Gamblers Clinch Share of Anderson Cup Title
By: Nick Goddard
Updated: March 24, 2012
Chicago, IL - The Green Bay Gamblers have clinched a share of the Anderson Cup following a 6-3 victory against the Youngstown Phantoms on Friday night. They currently hold a 42-8-2 record (86 points) with eight games remaining this season and need just one more point, or a loss by the Lincoln Stars, to claim the title outright and earn the most points in the USHL standings for the 2011-12 regular season.
It is the third time in the past four seasons that Green Bay has captured the Anderson Cup and the fifth time in the history of the organization. They have won over 40 games in each of the last three regular seasons, more than any other USHL team over that span.
The Gamblers are led by first-year head coach Derek Lalonde who became just the fifth coach in USHL history to lead a team to the Anderson Cup in the first season behind the bench in the League. The last coach to accomplish that feat was Jon Cooper with the Green Bay Gamblers during the 2008-09 season. Lalonde is also only the second coach in USHL history to reach the 40-win mark in his first season, following Eric Rud who first did such by winning 41 games last season with Green Bay.
The victory on Friday by the Gamblers was also their 24th road win of the season which equaled the USHL record set by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders during the 2004-05 season. Green Bay has three more road games to pursue a new mark for road success in the USHL.
With eight games left in the season, the Gamblers are also in striking distance of two other USHL records as their 42 victories are six shy of the all-time record of 48 wins by the Des Moines Buccaneers in the 1998-99 season (*56-game schedule). In that same season, the Buccaneers also set a USHL record with 97 points in the standings, 11 more points than the current total by the Gamblers.
The Gamblers are three wins shy of their team record 45 victories which was set during their 2009-10 Anderson Cup-winning season. They are also nine points shy of the team record 95 points they earned in the standings in 2009-10.
By capturing a share of the Anderson Cup title, the Green Bay Gamblers have also secured home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Anderson Cup has been awarded to the USHL team that finishes with the most points in the regular season standings since the League's inaugural campaign of 1979-80. Standing nearly five feet tall, the Cup was first built in 1973 and is named after Harold Anderson who was influential to the formation of the Midwest Junior Hockey League, the predecessor to the USHL.
