By Joshua Boyd / NCDCHockey.com
‘Tis the season, as we are fully approaching mid-December with Christmas lights and music all around. For hockey players, that just means the midseason mark has either fully arrived, past or approaching for NCDC teams. The weather may be getting cooler in most NCDC locales, but the action on the ice is as hot as ever as we approach the back nine of the season and teams start to fight for playoff positioning. The South Shore Kings maintain a healthy lead in the overall league race, despite seeing their 19-game winning streak snapped, but they’re still 21-0-2-0 since Sept. 20. The P.A.L. Jr. Islanders are steady in the Atlantic on a 14-0-2-1 point streak, and the Mountain-leading Ogden Mustangs haven’t been beaten in regulation in nine games.
We’ll take a look at the top performing NCDC teams since the month’s action in the league kicked off on Dec. 4, focusing on teams with at least as many points as games played.
Worcester Railers JHC Picks Up Four Points Amid Busy 3-1-0-0 Week
The Railers were able to take a step up the New England Division ladder by moving into a tie for fifth following a 2-1 week between Dec. 5 and 11. Their biggest standout game was on Dec. 5, when they ended the South Shore Kings’ winning streak, keeping that to 19. The Kings would come back to win 3-1 on Dec. 11. In between, the Railers also defeated the Northern Cyclones, 6-2.
- Leading scorer Colby Dobek now has 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points in 23 games this year.
- Goaltender Cole Scullion (‘06/Burlington, Ont.) had his best winning streak of the season at five games running Nov. 16 to Dec. 6. He is now 8-6-1-0 with a 2.61 GAA and a .924 save percentage.
Islanders Hockey Club Brings In Six Points To Hold Onto Third In New England
The Islanders started their December with a close 3-2 defeat against the Seacoast Spartans, but bounced back with wins in their next two games against the Thunder Hockey Club, 2-1 in a shootout on Dec. 6 and 5-0 on Dec. 7. They improved their lot by four points, and remained where they started the month at third place in the New England Division. They defeated the South Shore Kings, 5-4, in overtime on Dec. 12.
- Braxton Powers (‘04/Raleigh, N.C.) became the Islanders Hockey Club’s all-time leading scorer on Nov. 21 with his 87th career point, bypassing former IHC player and current University of New Hampshire player Cy LeClerc on the leaderboard. Going into Thursday, Powers was tied for the longest active point streak at 11 games, over which he’s posted 18 points. He had 30 points, good for fourth in the league and he’s tied for third in goals with 16 and he is also tied for first in power play goals with six.
- Joseph Samango (‘05/Havertown, Pa.) is tied for first in assists in the NCDC with 20.
Ogden Mustangs Wins Two, Extends Point Streak To Nine Games
The Mustangs do not leave empty-handed, at least that’s been the case in games since Nov. 7, going 8-0-0-1 back to Nov. 7. They defeated Rock Springs twice last weekend, 4-1 and 5-2, and have now remained undefeated in their all-time matchups since the 2023-24 season against the Grizzlies.
- Brody Simko (‘04/Butler, Pa.) continues his outstanding season as a veteran for the Mustangs, recently moving from third to second on the league scoring leaderboard with 32 points, and he’s also tied for third in goals with 16. And, like Braxton Powers above, he is tied for the league lead in power play goals with six.
- The Mustangs have been on fire on the power play, scoring 23 goals – averaging 1 per game – on 89 power play opportunities for a 25.8 percent success rate. Ryan Tong (‘04/Burnaby, B.C.) leads all players with 11 power play assists and both he is second in power play points at 11, just behind teammate and league leader Jiri Duda (‘05/Glen Ellyn, Ill.) with 12 points.
P.A.L. Junior Islanders Extend Regulation Unbeaten Streak To 17 Games
The Jr. Islanders came away with wins of 6-3 and 6-4 against the West Chester Wolves and Jersey Hitmen, respectively, on Dec. 5 and 6. They remain red-hot and a sure bet for points going well back to October. They are 14-0-2-1 in their last 17 games and 16-3-2-1 overall.
- Arthur Mirante (‘04/Garden City, N.Y.) put up six points last weekend and he has 12 points over his last six games since Nov. 15. That launched him back on the scoring leaderboard for the NCDC into a tie for seventh place.
- Defenseman Carson Nickulas (‘04/Barnstable, Mass.) made the jump into the top 10 among league defensemen with his recent run of four points in his last four games, giving him 15 points and a tie for eighth among NCDC blueliners.
Pueblo Picks Up Weekend Sweep To Close Gap On Third In Mountain
The Bulls came away from their home series with wins of 5-2 and 5-4 against the Casper Warbirds, improving to 5-2-0-0 against the first year Warbirds. They were six points back of Utah when games in the NCDC kicked off for December on Dec. 4, and they’ve closed that gap to four points since then.
