All games of September and October are taken into statistical account.
Forward: Alexis Toussaint, Fort Wayne Spacemen
Toussaint (‘04/Varennes, Que.) has swooped in like a big breath of fresh air and has been a huge offensive contributor to the first place Spacemen. His 1.77 points per game is right up in the all-time averages with the likes of alumni Jared Fisher, Noah Maine and Keven Lapointe – the Spacemen have had quite a few “superstars” for an organization only in its fifth year. Toussaint has posted 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points in just his first 13 junior games.
Forward: Brian Bell, Motor City Gamblers
The second-year forward who was an All-Star last season has essentially picked up right where he left off, putting up a line of 5-11-16 through 11 games. He currently has 63 points in 53 career games after his 47-point campaign last year, and he’s on pace to bypass that by 17 points. He’s good for much more than offensive production as well, as he’s won 139 faceoffs out of 198, good for an incredible 70 percent success rate in the circle. He’s also leading the Gamblers with a +11 rating.
Forward: Ryan Jaros, Battle Creek Kernels
Jaros (‘03/Portage, Mich.) has already bypassed his 2022-23 point totals, putting up seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points, good for 1.43 points per game and improving upon the 18 points he posted in 40 games last year. Jaros is the heir apparent to the offensive leader spot held by former Kernel and All-Star Evan Burkle.
As a forward, Jaros is the ice time leader for the Kernels (25:53) and he’s also drawn nine opponent penalties while not sitting for any as of yet on the season.
Defense: Jonathan Jakshoj, Motor City Gamblers
Jakshoj (‘05/Copenhagen, Denmark) has been a great addition to an already strong defensive corps for the Gamblers. Offensively, he has a 1-14-15 line in just 10 games, good for 1.5 points per game. He started his USPHL tenure off with a GWG in his first game, and has become the No. 1 man for ice time on the Motor City power play (38:23 total) and his ice time has been increasing over the course of the season. He is also No. 1 in hits (19) on a very physical team.
Defense: Aidan Canady, Chicago Cougars
Another all-star from last year jumping into the first Players Of The Month awards of the year is the ‘03 from Schaumburg, Ill., who has moved closer to home with his new team the Cougars. He is also off to a fantastic start offensively yet again, putting up three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 12 games early on. Not surprisingly, given his experience, he is topping the Cougars in ice time (26:37 per game) and also tops among his team’s defensemen on the power play and penalty kill. He is a +5 early on this season as well.
Goaltender: Jack Sundhall, Chicago Crush
Sundhall (‘03/Goteborg, Sweden) has found himself tied for fourth in wins league-wide thanks to a fantastic start to the season for the second-year Premier veteran and first-year Crush. Over nine games, he’s produced a 7-1-1-1 record with a .942 save percentage, which also has him in the top 10 for a second major goaltending category. Chalk up another when you see he is one of just 11 goalies league-wide to have two or more shutouts through Halloween.
Method of selection: The USPHL Media Team shares a first set of nominees from among statistical leaders with division coaches and accepts alternate nominations from coaches, where applicable. From these, the USPHL Media Team selects the final “starting lineup.”
Top Performers Of The Week (Oct. 24-31)
Forward: Preston Stenzel, Motor City Gamblers – The local product from Macomb, Mich., put up an average of three points per game in his pair of contests against the Battle Creek Kernels, posting a 2-4-6 line in two games.
Defense: Jonathan Jakshoj, Motor City Gamblers – He was very generous in giving out six assists over the course of the two games against Battle Creek.
Goaltender: Austin Muirhead, MJDP – On Oct. 28, Muirhead stopped all 26 shots he faced for a shutout against the Columbus Mavericks.
