Dubuque, which is playing Green Bay in the finals of the Clark Cup, drafted freshman forward Max Gardiner of the Gophers on Monday in the fifth round of the USHL draft.

"We took a chance with this pick -- we're always looking for people with something to prove," Dubuque coach Jim Montgomery is quoted as saying on the Fighting Saints' web site. "We had great success with Vinny Saponari coming from a college environment [Boston University] this year, and we're hopeful that we can see the same from Max in the future."

Sure sounds as if Dubuque will try to get Gardiner to leave the Gophers' program -- maybe with a promise of plenty of ice time.

Gardiner only played in 17 games this past season at the U. He was usually a third- or fourth-line left wing. He had one goal and two assists for three points. He had 18 shots on goal and a minus-3 ranking.

"[Max being drafted] caught us off-guard," said John Gardiner, his father, "but we are not totally surprised based on the year he had."

John Gardiner said he expects his son to return to the Gophers.

Dubuque drafting him certainly is an interesting twist, though.

It appears the Gophers will have 16 forwards on their roster -- and that's without high-scoring Cedar Rapids forward Sam Warning, who signed last month -- if nobody leaves unexpectedly. Four will sit every game, and getting a spot on the top two lines won't be easy.

Max Gardiner can obviously see that.

You also have to wonder what the St. Louis Blues are telling him. The Blues took Gardiner in the third round of the 2010 NHL draft; he was the 74th pick overall.

As a senior at Minnetonka, Gardiner helped the Skippers reach the Class 2A state final before they lost. He had 22 goals and 32 assists for 54 points in 23 games. Gardiner appeared headed to the USHL last season but then a roster spot at forward opened up in the summer.

Sophomore-to-be Josh Birkholz, facing a suspension at the start of the season, unexpectedly decided to leave the program for the Everett Silvertips of Western Hockey League. So the Gophers brought Gardiner in.

He did not make much of an impact. Now the 6-2, 187-pound Gardiner has a place to go if he decides to leave after one season.

* So who is Vinny Saponari? And why is the Dubuque coach calling him a success?

Saponari was dismissed from BU after the 2009-10 season for violating team rules. He wound up at Dubuque and is the Fighting Saints' second-leading scorer. He has 23 goals and 49 assists for 72 points in 65 games. Impressive numbers.

According to one blog report, Saponari will play for Northeastern, another Division I hockey team in Boston, next season. Saponari was drafted by Atlanta in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL draft.

* The first two Minnesotans taken in the USHL draft were Burnsville defenseman Ed Wittchow and under-18 U.S. national team forward Dan Carlson of Corcoran. They went No. 4 and 5, respectively, in the first round. And Waterloo had both those picks.

The NHL's Central Scouting Bureau ranks Wittchow, who is 6-3, 190, as the 111th best player in North America for the 2011 NHL draft next month.

* The Indiana Ice took Hibbing/Chisholm sophomore Adam Johnson with the first pick of the second round. Johnson, who has committed to UMD, had 42 goals and 43 assists this past season, including four goals in the Class 1A state tournament.

Drafted players are invited to the summer training camp of the USHL team which selected them.