Duluth Recruit Joey Anderson Scores for Team USA

The University of Minnesota Bulldogs are getting a very good player in Joey Anderson. He's not afraid to go to the blue paint.

NCHC Playoff First Round Preview and Predictions

The regular season is now over, and the playoff brackets are now set. Most of the seeding wasn't final until the last day of the regular season, however seeds 1 (North Dakota), 7 (Western Michigan), and 8 (Colorado College) were set last Friday when North Dakota took the Penrose Cup outright. The top four seeds in the NCHC have their quarterfinal best of three series at home against the bottom four seeds. This year the match-ups are 1 North Dakota vs. 8 Colorado College, 2 Miami vs. 7 Western Michigan, 3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 6 St. Cloud State and 4 Denver vs. 5 Minnesota-Duluth. 

1 North Dakota vs. 8 Colorado College

These two teams met four times this season with North Dakota winning all four contests, one of which while in Colorado Springs by a 7-2 score and a Mark MacMillan hat trick. When CC came to Grand Forks for a second half series, the story was much different. In two very tightly contested battles, CC would be the thorn in UND's side, making it seem like it was a battle of top five teams in the country. UND would prevail on the weekend with a sweep, but maybe the most well earned sweep of the season. 

Who to Watch:

UND: With MacMillan out, probably for the rest of the season, Focus for the offense will go to Senior Michael Parks, who likes to spend most of his time behind the goal line, Junior highlight reel Drake Caggiula, and master playmaker Freshman Nick Schmaltz. However this is a roster that seems to have someone different step up each night and in the second half their top producer has been Senior defender Nick Mattson. Finally, you look to Hobey Baker finalist Zane McIntryre. Zane leads the country in wins with 25, tied with Michigan Tech goalie Jamie Phillips, is 8th in save percentage at .931 and 14th in goals against average at 1.99. 

CC: Junior center Cody Bradley is the only Tiger with 10 goals this season, and is also the only Tiger with over 20 points as well. The junior center has been the sole hope for offensive production for the season, but Senior forward Scott Wamsganz is on the 20 point threshold sitting at 19 points for the season. Never count out Sophomore defender Jacob Slavin for making some plays from the point either. Slavin is probably their best defenseman.

Who Wins?

UND should win the best of three series in two games Friday and Saturday, but I think one of these games will be within a goal or two and a very tight defensive battle. UND wins Friday 3-1 and Saturday 5-2, however if UND sits back any, which I don't think will happen, but if they do, look for CC to take advantage and try to force a third game this weekend. 

2 Miami vs. 7 Western Michigan

Miami took 11 out of a possible 12 points against the Broncos this season with one overtime tie and shootout victory when they went to Kalamazoo for a series during the second half. The series that took place in Oxford was not as tightly contested, especially during the Saturday night contest with Miami winning by a score of 5-2. 

Who to Watch:

Miami: Senior assist machine Austin Czarnik has 31 assists on the season for the RedHawks and a team leading 36 points.Junior Riley Barber shares the team lead in goals with Junior Sean Kuraly who both are at 17 goals for the season. With Seniors Cody Murphy and Blake Coleman both over the 10 goal mark for the season as well, you can't count those two out when it comes to scoring either. 

WMU: Although the season ended somewhere they didn't want it to, Sophomore Sheldon Dries and Junior Colton Hargrove both are tied for the team lead in points with 25. Senior Justin Kovacs is not far behind with 24 points this season with 18 of those being helpers. 

Who Wins?

I can't see this series ending any other way then a Miami sweep, but if you remember last year, the only home ice team to advance to the Frozen Faceoff last year was North Dakota. For that reason, I think this series goes the distance and WMU wins Friday 2-1 with Miami coming back with a Saturday win of 4-2 and Sunday 3-1.

3 Nebraska-Omaha vs. 6 St. Cloud State

This is the series that I am most looking forward to. With Omaha falling off late in the season to lose the number one spot to North Dakota, and St. Cloud being a thorn in everybodys side this season despite being below the 500 mark, this series has classic written all over it. With both teams getting sweeps this season on their home ice, and the late season sweep of Omaha in St. Cloud a couple weeks ago being the catalyst in Omaha falling in the standings, look for the Mavericks to come out guns a blazing and look to gain some revenge. 

