Summaries by Joshua Boyd / USPHLPremier.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.
Forwards
Brett Strick, Bold City Battalion
Talk about a great building block for a new team. Strick (‘03/Goodyear, Ariz.) came to the first-year Battalion with a year of Premier experience under his belt in the Midwest West Division, and proceeded to more than double his points from his first year. He registered 26 goals and 26 assists for 52 points to lead the Battalion in scoring, well over his 23 points from 2022-23. He also put up three points in six playoff games as the Battalion also made their USPHL Nationals debut this past March. Strick led the Battalion this year in plus-minus with a +28, and his 151 shots on goal were good for second place (giving him an impressive 17.2 percent shooting percentage).
Noah Trathen, Florida Eels
The Eels are seven-time USPHL Nationals participants (including four straight trips to the semifinals or better) because they just reload every year with great new talent, while also seeing immense jumps forward by veterans like the local product Trathen (‘03/Fort Myers, Fla.). The third-year Eel has moved up from a split season between the Premier and Elite Eels in 2021-22 to a fantastic past couple seasons. He enjoyed a 27-point improvement from an already impressive 46 points last year to 73 this year as the Eels’ leading scorer. The UMass-Dartmouth recruit cracked the Eels’ all-time top 10 with 120 points in 100 career regular season games, and he’s eighth with 15 points in 15 postseason games, including 11 points in this year’s eight-game postseason run. He was always a responsible two-way player as well, as his +34 to lead Eels forwards this year would attest.
Grant Parshall, Tampa Bay Juniors
Parshall (‘03/Wheeling, W.V.) did everything he could for the Juniors in the 34 games he played with them this year, registering 43 points to tie with fellow All-Star Livio Azevedo for the team lead. A third-year Premier veteran, Parshall led the Juniors in points per game with 1.26. His absence from the team is well-excused as he was called up by his former Premier organization, the Utah Outliers, after they made the jump to the NCDC this year. Parshall played nine games for the NCDC’s Outliers after starting the season in Tampa, registering four points in nine games at the Tier II level. He was a rock star in the faceoff circle this year for Tampa, winning 502 of 777 draws for a 65 percent success rate. His 17:51 of ice time led Juniors forwards and his +12 was good for second among TBJ forwards, as well.
Jared Salminen, Florida Eels
A six-year USPHL veteran, the Rivier University recruit Salminen (‘03/Port Charlotte, Fla.) rejoined the Eels for a second of four total Premier seasons for his outstanding career, over which he produced 153 points in 168 regular season games. Every season in the Premier, he improved in points from 22 to 27 to 38 to 66 points this year, which saw Salminen make his third straight trip to the Premier, those trips made with two different organizations. He leaves with 104 points in two years with the Eels, including 72 assists, which leads the organization over the past two years. Salminen’s two-way play was also a key for the National semifinalist Eels, as he blocked 21 shots this season, second among Eels forwards.
Livio Azevedo, Tampa Bay Juniors
The ‘03 from Switzerland can now take great pride in being a back-to-back All-Star in two of the Premier’s toughest divisions. He was a Southeast Division All-Star last year and this year makes the Florida Division All-Star team after an incredible season for the Tampa Bay Juniors to close his junior career. He leaves the Premier with a two-year 1.23 points per game average off of 96 points in 79 games. He put up a 20-23-43 line in 37 games with the Juniors this season, tying fellow All-Star Grant Parshall as the Tampa Bay points leaders. His 22 hits this year were tied for second-most by a Juniors forward.
Kelton Bradshaw, Bold City Battalion
Bradshaw (‘05/Fort Collins, Colo.) was huge this year for the Battalion as he, like Strick, brought a full season of USPHL Premier experience to the new team and it paid huge dividends. After putting up 18 points with the former Northern Colorado Eagles last year, Bradshaw racked up 42 points in 34 games this season, a year-over-year improvement of 34 points. He added three more points in six games, including the Battalion’s trip to USPHL Nationals.
Jacob Duhaime, Bold City Battalion
The four-year USPHL veteran sealed up his fourth straight trip to USPHL Nationals this past March with the Battalion, after a prior Premier and two Elite trips between 2021 and 2023. The ‘04 out of Ellenton, Fla., currently has a career total of 68 points in 86 Premier games after a two-year Elite career in which he posted 75 points in 86 games. This year, the 2022 Elite Florida Division All-Star Duhaime doubled his goals (from eight last year to 16) and more than doubled his assists (12 to 32) and points (20 to 48). He also put up four points in six playoff games.
