Of six future Gophers in USHL all season, four in playoffs, one not gets award

Ryan Walters is making plenty of fans in Des Moines. At the USHL team's post-season awards, he was named the fans' favorite player this past season.

I never saw him play for Des Moines, but I did talk to his head coach, Mike Guentzel, about Walters at mid-season. Yes, that Mike Guentzel, the former Gophers assistant coach.

Guentzel said he liked Walters because he always played hard and was never intimidated. He also was the team's second leading scorer this season. That combination of grit and talent explains to me why Bucs fans would have voted for him.

Walters committed to the Gophers in early October of 2007. He was a sophomore at St. Thomas Academy at the time.

The last two seasons he has played for Des Moines of the USHL. This season the Buccaneers finished sixth in the West Division, going 20-34-6 (that's six overtime losses). Walters, though, excelled. He was 12th in the UHSL in scoring. He had 21 goals and 40 assists to 61 points in 59 games.

Walters, of Rosemount, had eight of his goals on power plays, and one short-handed.

But unless a few forwards leave early, he might have to wait until 2011-12 to become a Gopher. The Gophers seem to have filled the present roster spots available with a combination of high-end young talent (i.e. Nick Bjugstad, Seth Ambroz) and older veterans (i.e. Tom Serratore, Jared Larson).

He also played in the all-star game this past season and had a hat trick. But Walters, who is 5-11, 180, still has junior eligibility because he started playing in the USHL so young. So the Gophers can keep telling him to wait and continue developing even though that is probably not what he wants to hear.

So that's the Walters' story.

Tom Serratore -- the nephew of the Bemidji State coach who has the same first and last name -- is another future Gopher whose USHL season is done. He played for Youngstown in the East Division. The Phantoms were 20-36-4, which put them seventh or in the cellar.

He committed to the Gophers in early March. He is 5-11, 190, shoots left-handed. He played for Sioux City for two years before joining Youngstown this season.

He was an assistant captain with the Phantoms and had 17 goals and 15 assists for 32 points. Ine one late season hot streak, he had three goals and seven assists in 10 games. He turns 21 on July 16, so he will be old freshman, but coach Lucia hopes a wise one.

Two are on the Omaha team -- Erik Haula and Seth Ambroz -- which finished first in the West. The Lancers were 42-12-6. Omaha is 2-0 so far in its opening playoff series against Tri-City.

Haula, the Finn, tied for fifth in scoring in the USHL. He had 28 goals, 44 assists for 72 points in 56 regular-season games. He was an absurd plus-36. A third of his points came on power plays (6-20-26). He also had five game-winners.

Ambroz, who is accelerating his high school education to graduate in three years, played on Haula's line and also put up nice regular-season stats (22-27-49, plus-24). He had 11 power-play goals.

The Fargo Force, with forward Nate Condon and defenseman Nate Schmidt, both U-bound next fall, was second in the West Division. The Force was 37-17-6. Fargo leads Sioux Falls 2-0 in its opening playoff series.

Condon cracked 50 points (23-28-51) in 60 games. He had seven goals and six assists on power plays and three game-winners.