Who to Watch:

UNO: Sophomore Austin Ortega set the NCAA record for game winning goals in a season last weekend when he netted his 11th game winner. He is the leader with 18 goals on the season and tied with fellow Sophomore Jake Guentzel with points at 33, the youth movement in Omaha is on. Three of the top five in points for the Mavericks are freshman, Jake Randolph, Tyler Vesel, and Avery Peterson. Also look for Sophomore Justin Parizek to be a threat to score some goals as well. 

SCSU: Junior Johnny Brodzinski and Junior Joey Benik lead this team who's power play is top 5 in the NCAA. The top power play unit has combined for over 70 points this season with the extra man, so look for the Huskies to take advantage of every man advantage they are able to get this weekend. 

Who Wins?

No question in my mind this one goes the distance. I am taking St. Cloud to take the series and get the "upset" over Omaha as they have been struggling as of late, who is 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. St. Cloud wins Friday 3-2, Omaha Wins Saturday 4-3, St. Cloud wins 2-0.

4 Denver vs. 5 Minnesota-Duluth

With the season series seeing two splits, this series should also be very tightly contested, possibly the tightest of the four series. Duluth does hold the biggest victory this season with a 6-1 victory, but that came in Duluth. Every other game had a two goal or less margin, which is how I expect this to turn out. 

Who to Watch:

Denver: Freshman Danton Heinen leads the team with an amazing 42 points this season and Sophomore Trevor Moore is close behind at 39 points. Moore is the team leader in goals this year at 19 goals on the season. However, you can't talk about Denver without talking about Senior defenseman Joey LaLeggia. His puck moving ability and willingness to take it up on the rush has him tagged as one of the top offensive-defensemen in the NCAA. 

UMD: The usual suspects Tony Cameranesi, Alex Iafallo and Austin Farley are at it again this season and are leading this team on the helper side of things. the three are all at just 8 goals on the season and look to Dominic Toninato who leads the Bulldogs at 16 goals followed by Justin Crandall who has 12. 

Who Wins?

This should be a very close series, but Denver comes out on top. Their firepower will be too much for this UMD team. Denver wins Friday 3-1 and Saturday 4-3.

UMD's Kasimir Kaskisuo makes an amazing behind-the-back save

Check out this amazing save by Minnesota-Duluth freshman goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo. For those that are wondering, Kaskisuo is a product of Espoo, Finland.

Two Games Without Heater and Two Wild Wins

For the first time in his career Saturday, Dany Heatley was a healthy scratch for the Minnesota Wild as they played Phoenix, in what quite possibly was the biggest regular season game for the Wild to this point.

Being demoted to the fourth line this season, Heater hasn't done much for the Wild, but I still will say the trade to San Jose to get him was one worth while. It got rid of a Martin Havlat who really didn't do much of anything for the Minnesota Wild.

However, is the offensive fuel for Dany Heatley running on empty? I think these past two games have shown that. His veteran presence in the locker room is probably one that is well liked, but his lack of production on the ice is one I think the fans won't miss.

Maybe Heatley was the thorn in the side as of late, keeping guys like former UMD Bulldog Justin Fontaine off the ice and I'm sure many will agree to this, and because of this, I don't see Heater getting much, if any, playing time until the playoffs, if he even gets any there.

UMD's Jack Connolly makes the Hobey Hat Trick

Congrats to Bulldog Forward Jack Connolly for making the Hobey Hat Trick. I don't think there are any big shockers on this list.

