By Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com
The United States Premier Hockey League is proud to announce the winners of the inaugural 2024 Fan’s Choice Awards voting. Rockets Hockey Club forward Jace Lombardo was named the USPHL Elite Fan’s Choice MVP, and Hampton Roads Whalers goaltender Jean Berthaudin was named the USPHL Elite Fan’s Choice Goaltender Of The Year.
The first phase of voting began on May 6, in which anyone could vote for any player. The league’s media team identified four top candidates and allowed write-ins. From this first round, the top two vote-getters in each category were pitted against each other one-on-one with no more write-in votes allowed.
We thank the more than 7,400 of you who voted in a very popular USPHL Elite contest! Each of the winners below earned more than 5,600 votes apiece!
MVP: Jace Lombardo, Rockets Hockey Club
Lombardo currently holds the single season points record with 113 after this year, after putting up 44 goals and a league single season record of 69 assists. Lombardo was a second-year Rocket along with teammate and fellow MVP candidate John Crowdell, and is ranked fifth all-time with 147 points. In voting terms, Lombardo took an amazing 82.2 percent of the vote!
Lombardo helped the Rockets reach the USPHL Nationals, and he was huge throughout the playoffs, scoring 4-4-8 in six total postseason games.
Goaltender Of The Year: Jean Berthaudin, Hampton Roads Whalers
Berthaudin set a single season and career record for shutouts in 2023-24, getting eight doughnuts during the year – he is tied on the career side with former Whaler Ty Morton. He went 14-7-1-1 for the Whalers, his .948 save percentage ranked second in the league, and his 1.74 GAA was good for sixth. Berthaudin racked up 75.4 percent of the vote!
Check later this week on USPHLElite.com for individual features on our Fan’s Choice Winners.
