By Joshua Boyd / USPHLPremier.com
Everybody’s beating everybody in the North Division, but what’s new? The Wisconsin-Minnesota circuit has always been a grindstone for teams. Recently, the Minnesota Squatch and the surging Dells Ducks picked up enough points for a tie for first place in the North. In the Great Lakes Division, the Metro Jets remain undefeated early on at 6-0, while the Vernal Oilers at 9-0 are also undefeated so far on the season. The Pacific Division’s Lake Tahoe Lakers have been a force to be reckoned with and they stand just one point out of first place entering this weekend. The Midwest Division is just starting to ramp up, with the Decatur Blaze being the last USPHL Premier to start their 2024-25 season this weekend.
As always, we’ll take a look at the teams that finished the recent week of games (Oct. 11-17) with at least a point per game played.
North Division
Minnesota Squatch Tie For First In North On Three-Game Winning Streak
The Squatch have been on a tear lately, winning three games in a row to tie for the North Division lead with a Dells Ducks team enjoying its best start. For the Squatch, they defeated the Hudson Havoc, 9-1, on Oct. 11, and then won a pair of games against the Steele county Blades, 6-3, and 5-2.
- The Squatch certainly like taking an offensive approach, as they are ranked fourth in shots on goal per game at 52.
- Cannon Bonifay (‘04/Fort Worth, Texas) has scored in every game so far this season and has 14 points in eight games. He currently has exactly 51 goals and 51 assists for 102 points. He continues to extend his lead as the team’s all-time leading goal-scorer, a record which he set last year.
Minnesota Blue Ox Put Together Three-Game Winning Streak
After some rough patches to start the season, it’s all coming together now for the Blue Ox, who have won their last three games in a row. They recently defeated the Steele County Blades, 3-2, and the Hudson Havoc, 7-3. In the standings, they jumped past the Blades and into fifth place in the North.
- Lars Goerlitz (‘07/Circle Pines, Minn.) has scored seven goals and has added one assist for a team-leading eight points.
- In a great showing of USPHL Advancement In Action, former Elite All-Star goalie Joseph Auletti (‘05/Staten Island, N.Y.) has started his Premier career at 2-0 with a .926 save percentage.
Dells Ducks Go 2-1, Remain In Tie For First In Division
The Ducks fell for the first time of the season in their fifth game on Friday, Oct. 11, taking a 4-2 defeat against their Badger State rivals the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings. They rebounded nicely by defeating the Isanti Outlaws, 5-0 and 5-2, on Oct. 12 and 13.
- The Ducks are one of a small number of teams with a league-leading three wins when being outshot by an opponent. They are 3-1-0-0 in that scenario.
- Premier veterans Liam Norton (‘04/Simpsonville, S.C.) and Angelo Massaro (‘04/Palatine, Ill.) are tied for the team lead in scoring with nine points apiece in seven games, while Lorenzo Medeiros (‘08/St-Hyacinthe, Que.) remains 3-0 to start his junior career.
Northwest Express Gather In Three Points, Go Unbeaten In Regulation Over Three Games
The Express fell, 5-4, to the Minnesota Mullets on Friday, 5-4, before coming back to defeat the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings, 6-4, on Oct. 12. With these three points, the Express pulled to .500 overall at 3-3-1-0 and enter this weekend on a three-game point streak of 2-0-1-0.
- Jaden Aguilera (‘04/Fort Collins, Colo.) has a 2.00 points per game average, thanks to a 4-10-14 line in seven games. In this, his third season with the Express organization (formerly the Minnesota Moose), he has not missed the scoresheet in the first seven games.
- Rylan Freshwater (‘05/McDonough, Ga.) has two of the Express’ three wins in net, including the win over Wisconsin Rapids and he was also in net for the OT loss to the Mullets.
Mullets, Riverkings Go .500 For Week Of Work
The Minnesota Mullets continue to have a strong start to the season and stand with the division’s second highest points total of 11 with a 5-4 OT victory against the Express and a 4-3 loss to the Steele County Blades, recently. They are 5-2-1-0 heading into the USPHL Wisconsin Showcase this coming Monday.
The Riverkings, who are playing in the USPHL Jersey Hitmen Classic in Wayne, N.J., this weekend, came away with a 4-2 win over the Dells Ducks, before falling to the Northwest Express, 6-4, on Oct. 12. They will face teams from the Canada, Atlantic and New England Divisions between Saturday and Monday in the Garden State.
Great Lakes Division
Columbus Mavericks Take Two, Climb Above .500 mark
The Mavs have won three out of four games so far this month and have improved to 6-4-0-0 overall. They defeated the first-year Fresh Coast Freeze by scores of 9-5 and 4-1 over Oct. 11-12.
- The Mavericks have matched their best 10-game start, as they also went 6-4-0-0 in 2021-22.
- Caden Cavalieri (‘04/Amherst, N.Y.) remained in the top five of overall league scoring with a four-point weekend to improve to 10 goals and 24 points. He pulled his career point average over 1.00 per game with a 1.05 mark.
Metro Jets Win Two More To Remain Undefeated At 6-0
The Jets have played in just six games through mid-October, but what matters most is they’ve won every single game of those. The Jets defeated the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones by a 9-0 score on the road Oct. 12, and defeated the Midwest Division’s Chicago Cougars the next day, 7-1, back home in Mount Clemens, Mich.
