Forward: Gerdas Paulauskas, Toledo Cherokee
Paulauskas (’04/Lisle, Ill.) closed out his four-year USPHL career ranked 13th all-time in league points with 190 over 158 regular season games. Paulauskas’ final season was his best in terms of per-game production, with his career best 1.42 points per game coming from 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points in 36 games. He had put up 57 points as a career best in that category with the Chicago Cougars one year earlier, but for Paulauskas, it was always about consistent production. He never averaged less than a point per game in any one of four full seasons.
Forward: Pierce Ashcroft, Metro Jets
Ashcroft (’04/Milford, Mich.) was always a strong performer in the Jets organization since first joining in 2022-23. He played his first two seasons with the Metro Jets Development Program (MJDP), and showed he was ready for the Jets’ mothership team this year. Not only did he make a great transition, he led the Jets with 62 points off of 22 goals and 40 assists. He improved on his previous seasons’ combined point totals by 17 points, and helped the Jets win the Great Lakes Division championship.
Forward: Giovanni Valentine, Columbus Mavericks
Valentine (’06/Newcastle, Pa.) joined the Mavericks in mid-October, and by mid-November, he’d already had his first of three hat tricks – two scored in a row Nov. 15 and 16. He went on to rack up 29 goals and 57 points in just 33 games, good for a 1.73 points per game average. The Mavericks won their first playoff round and faced the Toledo Cherokee in the second round, and over five games, Valentine registered another 10 points. He had originally played for the Mavericks in 2023-24, skating in nine games coming out of Neshannock High School in his native Pennsylvania. As a 2006-born forward, he still may have his best junior hockey ahead of him.
Defense: Jake Taylor, Metro Jets
Taylor (‘05/Macomb, Mich.) had a season and career not unlike his teammate Ashcroft. Both started out with the Jets organization in 2022-23, and both had their best seasons with the Jets here in 2024-25. He originally skated with the former Metro Hockey Club as well as the MJDP and Jets all in that season. He spent the full 2023-24 season with the MJDP and had 40 points in 43 games last year, which earned him Midwest East All-Star honors last year. This year, he registered a career best 46 points in 44 games. He played in three straight National Championship tournaments during his career between 2023 and 2025.
Defense: Landon Edwards, Toledo Cherokee
Edwards (’05/Richfield, Wis.) is a second-year Premier player who skated in his first season with the Cherokee this year. Edwards originally played with the Chicago Cougars in 2023-24, posting 16 points. He more than doubled that total by posting 39 points in a full 44-game season this year. He was also a huge part of the Cherokee’s power play, posting four goals and adding nine assists.
Goaltender: Caleb Kril, Toledo Cherokee
Kril (’04/Dexter, Mich.) was a top three goaltender nearly wire to wire for this 2024-25 season, his second with the Cherokee and in the USPHL. He finished third in both save percentage (.943) and goals against average (1.60), and he finished second in shutouts with six behind Seattle’s Cole Fennema, who had 10. In his best performance of the year, Kril stopped all 40 shots he faced from the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones on Nov. 16. For his two years in Toledo, Kril came across the line with a 28-9-2-1 record, a 2.16 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
Selection Process: Coaches in the division first nominate players, and then vote on these nominations. If there are ties in positions, there is an additional run-off vote. Coaches are presented with the finalists and given more than 24 hours to make changes if the majority votes to do so. If there are no challenges to the finalists, they are named as the All-Division Team.
Summaries by Joshua Boyd
