Week of Dec. 22, 2023
Games of Dec. 13-18, 2023
Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHLElite.com
Atlantic Division
Forward: Jace Lombardo, Rockets Hockey Club
Lombardo (‘04/Staten Island, N.Y.) did not want to wait until after Christmas to pass the career 100-point mark. Instead, he put up a 10-pointer over two games, including seven goals and three assists, to get over the mark to stand at 105 in 54 games for the Rockets Elite. On Dec. 17 against Elmira, he put up five of those seven goals and added two more assists for a career-high seven-point game, breaking his previous high of five points attained in the Sept. 15 season opener. He is 17th in all-time Elite scoring, going back to the first season of the current format of the league in 2017-18.
Defense: Justin Modzelewski, Rockets Hockey Club
Modzelewski (‘03/Staten Island, N.Y.) put up five assists in the Rockets’ sweep of Elmira which also saw them extend a point streak to 6-0-0-1 that has helped them gain the lead in the Atlantic Division. He has 37 points in 57 career games for the Rockets.
Goaltender: Chase Ebeyer, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights
Ebeyer (‘04/Scottsdale, Ariz.) stopped 37 of 38 shots against the previous division leaders the P.A.L. Jr. Islanders on Dec. 14, which gave him a .974 save percentage for the evening and boosted an already impressive season save percentage to .924 – and lifted his two-year career mark to .917. Entering 2024, Ebeyer has won six of his last seven starts going back to Oct. 29.
New England Division
Forward: Bogdan Guntypov, Islanders Hockey Club
Guntypov (‘06/Moskva, Russia) helped the Islanders sweep their four December games, putting up five goals and two assists for seven points in three games last weekend. He scored goals in each of the three games, including a hat trick on Dec. 16 against the Junior Bruins, and he is on a six-game, 14-point scoring streak. The Islanders are on a 6-0-1-0 point streak entering the new year.
Defense: Nikolaos Spaniotis, Springfield Pics
Spaniotis (‘04/Cromwell, Conn.) only recently joined the Pics from the Islanders Hockey Club organization. He had a goal and two assists for three points in the team’s two most recent games, part of a 2-0-1-0 point streak for Springfield. For the season, he has seven points in 17 games this season, and four points in his five games with the Pics.
Goaltender: Tagger Tamburo, Islanders Hockey Club
Tamburo (‘04/Phoenix, Ariz.) is a former creasemate of the WBS Knights’ Chase Ebeyer, while they were both with the DYHA Jr. Sun Devils, and now they get to share Goaltender of the Week honors for the North Region. Tamburo stopped 55 of 58 shots for a .948 save percentage in two games, both wins for the IHC against the Junior Bruins and Pics. He now has a 10-3-2-0 record with a . 929 save percentage for their career.
