Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com
Selection Process: Voting took part in two phases. In the first phase, the division’s coaches voted for three of their own players and three players from other teams in the division. Once these results were compiled, the division’s coaches voted on the final team.
Forward
Cole Davis, Springfield Pics
Davis (‘06/East Longmeadow, Mass.) continues the Pics’ tradition of homegrown products doing amazing work with their junior teams. He has been a longtime teammate of several fellow Elite pics this year. After a very impressive 2022-23 season in the THF 16U division, he jumped to juniors for the first time and had 47 points in 43 Premier games, plus a goal in two USPHL Premier games this year. Davis’ 47 points are third most in a single USPHL Elite season.
Noah Malcolm, Northern Cyclones
Malcolm (‘03/Londonderry, N.H.) improved from 39 points last year to 69 points as a veteran Cyclones forward. He helped lead the Cyclones to the 2024 USPHL Elite National Championship, when he added 11 points in seven games. His 69 points ended up tied for fourth in the Cyclones’ long history. His loyalty was shared by 12 other Cyclones teammates who won it all in this, their second season.
Bogdan Guntypov, Islanders Hockey Club
Guntypov (‘06/Astana, Kazakhstan) had a fantastic first junior season, churning out 60 points off a 26-34-60 line in 41 games. He is fifth in single season scoring for the Islanders Hockey Club Elite team, and scored four more points in the postseason over six games as the Islanders went to the USPHL Nationals. He also skated in two January Premier games, showing them a bit of what he can do for the future.
Adam Hadi, Islanders Hockey Club
Hadi (‘05/’Coppell, Texas) made the move from his home Lone Star State last year, playing in all 44 regular season games and scoring 53 points. He added four points in the team’s six playoff games, as well.
Josh Bruno, Northern Cyclones
This ‘04 from Glendora, Calif., first came to New England in 2021-22 to play for the Boston Hockey Academy. In this, his second season with the Elite team, he put up 63 points in 33 games for the Cyclones to now stand No. 1 overall in Elite Cyclones scoring history with 131 points in 75 games. That is also good for eighth all-time in USPHL Elite history. He added 10 points in seven games to push his team to the top of the mountain.
Defense
Matthew Taylor, Northern Cyclones
Taylor (‘05/Wake Forest, N.C.) stayed strong throughout the season and was the Cyclones’ two-way powerhouse, helping to keep their goals against to 2.07 per game, second lowest league-wide. He joined the Cyclones’ 18U AA team during the 2022-23 season and moved up to the Elite squad this year and led the blue line with 54 points in 42 games, plus eight more points in seven games in the postseason en route to lifting the Elite Championship trophy. Additionally, Taylor was called up for his first two Premier games this year as well.
James Delaney, Springfield Pics
Delaney (‘05/Palmer, Mass.) came up through the Pics youth system alongside Cole Davis, and has had similar success on the defensive side, while also contributing his share of offense. He put in 21 points in 29 games, and also played in five USPHL Premier games. Somehow, he also found the time to play in 20 games with the Phillips Academy prep team in Andover, Mass., a prestigious NCAA Division I feeder.
Goaltender
Tagger Tamburo, Islanders Hockey Club
Tamburo (‘04/Phoenix, Ariz.) was huge as he helped the Islanders reach the Nationals for a fourth straight year at the Elite level. He joined as a junior rookie player this year out of Desert Vista High School, and was an immediate success in going 15-6-0-0 (setting an IHC Elite single season wins record), and putting up a .928 save percentage, the best for an IHC Elite goalie playing more than 10 games in a season. His 1.95 GAA and .928 marks were also good for Top 10 in the league this year.
Shane McKone, Springfield Pics
McKone (‘05/Scotia-Glenville, N.Y.) came in fourth overall in save percentage this season, with a .939, which now stands as the single best mark for a single season as well as for a career mark. In the playoffs, McKone gave up only three goals on 139 shots against the Islanders Hockey Club, giving him a .976 save percentage. That was the USPHL Elite’s second best save percentage not only in the postseason this year, but also in Elite history.
Nick Cowles, Northern Cyclones
Cowles (‘05/Irvine, Calif.) joined the Cyclones this year out of the Anaheim Jr. Ducks program and was an essential piece to the Cyclones’ championship puzzle. He registered a save percentage of .931 while going 13-1-0-0 in the regular season. In his three postseason appearances, he went 3-0 with a .961 save percentage and just a 0.74 save percentage.