Derwin Hauser, Palm Beach Typhoon
Hauser (‘03/Minot, N.D.) returned to the Typhoon and was a true leader, helping to shepherd a younger Typhoon team this year after he was surrounded by some of the Florida Division’s most prolific players in 2022-23. Hauser finishes his career as the Typhoon’s third-leading scorer all-time with an impressive 90 points for his 86-game career. He put up a 17-18-35 line this year, and his steady veteran presence impressed opponents so much he earned votes from beyond his own team. During the season, he put up a 1-4-5 line for a single game career high against two-time Nationals participants the Fort Wayne Spacemen, and he was a thorn in the Battalion’s side, putting up eight points against Bold City in their four meetings, including a four-point effort on Dec. 7.
Defense
Hugo Rova, Bold City Battalion
Rova, an ‘03 from Sweden, was nearly unanimous as an All-Star selection on defense, and was having what would’ve been one of the highest-scoring seasons by a Premier defensemen when his season (and possibly his career) ended prematurely. On Jan. 3, at the USPHL Tampa Showcase, a puck got under his shield and directly hit his eye and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Prior to the injury, Rova had put up 35 points in 29 games, and he was averaging 25:26 per game, good for second on the team.
Eoin Reager, Atlanta MadHatters
Reager, a USPHL Elite 2021-22 North Division All-Star, is back in All-Star territory after an outstanding season with the MadHatters, his second with the Atlanta Premier team. Reager, an ‘03 from Foxborough, Mass., was one of just four defensemen in the league to lead their team in scoring. He scored 38 points in 42 games this year, an improvement by nine points over his 2022-23 totals. Over two seasons, that gives him 67 points in 86 games, good for an impressive 0.78 points per game average from the blue line.
Maverick Crupi, Florida Eels
Crupi could play anywhere for the Eels – and did – but he played much more defense than forward during the 2023-24 season, his third with the Eels. The ‘03 out of St. Petersburg, Fla., scored 43 points in 41 games to finish his junior career with 119 points in 124 career games (as well as 24 points in 22 career playoff games, which ranks him sixth all-time in Premier history, including Nationals trips in each of his three seasons). Defensively, he was a huge help by blocking 57 shots during the season.
Brayden Goddard, Florida Eels
Goddard (‘03/Fort Vancouver, Wash.) continues that theme of Florida Eels veteran leadership stepping up all year to help guide the Eels to a seventh USPHL Nationals berth, a record they share only with the Charlotte Rush. Originally joining the USPHL Premier with a now defunct organization in 2021-22, he’s been with the Eels since the start of the 2022-23 season and improved his points total from 22 last year almost double to 43 here in 2023-24. He was the Eels’ leader in average ice time per game at 22:54 this year, and he also led the Eels in plus-minus (+34) and hits (64).
Emil Grinsvall, Bold City Battalion
Grinsvall (‘04/Goteborg, Sweden) was already a prime mover for the Battalion and the defense in particular, even before losing his frequent blueline partner in Rova – the two played 311 shifts together during the season. His steady two-way play had to be shifted into overdrive after Rova’s injury, and did he ever do so. Grinsvall finished with 41 points in 45 games, helped the Battalion win their first Florida Division regular season title and then pushed the squad into the Nationals. In the playoffs, he put up five points in six games. He registered 25:56 per game of average ice time this year, and also in blocked shots with 68. He was second on the team in plus-minus at +27 and in hits with 33.
Goaltender
Aiden Winslow, Bold City Battalion
Winslow (‘03/Jacksonville, Fla.) was a huge local find for the Battalion, as he had not played during the 2022-23 season after previously playing for the Florida Alliance AAA program in 2021-22. From almost nowhere, Winslow became a unanimous All-Star selection for his work in lifting the Battalion to No. 1 in the Florida Division this year. He tied for fourth in save percentage with a .935, and also tied for eighth in goaltender wins with a 16-10-0-0. His five shutouts this year were also tied for fourth. He was 2-2 with a .929 save percentage in the playoffs for Bold City, as well.
Sam Edmands, Atlanta MadHatters
Edmands (‘03/Richmond Hill, Ont.) returned to the USPHL after originally suiting up for the Charlotte Rush Elite team in 2021-22, when he made the Southeast Division Elite All-Star. After a season in the OJHL, Edmands is back but this time was the MadHatters’ main man in the crease, turning away 667 shots for a .934 save percentage, ranking fifth – just behind Aiden Winslow – in that category. He finished with a win-loss record of 11-7-0-0.
