Comunicados

The Minnesota Frostbite finished ranked fifth in both the regular season and playoffs for the second consecutive year, and reached the second round of the National Cup for the third straight year. Additionally, the Frostbite won a quarterfinal game for the first time in franchise history, before ultimately dropping their quarterfinal series 2-1. "We continue to take steps forward on the ice," said GM Joe "but we want to keep moving forward as we look ahead to hopefully advancing in the playoffs and making a deeper run in the National Cup."

Gene Stephens finished 3rd in the league with a 93.33 save percentage, making this the first time in franchise history that a player was recognized as one of the league's top statistical performers, and also recorded his 30th career shutout. Many other Frostbite players also reached career milestones. Vince Mott reached the 500 point plateau, Philip Cook, Milton Morris, and Clint Winters all scored their 400th career points, Douglas Franklin, Lonnie Benoit, Melvon Bonner, and Clint Hart got their 300th career points, Ed Snow, Yusuf Pressley, and Paul Arevalo reached 200 career points, and Elmer Benton, Casey Marks, and Morton Hynes all recorded their 100th career points. Mott also scored his 200th career goal. Morris joined the 300 assist club, Franklin, Bonner, and Hart all notched their 200th career assists, and Harry Chestnut recorded his 100th career assist.

The Frostbite added to their roster, drafting and signing 15-year-old center Tommy Wheeler. Joe said "we are very excited about this signing, Tommy is a promising center who has the ability to set up his teammates and make the players around him look good." To make room for Wheeler, the Frostbite bought out the contract of winger Michael Church. Church quickly signed on with a team in the Swedish league and began producing immediately. Church scored 41 points (16 goals-25 assists) in 60 games with Minnesota. "Michael is going to be missed, his ability to play on both wings gave us a lot of flexibility," said Joe. "In our first season, Mikey even donned the goalie pads and suited up as a backup goalie when the injury bug left us with just one netminder, and this was emblematic of the kind of team player he was."

Minnesota continues investing in providing a better gameday atmosphere, building a parking ramp to make games more accessible, embarking on a stadium expansion that will increase capacity to 2600, and putting multiple concession and souvenir shops in every section of the Burnsville Arena. "Our fans are the lifeblood of this organization," said Joe "and we want to make the games easier to get to, and give fans more access to refreshments and team gear once they arrive."

In international play, GM Joe also managed the USA U20 team for the fifth straight year, leading them to a 3rd place finish in the Division I World Championships, their highest finish in more than a decade.

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