Spencer Abbott – University of Maine, Senior, Forward, Hamilton, Ontario
From a recruited walk-on four years ago to a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, Spencer Abbott has had a remarkable four-year collegiate career.  Already recognized as the Player of the Year in Hockey East as well as a First Team all-star, the Black Bear assistant captain leads the nation in scoring and in assists.  In 39 games this season, Abbott scored 21 goals, assisted on another 41 for 62 total points.  His unselfish scoring exploits earned him the conference scoring title and he was named player of the month twice while piling up 18 multiple-point games.  Abbott is a Family Relations major and has been on the Dean’s List three times.  Spencer is active in the community helping with Special Olympics, assisting at youth hockey clinics and participating in charity games.  Abbott, a pro hockey free agent, just signed a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Jack Connolly – University of Minnesota-Duluth, Senior, Forward, Duluth, Minnesota
A repeat Hobey top ten finalist, the Bulldog captain had a fantastic season winning the WCHA scoring title, being named a First Team all-star for the third straight season and capped it off as the league’s Player of the Year.  A two-time All American, Connolly is second in the nation in points and assists accumulating 20 goals and 40 assists for 60 points in 41 games.  Duluth was the second highest scoring team in the nation this past season and Connolly never missed a college game, having played in 164 straight.  He was held pointless in consecutive games only twice in his illustrious four-year career.  The hometown hero is active in community endeavors helping with trash clean-up in the Adopt-A-Highway program, visiting Duluth hospitals, volunteering with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and working with various cancer fund-raisers.  He’s a Communications major with a 3.3 GPA.  He is a pro hockey free agent.  Hockey runs deep in the Connolly family as Jack’s older brother Chris, was the captain and second leading scorer for Boston University this past season.

Austin Smith – Colgate University, Senior, Forward, Dallas, Texas
Austin Smith completes the trifecta of Hobey scoring whizzes as the nation’s top sniper with 36 goals to go along with 21 assists for 57 total points, third best in the country.  Dangerous at all times, Smith leads the nation in short-handed goals with six and scored seven power play goals as well.  Winning the ECAC scoring title this past season, Smith was named the conference Player of the Year and a First Team all-star. Along the way, Smith scored 30 goals this season faster than any college player in the last 12 years and is currently third in the nation with a plus-25.  A Sociology and Anthropology major, Smith helps out with the Hamilton, NY Food Cupboard, assists with food and toy drives during the season and is involved with the local Goals for Good program.  He is a fifth round draft pick of the Dallas Stars.

J.T. Brown Bolts to the Lighting

The annual defections of college hockey players to the professional ranks is in full swing as the UMD Bulldogs lose their star power forward J.T. Brown,

Brown inked an entry level deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning this afternoon.  It was rumored that Brown could have signed a professional deal last summer after wowing the college hockey world with outstanding performance during the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four at the Xcel Energy Center. Brown was also named the Most Outstanding Player during the 2011 NCAA Frozen Four, for his efforts.

Damian Cristodero, Lightning Strikes --- The Lightning on Wednesday acquired one of the nation’s most-coveted college players when it signed Minnesota-Duluth sophomore forward J.T. Brown to a two-year, two-way contract that runs through the 2012-13 season. The plan is to get him into the lineup Saturday at the Tampa Bay Times Forum against the Jets, GM Steve Yzerman said.

"He’s very talented, very competitive, good skill level, good skater,” Yzerman said. “I’m anxious to see him in there.”

Brown, 21, led UMD this season with 24 goals and in 80 games in two seasons had 40 goals and 84 points.

“Definitely exciting,” he said of signing with Tampa Bay. “It came down to having the right opportunity and being the right fit.

J.T. Brown is the son of former Minnesota Vikings running back Ted Brown who played in the NFL from 1979-1986.  Brown scored (40g-44a—84pts) in 81 games for the Bulldogs.

Brown is expected to make his NHL debut on Saturday when the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Winnipeg Jets in Tampa. 

Justin Fontaine suspended by Houston Aeros

Image via WikipediaFormer Minnesota Duluth Bulldog Justin Fontain has been suspended by the Houston Aeros for his comments he made on Twitter on Monday night.

Michael Russo , Star Tribune --- The Wild suspended Houston Aeros forward Justin Fontaine for two games after he used a gay slur during a Twitter exchange about the Grammy Awards with a teammate on Sunday night.

Fontaine soon removed the tweet and apologized, saying, "My apologies to everyone, it was wrong. Twitter rookie and it came out totally wrong. It was a roommate battle, nothing more. #sorry."

By that time, however, it was retweeted by another teammate and spread across the Internet.

"Minnesota Sports and Entertainment (MSE) apologizes for the offensive slur that was posted by Justin Fontaine on Twitter last night," the Wild said in a statement Monday night. "Fontaine has been suspended from playing in the next two games for the Houston Aeros."

A couple of things on hump day...

If you haven't heard it, I suggest you listen to the call of UMD's game winning goal by Bulldogs forward Kyle Schmidt. Click on the link provided, the game winning goal is at the 20:19 mark. If not listen to this week in hockey podcast. The voice of the UMD Bulldogs, Bruce Ciskie with the call of the game winning goal!!! [Click to listen]

Down goes Brown has his preview for the Bruins and Habs, this is good stuff.

