lincoln's Jason Gregoire is still the playoff scoring leader.

--Andrew Conboy's goal 3:54 into the first game of the Clark Cup Finals was his eighth of the postseason. The eight goals leads the postseason by a mile and no other player still active in the post-season has more than four goals.

--Waterloo's Brett Olson didn't score a postseason goal until his seventh game, but it was a big one, the game winner in overtime against Omaha in Game 1 of the Clark Cup Finals.

--Omaha's 2-0 win in Game 2 of the Clark Cup Finals was Drew Palmisano's third shutout of the playoffs, tying a USHL record for shutouts by one goaltender in a playoff year. The record was originally set by Des Moines Bob Revermann, who also had three, in 1998.

--Omaha's 2-0 win in Game 2 of the Clark Cup Finals on Monday snapped Waterloo's winning streak at 14 games.

--Waterloo was two wins shy of becoming the first team in league history to make it through an entire playoff year with a perfect record.

--The USHL will hold an expansion draft for the Fargo Force on May 13. USHL teams will submit their initial protected lists on May 12. The next day, the Force will select six players that teams left unprotected to bring their protected list up to 18 players. They originally chose eight in the 2007 Futures Draft and then signed four more to tenders.

--Omaha's win in Game 5 of their second-round series against Lincoln was their 100th playoff win since 1991, the most in the USHL during that stretch.

--Sioux City has hired Rick Comley, Jr. as an assistant coach. Comley and new head coach Todd Knott were assistant coaches together at Des Moines the past three years.

--After scoring just five goals and 16 points during the regular season, Omaha's Matt White has two goals and nine points in 10 playoff games. White has at least one assist in three straight games.

--A total of 15,810 fans watched the five-game series between Omaha and Lincoln. The total accounts for over 27 percent of the USHL's playoff attendance.

--The USHL has 171 current players committed to college programs around the country. The total is just two commitments away from setting a new all-time high for commitments in a season.

--Former Lancer and Frozen Four standout Nathan Gerbe signed a contract with the Buffalo Sabres, bypassing his final year of eligibility at Boston College.

--Former Omaha Lancers and current Nashville Predators Dan Ellis and Jed Ortmeyer dropped the ceremonial pucks prior to the start of the first game of the Clark Cup finals.

Jerseys for the following players, in addition to three jerseys signed by the 2007-08 team, will be auctioned off through a silent auction.

Please email Corey Courtney at corey_courtney@hotmail.com with the highest amount you are willing to pay for these jerseys by Friday, May 23rd:

#17 Jason Gregoire
#18 Brandon Bollig
#12 Matt Bartkowski
#16 Jimmy Hayes
#3 Lyon Messier
#37 David Reekie

Jerseys for the remaining players are available for $225 on a first-come-first-served basis. Please email Corey Courtney at corey_courtney@hotmail.com to purchase. Please note that some players only have one jersey remaining.

Omaha tied the Clark Cup finals with a 2-0 victory against Waterloo on Monday night in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Omaha scored twice in the opening 13 minutes, and nobody scored after that. Jake Hauswirth and Matt White scored for the Lancers.

Waterloo was 0-for-6, and Omaha 0-for-4 on the power play.

A crowd of 1,940 witnessed the event. The series now shifts further into Iowa (Waterloo). Game 3 is Wednesday.

Waterloo won an all-important road game to start the Clark Cup finals on Sunday night in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Waterloo beat Omaha 4-3 in overtime.

Brett Olson scored the game-winning goal 11 minutes into the sudden-death overtime. The goal came seven seconds into a power play. Waterloo was 2-for-6, and Omaha 0-for-4 on the power play.

Andrew Conboy continued his tear in the playoffs with a goal for Omaha. Dakota Eveland and Joe Diamond had the Lancers' other goals.

Eddie Olczyk, Paul Weisgarber and Chad Billins also scored for Waterloo.

There were 2,384 fans at the game. Game 2 is Monday in Council Bluffs.

There have been some folks asking whether the Blue Line Blog would be active during the offseason.

It will, so check back occasionally, and keep posting your thoughts. It’s not much fun talking to yourself, after all.

We’ll keep an eye on the Clark Cup finals, and post the results of the May 14 USHL Entry Draft. Just don’t expect me to go Mel Kiper on you. Let’s keep in mind that the Stars’ top pick last season (Jeff Ceccacci) didn’t play a regular-season game, and only one of the players that Lincoln drafted last spring ended the season with the team. That was Jake Newton, and he was a seventh-round steal.

