Lincoln Stars

For the 1910s Negro League team, see Lincoln Stars (baseball).

Lincoln Stars
City	Lincoln, Nebraska
League	USHL
Conference	West
Founded	1996
Home arena	Ice Box
Colors	Blue, Black, White
Owner(s)	Ryan Schiff
General manager	Jon Hull
Head coach	Chris Hartsburg
Franchise history
1996–present	Lincoln Stars

The Lincoln Stars are a Tier 1 junior ice hockey team playing in the West Division of the United States Hockey League (USHL).

The Stars' home ice is the Ice Box, on the Nebraska State Fair grounds and adjacent to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

With prompting of Lincoln Realtor Mark Claydon, who spear-headed an effort to build the city's first and only indoor ice arena, The Stars came to Lincoln in the fall of 1996 and became an overnight sensation in Nebraska's capital city. Led by fiery Derek Reynolds and future Ottawa Senator and San Jose Shark Josh Langfeld, the Stars posted a 40-13-1 regular season record, the best expansion season in USHL history. The Stars continued their domination through the playoffs, losing just two playoff games en route to winning the Clark Cup. More impressive, however, was the teams' performance off the ice. Every game was sold out at the 4,231-seat Ice Box, and it was common for people to camp out overnight for tickets.

The success continued through the following seasons; the Stars sold out every home game until early 2002. In 1998, the Ice Box was expanded to 5,010 seats in preparation for the USA Hockey National Championships (Junior A). The capacity was later reduced to 4,610, as some bleacher seats were converted to club seating.

The Stars have made the playoffs nine of their first ten seasons, and won their second Clark Cup in 2003. Led by players such as Danny Irmen, the Stars capped off a magical season by defeating the rival Omaha Lancers in the Clark Cup finals.

Notable Stars alumni includes Brandon Bochenski (Tampa Bay Lightning), Andy Schneider (Pittsburgh Penguins organization), David Backes (St. Louis Blues), Josh Langfeld (San Jose Sharks), Jared Boll (Columbus Blue Jackets), Evan Rankin (Syracuse Crunch), Erik Condra (Ottawa Senators) and Brandon Bollig (Chicago Blackhawks - NHL Stanley Cup Champions).

Lincoln players have also made names for themselves in the NCAA Championship Game. Three former Stars have scored championship-winning overtime goals: Josh Langfeld (University of Michigan—1998 vs. Boston College), Grant Potulny (University of Minnesota—2002 vs. University of Maine) and Colby Cohen (Boston University—2009 vs. Miami University).

Lincoln enjoys some of the best junior hockey support in the United States, as the team plays to greater than 90% capacity at the Ice Box.

Roster

As of April 10, 2016.

#	S/P/C	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	College commitment
3		Collin Peters	F	6' 0"	172 lb	1997-02-05	Sheboygan, Wisconsin	Sioux Falls (USHL)	Northern Michigan
4		Dylan Woolf (A)	D	6' 2"	204 lb	1996-05-03	Victoria, Minnesota	Holy Family Catholic High School (USHS–MN)	St. Lawrence
5		Alex Green	D	6' 1"	175 lb	1998-06-18	Chicago, Illinois	Muskegon (USHL)	Cornell
6		Luke Jaycox	D	6' 2"	200 lb	1997-08-19	Warroad, Minnesota	Warroad High School (USHS–MN)	Northern Michigan
7		Maxim Rasseikin	F	6' 1"	174 lb	1998-04-26	Yekaterinburg, Russia	Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL)	None
8		Anthony Wyse	D	6' 4"	225 lb	1996-03-29	Newton, Massachusetts	Boston Advantage U18 (Midget AAA)	New Hampshire
9		Will D'Orsi	F	5' 11"	180 lb	1997-02-05	Sudbury, Massachusetts	Saint Sebastian's School (USHS–MA)	Yale
10		Tanner Laczynski	F	6' 1"	197 lb	1997-06-01	Shorewood, Illinois	Chicago (USHL)	Ohio State
11		Joachim Weberg	F	5' 9"	162 lb	1996-06-21	Oslo, Norway	Shattuck-Saint Mary's (USHS–MN)	Denver
12		Henry Bowlby	F	6' 2"	190 lb	1997-02-26	Edina, Minnesota	Edina High School (USHS–MN)	St. Lawrence
14		Trevor Hamilton	D	6' 0"	187 lb	1995-03-17	Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan	Chicago (USHL)	Penn State
15		Christian Evers	D	6' 2"	210 lb	1997-05-25	Waukee, Iowa	USNTDP (USHL)	North Dakota
16		Sam Kauppila	F	6' 1"	180 lb	1996-05-12	Gurnee, Illinois	Green Bay (USHL)	St. Lawrence
17		Ludvig Hoff (A)	F	5' 11"	188 lb	1996-10-16	Oslo, Norway	Vålerenga Ishockey U20 (Norway U20)	North Dakota
18		Mike Gillespie	F	5' 9"	165 lb	1996-04-23	New City, New York	Ohio State (B1G)	None
20		Tye Ausmus	D	5' 9"	170 lb	1997-07-11	East Grand Forks, Minnesota	East Grand Forks Senior High School (USHS–MN)	None
21		Jack Badini	F	6' 1"	197 lb	1998-01-19	Old Greenwich, Connecticut	North Jersey Avalanche 18U (Midget AAA)	Harvard
22		Ryan Jones	D	6' 3"	187 lb	1996-05-26	Crown Point, Indiana	Minnesota Wilderness (NAHL)	Nebraska–Omaha
24		Ryan Poehling	F	6' 2"	174 lb	1999-01-03	Lakeville, Minnesota	Lakeville North High School (USHS–MN)	St. Cloud State
25		Grant Jozefek	F	5' 10"	185 lb	1997-10-25	Chester, New Jersey	Muskegon (USHL)	Northeastern
26		Biagio Lerario (C)	F	5' 10"	173 lb	1995-09-22	Addison, Illinois	Chicago (USHL)	Northeastern
28		Dominick Mersch	F	6' 0"	185 lb	1998-12-16	Park Ridge, Illinois	Chicago Mission U16 (Midget AAA)	Wisconsin
33		Peyton Jones	G	6' 4"	210 lb	1996-02-14	Langhorne, Pennsylvania	Philadelphia Junior Flyers U18 (Midget AAA)	Penn State
35		Patrik Virtanen	G	6' 3"	184 lb	1995-05-29	Vantaa, Finland	HIFK U20 (Nuorten SM-liiga)	None
39		Ethen Frank	F	5' 10"	175 lb	1998-02-05	Omaha, Nebraska	Omaha AAA 16U (Midget AAA)	Western Michigan

External links

• Lincoln Stars