#6 Canadiens vs. #3 Bruins

The matchup: Montreal coach Jacques Martin might have trouble with the Bruins, since he historically struggles in the playoffs when faced with good teams built by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The view from Montreal: The Canadiens would love to get some payback against Zdeno Chara if they weren't being held back by arbitrary rules, like the instigator penalty and also the basic laws of physics.

The view from Boston: Tim Thomas set a league record for save percentage this season, although that number drops significantly if you factor in the ability to save his own dignity in fights against Carey Price.

Player to watch: Dr. Mark Recchi, who has kindly agreed to signal from the bench to let us know whether players being scraped off the ice onto a stretcher are actually injured or not.

Prediction: The Canadiens lose the series, but finally get their revenge on Chara at the end of game four when they all squeeze his hand really hard during the post-game handshakes.

Looks like former UND Fighting Sioux forward Chris Porter has played himself into a job in St. Louis...

Q: There’s a lot of talk about top-six forwards, defensemen and goaltending. But what about the third- and fourth-line forwards? How can you build them up and make the team better?

A: "That gets into the depth of your team, that NHL depth. I’d like to publicly say it, the person who took the greatest advantage of his opportunity was (Chris) Porter. He came in and he really stepped up. In his role, he was the most effective of the call-up players in my opinion. He was the one guy that came in and really said that he wants to position himself to be on the cups of being an everyday NHL player.

"(Ryan) Reaves came up and played well, too, but no one was more consistent at that than Porter. So I want to give that accolade to him. A lot of players are going to have to fight and earn that spot. If we have the depth and these players don’t earn that right, then they have to start in Peoria. I’m excited about what Porter did, I’m excited about what Reaves did, I’m excited (Vladimir) Sobotka back again, (B.J.) Crombeen … I think there’s good depth there."

Apparently the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines, Red Berenson, wasn't happy with the officiating after the final game of the Frozen Four. Yeah, ok! To some this might sound like sour grapes, but to others he has a point.

“You can’t kill nine penalties,” said Michigan coach Red Berenson. “Like we said before the game, if they get three, if we can kill three penalties, that should be it. We’re not out there to take penalties.”

But that wasn’t all Berenson had to say.

“Every time a player falls down, it shouldn’t be a penalty, not in NCAA championship game hockey.”

This is where I would like to see a national standard in college hockey as far as how the game is called; the games were/are called differently from league to league. As most of us know; the WCHA is more lenient and lets more of the obstruction go than other leauges like Hockey East and CCHA officials call the most. In my opinion, there needs to be a happy medium but also there needs to be a set standard. In watching the NCAA hockey this spring I saw a lot of inconsistencies on how the game was called by the on ice officials, even during the Frozen Four. You never knew what was going to be called from game to game. What was a penalty in the first semi final game of the Frozen Four wasn’t a penalty during the second semi final game.

"'to the victor belong the spoils"

With Success come worries about players leaving early. There are going to be some teams looking at J.T. Brown, maybe not this season but they will next season if he keeps playing like this.

Heck of an exciting win by the Bulldogs. I was here but not working, so I got to watch the UMD postgame press conference without any time restrictions. After all, I wasn't on deadline. What a pleasure to watch, especially well-spoken Kyle Schmidt, who scored the winner. He was hilarious in the postgame, and there were several funny, touching moments.

Justin Fontaine is a free agent, and the Wild may have interest. He attended last year's development camp and the Wild likes him. He didn't do much last night, but JT Brown did. I'd assume he returns to school, but in a year, he may be as hotly contested as Casey Wellman and Stephane Da Costa.

Compare and contrast - What's the difference?

I know I am going to take some flak from fellow Sioux fans but watch the DU coach and what he says during the press conference. Seriously, say what you want about George Gwozdecky but I believe the man is a class act, to start the press conference he gives credit to his opponent… This seems to be a reoccurring theme. I had a chance to see him speak at two press conferences during the Final Five and in both instances coach Gwozdecky gave credit and kudos to the opposing team that his own team just played, Coach Hakstol did as well in both cases. Check out what Coach Hakstol had to say after Yale beat UND last year in the regional. [click to watch]

Now watch this press conference. Do you hear the coach from Yale give the UMD Bulldogs any credit? When I was in college one of my old football coaches said you win with class and you lose with class, you give your opponent credit as well. Yale didn't lose because of the officiating, they lost because UMD was the better team.

