By Joshua Boyd
We have one more big December weekend to go before teams hit the holiday break between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. We see extremely tight races in especially the Atlantic and Mountain Divisions in a moment at which many teams have hit their season midpoint mark. The jockeying for playoff positions will continue in earnest this weekend and in the first three thrilling months of 2025. There are still some outstanding winning and point streaks teams are trying to keep alive, including the South Shore Kings’ 23-game run of 21-0-2-0, while the Idaho Falls Spud Kings are also impressive with a 9-0-2-1 run in their last 12. Utica has been making big waves in the New England Division as well with their five-game winning streak.
We’ll see where the chips fall this weekend!
As always, we’ll focus here on the teams that earned at least a point per game over the past week of games between Dec. 12-18.
Utica Jr. Comets Push Winning Streak To Five Games
The Utica Jr. Comets have been climbing steadily up the New England Division standings this month, thanks in large part to going 5-1-0-0 in December so far, and with a five-game winning streak over their past two three-game series against the Boston Jr. Rangers and the Seacoast Spartans. They defeated the Spartans by scores of 4-2, 4-2, 3-2. Entering Thursday, they were working to try to keep that streak alive against the Thunder Hockey Club.
- The Jr. Comets’ 5-0 winning streak is their longest since winning seven in a row during the 2018-19 season. They also won five straight last season and in 2019-20.
- Jr. Comets veteran Daniel Urban (‘04/Orchard Park, N.Y.) improved to 22 assists after posting six over each of his last four games. He is now ranked third in the NCDC in helpers.
Boston Jr. Rangers Win Three In A Row
The Jr. Rangers have enjoyed a strong month overall, putting up two season-best three-game winning streaks between Nov. 23 and Dec. 6 and again between Dec. 12 and 18. Most recently, they defeated the NCDC’s newest team the Boston Dogs by a close 6-5 score on Dec. 12, followed by a 5-0 shutout win over the Thunder Hockey Club and a 3-2 win in overtime against the Seacoast Spartans.
- Tyler Dale (‘04/Pewaukee, Wis.) scored the OT winner against Seacoast on Dec. 18, his first overtime winner in the NCDC and second overall GWG. It also happened to be his sixth power play goal of the season, which puts him into a tie for the second most PPG’s in the league.
- Stephen Chen (‘05/Beijing, China) registered his first NCDC shutout against the Thunder by making 24 saves. It was also his third win in four starts back to Nov. 23.
Islanders Hockey Club Head Into Thursday On Four-Game Winning Streak
The Islanders Hockey Club know that they have quite the mountain to climb in the New England Division behind a South Shore Kings on a 23-game point streak (21-0-2-0). The IHC can only control what they can control, and heading into their Thursday rivalry game with the Northern Cyclones, they were able to control their opponents. They entered that game on a four-game winning streak. They earned wins over the past week against the Kings, 5-4 in OT, while also defeating the Worcester Railers JHC, 5-4, on Dec. 13.
- Three goals over the past week for Braxton Powers (‘04/Raleigh, N.C.) pushed Powers over the 100-point career mark on Dec. 13 with a five-point effort against the Railers. His 19th goal of the season scored on Dec. 13 also put him at No. 1 in NCDC goals this season entering Thursday, and into first place overall in points with 38. As the cherry on top of the sundae, he also now leads the NCDC in power play goals with seven.
- Ryan Crowshaw (‘04/Avon, Conn.) moved into the top five league-wide in wins with his fourth in a row. The Arcadia University commit improved to 11-3-2-0 with a .915 save percentage.
Rock Springs Grizzlies Earn Big Weekend Sweep
The Grizzlies picked up back-to-back wins of 5-2, 5-2 against the Casper Warbirds, giving them their second 2-0 weekend since their Nov. 29-30 sweep against the Pueblo Bulls. The Grizzlies are pointing in the right direction, and they are closer now in the standings to fourth place Pueblo than they were a week ago, when they were the same points above the sixth-place Warbirds.
- A key for the Grizzlies is getting up early, as they’ve earned points in all eight games when they have a lead after two periods, going 7-0-1-0, accounting for a majority of their 22 total points.
- Edvin Edlund (‘05/Ostersund, Sweden) stands as the only defenseman leading his team in scoring. Edlund is sixth in the NCDC defenseman scoring leaderboard with 19 points and he is tied for second in goals with five.
Pueblo Bulls Pick Up Second Straight Weekend Sweep
The Bulls brought in the Boston Dogs, making the Dogs the first team from the Eastern U.S. NCDC divisions to make a trip to the Mountain Division during the regular season. After taking two on the road the prior weekend against Casper, the Bulls defeated the Dogs, 7-0, on Dec. 14 and 4-1 the next night. It marked the Bulls’ last home weekend of 2024, as they’ll head west to face the division-leading Ogden Mustangs this Friday and Saturday, Dec. 20-21.
- The Marshchanok twins remain the 1-2 leaders in scoring. Former Potomac Patriots (USPHL Premier), the 2005-born Belarussians have 28 and 27 points, respectively. Matsvei leads with an 11-17-28 line, just ahead of Siamion at 10-17-27. The two brothers are on pace to better the first-year stats put up by former NCDC twin stars Patriks Marcinkevics and Dominks Marcinkevics, who had 49 and 42 points, respectively, with the Islanders Hockey Club in 2019-20. Currently, Siamion is on pace to hit 65 points and Matsvei is on pace for 62. Patriks Marcinkevics went on to rank No. 2 all-time in NCDC scoring with 145 points, and he owns the single season points record of 96, set with the Jersey Hitmen in 2021-22.
