By Joshua Boyd / USPHLPremier.com
The league was abuzz with an extremely busy season that featured two concurrent showcases – the USPHL Detroit Showcase in Michigan and the Islanders Hockey Club Showcase in Massachusetts, as well as all other divisions in full swing. Some teams with three-plus games in showcases made some big jumps over the week as some of those same teams headed into a pause in games for the Thanksgiving weekend.
We’ll take a look at the teams that fared best in each division over the span of Nov. 21-28.
Atlantic Division
Connecticut Junior Rangers Sweep All Three Of Their IHC Showcase Games
The defending Premier National Champions looked every bit the part as they made the trip to Massachusetts and earned three straight wins. They are actually entering December on a five-game winning streak, and are now 8-6-1-1 after a 3-6-1-1 start. The Jr. Rangers see themselves as a resurgent team, having climbed from a tough 10th-place position up to eighth in the Atlantic in the space of a week. The Jr. Rangers’ first draw of the showcase was a rematch of the 2024 National Championship game, as they faced the Islanders Hockey Club for the first time since March 26, the day the Rangers raised their first-ever USPHL championship trophy. After the 5-3 win over the Islanders on Nov. 22, the Rangers defeated the Thunder Hockey Club, 9-3, and the Boston Jr. Rangers, 4-3.
- Anthony Vernillo (‘04/Smithtown, N.Y.) leads the Jr. Rangers in scoring with 21 points in 16 games. He is also a veteran of 123 Premier games thus far, with 114 points. The Rangers have brought in a few such veterans from other programs this year, also including Jack Kopfstein (‘05/Vista, Calif.), who has 88 points in 127 career games. Those two account for nearly a quarter of the 1,038 man-games of Premier experience the Jr. Rangers have this year.
- Teddy Ecker (‘05/Royal Oak, Mich.) leads the Jr. Rangers with five wins this year, coming back after helping the Jr. Rangers win the title last year.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights Put Together 3-0-1-0 Run At IHC Showcase
The Knights have catapulted from eighth heading into the Islanders Showcase to now standing at fifth, thanks to their four-game point streak in Massachusetts (3-0-1-0). This is all part of a larger 5-0-2-0 run of points that has seen the Knights steadily becoming a bigger threat. On the campus of NCAA Division I Merrimack College, they started with a 3-2 victory against the Worcester Railers JHC. They finished the same day, Saturday, with a 4-1 victory against the Boston Jr. Rangers. Sunday morning saw a 1-0 OT loss to the Thunder Hockey Club, and they ended Sunday with a victory against the Northern Cyclones, 3-2.
- Jeremy Lamothe (‘06/Becancour, Que.) has put up 12 goals and 11 assists for 23 points to lead the Knights this season.
- Gusts Valantis (‘06/Riga, Latvia) has put together a 5-5-0-0 season with a .924 save percentage as the leading goaltender for the Knights.
Elsewhere In The Atlantic Division
- The Hershey Cubs made a move up in the standings by a couple spots by earning five points in their five USPHL Detroit Showcase games the past week, going 2-1-1-0. After an opening loss to Fort Wayne (3-1) and an OT defeat at the hands of the Motor City Gamblers (3-2 in OT), before bouncing back later on Saturday to defeat the Battle Creek Kernels, 5-1. They closed with a 3-2 overtime win against the Decatur Blaze.
- The Elmira Impact are on a 2-0-1-0 run that has helped them expand their Atlantic lead to 10 points over second place. They recently defeated the Brooklyn Aviators, 9-1, and 6-4.
- The Mercer Chiefs improved to a .500 record and have won five games in a row, most recently defeating the Brooklyn Aviators, 5-4, on Nov. 22 and then they beat the P.A.L. Jr. Islanders, 8-1. The first-year Chiefs are 10-10-2-0 and tied for fifth in Atlantic points.
- The Rockets Hockey Club are also tied with Mercer for fifth, and they won their only game of the past week, defeating the West Chester Wolves, 6-4, on Friday. They have points in their past two games at 1-0-1-0.
New England Division
The South Shore Kings were one of only two teams to win as many as three games at the Islanders Hockey Club Showcase without a loss. They defeated the Hawkesbury Knights, 4-3, in overtime on Nov. 22. They went on to defeat the Montreal Black Vees, 4-2, and continued their sweep of Canada Division teams on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Universel Sherbrooke. The Kings are on the best point streak of any New England team, earning points in six straight games (5-0-1-0).
- Anthony Prioli (‘05/Weymouth, Mass.) registered the fifth and sixth game-winning goals of his season against the Black Vees and Universel. He is tied for second in winners this season, and leads the Kings with 16 goals and 27 points in 21 games. He has more than doubled his 2023-24 point total already before Dec. 1.
- The Kings are among the best tie-breakers in the league, going 5-2-0-1 when knotted up after two periods, a situation that applied to their games against Hawkesbury and Sherbrooke. The Northern Cyclones and Elmira Impact are the only other teams with as many as five wins when tied after two periods.
Elsewhere In The New England Division
- The host Islanders jumped one point into first place by two points after going 3-1-0-0 in the IHC Showcase. They started their run at the event by facing the Connecticut Jr. Rangers, with the Rangers winning the 2024 National Championship final rematch by a 5-3 score. From there, the Islanders defeated Universel Sherbrooke, 1-0 in OT; the Hawkesbury Knights, 4-0, and the Utica Jr. Comets, 4-0. This three-game run marked an IHC team record for most consecutive shutouts. Toledo is the only other team with three straight shutouts, a mark they also completed this past weekend.