Beavers 3 Bulldogs 2 O.T.

The Bemidji State Beavers have proven to be giant killers as of late, after traveling to Omaha, Nebraska and beating the third place UNO Mavericks during the first round of the WCHA playoffs, the Beavers went into tonight’s game having everything to gain and nothing to lose. Their task is to secure an auto qualifier in NCAA tourney. Based on their Pairwise ranking and their record 15-17-5 the BSU Beavers are going to have to win the WCHA Final Five if they want to make the NCAA tourney.

Tonight with the win against the UMD Bulldogs the Beavers were successful in the first step of a long journey. The BSU Beavers now live to fight another night as they will play the Denver Pioneers tomorrow afternoon at 2:07 pm. Denver swept the Beavers back in November 3-1 and 4-2 at home. So if the Beavers want to move on to the next round of the Final Five they are going to have to go through the second place Pioneers. If the Beavers beat Denver they are going then have to play the winner of the UND-CC game; albeit a tall order but not impossible.

BSU down 2-1 going into the third period when senior forward Matt Read scored the eqfualizer at the 0:28 mark of the third period to send the game to overtime. The Beavers beat the fourth place UMD Bulldogs 3-2 in overtime as Shea Walters scored at the 06:12 mark of the first overtime to send the Bulldogs packing and the Beavers to the semis. It was the first goal of the season for the junior forward from Hibbing, Minnesota.

Quotes from the post game press conference

Mike Connelly, UMD Junior Forward
"We came in and we did what we had to do, take the lead, got the second one. We came into the third period with a 2-1 lead. We came out pretty flat and we were never able to recover. Our record shows that we've been [to overtime] quite a bit. I think we are all comfortable in overtime, but tonight obviously wasn't our night, mainly because of a lack of effort from the players. We need to regroup and get ready for the next weekend."

Scott Sandelin UMD Head Coach
On not having to play (potentially) three games in three days before the NCAA tourney...
"The one thing about this team all year is that when they've had their backs against the wall, they've responded the right way every time and I expect our team to do the same. For us it gives us some time to rest a little bit. We have some guys that are banged up, hurt, sick and that stuff. It's no excuse. They've played because they came here to win this tournament. We have another chance, so hopefully our guys can continue to do what they've done all year.
-------------
Shea Walters BSU Junior Forward
On his game winning goal in overtime...
"It was a big win off the draw. It got kicked up to Dan MacIntyre who made a nice pass across and [Jamie McQueen] had a nice screen in front fortunately it went in. I just wanted to get it on net as quick as I could."

Tom Serratore BSU Head Coach
On the game...
"First off, I'm just proud of the guys. It was a tough game. I felt in the second period that we didn't have good legs. I thought UMD took it to us, but we were only down one goal [heading into the period]. Read converting in the first minute of the third period really elevated our play. It was a great 3rd period and we were fortunate to get the last bounce in overtime."

Don Adam gets the call right - No Goal!

This is the goal that has gotten much discussion on the internet and on Twitter.com. Watching the video I have to respectfully disagree with FSN analyst Kevin Gorg this was not a goal, Don Adam made the right call, the UMD player's hook should not have caused Nico Sacchetti to take out the goalie. In my opinion Sacchetti makes no effort to not run into the goalie and therefore interfered with the UMD goalie.

UMD's Olsen leaves UMD for the AHL...

When this story broke yesterday afternoon the first thing that came to mind was ineligible for the academically for second half of the season. Dylan Olsen is a first round draft choice so realistically he isn’t going to sit around at UMD not playing hockey; studying, trying to get eligible academically for the fall semester. Not going to happen folks.

If my memory serves me right Dylan Olsen was recruited by UND but wasn’t able to get into UND so he ended up choosing UMD. The academically ineligible spin was the buzz around this story on the blogsphere and Twitter and it's not surprising what so ever.

Rink and RUN ---- Former NHL first-round draft pick Dylan Olsen, a Minnesota Duluth sophomore defenseman from Calgary, Alberta, signed a three-year, two-way contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and will join the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford, Ill., following the World Junior Championships.