We’ll get some highlights from the tryout camp, which is in Omaha this summer, and check in with the staff from time to time to see who has committed to play for the black and blue (again, remember it doesn't matter how many goals you scored in Wisconsin high school hockey, one guy doesn’t win the Stars a Clark Cup).

The USHL owners meetings will be at the end of this month, and with Fargo joining the party, they’ll be some news to come out of that event.

Maybe we’ll try to track down a Bryan Hogan or a Carter Camper over the summer. Possibly they’ll be a different Camper from Rocky River, Ohio here next season???

I’ve got a few topics in mind to keep us moving during the down time, and had a few fans suggest others. If you have ideas, or links to articles you want to share, please email me: bwagner@journalstar.com. I don’t have hours to pour into this, but we’ll do our best.

We’ll wrap up the ’07-08 season some more in the next week. And if anybody watches any of the games in the Clark Cup finals, come back and tell us what you thought.

Indeed, it was a long season for the Blue Line Blog, and we’ll need to get away some too. Remember, a cold air vent that helps keep that ice frozen for nine months slams press row at the Ice Box. It will be nice to not have to put on my coat on an 80-degree day and go to hockey practice or a game.

Really, this season started in late May when I got phone call that Steve Johnson was retiring. I think some of the drama (coaching search, markers flying on the ice that nobody knows where they came from, a head coach missing in the playoffs, etc.) made it seem longer. But, it’s all news, and this team has a pretty loyal fan base that wants news on its favorite team.

There were a lot of neat players to talk to, and stories to be told.

During the offseason, the link to the blog may move back to the ‘blogs homepage.’ So if you don’t have us bookmarked already, you should now.

I’ll keep posting a few thoughts. You do the same.

Oh yeah, and tell your friends about us.

As some may, or may not know, Lincoln head coach Jimmy McGroarty was working this season on basically a glorified handshake agreement that included a paycheck. He didn’t sign a long-term contract when hired in July.

But I talked to team president Jim Pflug on Friday afternoon, and he said, “it is our intention to sit down with (McGroarty) and discuss the future. There is no question that we want him to be the head coach in Lincoln. We’ll get together and hammer that out.”

Jimmy and the coaching staff are out of state this weekend scouting for players.

Here is some more from my conversation with Pflug:

“It exceeded my expectations. As far as grading Jimmy and the coaching staff, I’d give them a strong ‘A.’”

“I think he exceeded what we expected from a first-year coach and first-year staff. He seemed to reenergize the fans and players, and really the entire organization.”

“He’s an emotional leader; he wears his heart on his sleeve. He worked hard to get the players he wanted, and we all saw the results of his hard work.”

“As good as things went, I think he learned a lot. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, and that may have cost us some dollars and suspensions, but I’d take that over having somebody that doesn’t care.”

“I think the owners were pleased with the year.”

“I think there were a lot of people when we made the announcement that thought we should have gone after a higher-profile guy. Not that you can judge a coach on one season, but I think he’s a guy that proved us right in what we thought that his strengths were.”

On the crowds this season: “Crowds were up. Also, more than increased numbers, it just felt like the fans were behind the team. They were reenergized, and reminiscent of the early years as far as in certain cases willing the team to win with their reactions to certain situations.”

On the fans possibly feeling a greater connection to many of the players on this team: “I think that is a reflection of Jimmy. One of the things that we both agreed on was to get in the community and make them more accessible, and have the players understand how important they are to the community. If there was a higher level of connection to the players, it was partially because of Jimmy’s influence on that.”

“We don’t want to let these kids take things for granted. The support that they have here playing in front of 4,500 fans a night, or their physical ability and all the blessings that they have. He did a good job of saying you need to understand it’s an honor to play for these fans, and this organization.”

--Coach Fouts and Coach Fuher took players to speak with elementary and middle-school aged kids several times throughout the season. Coach McGroarty went “once or twice.”

--Pflug hasn’t heard yet which division Fargo will play in. There are no plans to take away or add games to the season.

The USHL has announced that the Sioux Falls Stampede has been awarded the 2009 USHL Prospects/All-Star Game. The game will be played on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at the Sioux Falls Arena.

The corresponding banquet will be held the previous night, Tuesday, February 3. The entire event is in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Stampede as a member of the USHL.

“The first time the Stampede hosted the all-star game was when the bar was raised. That’s when it went from being just a game to an event,” said USHL president Gino Gasparini. “The job that they did the first time around is when they put pressure on other teams that hosted the event to really take things to a new level."