- Noel Friedman (‘05/Denver, Colo.) was strong in earning his first NCDC win against the Dogs on Dec. 14. Friedman started this season with the USPHL Premier’s Atlanta MadHatters, joining the Marshchanok twins as well as many other players – Liam Coutu (Elmira Impact), Roni Alanko and Kasper Pohjala (Vernal Oilers) – as all great examples of USPHL Advancement In Action playing with Pueblo this year.
Mercer Chiefs Earn Four Points Over Week, Close Gap On Second
The Chiefs have been looking strong and earned four points out of their last three games, pulling to within a point of the second place Jersey Hitmen in the Atlantic Division. The Chiefs defeated the West Chester Wolves, 5-3, on Dec. 13, before falling on Dec. 14 to the Connecticut Jr. Rangers, 3-0. They rebounded with a Tuesday 7-3 victory against the Rockets Hockey Club.
- A five-point run in the three games for Samuel Ciappa (‘05/Baldwinsville, N.Y.) saw him move from a tie for seventh in the league into the top five in scoring now with 32 points on the season.
- In net, Dominick Gatto (‘05/St. Charles, Ill.) improved to 14 wins, continuing to tie for first in the league in that category. He also moved into the top 10 in GAA with a 2.37 mark on this season. He now has 34 career wins and is the active leader in W’s among NCDC goalies.
Idaho Falls Spud Kings Extend Point Streak To 12 Games
No one ever wants to feel empty-handed, especially around the holidays. The Spud Kings have come away with at least a point in each game over their last 12 dating back to Nov. 8, a 9-0-2-1 point streak to be exact. The Spud Kings defeated the Ogden Mustangs, 4-1, at home and then fell to the Mustangs, 3-2, in a shootout on Dec. 14 in Ogden. The Spud Kings close up their 2024 schedule on the road against Rock Springs and Utah this weekend, and then they’re home for 11 straight at Mountain America Center to start 2025.
- Goaltender Charlie Durkin (‘06/Glencoe, Ill.) is essentially neck and neck with Dominick Gatto of Mercer in so many stats. They’re tied in wins with 14, and Durkin is one slot ahead of Gatto in goals against average, at ninth with a 2.18 mark. Gatto leads the league in minutes played (1,312) just ahead of Durkin (1,212).
- Defenseman D.J. MacLeish (‘05/Troy, Mich.) only just returned to the Spud Kings in mid-November, but he’s already leading the league in one category. He’s the only NCDC defenseman with two shootout goals, scoring his second last weekend in the loss to Ogden. Overall, he now has 58 points in 60 career NCDC games.
P.A.L. Jr. Islanders’ Point Streak Ends, But They Remain Atop Atlantic
The Jr. Islanders went a long stretch of 18 games (15-0-2-1) of earning at least one point after their 3-1 win over the WBS Knights on Dec. 15. The Knights came back the next day and snapped the streak with a 3-2 regulation win over P.A.L. on Dec. 16. Two days later, the Jr. Islanders got back to winning ways by defeating the Connecticut Jr. Rangers, 3-0, on Dec. 18. After the three-game stretch, however, they broke a tie with the Jersey Hitmen for the Atlantic Division lead and are now alone in first with 39 points, two ahead of Jersey and three ahead of Mercer.
- With his 31-save shutout of the Connecticut Jr. Rangers on Dec. 17, Lukas Vejmelka (‘04/Trebic, Czechia) moved from 10th in goals against average to sixth, cutting his number down from 2.20 to 2.06 with that performance. Vejmelka has a personal unbeaten in regulation streak of 9-0-2-0 going back to early October.
- Carson Nickulas (‘04/Barnstable, Mass.) registered his seventh power play assist over the past week to rank fifth in that category among NCDC defensemen. He has been a huge addition to P.A.L. this year with 17 points in 25 games.
Elsewhere In The NCDC
- The Jersey Hitmen played just one game over the past week heading into their Thursday bout with their historic rivals the Rockets Hockey Club. The Hitmen beat the WBS Knights, 5-3, on Dec. 13. They will look to get back into a tie for first after the Jr. Islanders pulled away by two points after winning two in a busier schedule than Jersey’s.
- The Northern Cyclones split their games for the week, falling 2-1 to the Thunder Hockey Club on Dec. 13 and winning 4-1 against the Worcester Railers JHC on Dec. 14. They gained one point on the leader South Shore from a week earlier.
- As seen above, the Ogden Mustangs split their weekend with the Idaho Falls Spud Kings, falling 4-1 in regulation, before the Mustangs won 3-2 in a shootout. They remain a point ahead of Idaho Falls entering this weekend’s Ogden series vs. Pueblo.
- The West Chester Wolves fell on Dec. 13 to the Mercer Chiefs, 5-3, but came back to defeat the Rockets Hockey Club, 5-4, on Dec. 14. That helped them to maintain a five point lead in fourth place over the fifth place Rockets in the Atlantic Division.
Please Note: The NCDC This Week will return after the holidays on Jan. 9, 2025. Check out NCDC’s X and Instagram accounts for game-by-game coverage as well as NCDCHockey.com for recaps of the final December weekend.