Olsen, 19, leaves UMD with two goals and 22 assists for 24 points in 53 career games. This season, he had a goal and 12 assists for 13 points in 17 games before leaving to join Canada for the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, N.Y. Canada finished the preliminary round 3-1 following a shootout loss to Sweden on Friday. The tournament runs through Jan. 5.

“Dylan was having a good year and we were expecting a better, more confident player to return to us after the experience of the junior tournament,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We knew how much making Canada’s team meant to him and that it could only help his play. We’re just disappointed he chose to make a change at midseason.”

Sandelin did note that recent academic developments would likely have left Olsen ineligible for the second semester.

If you can’t stay eligible academically to play for your college hockey team I believe it’s a character flaw a lack of commitment on the part of the athlete because they are not living up to their end of the scholarship deal, Dylan Olson let his teammates down and he let himself down. This one also falls on the coach because they should be evaluating his players academic progress throughout the semester.

Being a former college athlete, I have seen a few people flunk out of college and lose their eligibility to compete in athletics and I don't understand how they can let this happen? Most places all you need to get is a 2.0 or a 2.5 and you can almost do that by just attending class and reading the materials from the lectures. Again, going to the state schools in the WCHA isn't all that difficult, (BSU, UMD, SCSU, UND, MSU-M) isn't like attending the MTU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, AFA and or Yale and Harvard. My advice to young athletes is go to class, study and complete your assignments, ask for help if you need it, get a tutor.

What about an NCC Cup?

With the talk of the Big Ten Hockey Conference I thought I would add some satire of my own. Since there are now five former members of the now defunct North Central Conference in the WCHA, I think these five WCHA teams (UMD, SCSU, UND, UNO and Mankato)should have a NCC cup like the now defunctDQ Cup.

Maybe we can poach/pursue a team like BSU and start our own hockey league that would be known as the NCC hockey league. Probably not, however, maybe when the almighty BTHC comes into fruition we could divide the WCHA into two division we could have the NCC schools together in one division and the other schools in another division. It would look like this...

NCC Division

UMD
UND
MSUM
UNO
SCSU

Others

C.C.
DU
UAA
MTU
BSU

Former Duluth Sieve Brady Hjelle Commits to Ohio State University

I just saw this on line over at the Cedar Rapids Roughriders team web page.

Cedar Rapids, IA- RoughRider goaltender, Brady Hjelle, has committed to play the remainder of his college hockey career at Ohio State University.

"We congratulate Brady and are very happy for him and his family. Brady will fit in very nicely with the culture Coach Osiecki and his staff are building at OSU," said Head Coach and General Manager Mark Carlson.

University of Minnesota Duluth hockey recruit faces assault charges

I don't know but it seems like there have been a lot of conduct related issues this summer with the College hockey players. Impressive, takes a big man to rough up your girl friend. It will be interesting to see if Sandy pulls the plug on this clown or not.

Duluth News Tribune--- A 2010-11 University of Minnesota Duluth freshman hockey recruit was arrested early Tuesday on domestic assault charges after allegedly attacking his girlfriend in her College of St. Scholastica dorm room.

Christopher Michael Stafne, 20, of Duluth is charged with fifth-degree domestic assault. He was arrested and booked in the St. Louis County Jail about 2 a.m. Tuesday. He was later released pending his next court appearance, scheduled for June 15.

A court order also was filed Tuesday prohibiting Stafne from having contact with his alleged victim. Stafne returned a reporter’s phone call Tuesday but declined to comment on the charge against him.

According to police reports:

Stafne’s girlfriend told police he has an anger problem. She didn’t want to talk to him Monday night and she turned off her cell phone. She said she was trying to sleep when Stafne showed up at her dorm room. The woman said Stafne was upset with her because he thought she was cheating on him, and his suspicions led him to wanting to see her cell phone.

She said he took the cell phone from her and when she tried to take it back, he pushed her down and she fell between the bed and the dresser.

The woman said that Stafne then went into the bathroom with her cell phone and tried to close the door. She tried to open the door but he pushed her and slammed the door, hitting her with the door. A roommate of the woman said Stafne also was verbally abusive to his girlfriend.

The victim sustained a bruise on her forearm, a scrape with redness on her neck and marks on her back, allegedly as a result of the assault.