- The Utica Jr. Comets went 3-1-0-0 to slightly move up the New England standings, from seventh to a tie for sixth. They defeated Universel Sherbrooke, 8-4, the Montreal Black Vees, 3-2, and College Universel Gatineau, 3-2, before taking their only loss of the Islanders Hockey Club Showcase against the hosts, 4-0.
- In winning both of their two games at the IHC Showcase, the Springfield Pics joined the South Shore Kings as the only teams to go undefeated at the event. They defeated College Universel Gatineau, 8-4, and the Montreal Black Vees, 3-0. However, despite being on a three-game winning streak overall, the Pics moved from first into second by one point heading into Thanksgiving.
- The Northern Cyclones and Worcester Railers Junior Hockey Club each went 2-1-0-0 at the event, with neither moving from their standings positions of a week earlier. The Cyclones won 3-1 against Hawkesbury, 11-3 against College Universel Gatineau, and then closed with a 3-2 loss against the WBS Knights. The Railers fell to the Knights on Nov. 23, 3-2, but then came back to defeat Universel Sherbrooke, 4-2, on Saturday evening and defeated the Hawkesbury Knights, 4-2, on Sunday.
Canada Division
Somang L-L Hockey Improves To Third In Division At USPHL Detroit Showcase
A tough go for a number of Canada Division teams at the IHC Showcase made Somang L-L Hockey’s 2-1-0-1 record at the concurrent USPHL Detroit Showcase the best points gain for the division. Somang defeated the Chicago Crush, 3-2, in a shootout in their first game of the event on Nov. 23. They followed that up with a 4-3 win over MJDP, and then fell 8-0 to the Fort Wayne Spacemen, both on Sunday, Nov. 24. They finished with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Decatur Blaze.
- Caleb Rashleigh (‘06/Corner Brook, Newfoundland) has put up 28 points in 27 games to lead the team, including 11 points in 11 November games.
- Alexis Viel leads the way for Somang in net, with a 7-2-0-0 record, and he went undefeated for November at 5-0.
Florida Division
Tampa Bay Juniors Win Two More For Seven-Game Winning Streak
The Juniors defeated the Florida Eels in their big showdown on Nov. 22, which ended up being their sixth of seven straight wins, giving them sole possession of first place entering December. The Juniors defeated the Eels, 3-2, and then moved on to earn a decisive victory against the Palm Beach Typhoon. The Juniors went through November perfect at 6-0, and their seven-game streak stretches back to their previous win against the Eels, also 3-2 in OT on Oct. 25.
- Tampa has gone beyond regulation five times and are perfect at 3-0 in overtime and 2-0 in the shootout.
- Augie Ashley (‘04/Falmouth, N.S.) has 17 points in the seven games that the Juniors have won in a row, and leads the team with 28 points in 17 games. In goal, Savva Serdiuk (‘04/Kyiv, Ukraine) won against the Eels for his fourth straight win. He joins Peyton Anderson (‘05/Orono, Minn.) as Juniors goalies with four straight wins.
Bold City Battalion Also Earn Points In Seven Straight With Two Recent Wins
The Battalion hosted the Atlanta MadHatters and came away with two victories, 7-1 and 3-2. They are 6-0-1-0 in their last seven, and their only regulation loss for November was Tampa’s first win of their seven-game streak. Their success the past week put the Battalion into sole possession of second place in Florida entering December.
- The team continues to be co-led by veterans Bryson Walz (‘06/Rockford, Ill.) and Sebastien Elrod (‘04/Colorado Springs, Colo.) Elrod has 11 points in all seven consecutive games over which they’ve earned points. Their career total points are also only three off each other – 70 for Elrod and 67 for Walz.
- Both Evan Stringer (‘05/Fort Collins, Colo.) and Raymond Thompson (‘06/Orange Park, Fla.) have won three in a row to help the Battaliion to their six-win November.
Southeast Division
Hampton Roads Whalers Earn Points In 10 Straight Games To Share Second
In the intense, anyone-can-beat-anyone world of the Southeast Division, earning points in 10 straight games still doesn’t even get you first place. But the Whalers are getting there as they’ll enter December on a 10-game point streak of going 9-0-1-0. Recently, they stepped outside of the Southeast and put up two wins against the Jersey Hitmen, 6-3 and 5-2, Nov. 22-23.
- Going back to Oct. 20, Timo Johner (‘05/Brutten, Switzerland) has won five games in a row for the Whalers. He gave up just one goal in four of those in a row. He currently stands at 7-3-1-0 with a .928 save percentage.
- On the eve of his 100th career Premier regular season game with the Whalers, Wyatt Teubert (‘04/White Rock, B.C.) is third in all-time USPHL Premier scoring for his team with 108 points in 99 games. He put up a 3-1-4 line against Jersey last weekend, and he’s riding a 15-game point streak with 25 points.
Potomac Patriots Ride Four-Game Winning Streak To First In Division
The Patriots put up two wins against the Carolina Jr. Hurricanes to leapfrog the Charlotte Rush (idle from game action) into first place overall in the Southeast Division. The Patriots defeated Carolina, 5-2, on Nov. 23 and 3-2 in a shootout on Nov. 24.
- Kirill Guryev (‘06/Moscow, Russia) won his third and fourth in a row to help the Pats take over first place, and moved from third in league wins to second with 12. Guryev leads the Premier in minutes played with 971.
- With his last seven points scored since Nov. 17, Yovanni Flores (‘04/Los Angeles, Calif.) is now 10th all-time in Premier scoring for the Potomac Patriots with 60 points in 90 games. He is also the Pats’ leading scorer this year with a career-best 32 points in 24 games.
Please note, there will be no “USPHL Premier This Week” next week as we will be presenting both Players Of The Month for November and Players Of The Week.