- Big week for the goaltenders. Austin Muirhead’s shutout against the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones was his 10th in his career, which ties him for the all-time lead in shutouts with four other goalies. He is the only active player among those four, so the next shutout for the ‘04 from Novi, Mich., will be a new record.
- His fellow goaltender Rostislav Efremov (‘04/Vladivostok, Russia) made 22 saves on 23 shots against Chicago to improve to a league-leading 0.67 GAA among goaltenders with multiple starts. He is tied with Hershey’s Noah Pfab with a league-leading save percentage of .973.
Battle Creek Kernels Go 2-1-0-0 To Improve Standings
The Kernels had their best weekend so far, going 2-0 against the Midwest’s Motor City Gamblers, winning 2-1 on Oct. 11 and then 6-4 on Oct. 12. On Thursday, they made another trip to the Detroit area and fell 5-2 to the Metro Jets Development Program. The Kernels are 3-7-0-0 on the season.
Trace Wiles (‘04/Richardson, Texas), who picked up his first win on Oct. 12 against the Gamblers, ranks fourth in saves in the USPHL Premier with 245.
Jakub Korcab (‘05/Krakow, Poland), a former St. Mary’s Prep player, has been shot out of a cannon in his junior start by putting up a team-leading 12 points in 10 games.
Toledo Cherokee Pick Up Single Victory
In their first game since Sept. 28, the Cherokee played a single outing against the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones and put together an 11-2 victory. Their 5-1-0-0 record puts them into fourth place in the points race in the division.
Pacific Division
Bakersfield Roughnecks Go 2-1, Move Into Second In Division
The Roughnecks defeated the Long Beach Bombers twice at home over the weekend, taking a 5-2 and a 7-1 victory. They improved to 7-3-0-0 and stand at second place in the Pacific. They are idle this weekend, and they return to action Oct. 25 in a three-game series against Fresno.
- Christopher Larochelle (‘06/Quebec City, Que.) scored his league-leading fifth power play goal during the weekend series, and is tied with Lake Tahoe’s Tyler Gudjonson in that category.
- Jakob Barcelona (‘05/Wasilla, Alaska) stopped 41 of 43 shots on Oct. 12 to remain undefeated at 4-0.
Lake Tahoe Lakers Go 2-1 Against Fresno Monsters, Stand One Point Out Of First Overall
The Lakers defeated the Fresno Monsters, 8-4, on Oct. 11, before falling the next day 8-2 to the Monsters. In the third game of the set, the Lakers put up an 8-5 score for their second victory against the Monsters. As Friday dawned with a night game coming at Long Beach, the Lakers were 10-2-0-0 with 20 points, one point behind the Charlotte Rush, who fell in overtime on Thursday. It’s far too early for any intensity or drama surrounding first place in the league, but it’s still fun to track!
- No team has won more often when scoring the first goal of a game than the Lakers, who are a league-leading 9-0 when they strike first. Bakersfield has also scored the first goal of a game nine times, and are 6-3-0-0 in that situation.
- Jose-Jasmir Guseff (‘04/Helsinki, Finland) and Carver Alford (‘05/South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) are tied for second in league scoring with 26 points apiece. Guseff moved up from a week ago tied for fifth, while Alford wasn’t even in the top 20 a week ago! A league-leading 12-point week of scoring will work wonders like that. Alford is also the top-scoring defenseman in the Premier, a leaderboard he holds by nine points.
Henderson Force, Ontario Jr. Reign Both Win Single Games
The Henderson Force played their only game of the past week on Oct. 12, defeating the Ventura Vikings by a 6-1 score. Henderson and Ventura play three games this weekend in Henderson, and the Force enter on a two-game winning streak.
Ontario also played a single game since Oct. 11, a 5-2 win over the San Diego Sabers on Saturday. They resume that series tonight in Carlsbad, and then have a pair of games Saturday and Tuesday against Lake Tahoe. Ontario stands third in the Pacific at 6-2-0-0 for 12 points.
Long Beach Bombers Win Two, Lose Two For Busy .500 Week
The Long Beach Bombers earned their first-ever win against the Bakersfield Roughnecks, 5-4, on Oct. 11. The next day, they fell 5-2 and on Sunday, the Roughnecks won 7-1. The Bombers returned home to Lakewood Ice on Oct. 17 and defeated the San Diego Sabers, 6-2. The Bombers face the division’s first place team the Lake Tahoe Lakers on Friday night.
Midwest Division
Chicago Crush Win Season Debut, MJDP Goes .500
The Midwest Division was a bit quiet over the past week, but the Chicago Crush did earn their first win of the 2024-25 season in their season debut on Oct. 12, defeating the Chicago Cougars, 5-2.
The Metro Jets Development Program fell to the Cougars, who went 1-2 over the last week, by a 4-0 score, before rebounding with a 5-2 win against the Great Lakes Division’s Battle Creek Kernels on Oct. 17.
Northwest Division
Oilers, Totems Win Single Games, Yeti Go .500 On Weekend
The Vernal Oilers went to Colorado for a second time on the season and won 9-4 against the Fighting Elk, to maintain their undefeated record at 9-0, giving them a rank of fourth in the league at 18 points, but the Oilers join the Metro Jets as the only two teams that are undefeated with multiple games played.
The Seattle Totems played their first game against the Bremerton Sockeyes – located across Puget Sound from Seattle – and came away with a 12-0 victory. They improved to 5-3-0-0 overall for second in the division.
The Iron County Yeti split their weekend, falling 4-2 to the Colorado Fighting Elk and beating the same team by a 7-2 victory, for their best offensive game yet.