- USPHL Advancement In Action, and then some. The Elmira Impact, of the USPHL Premier, sent their top scorer Liam Coutu (‘06/Granby, Que.) to Pueblo and he ended up scoring the late regulation winner on Dec. 7. Also joining the fun this past weekend were members of the Vernal Oilers’ 22-0 team, Roni Alanko and Kasper Pohjala (both ‘05/Helsinki, Finland)
- Speaking of USPHL Advancement In Action, former USPHL Premier All-Stars and twin brothers Matsvei and Siamion Marshchanok (‘05/Minsk, Belarus) entered the top 10 in scoring after a couple big six point weekends for each of them. Matsvei, with 28 points, moved up to sixth in the league and Siamion, at 27 points, is tied for seventh. Siamion’s shorthanded goal scored on Dec. 6 was his league-leading third for the season, and Matsvei also now leads in shorthanded assists with three. Both brothers are tied for the league lead in shorthanded points with the Northern Cyclones’ Noah Tano at four points apiece.
Utica Jr Comets Finish Weekend With 2-1-0-0 Record, Improve To .500
The Jr. Comets came back from a 6-3 loss on Dec. 6 to earn 5-2 and 6-1 wins against the same Rangers, evening the overall season series at 2-2-0-0. That helped them improve to 10-10-2-1 for the season thus far.
- Daniel Urban (‘04/Orchard Park, N.Y.) has posted four points over his last four games, which goes perfectly with his point-per-game average for this season thus far, putting up 23 points in 23 games to lead the Jr. Comets in scoring.
- Michael Valenta (‘05/Sumperk, Czechia) improved to 5-5-2-0 on the season with his wins on Dec. 7 and 8, over which he stopped 65 of 68 shots. He holds a .930 save percentage on the season.
Idaho Falls Spud Kings Finish Weekend With Three Points To Maintain Second
The Spud Kings may not have won it all in terms of points up for grabs on the weekend against Utah, but they did take the greater share with a 4-3 regulation win and a 4-3 overtime loss. They very well could have flipped places with Utah into third if the Outliers had swept, but the Spud Kings held on to second place in the Mountain Division. They’ll have another challenge for that honor this weekend with two against Ogden.
- Tied after two? No problem – the Spud Kings thrive on drama, especially as they wish to entertain the more than 4,000 fans in their building on home games, typically. They are 5-1-0-0 with a league-best five wins when tied after 40 minutes.
- Andrew Schmidt (‘05/Chicago, Ill.) leads the Spud Kings in scoring with 29 points in 23 games, good for fifth in the league in points. Goalie Charlie Durkin ( ) remains on an eight-game winning streak entering this weekend’s big series with Ogden. He is 13-4-1-0 with a .923 save percentage.
South Shore Kings’ Winning Streak Ends, But They’ve Still Earned Points In 23
The Kings tied history on Nov. 22 with their 19th straight victory, which tied the Jersey Hitmen’s record of 19 straight wins. Unfortunately, they fell on Dec. 5 in overtime to the Worcester Railers JHC for Dec. 5. While the record streak wasn’t set, their point streak still remains. They defeated the Seacoast Spartans, 6-3, on Dec. 6. Five days later, they defeated the Railers, 3-1, and on Dec. 12, they fell to the Islanders Hockey Club, 5-4, in overtime.
- Veteran and returning Dineen Cup Champion Jake Kavanagh (‘05/Montreal, Que.) is on a nine-game, 11-point scoring streak. He scored goals on Dec. 11-12, but it was his string of seven assists in four games that helped him to the second-highest assist count in the league at 19.
- Gregor Jennersjo (‘04/Stockholm, Sweden) and Zachary Walsh (‘05/Lake View, N.Y.), who were fourth and sixth in scoring among defensemen entering December, are now tied for second with 20 points apiece.
Wilkes-Barre Scranton Knights Earn Big 1-0 Victory
The Knights only played one game over the past week, but went 1-0 in their early December action by defeating the Rockets Hockey Club by a 1-0 score. They improved their season series record against the Rockets to 5-0, an important stat because the Rockets are still eight points above WBS in the standings. The Rockets themselves are five points back of the fourth place West Chester Wolves in a battle for playoff positioning as the season’s midpoint approaches for all teams.
Elsewhere In The NCDC
Six different teams came out with .500 records for the action between Dec. 4 and 11.
- The Connecticut Jr. Rangers and Mercer Chiefs came out .500 as they each took a win from the other over the past week. On Dec. 6, the Rangers got the 3-0 win, and the Chiefs came back the next day for a 3-1 win. With a loss by the West Chester Wolves in their only action, Mercer was able to stand alone at third place in the Atlantic after the win.
- The Jersey Hitmen fell 6-4 to the P.A.L. Jr. Islanders on Dec. 6, but were able to rebound and defeat the Rockets Hockey Club, 3-2, on Dec. 7. The win was enough to keep them in a tie for first in points in the Atlantic Division entering Friday.
- Also with 35 points and tied in the overall points race with P.A.L. and the Hitmen are the Northern Cyclones, who are nine points back of the South Shore Kings in the New England Division. The Cyclones fell 6-2 to the Railers on Dec. 6, and came back with an 8-1 win against the Seacoast Spartans on Dec. 10.
- The Utah Outliers split their weekend against the Spud Kings with a 4-3 regulation loss and a 4-3 OT win. Their three OT wins tie the Cyclones and Worcester Railers for most in the league. They are off from game action until Dec. 20.
